Ayşe Safinaz Nurefsun Kadın (; "''womanly''", "''the pure one''" and "''light charm''"; 1850 – 1915), called also Nurefzun Kadın, was the second consort of Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

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 ...

Early life

Safinaz Nurefsun Kadın was born in 1850. Her real name was Ayşe Hanım. Her father was Şermet Selim Bey, who died while fighting the Russians. She had a elder sister, Yıldız Hanim, last consort of Ottoman Sultan Abdülmejid I. She had been a servant in the household of

Isma'il Pasha Isma'il Pasha ( ; 25 November 1830 or 31 December 1830 – 2 March 1895), also known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France. Shari ...

, the

khedive of Egypt The Khedivate of Egypt ( or , ; ') was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which brought an end to the short-li ...

, who presented her to Sultan Abdulaziz. She had blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes, and was described a beautiful woman. She was fond of playing the violin.

Marriages

Nurefsun married Abdul Hamid as his second consort when he was a prince. When her sister Yıldız Hanım married Abdülmejid I, Ayşe was sent to the household of Şehzade Abdülaziz (the future Sultan

Abdülaziz Abdulaziz (; ; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was 1876 Ottoman coup d'état, overthrown in a government coup. He was a son of Sultan Mahmud II and succeeded his brother ...

), where she took the name Safinaz. According to Harun Açba, Abdülaziz was fascinated by her beauty and wanted to marry her, but she declined because she was in love with Şehzade Abdülhamid (the future Sultan Abdülhamid II). The feeling was mutual, and the young prince asked his adoptive mother Rahime Perestu Kadın for help. She told Abdülaziz that Safinaz was ill and that she needed a change of air; later, Abdülaziz was then falsely informed that she had passed away. Abdülhamid, therefore, secretly married Safinaz, now renamed Nurefsun, in October 1868. She did not have any children. After Abdul Hamid's accession to the throne in 1876, she was given the title of "Second Consort". In 1877, Nurefsun and other members of the imperial family settled in the

Yıldız Palace Yıldız Palace (, ) is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman Empire, Ottoman pavilions and villas in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used as a residence by the List of sultans of the Ottoman ...

, after Abdul Hamid moved there on 7 April 1877. However, Nurefsun could not get used to life in the harem and wanted to be Abdülhamid’s only wife. She therefore asked for a divorce. Abdul Hamid fulfilled her request, and she was granted a divorce in 1879. Afterwards, she married İkinci Esvapçı Saffet Bey, with whom she had a son, who towards the end of Abdul Hamid's reign became a secretary (''mabeyn katibi'') in the palace.

Death

Ayşe Safinaz Nurefsun Kadın died in 1915.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nurefsun Kadin 1850s births 1915 deaths 19th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans Abdul Hamid II Circassian women

Early life

Marriages

Death

See also

References

Sources