Halime Sultan
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Halime Sultan ( ota, حلیمه سلطان, "''the gentle one''" or "''the patient one''") was a consort of Sultan
Mehmed III Mehmed III (, ''Meḥmed-i sālis''; tr, III. Mehmed; 26 May 1566 – 22 December 1603) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the L ...
, and the mother of Sultan
Mustafa I Mustafa I (; ‎; 1600, Constantinople – 20 January 1639, Constantinople), called Mustafa the Saint (Veli Mustafa) during his second reign, and often called Mustafa the Mad (Deli Mustafa) by historians, was the son of Sultan Mehmed III and H ...
. The first woman to be
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 ...
twice and the only to be Valide twice of a same son. She had at least four children with Mehmed: two sons Şehzade Mahmud and Mustafa I, and two daughters Hatice Sultan and Şah Sultan. She was ''de facto'' co-ruler as Valide Sultan from 22 November 1617 to 26 February 1618 and from 19 May 1622 to 10 September 1623, because her son was mentally instable. Halime was also one of the prominent figures 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 ...
. Halime lived in 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) ...
as a courtier during the reign of six Sultans:
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 ...
,
Mehmed III Mehmed III (, ''Meḥmed-i sālis''; tr, III. Mehmed; 26 May 1566 – 22 December 1603) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the L ...
,
Ahmed I Ahmed I ( ota, احمد اول '; tr, I. Ahmed; 18 April 1590 – 22 November 1617) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 until his death in 1617. Ahmed's reign is noteworthy for marking the first breach in the Ottoman tradition of royal f ...
,
Mustafa I Mustafa I (; ‎; 1600, Constantinople – 20 January 1639, Constantinople), called Mustafa the Saint (Veli Mustafa) during his second reign, and often called Mustafa the Mad (Deli Mustafa) by historians, was the son of Sultan Mehmed III and H ...
,
Osman II Osman II ( ota, عثمان ثانى ''‘Osmān-i sānī''; tr, II. Osman; 3 November 1604 – 20 May 1622), also known as Osman the Young ( tr, Genç Osman), was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 26 February 1618 until his regicide on 20 May 162 ...
,
Murad IV Murad IV ( ota, مراد رابع, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ''; tr, IV. Murad, was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad IV was born in Cons ...
.


Early life

Of
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
origin, Halime Sultan married Mehmed, when he was still a prince and the governor of Saruhan (
Manisa Manisa (), historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province. Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port cit ...
) Sanjak. After Sultan
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 ...
's death in 1595, she came to Istanbul along with Mehmed. In Istanbul, her son Mahmud was very popular with the janissaries. However, Halime never was Haseki Sultan and was not favored by her mother-in-law Safiye Sultan, who favorited Handan Hatun. She sent a message to a religious seer for she was superstitious, and anxious to know if her son would become the next Sultan, and how much longer her husband would reign. The seer responded, but the message was intercepted by Abdürrezzak Agha, the chief black enuch of the imperial harem, and who later gave it to Mehmed and Safiye, instead of her. The message said that Mehmed would die within six months without showing whether by death or deposition, and her son will become the next Sultan. Safiye incensed Mehmed, and he had Mahmud executed, who indeed knew nothing of his mother's action. Mahmud's followers who were supposed to be involved in the matter were thrown into the sea. It was also rumored that she was also executed. However, she was sent to the Eski (old) Palace located at the Beyazıt Square by the end of June. Mehmed died just six months after Mahmud's death. On Friday January 9, Safiye Sultan, along with
Şehzade Mustafa Şehzade Mustafa (Ottoman Turkish: شهزاده مصطفى; 6 August 1515 – 6 October 1553) was an Ottoman prince and the son of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his consort Mahidevran Sultan. He was the prince-governor of Manisa from 1532 ...
were also send to the Eski Palace. Between Mehmed's death and Mustafa's enthronement her stipend consisted of 100 aspers a day.


As Valide Sultan


First tenure

When Mustafa ascended the throne in 1617 she became 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 ...
and wielded a great power. While she, as a consort of Mehmed, had suffered the same obscurity as
Handan Sultan Handan Sultan ( ota, خندان سلطان meaning "smiling" in Persian; died 9 November 1605) was a consort of Sultan Mehmed III, and Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Ahmed I. Early life Of Bosnian origin, Handan Sultan was a servant in th ...
, she was clearly able to command greater status as Valide Sultan than her fellow consort had. This was probably in large measure because she exercised power more directly, acting as regent for her mentally incompetent son as his mental condition unimproved . No one had expected that Mustafa, who suffered from severe emotional problems, would become sultan, and so she had not enjoyed a position of much status within the imperial harem. She received 3,000 aspers although her mother-in-law Safiye Sultan was still alive. Her fellow consort
Handan Sultan Handan Sultan ( ota, خندان سلطان meaning "smiling" in Persian; died 9 November 1605) was a consort of Sultan Mehmed III, and Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Ahmed I. Early life Of Bosnian origin, Handan Sultan was a servant in th ...
received only 1,000 aspers as Valide Sultan.
Kösem Sultan Kösem Sultan ( ota, كوسم سلطان, translit=;, 1589Baysun, M. Cavid, s.v. "Kösem Walide or Kösem Sultan" in ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'' vol. V (1986), Brill, p. 272 " – 2 September 1651), also known as Mahpeyker SultanDouglas Arth ...
the Haseki Sultan to
Ahmed I Ahmed I ( ota, احمد اول '; tr, I. Ahmed; 18 April 1590 – 22 November 1617) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 until his death in 1617. Ahmed's reign is noteworthy for marking the first breach in the Ottoman tradition of royal f ...
his favorite consort and legal wife lost her position in Topkapi Palace and she retired in the Old palace after Mustafa I ascended. She had a potential ally in Kara Davud Pasha, but during Mustafa's first reign which lasted for only three months, she was unable to exploit her relationship by appointing Davud Pasha vizier. One of the few political alliances the ''valide'' was able to forge with her son's sword-bearer, Mustafa Agha, a high ranking inner palace officer, who was brought out of the palace and awarded the prestigious and strategically vital post of governor of Egypt on condition that he would marry the Sultan's wet nurse. Within a few months the pasha was brought back to Istanbul as grand vizier.


Osman's reign

Later, Mustafa was dethroned and his nephew
Osman II Osman II ( ota, عثمان ثانى ''‘Osmān-i sānī''; tr, II. Osman; 3 November 1604 – 20 May 1622), also known as Osman the Young ( tr, Genç Osman), was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 26 February 1618 until his regicide on 20 May 162 ...
ascended the throne due to Mustafa's mental condition. Mustafa was sent back to the
kafes The Kafes ( ota, قفس, kafes, from ), literally "cage", was the part of the Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Palace where possible successors to the throne were kept under a form of house-arrest and constant surveillance by the palace guards. Th ...
. She and her daughter Şah were sent to the Eski Palace. However, she received only 2,000 aspers during her retirement to the Old Palace between her son's two reigns; during the first months of her retirement Safiye was still alive, perhaps a neighbour in the Old Palace, receiving 3,000 aspers a day. Also
Kösem Sultan Kösem Sultan ( ota, كوسم سلطان, translit=;, 1589Baysun, M. Cavid, s.v. "Kösem Walide or Kösem Sultan" in ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'' vol. V (1986), Brill, p. 272 " – 2 September 1651), also known as Mahpeyker SultanDouglas Arth ...
the Haseki Sultan to Ahmed I his favorite consort and his legal wife received 1,000 aspers a day during her retirement in the Old Palace. From her location in the Old Palace, she was a key figure in the deposition and assassination of Osman II and showed that she was no stranger to the art of ''
damat Damat ( tr, damat, from fa, {{nq, داماد (dâmâd) "bridegroom") was an official Ottoman title describing men that entered the imperial House of Osman by means of marriage, literally becoming the bridegroom to the Ottoman sultan and the d ...
'' politic. The basic and exceptional weakness from which Osman II suffered was the conspicuous absence of a female power basis in the harem. From 1620 until Osman's death, a governess (daye hatun, lit. wet-nurse) was appointed as a stand-in valide, and she could not counterbalance the contriving of Halime Sultan in the Old Palace.


Second tenure

Seeking a counterweight to Janissary influence, Osman II closed their coffee shops and started planning to create a new and more loyal army consisting of Anatolian sekbans. The result was a palace uprising by the Janissaries which was supported by Halime Sultan as she wanted to free her son from his confinement and become the Valide Sultan once again . Later on 18 May 1622 Osman was again dethroned and the rebels, meanwhile, broke into the imperial palace and freed Mustafa from his confinement and acclaimed him as their master. She once again returned from the Old Palace and became the Valide Sultan. Some of the
janissaries A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
consulted with her about the appointments to be made and it was in fact her son-in-law,
Kara Davud Pasha Kara Davud Pasha, also known as simply Davud Pasha or as Hain Davud Pasha ("Davud Pasha the Traitor"), was an Ottoman statesman who became briefly Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1622, during the reign of his brother-in-law Mustafa I.Encyc ...
, who became the grand vizier. The faction committed to the cause of Mustafa and she could not feel secure while Osman II was alive. Their uneasiness was well grounded, since some of the rebels wished to spare Osman, hoping no doubt to make no use of him for their own ends at some future date.
Kara Davud Pasha Kara Davud Pasha, also known as simply Davud Pasha or as Hain Davud Pasha ("Davud Pasha the Traitor"), was an Ottoman statesman who became briefly Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1622, during the reign of his brother-in-law Mustafa I.Encyc ...
had recourse, therefore to the last extreme measure on 20 May 1622, Osman II was strangled in the prison of
Yedikule Yedikule ( en, Seven Towers) is a neighborhood of Fatih, Istanbul in Turkey. It is named after the seven-towered Yedikule Fortress, which surrounds the neighborhood. Urbanized in the 16th century, the neighborhood became a hub for industrial and a ...
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, ...
.


Murad's enthronement

After Osman's death, the governor general of Erzurum, Abaza Mehmed Pasha, decided to advance to Istanbul to settle the score with the murderers of Osman II. Kara Davud Pasha was chosen as a scapegoat and was executed in an attempt to modify the discontent and preempt the rebellions that were building up in the empire, but to no avail: Mehmed Pasha, despite the offers made by the emissaries from the capital, continued his advance. Faced with an ever-deepening crises, clerics and the new Grand Vizier
Kemankeş Kara Ali Pasha Kemankeş Kara Ali Paşa was a Turkish Ottoman statesman. He was the 80th grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1624.Turkish State Archives during the reign of Sultan Murad IV Murad IV ( ota, مراد رابع, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ'' ...
petitioned her to agree to the deposition of her son in favour of eleven year old Şehzade Murad, the oldest surviving son of Ahmed I. She concurred, only pleading that her son's life be spared. Accordingly, Mustafa was dethroned and incarcerated again.


Death

She died after 1623 and she was buried in the mausoleum of her son in Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul.


Issue

Together with
Mehmed Mehmed (modern Turkish: Mehmet) is the most common Bosnian and Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammad ( ar, محمد) (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muh ...
, Halime had at least four children, two sons and two daughters:


Sons

* Şehzade Mahmud (1587, Manisa Palace,
Manisa Manisa (), historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province. Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port cit ...
– executed under Mehmed III's order on 7 June 1603, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul; buried in Şehzade Mahmud Mausoleum,
Şehzade Mosque The Şehzade Mosque ( tr, Şehzade Camii, from the original Persian شاهزاده ''Šāhzādeh'', meaning "prince") is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It was comm ...
). *
Mustafa I Mustafa I (; ‎; 1600, Constantinople – 20 January 1639, Constantinople), called Mustafa the Saint (Veli Mustafa) during his second reign, and often called Mustafa the Mad (Deli Mustafa) by historians, was the son of Sultan Mehmed III and H ...
(1600/1601, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul – 20 January 1639, Eski Palace, Istanbul; buried in Mustafa I Mausoleum,
Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
Mosque),
Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
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) ...
.


Daughters

*Hatice Sultan (1588?, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 1613, Constantinople), married firstly in 1604 to Damat Mirahur Mustafa Pasha, married secondly in 1612 to Sultanzade Mahmud Pasha, son of Cigalazade Sinan Pasha and Saliha Hanimsultan (daughter of Ayşe Hümaşah Sultan, granddaughter of Sultan Suleyman I). She died shortly after this marriage. * Şah Sultan (1590?, Manisa Palace, Manisa – after 1623, Constantinople) , married in 1604 (consummated in March 1606) to Damat
Kara Davud Pasha Kara Davud Pasha, also known as simply Davud Pasha or as Hain Davud Pasha ("Davud Pasha the Traitor"), was an Ottoman statesman who became briefly Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1622, during the reign of his brother-in-law Mustafa I.Encyc ...
, later
Grand Vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...
. She had a son and a daughter.


In popular culture

In the 2015 TV series '' Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem'', Halime Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Aslıhan Gürbüz.In the series she is depicted as the mother of three children, Sehzade Mahmud, Mustafa I and Dilruba Sultan (invented name because, when the series was filmed, the names of Mehmed III's daughters were not known. The name of the corresponding historical princess is now known as Sah Sultan).


See also

* Ottoman dynasty *
Ottoman family tree This is a male family tree for all the Ottoman Sultans and their mothers. __TOC__ Significant periods in Ottoman history See also * Ottoman dynasty * Ottoman history * Ottoman Empire * Line ...
*
List of Valide Sultans #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 ...
*
List of consorts of the Ottoman Sultans This is a list of Consorts of the Ottoman sultans, the wives and concubines of the monarchs of the Ottoman Empire who ruled over the transcontinental empire from its inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. Honorific and titles Hatun Ha ...


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halime Sultan Valide sultan 17th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans 16th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans Georgians from the Ottoman Empire