Hurrem Sultan (, ota, خُرّم سلطان, translit=Ḫurrem Sulṭān, tr, Hürrem Sultan, label=
Modern Turkish
Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant smal ...
; 1500 – 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana ( uk, Роксолана}; ), was the chief consort and legal wife of the
Ottoman sultan
The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...
. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in
Ottoman history
The Ottoman Empire was founded c. 1299 by Osman I as a small beylik in northwestern Asia Minor just south of the Byzantine capital Constantinople. The Ottomans first crossed into Europe in 1352, establishing a permanent settlement at Çimpe Cast ...
as well as a prominent and controversial figure during the era known as the
Sultanate of Women
The Sultanate of Women ( Turkish: ''Kadınlar saltanatı'') was a period when wives and mothers of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire exerted extraordinary political influence.
This phenomenon took place from roughly 1528-30 to 1715, beginning in ...
.
Born in
Ruthenia
Ruthenia or , uk, Рутенія, translit=Rutenia or uk, Русь, translit=Rus, label=none, pl, Ruś, be, Рутэнія, Русь, russian: Рутения, Русь is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin as one of several terms ...
(then an eastern region of the
Kingdom of Poland
The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to:
Historical political entities
*Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031
*Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exist ...
, now
Rohatyn
Rohatyn ( uk, Рогатин, pl, Rohatyn) is a city located on the Hnyla Lypa River in Ivano-Frankivsk Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Rohatyn urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Pop ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
) to a
Ruthenia
Ruthenia or , uk, Рутенія, translit=Rutenia or uk, Русь, translit=Rus, label=none, pl, Ruś, be, Рутэнія, Русь, russian: Рутения, Русь is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin as one of several terms ...
n
Orthodox priest
Presbyter is, in the Bible, a synonym for ''bishop'' (''episkopos''), referring to a leader in local church congregations. In modern Eastern Orthodox usage, it is distinct from ''bishop'' and synonymous with priest. Its literal meaning in Greek (' ...
, Hurrem was captured by
Crimean Tatars
, flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg
, flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars
, image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg
, caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace
...
during a
slave raid
Slave raiding is a military raid for the purpose of capturing people and bringing them from the raid area to serve as slaves. Once seen as a normal part of warfare, it is nowadays widely considered a crime. Slave raiding has occurred since an ...
and eventually taken to
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, the
Ottoman capital. She entered the
Imperial Harem
The Imperial Harem ( ota, حرم همايون, ) of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded po ...
, rose through the ranks and became the favourite of Sultan Suleiman. Breaking Ottoman tradition, he married Hurrem, making her his legal wife. Sultans had previously married only foreign free noble ladies. She was the first imperial consort to receive the title Haseki Sultan. Hurrem remained in the sultan's court for the rest of her life, enjoying a close and faithful relationship with her husband, and having six children with him, including the future sultan,
Selim II
Selim II ( Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى ''Selīm-i sānī'', tr, II. Selim; 28 May 1524 – 15 December 1574), also known as Selim the Blond ( tr, Sarı Selim) or Selim the Drunk ( tr, Sarhoş Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire ...
. She was the grandmother of
Murad III
Murad III ( ota, مراد ثالث, Murād-i sālis; tr, III. Murad; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Saf ...
.
Hurrem eventually achieved power, influencing the politics of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. Through her husband, she played an active role in affairs of the state. She probably acted as the sultan's advisor, wrote diplomatic letters to King
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler ...
of Poland () and patronized major public works (including the
Haseki Sultan Complex and the
Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse). She died in 1558, in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
and was buried in a mausoleum within the
Süleymaniye Mosque
The Süleymaniye Mosque ( tr, Süleymaniye Camii, ) is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan. An insc ...
complex.
Names
Hurrem's birth name is unknown.
Leslie P. Peirce
Leslie P. Peirce is an American professor in history. Her research interests include early modern history of the Ottoman Empire, gender, law, and society.Content in this edit is translated from the existing Turkish Wikipedia article at ">:tr :Hürrem Sultan; see its history for attribution. Among the Ottomans, she was known mainly as Haseki Hurrem Sultan or Hurrem Haseki Sultan. ''Hurrem'' or ''Khorram'' ( fa, ) means "''the joyfull one''" in Persian. The name ''Roxalane'' derives from ''Roksolanes'', which was the generic term used by the Ottomans to describe girls from Podolia
Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central ...
and Galicia who were taken in slave raids
Slave raiding is a military raid for the purpose of capturing people and bringing them from the raid area to serve as slaves. Once seen as a normal part of warfare, it is nowadays widely considered a crime. Slave raiding has occurred since ant ...
.
Origin
Sources indicate that Hurrem Sultan was originally from Ruthenia
Ruthenia or , uk, Рутенія, translit=Rutenia or uk, Русь, translit=Rus, label=none, pl, Ruś, be, Рутэнія, Русь, russian: Рутения, Русь is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin as one of several terms ...
, which was then part of the Polish Crown
The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, includ ...
. She was born in the town of Rohatyn
Rohatyn ( uk, Рогатин, pl, Rohatyn) is a city located on the Hnyla Lypa River in Ivano-Frankivsk Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Rohatyn urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Pop ...
southeast of Lwów (Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
), a major city of the Ruthenian Voivodeship
The Ruthenian Voivodeship (Latin: ''Palatinatus russiae'', Polish: ''Województwo ruskie'', Ukrainian: ''Руське воєводство'', romanized: ''Ruske voievodstvo''), also called Rus’ voivodeship, was a voivodeship of the Crown of ...
of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, includ ...
, in what is now Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. According to late 16th-century and early 17th-century sources, such as the Polish poet Samuel Twardowski
Samuel Ludwik Twardowski (before 1600 – 1661) was a Polish poet, diarist, and essayist who gained popularity in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was called by his contemporaries the "Polish Virgil".
Life and works
He was a member of Po ...
(died 1661), who researched the subject in Turkey, Hurrem was seemingly born to a man surnamed Lisovski, who was an Orthodox priest
Presbyter is, in the Bible, a synonym for ''bishop'' (''episkopos''), referring to a leader in local church congregations. In modern Eastern Orthodox usage, it is distinct from ''bishop'' and synonymous with priest. Its literal meaning in Greek (' ...
of Ruthenian origin.["The Speech of Ibrahim at the Coronation of Maximilian II", Thomas Conley, ''Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric'', Vol. 20, No. 3 (Summer 2002), 266.][Kemal H. Karpat, ''Studies on Ottoman Social and Political History: Selected Articles and Essays'', (Brill, 2002), 756.] Her native language was Ruthenian, the precursor to modern Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
.
During the reign of Selim I
Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite last ...
, which means some time between 1512 and 1520, Crimean Tatars
, flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg
, flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars
, image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg
, caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace
...
kidnapped her during one of their Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe
For over three centuries, the military of the Crimean Khanate and the Nogai Horde conducted slave raids primarily in lands controlled by Russia and Poland-Lithuania as well as other territories, often under the sponsorship of the Ottoman Empire ...
. The Tatars may have first taken her to the Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
n city of Kaffa, a major centre of the Ottoman slave trade
Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to:
Governments and dynasties
* Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924
* Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...
, before she was taken to Istanbul. In Istanbul, Valide
The valide trombone is a hybrid valve trombone invented in the 1940s by jazz musician Brad Gowans. It features both a set of three piston brass instrument valve, valves and a slide to vary the pitch. The slide on the valide is positioned within th ...
Hafsa Sultan
Hafsa Sultan ( ota, حفصه سلطان, "''Young lioness''"; or before – 19 March 1534), also called Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, was a concubine of Selim I and the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Dur ...
selected Hurrem as a gift for her son, Suleiman. Hurrem later managed to become the Haseki Sultan or "favorite concubine" of the Ottoman imperial harem
The Imperial Harem ( ota, حرم همايون, ) of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded ...
.[ Michalo Lituanus wrote in the 16th century that "the most beloved wife of the present Turkish emperor – mother of his first onwho will govern after him, was kidnapped from our land".]
Shaykh Qutb al-Din al-Nahrawali, a Meccan religious figure, who visited Istanbul in late 1557, noted in his memoirs that Hurrem Sultan was of Ruthenian origin. She had been a servant in the household of Hançerli Fatma Sultan, daughter of Şehzade Mahmud, son of Sultan Bayezid II
Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, ...
. She was presented to Suleiman when he was still a prince.
European ambassadors of that period called her la Rossa, la Rosa, and Roxelana, meaning "the Russian woman" or "the Ruthenian one" for her alleged Ruthenian origins. She is the sultan's consort with the most portraits in her name in the Ottoman Empire, though the portraits are imaginary depictions by painters.
Relationship with Suleiman
Roxelana, called Hurrem Sultan by the Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
, probably entered the harem around seventeen years of age. The precise year that she entered the harem is unknown, but scholars believe that she became Suleiman's concubine around the time he became sultan in 1520.
Hurrem's unprecedented rise from harem slave to Suleiman's legal wife and Ottoman Empress attracted jealousy and disfavor not only from her rivals in the harem, but also from the general populace. She soon became Suleiman's most prominent consort beside Mahidevran
Mahidevran Hatun ( ota, ماه دوران "''lucky's moon''", 1500 – 3 February 1581; also known as Gülbahar Hatun) was a concubine of Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire and the mother of Şehzade Mustafa. After Suleiman ascended ...
(also known as Gülbahar), and their relationship was monogamous. While the exact dates for the births of her children are disputed, there is academic consensus that the births of her five children —Şehzade Mehmed
Şehzade Mehmed ( ota, شہزادہ محمد; 31 October 1522 – 7 November 1543) was an Ottoman prince (''şehzade''), the son of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sultan. He served as governor of Manisa.
Life
Şehzade Mehmed ...
, Mihrimah Sultan, Şehzade Abdullah
Şehzade Abdullah (c. 1523–1526) was an Ottoman prince (şehzade), as the son of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. He is generally understood to be the son of Hurrem Sultan, as Suleiman and Hurrem were in a monogamous relationship by the ...
, Sultan Selim II
Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى ''Selīm-i sānī'', tr, II. Selim; 28 May 1524 – 15 December 1574), also known as Selim the Blond ( tr, Sarı Selim) or Selim the Drunk ( tr, Sarhoş Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire f ...
and Şehzade Bayezid
Şehzade Bayezid ( ota, شهزاده بايزيد; 1525 – 25 September 1561) was an Ottoman prince as the son of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and Hurrem Sultan. After the execution of Şehzade Mustafa (who had been the heir apparent to the ...
— occurred quickly over the next four to five years.[ Suleiman and Hurrem's last child, ]Şehzade Cihangir
Şehzade Cihangir ( ota, شهزاده جهانگير; 1531 – 27 November 1553) was an Ottoman prince, the sixth and youngest child of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sultan.
Life
Cihangir was born in Constantinople in 1531 d ...
was born with a hunchback, but by that time Hurrem had borne enough healthy sons to secure the future of the Ottoman dynasty.[
Her joyful spirit and playful temperament earned her a new name, Hurrem, from Persian ''Khorram'', "the cheerful one". In the Istanbul ]harem
Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...
, Hurrem became a rival to Mahidevran and her influence over the sultan soon became legendary.
Hurrem was allowed to give birth to more than one son which was a stark violation of the old imperial harem principle, "one concubine mother — one son," which was designed to prevent both the mother's influence over the sultan and the feuds of the blood brothers for the throne. She was to bear the majority of Suleiman's children. Hurrem gave birth to her first son Mehmed in 1521 (who died in 1543) and then to four more sons, destroying Mahidevran's status as the mother of the sultan's only son.
Suleiman's mother, Hafsa Sultan
Hafsa Sultan ( ota, حفصه سلطان, "''Young lioness''"; or before – 19 March 1534), also called Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, was a concubine of Selim I and the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Dur ...
, partially suppressed the rivalry between the two women. According to Bernardo Navagero
Bernardo Navagero (Venice 1507 – 13 April 1565 Verona) was a Venetian ambassador and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
Life
Venetian patrician, son of Gianluigi Navagero and Lucrezia Agostini, he studied at the University of Padua. He ma ...
's report, as a result of the bitter rivalry a fight between the two women broke out, with Mahidevran
Mahidevran Hatun ( ota, ماه دوران "''lucky's moon''", 1500 – 3 February 1581; also known as Gülbahar Hatun) was a concubine of Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire and the mother of Şehzade Mustafa. After Suleiman ascended ...
beating Hurrem, which angered Suleiman
Suleiman (Arabic language, Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān''; or dictionary.reference.comsuleiman/ref>) is the Arabic name of the Quranic king and Islam, Islamic prophet Solomon (name), Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Heb ...
. According to Necdet Sakaoğlu, a Turkish historian, these accusations were not truthful. After the death of Suleiman
Suleiman (Arabic language, Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān''; or dictionary.reference.comsuleiman/ref>) is the Arabic name of the Quranic king and Islam, Islamic prophet Solomon (name), Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Heb ...
's mother Hafsa Sultan
Hafsa Sultan ( ota, حفصه سلطان, "''Young lioness''"; or before – 19 March 1534), also called Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, was a concubine of Selim I and the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Dur ...
in 1534, Hurrem's influence in the palace increased, and she took over the ruling of the Harem.[Content in this edit is translated from the existing Turkish Wikipedia article at tr :Hürrem Sultan; see its history for attribution.] Hurrem became the only partner of the ruler and received the title of Haseki, which means the favorite. When Suleiman
Suleiman (Arabic language, Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān''; or dictionary.reference.comsuleiman/ref>) is the Arabic name of the Quranic king and Islam, Islamic prophet Solomon (name), Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Heb ...
freed and married her, she became the Haseki Sultan (adding the word sultan to a woman's name or title indicated that she was a part of the dynasty).
Around 1533/1534 (the exact date is unknown), Suleiman married Hurrem in a magnificent formal ceremony. Never before had a former slave been elevated to the status of the sultan's lawful spouse, a development which astonished observers in the palace and in the city. It was only possible for Hurrem to marry Suleiman
Suleiman (Arabic language, Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān''; or dictionary.reference.comsuleiman/ref>) is the Arabic name of the Quranic king and Islam, Islamic prophet Solomon (name), Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Heb ...
after the death of Hafsa Sultan
Hafsa Sultan ( ota, حفصه سلطان, "''Young lioness''"; or before – 19 March 1534), also called Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, was a concubine of Selim I and the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Dur ...
. It was not because Hafsa Sultan
Hafsa Sultan ( ota, حفصه سلطان, "''Young lioness''"; or before – 19 March 1534), also called Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, was a concubine of Selim I and the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Dur ...
was firmly against this unification, but because it was not allowed for a concubine to rise above the status of the Valide Sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan
{{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from miscapitalization{{R unprintworthy ...
{{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from miscapitalization{{R unprintworthy ...
(Queen Mother).
Hurrem became the first consort to receive the title ''
Haseki Sultan''. This title, used for a century, reflected the great power of imperial consorts (most of them were former slaves) in the Ottoman court, elevating their status higher than Ottoman princesses, and making them the equals of empresses consort in Europe. In this case, Suleiman not only broke the old custom, but began a new tradition for the future Ottoman sultans: To marry in a formal ceremony and to give their consorts significant influence on the court, especially in matters of succession. Hurrem's salary was 2,000
aspers
Aspers is a census-designated place in Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 486. At the 2000 census it was listed as the Bendersville Station-Aspers CDP.
Geography
Aspers is located at (39.97 ...
a day, making her one of the highest-paid Hasekis.
After the wedding, the idea circulated that the sultan had limited his autonomy and was dominated and controlled by his wife. Also, in Ottoman society, mothers played more influential roles in their sons' educations and in guiding their careers.
After the death of Suleiman's mother, Hafsa Sultan, in 1534, Hurrem became the most trusted news source of Suleiman. In one of her letters to Suleiman, she informs him about the situation of the plague in the capital. She wrote, "My dearest Sultan! If you ask about Istanbul, the city still suffers from the plague; however, it is not like the previous one. God willing, it will go away as soon as you return to the city. Our ancestors said that the plague goes away once the trees shed their leaves in autumn."
Later, Hurrem became the first woman to remain in the sultan's court for the duration of her life. In the Ottoman imperial family tradition, a sultan's consort was to remain in the harem only until her son came of age (around 16 or 17), after which he would be sent away from the capital to govern a faraway province, and his mother would follow him. This tradition was called ''
Sancak Beyliği.'' The consorts were never to return to Istanbul unless their sons succeeded to the throne. In defiance of this age-old custom, Hurrem stayed behind in the harem, even after her sons went to govern the empire's remote provinces.
Moreover, remaining in Istanbul, she moved out of the harem located in the
Old Palace (''Eski Saray'') and permanently moved into the
Topkapı Palace
The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio
A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) i ...
after a fire destroyed the old harem. Some sources say she moved to Topkapı, not because of the fire, but as a result of her marriage to Suleiman. Either way, this was another significant break from established customs, as Sultan
Mehmed the Conqueror
Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
had specifically issued a decree to the effect that no women would be allowed to reside in the same building where government affairs were conducted.
[ After Hürrem resided at Topkapı it became known as the New Palace (''saray-ı jedid'').
She wrote many love letters to Suleiman when he was away for campaigns. In one of her letters, she wrote:
:"After I put my head on the ground and kiss the soil that your blessed feet step upon, my nation's sun and wealth my sultan, if you ask about me, your servant who has caught fire from the zeal of missing you, I am like the one whose liver (in this case, meaning heart) has been broiled; whose chest has been ruined; whose eyes are filled with tears, who cannot distinguish anymore between night and day; who has fallen into the sea of yearning; desperate, mad with your love; in a worse situation than Ferhat and Majnun, this passionate love of yours, your slave, is burning because I have been separated from you. Like a nightingale, whose sighs and cries for help do not cease, I am in such a state due to being away from you. I would pray to Allah to not afflict this pain even upon your enemies. My dearest sultan! As it has been one-and-a-half months since I last heard from you, Allah knows that I have been crying night and day waiting for you to come back home. While I was crying without knowing what to do, the one and only Allah allowed me to receive good news from you. Once I heard the news, Allah knows, I came to life once more since I had died while waiting for you.]
Under his pen name, Muhibbi, Sultan Suleiman composed this poem for Hurrem Sultan:
"Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.
My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.
The most beautiful among the beautiful...
My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf...
My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this world...
My Istanbul, my Caraman, the earth of my Anatolia
My Badakhshan, my Baghdad and Khorasan
My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of mischief...
I'll sing your praises always
I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy."
State affairs
Hurrem Sultan is known as the first woman in Ottoman history to concern herself with state affairs. Thanks to her intelligence, she acted as Suleiman's chief adviser on matters of state, and seems to have had an influence upon foreign policy and international politics. She frequently accompanied him as a political adviser. She imprinted her seal and watched the council meetings through a wire mesh window. With many other revolutionary movements like these, she had started an era in Ottoman Empire called the Reign of Women. Hurrem's influence on Suleiman was so significant that rumors circulated around the Ottoman court that the sultan had been bewitched.[
Her influence with Suleiman made her one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history and in the world at that time. Even as a consort, her power was comparable with the most powerful woman of the Imperial Harem, who by tradition was the sultan's mother or '']valide sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan
{{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from miscapitalization{{R unprintworthy ...
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''. For this reason, she has become a controversial figure in Ottoman history — subject to allegations of plotting against and manipulating her political rivals.
Hurrem's influence in state affairs not only made her one of the most influential women, but also a controversial figure in Ottoman history, especially in her rivalry with Mahidevran and her son
s'' (Ottoman princes), four of whom survived past the 1550s: Mehmed, Selim, Bayezid, and Cihangir. Of these, Mahidevran's son Mustafa was the eldest and preceded Hurrem's children in the order of succession. Traditionally, when a new sultan rose to power, he would order all of his
in order to ensure there was no power struggle. This practice was called ''kardeş katliamı'', literally "fraternal massacring".
Mustafa was supported by Ibrahim Pasha, who became Suleiman's grand vizier in 1523. Hurrem has usually been held at least partly responsible for the intrigues in nominating a successor.