Selim I is described as being tall,…

Selim I is described as being tall, having very broad shoulders and a long mustache.

He is skilled in politics and is said to be fond of fighting.

In 1494, at Trabzon, he had married Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, the daughter of Meñli I Giray.

Although Selim's son Süleyman had been assigned to Bolu, a small sanjak closer to Istanbul, upon Ahmet's objection, he had been relocated to Caffe in Crimea.

Selim, seeing this as an unofficial display of support for his older brother, had asked for a sanjak in Rumeli (the European portion of the empire).

Although he had initially refused on the ground that Rumeli sanjaks are not offered to princes, with the support of the vassal Crimean khan Meñli I Giray (who was his father-in-law), he has been able to receive the sanjak of Semendire (modern Smederevo in Serbia), which, although it is technically in Rumeli, is quite far from Istanbul nevertheless.

Consequently, Selim chooses to stay close to Istanbul instead of going to his new sanjak.

His father Bayezid thinks this disobedience insurrectionist; he defeats Selim's forces in battle in August 1511, and Selim escapes to the Crimea.