Hurrem Sultan (, ota, خُرّم سلطان, translit=Ḫurrem Sulṭān, tr, Hürrem Sultan, label= Modern Turkish; 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. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history 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, now Rohatyn, Ukraine) to a

n Orthodox priest, Hurrem was captured by Crimean Tatars during a slave raid and eventually taken to Istanbul, the Ottoman capital. She entered the Imperial Harem, 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. 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 of Poland () and patronized major public works (including the

Haseki Sultan Complex The Haseki Sultan Complex (also Hürrem Sultan Complex) ( tr, Haseki Hürrem Sultan Külliyesi) is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque complex in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first royal project designed by the chief impe ...

and the Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse). She died in 1558, in Istanbul and was buried in a mausoleum within the Süleymaniye Mosque 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 and

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

who were taken in slave raids.

Origin

Sources indicate that Hurrem Sultan was originally from

, which was then part of the Polish Crown. She was born in the town of Rohatyn southeast of Lwów ( Lviv), 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. According to late 16th-century and early 17th-century sources, such as the Polish poet Samuel Twardowski (died 1661), who researched the subject in Turkey, Hurrem was seemingly born to a man surnamed Lisovski, who was an Orthodox priest 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. During the reign of Selim I, which means some time between 1512 and 1520, Crimean Tatars kidnapped her during one of their Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe. The Tatars may have first taken her to the Crimean 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

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.

Michalo Lituanus ''De moribus tartarorum, lituanorum et moscorum'' ("On the Customs of Tatars, Lithuanians and Muscovites") is a 16th-century Latin treatise by Michalo Lituanus ("Michael the Lithuanian"). The work, which was originally dedicated to King of Poland a ...

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 (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,

Mihrimah Sultan Sultan may refer to: * Mihrimah Sultan (daughter of Suleiman I) (1522–1578), Ottoman princess * Mihrümah Sultan (daughter of Şehzade Bayezid) (1547–1602), Ottoman princess * Mihrimah Sultan (daughter of Murad III) (1579–), Ottoman princess ...

, Şehzade Abdullah, Sultan Selim II and Şehzade Bayezid — occurred quickly over the next four to five years. Suleiman and Hurrem's last child, Şehzade Cihangir 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, 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 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 ...

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,

, 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 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

's mother

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

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

after the death of

. It was not because

was firmly against this unification, but because it was not allowed for a concubine to rise above the status of the Valide Sultan (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 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." Roxelana Rohatyn Jul 2008151

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 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 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''. For this reason, she has become a controversial figure in Ottoman history — subject to allegations of plotting against and manipulating her political rivals.

Controversial figure

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 Şehzade Mustafa, and the grand viziers Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha and Kara Ahmed Pasha. Hurrem and Mahidevran had borne Suleiman six '' şehzades'' (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 brothers killed 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. Although she was Suleiman's wife, she exercised no official public role. This did not, however, prevent Hurrem from wielding powerful political influence. Since the empire lacked, until the reign of

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 ...

(1603–1617), any formal means of nominating a successor, successions usually involved the death of competing princes in order to avert civil unrest and rebellions. In attempting to avoid the execution of her sons, Hurrem used her influence to eliminate those who supported Mustafa's accession to the throne. A skilled commander of Suleiman's army, Ibrahim eventually fell from grace after an imprudence committed during a campaign against the Persian

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

empire during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55), when he awarded himself a title including the word "

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 ...

". Another conflict occurred when Ibrahim and his former mentor,

İskender Çelebi İskender Çelebi (; died March 1535) was a long-serving ''defterdar'' (finance secretary) of the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. Possibly the most notable events which befell him took place during the war of 1532–35 ...

, repeatedly clashed over military leadership and positions during the Safavid war. These incidents launched a series of events which culminated in his execution in 1536 by Suleiman's order. It is believed that Hurrem's influence contributed to Suleiman's decision.Mansel, 87. After three other grand viziers in eight years, Suleiman selected Hurrem's son-in-law, Damat Rüstem Pasha, husband of Mihrimah, to become the grand vizier. Scholars have wondered if Hurrem's alliance with Mihrimah Sultan and Rüstem Pasha helped secure the throne for one of Hurrem's sons. Many years later, towards the end of Suleiman's long reign, the rivalry between his sons became evident. Mustafa was later accused of causing unrest. During the campaign against

Safavid Persia Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

in 1553, because of fear of rebellion, Suleiman ordered the execution of Mustafa. According to a source he was executed that very year on charges of planning to dethrone his father; his guilt for the treason of which he was accused remains neither proven nor disproven.Peirce, 55. It is also rumored that Hurrem Sultan conspired against Mustafa with the help of her daughter and son-in-law Rustem Pasha; they wanted to portray Mustafa as a traitor who secretly contacted the Shah of Iran. Acting on Hurrem Sultan's orders, Rustem Pasha had engraved Mustafa's seal and sent a letter seemingly written from his mouth to Shah Tahmasb I, and then sent Shah's response to

. After the death of Mustafa, Mahidevran lost her status in the palace as the mother of the heir apparent and moved to

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

. She did not spend her last years in poverty, as her stepson,

, the new sultan after 1566, put her on a lavish salary. Her rehabilitation had been possible after the death of Hurrem in 1558. Cihangir, Hurrem's youngest child, allegedly died of grief a few months after the news of his half-brother's murder.Mansel, 89. Although the stories about Hurrem's role in executions of Ibrahim, Mustafa, and Kara Ahmed are very popular, actually none of them are based on first-hand sources. All other depictions of Hurrem, starting with comments by sixteenth and seventeenth-century Ottoman historians as well as by European diplomats, observers, and travellers, are highly derivative and speculative in nature. Because none of these people – neither Ottomans nor foreign visitors – were permitted into the inner circle of the imperial harem, which was surrounded by multiple walls, they largely relied on the testimony of the servants or courtiers or on the popular gossip circulating around Istanbul. Even the reports of the Venetian ambassadors (''baili'') at Suleiman's court, the most extensive and objective first-hand Western source on Hurrem to date, were often filled with the authors’ own interpretations of the harem rumours. Most other sixteenth-century Western sources on Hurrem, which are considered highly authoritative today — such as ''Turcicae epistolae'' (English: ''The Turkish Letters'') of Ogier de Busbecq, the Emissary of the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Ferdinand I Ferdinand I or Fernando I may refer to: People * Ferdinand I of León, ''the Great'' (ca. 1000–1065, king from 1037) * Ferdinand I of Portugal and the Algarve, ''the Handsome'' (1345–1383, king from 1367) * Ferdinand I of Aragon and Sicily, '' ...

at the Porte between 1554 and 1562; the account of the murder of Şehzade Mustafa by Nicholas de Moffan; the historical chronicles on Turkey by Paolo Giovio; and the travel narrative by Luidgi Bassano — derived from hearsay.

Foreign policy

Letter of Roxelane to Sigismond Auguste complementing him for his accession to the throne 1549

Hurrem acted as Suleiman's advisor on matters of state, and seems to have had an influence upon

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

and on

international politics International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the Scientific method, scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities betwe ...

. Two of her letters to King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland (reigned 1548–1572) have survived, and during her lifetime the Ottoman Empire generally had peaceful relations with the Polish state within a

Polish–Ottoman alliance A Polish–Ottoman alliance, based on several treaties, occurred during the 16th century between the kingdom of Poland-Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire, as the Ottomans were expanding into Central Europe. Background Poland and the Ottoman Emp ...

. In her first short letter to Sigismund II, Hurrem expresses her highest joy and congratulations to the new king on the occasion of his ascension to the Polish throne after the death of his father

Sigismund I the Old Sigismund I the Old ( pl, Zygmunt I Stary, lt, Žygimantas II Senasis; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the ...

in 1548. There was a seal on the back of the letter. For the first and only time in the Ottoman Empire, a female sultan exchanged letters with a king. After that, although Hurrem's successor Nurbanu Sultan and her successor

Safiye Sultan Safiye Sultan ( ota, صفیه سلطان; "''pure''" 1550 – 20 April 1619) was the Haseki Sultan (chief consort) of Murad III and Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother of Mehmed III and the grandmother of Sultans: Ahmed I and Mu ...

exchanged letters with queens, there is no other example of a female sultan who personally contacted a king other than Hurrem Sultan. She pleads with the King to trust her envoy Hassan Ağa who took another message from her by word of mouth. In her second letter to Sigismund Augustus, written in response to his letter, Hurrem expresses in superlative terms her joy at hearing that the king is in good health and that he sends assurances of his sincere friendliness and attachment towards Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She quotes the sultan as saying, "with the old king we were like brothers, and if it pleases the All-Merciful God, with this king we will be as father and son." With this letter, Hurrem sent Sigismund II the gift of two pairs of linen shirts and pants, some belts, six handkerchiefs, and a hand-towel, with a promise to send a special linen robe in the future. There are reasons to believe that these two letters were more than just diplomatic gestures, and that Suleiman's references to brotherly or fatherly feelings were not a mere tribute to political expediency. The letters also suggest Hurrem's strong desire to establish personal contact with the king. In his 1551 letter to Sigismund II concerning the embassy of Piotr Opaliński, Suleiman wrote that the Ambassador had seen "Your sister and my wife." Whether this phrase refers to a warm friendship between the Polish King and Ottoman Haseki, or whether it suggests a closer relation, the degree of their intimacy definitely points to a special link between the two states at the time.

Charities

Aside from her political concerns, Hurrem engaged in several major works of public buildings, from Makkah to Jerusalem (Al-Quds), perhaps modelling her charitable foundations in part after the caliph Harun al-Rashid's consort Zubaida. Among her first foundations were a mosque, two Quranic schools ('' madrassa''), a fountain, and a women's

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

near the women's slave market (''Avret Pazary'') in Istanbul (

). It was the first complex constructed in Istanbul by Mimar Sinan in his new position as the chief imperial architect. She built mosque complexes in Adrianopole and Ankara. She commissioned a bath, the Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse, to serve the community of worshippers in the nearby Hagia Sophia. In Jerusalem she established the Haseki Sultan Imaret in 1552, a public soup kitchen to feed the poor, which was said to have fed at least 500 people twice a day. She built a public soup kitchen in Makkah. She had a '' Kira'' who acted as her secretary and intermediary on several occasions, although the identity of the kira is uncertain (it may have been

Strongilah Strongilah (died 1548) was a Jewish Ottoman businesswoman. She was the influential favorite and ''Kira'' of Hafsa Sultan, and possibly of Hürrem Sultan.Minna Rozen: A History of the Jewish Community in Istanbul, The Formative Years, 1453 – 15 ...

or Esther Handali).

Death

Hurrem died on 15 April 1558 due to an unknown illness and was buried in a domed mausoleum ('' türbe'') decorated in exquisite Iznik tiles depicting the garden of paradise, perhaps in homage to her smiling and joyful nature. Her mausoleum is adjacent to Suleiman's, a separate and more somber domed structure, at the courtyard of the Süleymaniye Mosque.

Personality

Hurrem's contemporaries describe her as a woman who was strikingly good-looking, and different from everybody else because of her red hair.Talhami, Ghada. ''Historical Dictionaries of Women in the World: Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa''. Scarecrow Press, 2012. p. 271 Hurrem was also intelligent and had a pleasant personality. Her love of poetry is considered one of the reasons behind her being heavily favoured by Suleiman, who was a great admirer of poetry. Hurrem is known to have been very generous to the poor. She built numerous mosques, madrasahs, hammams, and resting places for pilgrims travelling to the Islamic holy city of Makkah. Her greatest philanthropical work was the Great Waqf of AlQuds, a large soup kitchen in Jerusalem that fed the poor. It is believed that Hurrem was a cunning, manipulative and stony-hearted woman who would execute anyone who stood in her way. However, her philanthropy is in contrast to this as she cared for the poor. Prominent Ukrainian writer

Pavlo Zahrebelny Pavlo Arhypovych Zahrebelnyi ( uk, Павло́ Архи́пович Загребе́льний) or Zagrebelnyi (russian: link=no, Павел Архипович Загребе́льный; 25 August 1924 – 3 February 2009) was a Soviet Union, S ...

describes Hurrem as "an intelligent, kind, understanding, openhearted, candid, talented, generous, emotional and grateful woman who cares about the soul rather than the body; who is not carried away with ordinary glimmers such as money, prone to science and art; in short, a perfect woman."

Legacy

Hurrem Haseki Sultan, or Roxelana, is well-known both in modern Turkey and in the West, and is the subject of many artistic works. In 1561, three years after Hurrem's death, the French author Gabriel Bounin wrote a tragedy titled ''La Soltane''.''The Literature of the French Renaissance'' by

Arthur Augustus Tilley Arthur Augustus Tilley (1 December 1851 – 4 December 1942) was an academic of the University of Cambridge. An Old Etonian, his first subject at Cambridge was Classics, after which he began a career as a barrister. He returned to his old college ...

, p.87 This tragedy marks the first time the Ottomans were introduced on stage in France. She has inspired paintings, musical works (including

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

's Symphony No. 63), an opera by

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, a ballet, plays, and several novels written mainly in Russian and Ukrainian, but also in English, French, German and Polish. In early modern Spain, she appears or is alluded to in works by Quevedo and other writers as well as in a number of plays by

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature ...

. In a play entitled ''The Holy League'', Titian appears on stage at the Venetian Senate, and stating that he has just come from visiting the Sultan, displays his painting of Sultana Rossa or Roxelana. In 2007, Muslims in Mariupol, a port city in Ukraine opened a mosque to honour Roxelana. In the 2003 TV miniseries, ''Hürrem Sultan'', she was played by Turkish actress and singer Gülben Ergen. In the 2011–2014 TV series '' Muhteşem Yüzyıl'', Hurrem Sultan is portrayed by Turkish-German actress Meryem Uzerli from seasons one to three. For the series' last season, she is portrayed by Turkish actress Vahide Perçin. In 2019, mention of the Russian origin of Hurrem Sultan was removed from the visitor panel near her tomb at the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul at the request of the Ukrainian Embassy in Turkey.

Visual tradition

Despite the fact that male European artists were denied access to Hurrem in the Harem, there are many Renaissance paintings of the famous sultana. Scholars thus agree that European artists created a visual identity for Ottoman women that was largely imagined. Artists Titian, Melchior Lorich, and

Sebald Beham Sebald Beham (1500–1550) was a German painter and printmaker, mainly known for his very small engravings. Born in Nuremberg, he spent the later part of his career in Frankfurt. He was one of the most important of the "Little Masters", the group ...

were all influential in creating a visual representation of Roxelana. Images of the chief consort emphasized her beauty and wealth, and she is almost always depicted with elaborate headwear. The Venetian painter Titian is reputed to have painted Hurrem Sultan in 1550. Although he never visited Istanbul, he either imagined her appearance or had a sketch of her. In a letter to

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, the painter claims to have sent him a copy of this "Queen of Persia" in 1552. The Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida, purchased the original or a copy around 1930. Titian's painting of Roxelana is very similar to his portrait of her daughter,

Children

With Suleiman, she had five sons and one daughter. * Şehzade Mehmed (1521, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 7 November 1543, Manisa Palace, Manisa, buried in Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul): Hurrem's first son. Born Mehmed became the ruler of Manisa from 1541 until his death. *

(1522, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 25 January 1578, buried in Suleiman I Mausoleum, Süleymaniye Mosque): Hurrem's only daughter. She was married to Rüstem Pasha, later Ottoman Grand Vizier, on 26 November 1539. *

(28 May 1524, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 15 December 1574, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Selim II Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque): He was governor of Manisa after Mehmed's death and later governor of Konya. He ascended to the throne on 7 September 1566 as Selim II. * Şehzade Abdullah (1525, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – c. 1528, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque) * Şehzade Bayezid (1527, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – killed on 25 September 1561, Qazvin,

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, buried in Melik-i Acem Türbe, Sivas): He was governor of Kütahya and later Amasya.Peirce, Leslie (2017). Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire. Basic Books. * Şehzade Cihangir (9 December 1531, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 27 November 1553,

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, buried in Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul)

Gallery

File:Haseki Huerrem Sultan Roxelane.jpg, 18th century portrait of Hurrem Sultan kept at Topkapı Palace. File:Attributed to French School, 17th century - Rosa, Consort of Suleiman, Emperor of the Turks^ - RCIN 406152 - Royal Collection.jpg, A portrait of Roxelana in the British Royal Collection, c. 1600–70 File:Haseki Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana).jpg, A painting of Hurrem Sultan by a follower of Titian, 16th century File:Anton Hickel 001.JPG, Roxelana and Süleyman the Magnificent by the German baroque painter '' Anton Hickel'', (1780) File:Sultan Roxelana.jpg, Engraving by '' Johann Theodor de Bry'', (1596) File:Rossa, Wife of Suleiman the Magnificent.jpg, 16th century oil on wood painting of Hurrem Sultan File:Stamp of Ukraine s148.jpg, Tribute to Roxelana on 1997 Ukrainian postage stamp File:Illuminated serlevha from the Vakfiye of Hürrem Sultan (TIEM 2191, f. 1b-2a).jpg, Serlevha (illuminated frontispiece) from the Endowment Charter (Waqfiyya) pertaining to the architectural complex commissioned by Hürrem Sultan in the Aksaray district of Istanbul. 1540.

Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum ( tr, ) is a museum located in Sultanahmet Square in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Constructed in 1524, the building was formerly the palace of Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, who was the second grand vizier t ...

File:Mimar Sinan 1556 Hurrem Sultan Hamami.jpg, The Hagia Sophia Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse built in 1556

Notes

References

External links

University of Calgary , RoxelanaHürrem Sultan's tomb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roxelana 1500s births 1558 deaths 16th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans Ruthenian people Converts to Islam from Eastern Orthodoxy People from Ruthenian Voivodeship People from Rohatyn Ukrainian Muslims Former Ukrainian Orthodox Christians Suleiman the Magnificent Ottoman former Christians Mothers of Ottoman sultans

Names

Origin

Relationship with Suleiman

State affairs

Controversial figure

Foreign policy

Charities

Death

Personality

Legacy

Visual tradition

Children

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

References

External links