The influence of the Ottoman court may be looked at in three ways,—as affecting the sultan, the Ruling Institution, and the destiny of the empire; but all three ultimately reduce to the last. The sultan was influenced by his personal relationships with the different individuals or groups which came into closest contact with him. Reference has already been made to Roxelana. Undoubtedly she had much influence over her imperial husband, but to what extent she pushed him toward particular decisions and actions cannot be known. It is improbable that she had anything of consequence to do with the death of Ibrahim, since the favorite’s own actions had brought matters to such a pass that he was a menace to the throne; moreover, her influence in public affairs seems not yet to have become great. Some writers of that date do not mention her at all, though she had already won the supreme affection of Suleiman, and had, so to speak, passed round the superior position of the mother of the first-born son by being made a legal wife.[494] Seventeen years later the situation was clear: Roxelana had triumphed completely over the mother of Mustapha; her son-in-law Rustem, married to Suleiman’s well-beloved daughter Mihrmah, had held the supreme office of grand vizier for nine years; her hump-backed son Jehangir was Suleiman’s favorite child. Nevertheless, as late as the beginning of 1553 Suleiman seems to have intended still that Mustapha should occupy the throne.[495] Mustapha became a victim less of Roxelana and Rustem than of the indeterminate and dangerous condition of the rules of succession to the throne.[496] Had primogeniture been the established order, Mustapha need only have been on his guard against poison; he would have lacked motive for rebellion, and his father would not have been in fear of deposition. Had not Mohammed II established the terrible _Kanun_ which ordered the execution of the brothers of a sultan at his accession, Roxelana need not have feared for the lives of her own sons. Had not the Janissaries helped Selim to the throne ahead of time and against the wishes of his father, their favor toward Mustapha would not have forced a crisis. If Suleiman really desired Mustapha to succeed him, he made a great mistake in sending him far away to the governorship of Amasia. Bayezid, the ablest living son of Roxelana, was in Karamania; and Selim, the least promising of Roxelana’s children, but apparently her favorite, was assigned to the governorship at Magnesia. Selim was thus removed from the capital by a journey of only five or six days, Bayezid by a somewhat greater distance, and Mustapha by a journey of twenty-six days.[497] Suleiman may have meant by these appointments only to promote his sons to more distant governorships as they grew in experience and could be entrusted with greater responsibilities; they, on the other hand, could hardly fail to suspect that he had different intentions. Without further discussion,