Ayşe Sultan (; died 1680) was the Consort of Ottoman Sultan

Murad IV Murad IV (, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ''; , 27 July 1612 – 8 February 1640) 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 I ...

and the

Haseki Sultan Haseki Sultan (, ''Ḫāṣekī Sulṭān'' ) was the title used for the chief consort of an Ottoman sultan. In later years, the meaning of the title changed to "imperial consort". Hurrem Sultan, principal consort and legal wife of Suleiman the ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

from 1628 until the death of Murad IV in 1640.

Life

Ayşe’s real name is unknown, although Venetians ambassadors wrote she was Greek. As per custom she was brought to the harem via the

Ottoman slave trade Chattel slavery was a major institution and a significant part of the Ottoman Empire's economy and traditional society. The main sources of slaves were wars and politically organized enslavement expeditions in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, S ...

, where she most likely appeared at around 1627 and soon became the sultan’s favorite concubine. At some point, she became Murad's

. She certainly bore children to the sultan, but it is not known how many and which of Murad IV's children were born by her, although there is a note from a European ambassador that says Murad IV had twelve children by his favorite and that may refer to her, but the veracity of this information is not verified. She was described as "beautiful on the outside but not on the inside" and was on bad terms with Murad's mother,

Kösem Sultan Kösem Sultan (; 1589 – 2 September 1651), also known as Mahpeyker Sultan (;), was the Haseki sultan, Haseki Sultan as the chief consort and legal wife of the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, Valide sultan, Vali ...

Privy Purse The Privy Purse is the British sovereign's private income, mostly from the Duchy of Lancaster. This amounted to £20.1 million in net income for the year to 31 March 2018. Overview The Duchy is a landed estate of approximately 46,000 acres (20 ...

registers the presence of Ayşe as Murad's only Haseki until the very end of Murad's seventeen-year reign, when a second concubine, with the very high salary of 2,751 coin a day (but reduced to 2,000 after seven months), appeared. According to historian

Leslie 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.Koçi Bey Koçi Bey (in older sources ''Kochu Bey'', died 1650) was a high-ranking Ottoman bureaucrat who lived in the first half of the 17th century. Biography He was an ethnic Albanian (an Arnaut), born in Korçë in eastern Albania. Bernard Lewis posi ...

, and was accompanied by a marked growth in the size of the

harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

. These changes were probably an aspect of Murad's dramatic assertion of personal control of government after nine years of his mother's regency. After Murad IV’s death, Ayşe, like his other concubines, was sent out of the Topkapı Palace. The last mentioning of her receiving the stipend was in 1679/1680 and it is very probable that she died around that time.

In popular culture

In the TV series '' Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem'', Ayşe is portrayed by Turkish actress Leyla Feray. In the series, she is the mother of Şehzade Ahmed, Hanzade Sultan and Kaya Sultan. Her death is different from reality: she commits suicide with her children except Kaya years before Murad's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayse Hatun 1680 deaths 17th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans Concubines of Ottoman sultans 17th-century slaves in the Ottoman Empire Royal favourites Haseki Sultan