The deposed sultan was allowed ET12,000 a year, and a similar amount was set aside to provide dowries for two sultanas who were just about to be married.
His foreign policy, which was magnificent but expensive, rendered further forced loans necessary, and he also laid hands on the Monte delle Doti, an insurance institution to provide dowries for girls.
A legend of his surreptitious bestowal of dowries upon the three daughters of an impoverished citizen, who, unable to procure fit marriages for them, was on the point of giving them up to a life of shame, is said to have originated the old custom of giving presents in secret on the Eve of St Nicholas, subsequently transferred to Christmas Day.
Such reversions could be sold, bequeathed, or included in the dowries of married women; the right of trading with China might be part of the endowment of a school; a monastery or a hospital might purchase the command of a fortress.
It is also said that he died so poor that the state was obliged to provide dowries for his daughters.
