In year 10156 AG, Shaddam succeeded his father as the 81st Padishah Emperor and head of Imperial House Corrino, after Elrood IX succumbed to chaumurky. A frequently discredited history of the Corrinos detailed a story that Count Fenring was responsible for poisoning Elrood.

The ranks of Bursegs were doubled in the first 16 years of his reign and appropriations for Sardaukar training went down steadily in the final 30 years.