Nurbanu Sultan
Nurbanu Sultan (representative of a noble Venetian family), the wife of Sultan Selim II (1566-1574) and the mother (that is, Valide Sultan) of Sultan Murad III can be considered the full-fledged founder of the female sultanate.
It is characteristic that it is impossible to attribute the beginning of the period of special female influence to the reign of Selim II - under him, Nurbanu was simply the wife of the Sultan, albeit the main one. Her influence increased after the accession of her son Murad III, who, although he ascended the throne at the age of 28, showed no interest in governing the country, spending time in entertainment and enjoyment in the harem. Nurbanu Sultan can generally be called the shadow manager of the empire until her death in 1583.
Safiye Sultan
After Nurbanu Sultan, the role of "guardian" under Murad III was taken over by his main concubine, who never received the status of an official wife, Safiye Sultan. She was also a Venetian, moreover, came from the same family as her mother-in-law. She did not prevent the Sultan from spending time in entertainment, largely deciding state affairs for him. Her influence increased even more after the death of her husband in 1595 and the ascension to the throne of her son, Mehmed III.
The new sultan immediately executed 19 of his brothers and even all of his father's pregnant concubines and further showed himself to be a bloody and incompetent ruler. However, Safiye Sultan under him was very close to being a real ruler. She died in 1604, Mehmed III outlived her by a couple of months.
Kösem Sultan
Then for some time there was a break in the women's sultanate and women lost their influence - but only to be replaced by the real "sultana", Kösem Sultan, the wife of Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617). With her husband, however, Kösem had no influence. She received it already in the status of a valid sultan, when in 1523, at the age of 11, her son Murad IV became the ruler. In 1540, he died and was replaced by his brother, another son of Kösem, Ibrahim I, who went down in history under the nickname Mad.
With her sons, Kösem Sultan was almost the full ruler of the Porte. After the assassination of Ibrahim I in 1648, he was succeeded by his son Mehmed IV. Initially, Kösem kept a good relationship with her grandson, but quickly quarreled with him and was killed in 1651.
Turhan Sultan
The death of Kösem Sultan is often attributed to the last representative of the female sultanate, the wife of Ibrahim I and the mother of Mehmed IV, known as Turhan Sultan. She was Ukrainian by origin, her name was Nadezhda, and as a child she was kidnapped by the Crimean Tatars. At the age of 12, she became Ibrahim's concubine, she was presented to him by Kösem Sultan herself. At the age of 15, Turhan had already given birth to an heir, the future Mehmed IV. After her son came to power, Turhan now received the title of valid sultan and did not want to put up with an ambitious mother-in-law, whom, according to assumptions, she eliminated.
Mehmed IV was not very attentive to state duties, preferring to spend most of his time in hunting and outdoor sports. In the period from 1648 to 1656, it was Turhan Sultan who was the regent for her young son. However, when he was 14 years old, the Valide Sultan appointed Mehmed Köprül as Grand Vizier, who became the founder of the dynasty of Grand Viziers, who concentrated real power in their hands for almost 60 years. Thus, the era of the female sultanate ended, and Turhan Sultan died in the summer of 1683, two months before the fatal defeat of the Ottoman Empire. 
in the battle of Vienna.
Alexander Babitsky
Harem-i Humayun - the harem of the sultans Ottoman Empire, which influenced the decisions of the Sultan in all areas of politics.
The Eastern harem is the secret dream of men and the personified curse of women, the focus of sensual pleasures and the exquisite boredom of beautiful concubines languishing in it. All this is nothing more than a myth created by the talent of novelists.
The traditional harem (from the Arabic "haram" - forbidden) is primarily the female half of the Muslim home. Only the head of the family and his sons had access to the harem. For everyone else, this part of the Arab home is a strict taboo. This taboo was observed so strictly and zealously that the Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey wrote: "If the sun were a man, then even he would be forbidden to look into the harem." Harem - the realm of luxury and lost hopes ...
The Sultan's harem was located in the Istanbul Palace Topkapi. The mother (valid-sultan), sisters, daughters and heirs (shahzade) of the sultan, his wife (kadyn-efendi), favorites and concubines (odalisques, slaves - jariye) lived here.
From 700 to 1200 women could live in a harem at the same time. The inhabitants of the harem were served by black eunuchs (karaagalar), commanded by daryussaade agasy. Kapy-agasy, the head of the white eunuchs (akagalar), was responsible for both the harem and the inner chambers of the palace (enderun), where the sultan lived. Until 1587, the kapy-agasy had power inside the palace comparable to the power of the vizier outside it, then the heads of the black eunuchs became more influential.
The harem itself was actually controlled by the Valide Sultan. The next in rank were the unmarried sisters of the Sultan, then his wives.
The income of the women of the Sultan's family was made up of funds called a shoe (for a shoe).
There were few slaves in the Sultan's harem, usually girls who were sold by their parents to the school at the harem and underwent special training became the concubines.
In order to cross the threshold of the seraglio, the slave went through a kind of initiation ceremony. In addition to checking for innocence, the girl had to convert to Islam without fail.
Entering the harem was in many ways reminiscent of being tonsured as a nun, where instead of selfless service to God, no less selfless service to the master was instilled. Candidates for concubines, like God's brides, were forced to break all ties with outside world, received new names and learned to live in humility.
In later harems, wives were absent as such. The main source of a privileged position was the attention of the Sultan and childbearing. Showing attention to one of the concubines, the owner of the harem elevated her to the rank of a temporary wife. This situation was most often shaky and could change at any moment depending on the mood of the master. The most reliable way to gain a foothold in the status of a wife was the birth of a boy. A concubine who gave her master a son acquired the status of mistress.
The largest in the history of the Muslim world was the Istanbul harem Dar-ul-Seadet, in which all women were foreign slaves, free Turkish women did not get there. The concubines in this harem were called “odalisk”, a little later the Europeans added the letter “c” to the word and it turned out “odalisque”.
And here is the Topkapi Palace, where the Harem lived
From among the odalisques, the Sultan chose up to seven wives. Who was lucky to become a "wife" received the title of "kadyn" - mistress. The main "kadyn" was the one who managed to give birth to her first child. But even the most prolific "kadyn" could not count on honorary title"sultanas". Only the mother, sisters and daughters of the Sultan could be called sultanas.
Transport of wives, concubines, in short, a harem taxi depot
Just below the "kadyn" on the hierarchical ladder of the harem stood favorites - "ikbal". These women received salaries, their own apartments and personal slaves.
The favorites were not only skilled mistresses, but also, as a rule, subtle and intelligent politicians. In Turkish society, it was through "ikbal" for a certain bribe that one could go directly to the Sultan himself, bypassing the bureaucratic obstacles of the state. Below the "ikbal" were the "concubines". These young ladies were a little less fortunate. The conditions of detention are worse, there are fewer privileges.
It was at the stage of "concubin" that there was the toughest competition, in which a dagger and poison were often used. Theoretically, the "konkubin", like the "ikbal", had a chance to climb the hierarchical ladder by giving birth to a child.
But unlike the favorites close to the Sultan, they had very few chances for this wonderful event. Firstly, if there are up to a thousand concubines in the harem, then it is easier to wait for the weather by the sea than the holy sacrament of mating with the Sultan.
Secondly, even if the Sultan descends, it is not at all a fact that the happy concubine will definitely become pregnant. And even more so, it’s not a fact that she won’t organize a miscarriage.
The old slaves followed the concubines, and any pregnancy noticed was immediately terminated. In principle, it is quite logical - any woman in labor one way or another, became a contender for the role of a legitimate "kadyn", and her baby - a potential contender for the throne.
If, despite all the intrigues and intrigues, the odalisque managed to keep the pregnancy and did not allow the child to be killed during the “unsuccessful birth”, she automatically received her personal staff of slaves, eunuchs and the annual salary “basmalik”.
Girls were bought from their fathers at the age of 5-7 years and raised up to 14-15 years. They were taught music, cooking, sewing, court etiquette, the art of pleasing a man. When selling his daughter to a harem school, the father signed a paper stating that he had no rights to his daughter and agreed not to meet her for the rest of his life. Getting into the harem, the girls received a different name.
Choosing a concubine for the night, the Sultan sent her a gift (often a shawl or a ring). After that, she was sent to the bath, dressed in beautiful clothes and sent to the door of the Sultan's bedroom, where she waited until the Sultan went to bed. Entering the bedroom, she crawled on her knees to the bed, and kissed the carpet. In the morning, the Sultan sent rich gifts to the concubine if he liked the night spent with her.
The Sultan could have a favorite - guzde. Here is one of the most famous, Ukrainian Roxalana
Suleiman the Magnificent
Bani Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan (Roksolana), wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, built in 1556 next to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Architect Mimar Sinan.
Mausoleum of Roxalana
Valide with black eunuch
Reconstruction of one of the rooms of the Valide Sultan apartments in the Topkapi Palace. Melike Safie Sultan (possibly born Sofia Baffo) was the concubine of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III and the mother of Mehmed III. During the reign of Mehmed, she held the title of Valide Sultan (mother of the Sultan) and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.
Only the Sultan's mother, Valide, was considered equal to her. Valide Sultan, regardless of her origin, could be very influential (the most famous example is Nurbanu).
Aishe Hafsa Sultan is the wife of Sultan Selim I and the mother of Sultan Suleiman I.
Hospice Ayse-Sultan
Kösem Sultan, also known as Mahpeyker, was the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (she bore the title of Haseki) and the mother of Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I. During the reign of her sons, she bore the title of valid Sultan and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.
Valide apartments in the palace
Bathroom Valide
Bedroom Valide
After 9 years, the concubine, who had never been elected by the Sultan, had the right to leave the harem. In this case, the Sultan found her a husband and gave her a dowry, she received a document stating that she was a free person.
However, the lowest layer of the harem also had its own hope for happiness. For example, only they had a chance at least for some kind of personal life. After several years of impeccable service and adoration in their eyes, a husband was found, or, having allocated funds for a non-poor life, they were released in all four directions.
Moreover, among the odalisques - outsiders of the harem society - there were also their own aristocrats. A slave could turn into a "gezde" - awarded a look, if the sultan somehow - with a look, gesture or word - singled her out from the general crowd. Thousands of women have lived all their lives in a harem, but neither the fact that the Sultan was seen naked, but they did not even wait for the honor of being "honored with a look"
If the sultan died, all the concubines were sorted by the sex of the children they had given birth to. The mothers of girls could well get married, but the mothers of the “princes” settled in the “Old Palace”, from where they could leave only after the accession of the new sultan. And at this moment the most fun began. The brothers poisoned each other with enviable regularity and perseverance. Their mothers were also active in putting poison into the food of their potential rivals and their sons.
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In addition to the old proven slaves, eunuchs followed the concubines. Translated from Greek, "eunuch" means "guardian of the bed." They got into the harem exclusively in the form of guards, so to speak, to maintain order. There were two types of eunuchs. Some were castrated in early childhood and had no secondary sexual characteristics at all - a beard did not grow, there was a high, boyish voice and a complete rejection of a woman as an individual of the opposite sex. Others were castrated at a later age.
Incomplete eunuchs (namely, as they were called castrated not in childhood, but in adolescence), they even looked like men, had the most low male bass, thin facial hair, broad muscular shoulders, and oddly enough, sexual desire.
Of course, the eunuchs could not satisfy their needs in a natural way due to the lack of the necessary device for this. But as you understand, when it comes to sex or drinking, the flight of human imagination is simply limitless. And the odalisques, who for years lived with an obsessive dream of waiting for the sultan's gaze, were not particularly legible. Well, if there are 300-500 concubines in the harem, at least half of them are younger and more beautiful than you, well, what's the point of waiting for the prince? And on bezrybe and the eunuch is a man.
In addition to the fact that the eunuchs watched over the order in the harem and in parallel (secretly from the Sultan, of course) consoled themselves and women yearning for male attention in all possible and impossible ways, their duties also included the functions of executioners. Those guilty of disobedience to the concubines they strangled with a silk cord or drowned the unfortunate woman in the Bosphorus.
The influence of the inhabitants of the harem on the sultans was used by the envoys of foreign states. So, the Russian ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, M. I. Kutuzov, arriving in Istanbul in September 1793, sent gifts to the valid Sultan Mikhrishah, and "the sultan accepted this attention to his mother with sensitivity."
Selim
Kutuzov was honored with reciprocal gifts from the mother of the Sultan and a favorable reception from Selim III himself. The Russian ambassador strengthened Russia's influence in Turkey and persuaded her to enter into an alliance against revolutionary France.
Since the 19th century, after the abolition of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, all concubines began to enter the harem voluntarily and with the consent of their parents, hoping to achieve material well-being and a career. The harem of the Ottoman sultans was liquidated in 1908.
The harem, like the Topkapi Palace itself, is a real labyrinth, rooms, corridors, courtyards are all randomly scattered. This confusion can be divided into three parts: The premises of the black eunuchs The actual harem, where the wives and concubines lived The premises of Valide Sultan and the padishah himself Our tour of the Topkapi Palace Harem was very brief.
The rooms are dark and deserted, there is no furniture, there are bars on the windows. Close and narrow corridors. Here lived the eunuchs, vengeful and vindictive due to psychological and physical injury ... And they lived in the same ugly rooms, tiny, like closets, sometimes without windows at all. The impression is brightened up only by the magical beauty and antiquity of the Iznik tiles, as if emitting a pale glow. We passed the stone courtyard of the concubines, looked at Valide's apartments.
It is also crowded, all the beauty is in green, turquoise, blue faience tiles. She ran her hand over them, touched the flower garlands on them - tulips, carnations, but the peacock's tail ... It was cold, and thoughts were spinning in my head that the rooms were not warmed well and the inhabitants of the harem probably often had tuberculosis.
Moreover, this lack of direct sunlight ... Imagination stubbornly did not want to work. Instead of the splendor of the Seraglio, luxurious fountains, fragrant flowers, I saw closed spaces, cold walls, empty rooms, dark passages, incomprehensible niches in the walls, a strange fantasy world. Lost sense of direction and connection to the outside world. I was stubbornly embraced by an aura of some kind of hopelessness and longing. Even the balconies and terraces in some rooms, overlooking the sea and the fortress walls, did not please.
And finally, the reaction of official Istanbul to the sensational series "Golden Age"
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan believes that the TV series about the court of Suleiman the Magnificent offends the greatness of the Ottoman Empire. However, historical chronicles confirm that the palace really fell into complete decline.
Rumors often circulate around forbidden places. Moreover, the more secret they are shrouded in, the more fantastic assumptions are put forward by mere mortals about what is happening behind closed doors. This applies equally to secret archives Vatican, and CIA caches. The harems of Muslim rulers are no exception.
So there is nothing surprising in the fact that one of them became the scene of the "soap opera" that has become popular in many countries. The Magnificent Century series is set in the 16th century Ottoman Empire, which at that time stretched from Algeria to Sudan and from Belgrade to Iran. At the head was Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520-1566, in whose bedroom there was a place for hundreds of barely dressed beauties. Not surprisingly, 150 million television viewers in 22 countries were interested in this story.
Erdogan, in turn, focuses primarily on the glory and power of the Ottoman Empire, which reached its peak during the reign of Suleiman. Invented harem stories from that time, in his opinion, underestimate the greatness of the Sultan and thus the entire Turkish state.
But what does the distortion of history mean in this case? Three Western historians spent a lot of time studying works on the history of the Ottoman Empire. The last of these was the Romanian researcher Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940), whose "History of the Ottoman Empire" also included previously published studies by the Austrian orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall and the German historian Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen (Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen).
Iorga devoted much of his time to studying events in the Ottoman court during the time of Suleiman and his heirs, such as Selim II, who inherited the throne after the death of his father in 1566. “More like a monster than a man,” he spent most of his life in drunkenness, by the way, forbidden by the Koran, and his red face once again confirmed his addiction to alcohol.
The day had barely begun, and he was usually already drunk. He usually preferred entertainment to solving issues of national importance, for which dwarfs, jesters, conjurers or wrestlers were responsible, in which he occasionally shot from a bow. But if the endless feasts of Selim took place, apparently, without the participation of women, then under his heir Murad III, who ruled from 1574 to 1595 and lived for 20 years under Suleiman, everything was already different.
"Women play an important role in this country," wrote a French diplomat who had some experience in this regard at home. “Since Murad spent all his time in the palace, his entourage had big influence on his weak spirit, ”wrote Iorga. "With women, the Sultan was always obedient and weak-willed."
Most of all, Murad's mother and first wife used this, who were always accompanied by "many court ladies, intriguers and intermediaries," Iorga wrote. “On the street they were followed by a cavalcade of 20 carts and a crowd of Janissaries. Being a very insightful person, she often influenced appointments at court. Because of her extravagance, Murad tried several times to send her to the old palace, but she remained a real sovereign until her death.
Ottoman princesses lived in "typically oriental luxury". European diplomats tried to win their favor with exquisite gifts, because one note from the hands of one of them was enough to appoint this or that pasha. The careers of the young gentlemen who married them depended entirely on them. And those who dared to reject them lived in danger. Pasha "could easily be strangled if he did not dare to take this dangerous step - to marry an Ottoman princess."
While Murad was having fun in the company of beautiful slaves, “all the other people who were allowed to manage the empire made personal enrichment their goal - it doesn’t matter, honestly or dishonestly,” Iorga wrote. It is no coincidence that one of the chapters of his book is called "The Causes of the Collapse". When you read it, you get the feeling that this is the script of a television series, such as, for example, "Rome" or "Boardwalk Empire".
However, behind the endless orgies and intrigues in the palace and in the harem, important changes were hidden in life at court. Before the accession of Suleiman to the throne, it was accepted that the sons of the Sultan, accompanied by their mother, left for the province and remained aloof from the struggle for power. The prince who succeeded to the throne, then, as a rule, killed all his brothers, which was in some way not bad, because in this way it was possible to avoid a bloody struggle for the succession of the Sultan.
Everything changed under Suleiman. After he not only had children with his concubine Roksolana, but also freed her from slavery and appointed her his main wife, the princes remained in the palace in Istanbul. The first concubine, who managed to rise to the sultan's wife, did not know what shame and conscience were, and she shamelessly promoted her children up the career ladder. Numerous foreign diplomats wrote about intrigues at court. Later, historians relied on their letters in their studies.
It also played a role that the heirs of Suleiman abandoned the tradition of sending wives and princes away to the province. Therefore, the latter constantly interfered in political issues. “In addition to participating in palace intrigues, their connections with the Janissaries stationed in the capital are worthy of mention,” wrote historian Suraiya Farocki from Munich.
Ending the history of women's rule in the Ottoman Empire, Women's Sultanate (1541-1687)
Start here:
First part - The sultana willy-nilly. Roksolana;
Second part - Women's sultanate. Roksolana's daughter-in-law;
The third part - Women's sultanate. Queen of the Ottoman Empire;
Fourth part - Women's sultanate. Thrice valid Sultan (mother of the ruling Sultan)
Turhan Sultan (1627 or 1628 - 1683) . The last great valide sultan (mother of the ruling sultan).
1. About the origin of this concubine of the Sultan Ibrahim I it is only known for certain that she was Ukrainian, and until the age of 12 she bore the name Hope. She was captured at about the same age by the Crimean Tatars, sold by them to a certain Ker Suleiman Pasha, and already he gave it to the powerful valid Sultan Kösem, the mother of a demented Ibrahim which ruled Ottoman Empire instead of his mentally incapable son.
2.Ibrahim I ascending the throne Osmanov in 1640, at the age of 25, after the death of his older brother, the Sultan Murad IV(for which, at the beginning of the reign, their common mother also ruled Kösem Sultan), was the last of the male line of the dynasty Osmanov. Therefore, the continuation problem ruling dynasty Kösem Sultan(her idiot son didn't care) should have been resolved as soon as possible. It would seem that in the conditions of polygamy, with a huge choice of concubines in the Sultan's harem, this problem (and many times at once) could be solved within the next 9 months. However, the weak-minded sultan turned out to have rather peculiar ideas regarding female beauty. He only liked fat women. And not just fat, but very fat - in the chronicles there is a mention of one of his favorites, nicknamed sugar loaf, whose weight reached 150 kilograms. So Turhan, given by the Sultana to her son around 1640, she could not but be a very large girl. Otherwise, she simply would not have got into the harem of this pervert. I would not have passed, as they say now, the casting.
3. How many children did she give birth to Turhan in total is unknown. But the undoubted fact is that it was she who was the first of his other concubines to give birth Ibrahim I son Mehmed- January 2, 1642. This boy became from birth, first the official heir to the Sultan, and in 1648, after a coup d'état, as a result of which IbrahimI was deposed and killed by the ruler Ottoman Empire.
4. Son Turhan Sultan was only 6 years old when he became sultan Sublime Porta. It would seem that for his mother, who, according to the laws and traditions of the state, was to receive the highest female tutul - valide-sultan (the mother of the ruling sultan), and become a regent, or at least a co-ruler of her young son, the finest hour has come. But it was not there! Her experienced and domineering mother-in-law Kösem Sultan She did not at all help eliminate (according to some rumors) her idiot son in order to give unlimited power to a 21-year-old girl. Having easily outplayed her "green" daughter-in-law at first, she for the third time (for the first time in Ottoman Empire) became a valid sultan with her grandson (which did not happen either before her or after her).
5. Three years, from 1648 to 1651, the palace Topkaly shaken by endless scandals and intrigues of opposing sultanas. Ultimately Kösem Sultan decided to replace her reigning grandson on the throne with one of his younger brothers, with a more accommodating mother. However, to become a valid sultan for the fourth time Kösem Sultan did not make it - her hated daughter-in-law, having learned about the conspiracy against her son, in which the dear grandmother relied on the Janissaries, muddied her intrigue with the help of harem eunuchs, who, by the way, were in Ottoman Empire great political force. The eunuchs turned out to be more agile than the Janissaries, and on September 3, 1651, at the age of about 62, the Valide Sultan was strangled in her sleep three times.
6. So, the Ukrainian won, and received the unlimited power of the regent in the empire Osmanov at the age of only 23-24 years. An unprecedented case, such young Valide Sultan Sublime Porte haven't seen yet. Turhan Sultan not only accompanied her son during all important meetings, but also spoke on his behalf during negotiations with envoys (behind the curtain). At the same time, realizing her own inexperience in state affairs, the young Valide Sultan never hesitated to seek advice from members of the government, thereby cementing her authority among the highest officials of the empire.
8. Actually, with the appearance at the head Ottoman Empire dynasty Köprülü Women's Sultanate could have ended during the lifetime of its last representative. However, Turhan Sultan, voluntarily refusing to participate in foreign and domestic politics, switched her energies to other government affairs. And in the kind of activity that she chose, she remained the only woman in Brilliant Port. The sultana took up construction.
9. It was under her leadership that two powerful military fortresses were built at the entrance to the strait Dardanelles, one - on the Asian side of the strait, the other - on the European side. In addition, she completed in 1663 the construction of one of the five most beautiful mosques in Istanbul, Yeni Jami (New Mosque), started even under the valid Sultan Safiye, her son's great-great-grandmother, in 1597.
10.Turhan Sultan died in 1683, at the age of 55-56, and was buried in a tomb completed by her New Mosque. However Female sultanate continued after the death of the last in history Ottoman Empire regent women. The date of its completion is considered to be 1687, when the son Turhan(former co-ruler), Sultan Mehmed IV(at the age of 45) was deposed as a result of a conspiracy by the son of the Grand Vizier, Mustafa Koprulu. Myself Mehmed lived after the overthrow from the throne for another five years, and died in prison in 1693. But to history Women's Sultanate it has nothing to do with it anymore.
11. But to Mehmed IV most directly and immediately related is the famous "Letter of the Zaporizhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan". The addressee of this, to put it mildly, obscene letter, was precisely the Sultan Mehmed IV, who is genetically more than half Ukrainian!
Actually, with this haseki of the grandson of Roksolana, Sultan Murad III (1546-1595), the reign of unlimited (since their overlords were just a shadow of their prominent ancestors) imperious bitches, who are at enmity with each other for their influence on their husbands (for lack of better term) and sons. “Almighty” in the series Roksolana looks like a gentle violet and an innocent forget-me-not against their general background.
MELIKI SAFIE-SULTAN (SOFIA BAFFO) (c.1550-1618/1619).
There are two versions about the origin of the main haseka (she never became the legal wife of the Sultan) Murad III, as well as about the origin of her mother-in-law Nurbanu Sultan.
The first, generally accepted - she was the daughter of Leonardo Baffo, the Venetian governor of the island of Corfu (and, therefore, a relative of Nurban, nee Cecilia Baffo).
Another version, and in Turkey itself, it is she who is preferred - Safiye was from the Albanian village of Rezi, located on the Dukaga Highlands. In this case, she was a countrywoman, or, quite possibly, even a relative of the poet Tashlydzhaly Yahya Bey (1498-no later than 1582), a friend of Mustafa's shehzade executed by Suleiman I, the serial "admirer" Mihrimah Sultan, who was also an Albanian by origin.
In any case, Sophia Baffo was captured around 1562, at the age of 12, by Muslim pirates, and bought by the sister of the then ruling Turkish padishah Selim II, Mihrimah Sultan. In accordance with Ottoman traditions, the daughter of Roksolana left the girl in her service for a year. Since Mihrimah, both under her father, Sultan Suleiman, and later, during the reign of her brother Selima, ruled the main harem of Turkey, most likely, Sofia from the first days of her stay in the Ottoman Empire found herself immediately in Bab-us-Saad (the name of the Sultan's harem, literally - “The Gates of Bliss”), where, by the way, Nurbana, before she became a valid Sultan, to put it mildly, was not favored. In any case, such hardening at the very beginning of the career path of the young concubine was very useful to her in the future, including in the fight against her mother-in-law, when Murad became a sultan. After a year of teaching the girl everything that an odalisque needed to know, Mihrimah Sultan gave her to her nephew, shehzade Murad. It happened in 1563. Murad was then 19 years old, Safiye (most likely, Mihrimah gave her name, on Turkish it means "pure") - about 13.
Apparently, in Akshehir, where Suleiman I appointed Selim's son as a sanjak-bey in 1558, Safiye did not succeed immediately.
She gave birth to her first son (and first-born Murad), shehzade Mehmed, only three years later, on May 26, 1566. Thus, Sultan Suleiman, who was then living his last year of life, managed to find out about the birth of his great-grandson (there is no information that he personally saw the newborn) 3.5 months before own death September 7th, 1566.
As in the case of Nurbanu Sultan and Sehzade Selim, before Murad's accession to the throne, only Safiye gave birth to his children. However, what her position was fundamentally different from the position of her mother-in-law as a haseka of the heir to the throne was the fact that all this time (almost 20 years) she remained the only sexual partner of Murad (if he had, as befits a shehzade, a large harem ). The fact is that the son of Nurbanu Sultan had some intimate psychological problems in his sexual life, which he could only overcome with Safiye, and therefore had sex exclusively with her (with legal polygamy among the Ottomans, which is especially offensive). Haseki Murada bore him many children (their exact number is unknown), but only four of them survived early childhood - the sons Mehmed (born 1566) and Mahmud, and the daughters Aishe-Sultan (born 1570) and Fatma-Sultan (born 1580). The second son Safiye died in 1581 - by that time his father Murad III had been the sultan for 7 years, and thus, she, like Nurbanu, had her only son (and he was the only heir of the Ottomans in the male line).
Murad's selective impotence, which allowed him to have children only from Safiye, worried his mother Nurbanu Sultan very much only after she became a valid, and even then not immediately, but when it became clear to her that to give her all power without a fight her daughter-in-law is not going to - not so much because of his health, but because of the huge influence that the hated Safiye had on her son for this reason (and between the mother and the Haseki of Murad, who had just ascended the throne, a war had just begun for influence on him) .
Nurban is quite understandable - if Roksolana was presented to Sultan Suleiman, most likely by his mother, Aisha Hafsa-Sultan, and Nurban herself was chosen for Selim by his mother Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, then Safiye was the choice of Mihrimah-Sultan, and, accordingly, she did not owe anything to her mother-in-law (who, by the way, categorically refused to recognize her relationship with her).
One way or another, in 1583, Valide Sultan Nurbanu accused Safiye of witchcraft, which made Murad impotent, unable to have sex with other women. Several servants of Safiye were seized and tortured, but they could not prove her guilt (of what?).
In the chronicles of that time, they write that Murad's sister, Esmehan Sultan, presented her brother with two beautiful slaves in 1584, "whom he accepted and made his concubines." The fact that before that Sultan Murad met (at the insistence of his mother) in a secluded place with a foreign doctor is mentioned in passing in the same chronicles.
However, Nurbanu, nevertheless, achieved her goal - having received the freedom to choose sexual partners at the age of 38, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, literally, became obsessed with his libido. In fact, he devoted the rest of his life exclusively to harem pleasures. He bought beautiful slave girls practically in bulk and for any money, wherever he could. Viziers and sanjak-beys, instead of managing the state, looked for young charmers for him in their provinces and abroad. During the reign of Sultan Murad, the number of his harem, according to various estimates, ranged from two hundred to five hundred concubines - he was forced to significantly increase and rebuild the premises of Bab-us-Saade. As a result, in just the last 10 years of his life, he managed to become the father of 19-22 (according to various estimates) sons and about 30 daughters. Given the very high early childhood mortality at that time, we can safely assume that his harem gave birth to him during this time, at least, about 100 children.
The triumph of the valid Sultan Nurbanu, however, was short-lived - she somehow believed that with one blow (naive) she knocked out her most powerful weapon from the hands of the hated daughter-in-law. However, she still could not defeat Safiye in this way. The smart woman, having accepted the inevitable, never once showed her annoyance or discontent, moreover, she herself began to buy beautiful slaves for Murad's harem, which earned him gratitude and trust, no longer as a concubine, but as a wise adviser in state matters, and after her death (in 1583), Safiye easily and naturally took her place not only in the state hierarchy of the Ottoman Empire, but also in the eyes of Murad III. Having taken into their own hands along the way all the influence and connections of the mother-in-law in the Venetian merchant circles, which brought Nurban a lot of income, as a lobbyist for their interests in the Divan.
The fact that Valide Murad III switched all her son's vital interests to the pleasures of the flesh, in the end, benefited both herself and her daughter-in-law - they were able to completely take control of the now completely uninteresting power for Murad.
By the way, it was during the reign of the sexually preoccupied Murad III that representatives of the ruling European dynasties reappeared in the main harem of the Brilliant Porte after a very long break (almost two centuries). However, now they were content with the position not of the wives, but of the sultan's concubines, at best, their haseks. The political situation in Europe has changed a lot over these 200 years, the rulers of the states that fell under the Ottoman protectorate, and those who tried to maintain their independence from Istanbul, themselves offered their daughters and sisters to the harem of the Turkish padishah. So, for example, one of Murad's favorites was Fulane-hatun (real name is unknown) - the daughter of the Wallachian ruler Mircea III Draculeshtu, the great-granddaughter of that same Vlad III Tepes Dracula (1429 / 1431-1476). Her brothers, as vassals of the Ottoman Empire, participated with their troops in the campaign of the Turkish army against Moldova. And his nephew, Mikhna II Turk (Tarkitul) (1564-1601), was born and raised in Istanbul, in Topkapi. He was converted to Islam with the name Mehmed Bey. In September 1577, after the death of his father, the Wallachian ruler Alexander Mircea, Mikhne Turok was proclaimed by the Porte the new ruler of Wallachia.
Another haseki of Murad III, the Greek Elena, belonged to the Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Great Komnenos. She was a descendant of the rulers of the Trebizond Empire (the territory on the northern coast of modern Turkey, right up to the Caucasus), captured by the Ottomans back in 1461. The biography of her son Yahya (Alexander) (1585-1648) - an outstanding either adventurer or politician, but, of course, an excellent warrior and commander who devoted his whole life to organizing military anti-Turkish coalitions (with the participation of Zaporozhye Cossacks, Moscow , Hungary, the Don Cossacks, the states of Northern Italy and the Balkan countries) with the aim of capturing the Ottoman Empire and creating a new Greek state, deserves a separate story. I can only say that this daring man, both on the side of his father and on the side of his mother, was a descendant of the Galician Rurikovichs. And, of course, he had all the rights to the throne of Byzantium, if his escapade was a success. But now the conversation is not about him.
As a ruler, Sultan Murad was as weak as his father Selim. But if the reign of Selim II was quite successful thanks to his chief vizier and son-in-law, Mehmed Pasha Sokoll, an outstanding statesman and military figure of his time, then Murad after the death of Sokoll (he was his uncle, because he was married to his own aunt - his father's sister) five years after the beginning of his own sultanate, no such grand vizier could be found. The heads of the Divan replaced each other several times a year during his reign - not least due to the fault of the sultanas - Nurban and Safiye, each of whom wanted to see their own person in this position. However, even after the death of Nurbanu, the leapfrog with the Grand Viziers did not end. When Safiye was a valid sultan, 12 chief viziers were replaced.
However, the military forces and material resources accumulated by the ancestors of Sultan Murad still gave, by inertia, the opportunity for their mediocre descendant to continue the work of conquest they had begun. In 1578 (during the lifetime of the outstanding Grand Vizier Sokollu, and his works), the Ottoman Empire began another war with Iran. According to legend, Murad III asked his entourage which of all the wars that took place during the reign of Suleiman I was the most difficult. Upon learning that it was an Iranian campaign, Murad decided to surpass his great grandfather at least in some way. Having a significant numerical and technical superiority over the enemy, the Ottoman army achieved a number of successes: in 1579, the territories of modern Georgia and Azerbaijan were occupied, and in 1580, the southern and western coasts of the Caspian Sea. In 1585, the main forces of the Iranian army were defeated. According to the Constantinople peace treaty with Iran, concluded in 1590, most of Azerbaijan passed to the Ottoman Empire, including Tabriz, all of Transcaucasia, Kurdistan, Luristan and Khuzestan. Despite such significant territorial gains, the war led to the weakening of the Ottoman army, which suffered heavy losses, and undermined finances. In addition, the protectionist administration of the state, first by Nurbanu Sultan, and after her death by Safiye Sultan, led to a strong increase in bribery and nepotism in supreme power country, which, of course, also did not benefit the Brilliant Porte.
By the end of his life, Murad III (and he lived only 48 years) turned into a huge, fat, clumsy carcass suffering from urolithiasis (which, in the end, brought him to the grave). In addition to the illness, Murad was also tormented by suspicions about his eldest son and official heir, shehzade Mehmed, who was then about 25 years old and who was very popular with the Janissaries - Roksolana's grandson was afraid that he would try to take power from him. During this difficult period, Safiye Sultan made great efforts to save his son from the danger of poisoning or murder by his father.
By the way, despite the huge influence that she again acquired on Sultan Murad after the death of his mother Nurbanu, she failed to force him to make nikah with her. The mother-in-law, before her death, managed to convince her son that the marriage with Safiye would bring his own end closer, as happened with his father, Selim II - he died three years after nikah with Nurbanu herself. However, such a precaution did not save Murad - he lived 48 years without any nikah, two years less than Sultan Selim, who made nikah.
Murad III began to get seriously ill in the autumn of 1594, and died on January 15, 1595.
His death, like the death of his father, Sultan Selim 20 years ago, was kept in deep secrecy, wrapping the body of the deceased with ice, moreover, in the same closet where Selim's corpse had previously lay, until shehzade Mehmed arrived from the throne of Manisa on January 28 . He was met, already as a valid, by his mother, Safie Sultan. Here it should be noted that the father appointed Mehmed as the sanjak-bey of Manisa back in 1583, when he was about 16 years old. All these 12 years mother and son have never seen each other. This is a word about the maternal feelings of Safie Sultan.
The 28-year-old Mehmed III began his reign with the greatest fratricide in the history of the Ottoman Empire (with the full support and approval of his valid). On one day, on his orders, 19 (or 22, according to other sources) of his younger brothers were strangled, the eldest of whom was 11 years old. But even this, to ensure the safety of his reign, was not enough for his son Safiye, and the next day all the pregnant concubines of his father were drowned in the Bosphorus. What was an innovation even for those cruel times - in such cases, they waited for the woman's permission from the burden, and only male babies were killed. The concubines themselves (including the mothers of boys) and their daughters were usually left to live.
Looking ahead, it was “thanks” to the paranoidly suspicious Sultan Mehmed that the Ottoman ruling dynasty developed a pernicious custom - not to give shehzade the opportunity to take even the slightest part in the management of the empire (as was done before). The sons of Mehmed were kept locked up in a harem in a pavilion, which was called: “Cage” (Kafes). They lived there, albeit in luxury, but in complete isolation, drawing information about the world around them only from books. It was forbidden to inform shehzade about current events in the Ottoman Empire under pain of death. In order to avoid the birth of “superfluous” bearers of the sacred blood of the Ottomans (and, therefore, competitors to the throne of the Brilliant Porte), shehzade had no right not only to their harem, but also to sex life. Now only the ruling sultan had the right to have children.
Immediately after Mehmed came to power, the Janissaries rebelled and demanded higher salaries and other privileges. Mehmed satisfied their claims, but after that riots broke out among the population of Istanbul, which took on such a wide scale that the Grand Vizier Ferhad Pasha (of course, by order of the Sultan) used artillery against the rebels in the city for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire. It was only after this that the rebellion was put down.
At the insistence of the Grand Vizier and Sheikh ul-Islam, Mehmed III in 1596 moved with an army to Hungary (where in last years During the reign of Murad, the Austrians began to gradually regain the territories conquered from them earlier), won the battle of Kerestet, but failed to take advantage of it. The English ambassador Edward Barton, who, at the invitation of the Sultan, participated in this military campaign, left interesting records of the behavior of Mehmed in a military situation. On October 12, 1596, the Ottoman army captured the Erlau fortress in northern Hungary, and two weeks later it met with the main forces of the Habsburg armies, which took up well-fortified positions on the Mezokövesd plain. At this point, Mehmed lost his nerve, and he was ready to abandon his troops and return to Istanbul, but the vizier Sinan Pasha persuaded him to stay. When the next day, October 26, both armies met in a decisive battle, Mehmed was frightened and was about to flee from the battlefield, but Sededdin Khoja dressed the Sultan in the sacred ilash of the Prophet Muhammad and literally forced him to join the fighting troops. The result of the battle was an unexpected victory for the Turks, and Mehmed earned himself the nickname Ghazi (defender of the faith).
After his triumphant return, Mehmed III never again led Ottoman troops on a campaign. The Venetian ambassador Girolamo Capello wrote: "Doctors declared that the Sultan could not go to war because of his poor health, caused by excesses in food and drink."
However, the doctors in this case did not sin so much against the truth - the Sultan's health, despite his youth, was rapidly deteriorating: he weakened, lost consciousness several times and fell into oblivion. Sometimes it seemed that he was on the verge of death. One of such cases is mentioned by the same Venetian ambassador Capello in his message dated July 29, 1600: "Great Sovereign retired to Scutari, and it is rumored that there he fell into dementia, which had already happened to him several times before, and this attack lasted three days, during which there were brief periods of clearing of the mind ”. Like his father Sultan Murad at the end of his life, Mehmed turned into a huge fat carcass that no horse could withstand. So there was no question of any military campaigns.
Such a state of the son, who, even before his illness, was not very interested in state affairs, made the power of Sophia the Sultan truly unlimited. Having become a valid, Safiye received enormous power and a large income: in the second half of the reign of Mehmed III, she received only 3,000 akçe per day as a salary; in addition, profit was brought by lands given from state property for the needs of the valid sultans. When Mehmed III went on a campaign against Hungary in 1596, he gave his mother the right to manage the treasury. Until the death of Mehmed III in 1603, the country's policy was determined by the party, which was headed by Safiye together with Gazanfer Agha, the head of the white eunuchs of the main harem of the Ottoman Empire (eunuchs were a huge political force that, without attracting outside attention, participated in government and even, later - in the enthronement of sultans).
In the eyes of foreign diplomats, Valide Sultan Safie played a role comparable to that of queens in European states, and was even considered by Europeans as a queen.
Safiye, like her predecessor Nurbanu, followed a largely pro-Venetian policy and interceded regularly on behalf of the Venetian ambassadors. The Sultana also maintained good relations with England. Safiye was in personal correspondence with Queen Elizabeth I and exchanged gifts with her: for example, she received a portrait of the Queen of England in exchange for “two robes of silver fabric, one belt of silver fabric and two handkerchiefs with gold edging.” In addition, Elizabeth presented the Valide Sultan with a chic European carriage, in which Safiye traveled all over Istanbul and its environs, causing dissatisfaction with the ulema - they believed that such luxury was indecent for her. The Janissaries were unhappy with the influence that the Valide Sultan had on the ruler. English diplomat Henry Lello wrote about this in his report: She [Safiye] was always in favor and completely subjugated her son; despite this, muftis and military leaders often complain about her to their monarch, pointing out that she misleads him and dominates him.
However, the direct cause of the Sipah revolt that broke out in Istanbul in 1600 (a type of Turkish heavy cavalry armed forces Ottoman Empire, “brothers” of the Janissaries) against the mother of the Sultan was a woman named Esperanza Malkhi. She was a kira and Safie Sultan's mistress. Kirami were usually women of a non-Islamic faith (usually Jewish) who acted as a business agent, secretary and intermediary between the women of the harem and the outside world. Safiye, who was in love with a Jewish woman, allowed her kira to cash in on the entire harem and even run her hand into the treasury; in the end, Malchi, together with her son (they “heated up” the Ottoman Empire for more than 50 million akce), was brutally killed by the sipahis. Mehmed III ordered the execution of the leaders of the rebels, since the son of the qira was Safiye's adviser and, thus, the servant of the Sultan himself.
Diplomats also left a mention of the sultana's passion for the young secretary of the English embassy, Paul Pindar - however, which remained without consequences. “The Sultana really liked Mr. Pinder and she sent for him for a personal meeting, but their date was cut short”. Apparently, the young Englishman was then rushed back to England.
It was Safiye-Sultan who for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire began (informally) to be called the “great valide” - and for the reason that she (the first among the sultanas) concentrated in her hands the control of the entire Brilliant Porte; and because, due to the early death of her son, new valides appeared in the state - the mother of her grandchildren, the sultans, while she was then only 53 years old.
Uncontrollably power-hungry and greedy, Safiye, even more than Mehmed III himself, was afraid of the possibility of a coup by one of her grandsons. That is why she played a major role in the execution of Mehmed's eldest son, 16-year-old shehzade Mahmud (1587-1603). Safiye Sultan intercepted a letter from a certain religious seer sent to Mahmud's mother, Halime Sultan, in which he predicted that Mehmed III would die within six months and be succeeded by his eldest son. According to the notes of the British ambassador, Mahmoud himself was upset that “that his father is under the rule of the old sultana, his grandmother, and the state is collapsing, since she respects nothing more than her own desire to receive money, which his mother [Halime Sultan] often laments”, who was “not to the liking of the queen -mothers". Safiye immediately informed (under the necessary “sauce”) about everything to her son. As a result, the sultan began to suspect Mahmud of a conspiracy and became jealous of the popularity of shehzade among the Janissaries. All this, as expected, ended with the execution (suffocation) of his elder shehzade on June 1 (or 7), 1503. However, the first part of the seer's prediction still came true - two weeks late. Sultan Mehmed III died in his Istanbul Topkapı Palace on December 21, 1503, at the age of only 37, from a heart attack - an absolute wreck. Apart from his mother, no one regretted his death.
A cruel and ruthless man, he apparently was not capable of passion and passionate feelings. Historians know five of his concubines who bore him children, but none of them ever bore the title of haseki, not to mention the possibility of a nikyakh padishah with any of them. Mehmed, as for the Sultan of the Sublime Porte, also had few children - historians know six of his sons (two died as teenagers during the life of his father, he executed one) and the names of four daughters (in fact, there were more of them, but how many and how called - covered in the darkness of the unknown).
This time there was no need to hide the death of the Sultan - all his sons were in Topkapi, in the harem "Cage" for shehzade. The choice was obvious - the 13-year-old eldest son of Mehmed, Ahmed I, ascended the throne of the Ottomans. By the way, at the same time, he saved the life of his younger brother (he was only a year younger than him), shehzade Mustafa. Firstly, because he was (before Ahmed had his own children) his only heir, and secondly (when Ahmed had his own children) because of his mental illness.
Well, Safiye Sultan was not in vain afraid of her grandchildren coming to power - one of the first decisions of Sultan Ahmed was to remove her from power and exile to the Old Palace, where all the concubines of the late sultans lived out their days. However, at the same time, Safiye, as the eldest, “great” Valide, continued to receive her fantastic salary of 3,000 Akçe per day.
Granny Sultana, although she lived, in general, not such a long (especially by the standards of our time) life - she died at about 68-69 years old, while outliving her grandson Sultan Ahmed (he died in November 1617 ), and found the beginning of the reign of his son, his great-grandson Osman II (1604-1622), who became sultan in February 1618, at the age of 14, after the overthrow of his uncle, the mentally disabled Sultan Mustafa I by the Janissaries. By the way, after the overthrow of Mustafa in the Old Palace was exiled by his mother, Halime Sultan. One must think she arranged "fun" last days the life of her mother-in-law Safiye, through whose fault Mehmed III executed her eldest son, Mahmud, in 1603.
The exact date of the death of the great valid Safie Sultan is unknown to historians. She died at the end of 1618 - beginning of 1619, and was buried in the Aya-Sofya mosque in the turba (mausoleum) of her sovereign, Murad III. There was no one to pay for it.
Sultans of the Ottoman Empire Four representatives of the Sultan's harem can be attributed to the number of indisputable figures of the period of the female sultanate.
Afife Nurbanu Sultan (tur. Afife Nûr-Banû Sultan, Ottoman نور بانو سلطان; c. 1525 - December 7, 1583) - concubine, then the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Selim II (she bore the title of Haseki), mother of Murad III; the first valid sultan of the period of the sultanate of women. The full-fledged founder of the female sultanate can be considered Nurbanu Sultan (representative of a noble Venetian family), the wife of Sultan Selim II (1566-1574) and the mother (that is, the valid sultan) of Sultan Murad III. period of special female influence to the reign of Selim II is impossible - under him, Nurbanu was just the wife of the Sultan, albeit the main one. Her influence increased after the accession of her son Murad III, who, although he ascended the throne at the age of 28, showed no interest in governing the country, spending time in entertainment and enjoyment in the harem. Nurbanu Sultan can generally be called the shadow manager of the empire until her death in 1583.
Safiye Sultan (tour. Safiye Sultan; c. 1550-1618 / 1619) - the concubine of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III and the mother of Mehmed III. During the reign of Mehmed, she bore the title of valid Sultan (mother of the Sultan) and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire. After Nurbanu Sultan, the role of "guardian" under Murad III was taken over by his main concubine, who never received the status of official wife Safiye Sultan. She was also a Venetian, moreover, came from the same family as her mother-in-law. She did not prevent the Sultan from spending time in entertainment, largely deciding state affairs for him. Her influence increased even more after the death of her husband in 1595 and the ascension to the throne of her son, Mehmed III. The new sultan immediately executed 19 of his brothers and even all of his father's pregnant concubines and further showed himself to be a bloody and incompetent ruler. However, Safiye Sultan under him was very close to being a real ruler. She died in 1604, Mehmed III outlived her by a couple of months.
Kösem Sultan, also known as Mahpeyker Sultan (tur. Mâh-Peyker Kösem; c. 1590 - September 2, 1651) - the second or third wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (she bore the title of Haseki) and the mother of Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I. during the reign of her sons, she bore the title of Valide Sultan (mother of the Sultan) and was one of the most influential women in the Ottoman Empire. Then, for some time, there was a break in the women's sultanate and women lost their influence - but only to be replaced by the real " sultana", Kösem Sultan, wife of Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617). With her husband, however, Kösem had no influence. She received it already in the status of a valid sultan, when in 1523, at the age of 11, her son Murad IV became the ruler. In 1540, he died and was replaced by his brother, another son of Kösem, Ibrahim I, who went down in history under the nickname Mad. With her sons, Kösem Sultan was almost the full ruler of Porta. After the assassination of Ibrahim I in 1648, he was succeeded by his son Mehmed IV. Initially, Kösem maintained a good relationship with her grandson, but quickly quarreled with him and was killed in 1651.
Turhan Hatice Sultan (tur. Turhan Hatice Sultan; c. 1628 - July 5, 1683) - the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim I with the title of Haseki, the mother of Sultan Mehmed IV, the valid Sultan and regent of the Ottoman Empire in the early years of his reign; the last representative of the period of the Sultanate of Women. The death of Kösem Sultan is often attributed to the last representative of the female sultanate, the wife of Ibrahim I and the mother of Mehmed IV, known as Turhan Sultan. She was Ukrainian by origin, her name was Nadezhda, and as a child she was kidnapped by the Crimean Tatars. At the age of 12, she became Ibrahim's concubine, she was presented to him by Kösem Sultan herself. At the age of 15, Turhan had already given birth to an heir, the future Mehmed IV. After her son came to power, Turhan now received the title of Valide Sultan and did not want to put up with an ambitious mother-in-law, whom, according to assumptions, she eliminated. Mehmed IV was not very attentive to state duties, preferring to spend most of his time hunting and sports on fresh air. In the period from 1648 to 1656, it was Turhan Sultan who was the regent for her young son. However, when he was 14 years old, the Valide Sultan appointed Mehmed Köprül as Grand Vizier, who became the founder of the dynasty of Grand Viziers, who concentrated real power in their hands for almost 60 years. Thus, the era of the female sultanate ended, and Turhan Sultan died in the summer of 1683, two months before the fatal defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the battle of Vienna.