Nilüfer Hatun ( ota, نیلوفر خاتون, birth name Holifere ''(Holophira)'' / Olivera,. other names ''Bayalun, Beylun, Beyalun, Bilun, Suyun, Suylun'') was a

Valide Hatun Khatun ( Mongolian: хатан; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣, katun; ota, خاتون, hatun or قادین ''kadın''; fa, خاتون ''khātūn''; ; hi, ख़ातून ') is a female title of nobility and counterpart to " khan" or " Khagan" promine ...

; the wife of

Orhan Orhan Ghazi ( ota, اورخان غازی; tr, Orhan Gazi, also spelled Orkhan, 1281 – March 1362) was the second bey of the Ottoman Beylik from 1323/4 to 1362. He was born in Söğüt, as the son of Osman I. In the early stages of his re ...

, the second Ottoman sultan. She was mother of the next sultan,

Murad I Murad I ( ota, مراد اول; tr, I. Murad, Murad-ı Hüdavendigâr (nicknamed ''Hüdavendigâr'', from fa, خداوندگار, translit=Khodāvandgār, lit=the devotee of God – meaning "sovereign" in this context); 29 June 1326 – 15 Jun ...

Biography

The traditional stories about her origin, traced back to the 15th century, are that she was daughter of the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

ruler (''

Tekfur ''Tekfur'' ( ota, تكور, tekvur) was a title used in the late Seljuk and early Ottoman periods to refer to independent or semi-independent minor Christian rulers or local Byzantine governors in Asia Minor and Thrace. Origin and meaning The ...

'') of

Bilecik Bilecik is the provincial capital of Turkey's Bilecik Province which is located in northwestern Anatolia. As of 2015 urban population of the city is 64,531. The mayor is Semih Şahin ( CHP). The town is famous for its numerous restored Turki ...

, called Holofira. As some stories go, Orhan's father

Osman Osman is the Persian transliteration and derived from the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, , link=no ''‘uthmān'') or an English surname. It may refer to: People * Osman (name), people with the name * Osman I (1258–132 ...

raided Bilecik at the time of Holofira's

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

arriving there with rich presents and disguised and hidden soldiers. Holofira was among the loot and given to Orhan. However modern researchers doubt this story, admitting that it may have been based on real events. Doubts are based on a lack of direct evidence from the time. In addition there is secondary evidence of an alternate origin, in particular her Ottoman name Nilüfer meaning water lily in the

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...

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. Other historians make her a daughter of the Prince of Yarhisar or a

Princess Helen (Nilüfer), who was of ethnic

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

descent.The Fall of Constantinople, Steven Runciman, Cambridge University Press, p.36The Nature of the Early Ottoman State, Heath W. Lowry, 2003 SUNY Press, p.153History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Stanford Jay Shaw, Cambridge University Press, p.24 According to a source, in the spring of 1299, the

magistrate who was to marry the daughter of Yarhisar invited Osman Ghazi and his men to his wedding festivity. In the spring the

Söğüt Söğüt (, ; Greek: Θηβάσιον or Θηβάσιο, ''Thêbásion'') is a town and district in Bilecik Province, Turkey. It is in the Marmara region in the north-west of the country, with an area of , bordering Bilecik to the west, Gölpaz ...

people migrated to Domaniς plateau until autumn. Osman Ghazi asked to leave all his belongings at the Bilecik castle before coming to the wedding. It was the usual practice in those years to entrust the heavy goods of encampment to neighbouring castles. The magistrate accepted gladly. The wedding would be in Chakirpinar, two hours away from Bilecik. On the way to the wedding, the magistrate of Yarhisar was encircled by Osman's soldiers. They turned back toward Yarhisar. When the people saw their magistrate, they opened the gates and Osman's soldiers got in. The conquest of the castle did not take long. At the Bilecik castle, one of the bales left by Osman Ghazi was opened. A soldier got out of it and informed others. Armed soldiers stepping out of the bales captured everyone in the castle. Bilecik had fallen to the Ottomans. While the guests were waiting for the bride, the horsemen of the Ottomans appeared. There was a big ceremony in Karacahisar. Orhan Ghazi would marry Holofira, the daughter of the Yarhisar magistrate. The young bride converted to Islam and became Nilüfer Hatun.

Nilüfer Hatun Imareti Nilüfer Hatun Imareti (Turkish for "Nilüfer Hatun Soup Kitchen"), a convent annex hospice for dervishes, now housing the Iznik Museum in İznik, Bursa Province, Turkey. This elegant building was erected in 1388 for Murat I who dedicated it to ...

("Nilüfer Hatun Soup Kitchen"), a convent annex hospice for

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, ...

es, now housing the Iznik Museum in

İznik İznik is a town and an administrative district in the Province of Bursa, Turkey. It was historically known as Nicaea ( el, Νίκαια, ''Níkaia''), from which its modern name also derives. The town lies in a fertile basin at the eastern end ...

Bursa Province Bursa Province ( tr, ) is a province in Turkey along the Sea of Marmara coast in northwestern Anatolia. It borders Balıkesir to the west, Kütahya to the south, Bilecik and Sakarya to the east, Kocaeli to the northeast and Yalova to the nor ...

, was built by Sultan Murad in 1388 to honor his mother after her death.

Issue

: (1326 – 15 June 1389). Assassinated by Miloš Obilić during the Battle of Kosovo.

Biography

Issue

See also

Notes and references

Further reading