#sevkefza sultan

[ottomanladies]

Intrigues inside the Ottoman Imperial harem -- requested by anon

[ottomanladies]

𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐎𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲

[ottomanladies]

Ottoman consorts + witchcraft -- requested by anon

[ottomanladies]

If Bayezid IIs mother Gülbahar hadnt died she would have become the first Valide sultan?since Mehmed II created the sultan title for women but unfortunatelly her mother died before this event so the first holder appeared long after namely Ayse Hafsa sultan? Valide hatun wasnt a real title?In later period eg 1800s when the widowed sultanas were exiled to Old palace that was an old fashioned designed palace by thsat time ?comparing to the progressively improving Topkapi?

It wasn't Mehmed II who gave the sultan title to women. Bayezid II gave it to princesses of the dynasty, therefore consorts and his mother were excluded. Süleyman I extended it to his favourite consort Hürrem and his mother Ayşe Hafsa.

I personally don't think that Valide Hatun was a title. While it is true that Gülbahar Hatun signed her letters that way, she's the only one to have done it.

I'm going to use an example from the later Ottoman empire: in the memoirs of Filizten Hanım, a concubine in the harem of Murad V, she refers to Şevkefza (Murad V's mother) as Lady Mother when she wasn't Valide Sultan, and as Princess Mother during her short tenure as Valide Sultan. Now, Princess Mother is Brookes' way to translate Valide Sultan; we could also use Queen Mother or Empress Mother since the Valide Sultan was considered the only Empress in the empire and the style of Her Imperial Majesty was accorded to her. Lady Mother is instead the English translation of Valide Kadın, which Filizten Hanım uses in the Turkish original.

Valide Kadın is not an official title; it's just the way to refer to a prince's mother by the members of his household. They wouldn't use it to talk to her but to talk about her.

My impression is that Valide Hatun was the same since it too means Lady Mother. My guess is that more or less every mother of an Ottoman sultan (before Suleyman I) was referred to a Lady Mother because she was the lady mother of the sultan. I don't know if I explained it really well but it's just what she was and not an official title.

About the Old Palace, in the 1800s even Topkapı was considered too old and medieval by the sultans, so I guess that the Old Palace was even worse. Maybe because of that, Abdülmecid I allowed his younger brother Abdülaziz and his mother Pertevniyal to live freely; he was the first prince not to be imprisoned in the kafes and she was the first consort not to retire in the Old Palace.

[ottomanladies]

Consorts who were older then the sultans?

I did a little research because I had never thought about this. Obviously we don't have precise date of births for slave concubines so I focused on the late Ottoman empire, when the consorts were highborn and there were more info about them.

This is what I have found:

Şevk-efzâ Vâlide Sultân was three years older than Abdülmecîd I

Tîr-i Müjgân Kadınefendi was two years older than Abdülmecîd I

Hüsn-i Cenân Hanımefendi was five years older than Abdülmecîd I

Elaru Mevhibe Başkadınefendi was five years older than Murad V

Reftâr-ı Dil Kadınefendi was two years older than Murad V

[ottomanladies]

Hey I love your blog!! I wanted to ask if there were any sultanas who maybe adopted children to raise them or sultanas who had good relationships with the Sultan’s children from other concubines? I recall you mentioning Nurbanu had adopted a boy and that Turhan protected Ibrahim’s other sons with her life for as long as she lived

Sure! There’s plenty of them, especially after the practice of fratricide died out:

Kösem had a good relationship with Osman II, and would take him on carriage rides with her sons

Rahime Perestu raised Abdülhamid II and his half-sister Cemile when their mothers died. Abdülhamid II also had a warm relationship with Pertevniyal Valide Sultan; on the contrary, he couldn’t stand Şevkefza Valide Sultan

Abdülaziz was in such good relationship with Tiryâl Hanım, one of his father’s consorts, that during his reign she was referred to as “the second valide sultan”

Servetseza Kadın loved Murad V like a son, and was also step-mother of Mehmed V, Refia and Fatma Sultan

Neveser Hanım raised Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin, son of Abdülmecid I and Nükhetseza Hanım

Şayeste Hanım raised Mehmed VI when his mother died

Mehmed II called Mara Brankovic “mother”, suggesting a close relationship between the two

the Venetian ambassador once saw Handan with little Mustafa I in the gardens of Topkapi Palace... maybe she ensured that he was well looked after

[ottomanladies]

VALIDE SULTANS: “This much-favored and esteemed consort of Sultan Mecid was a gracious and charming lady of medium height, slightly plump, with black eyes and black eyebrows. When all was quiet she was most gentle, but when things were in an uproar she would change on the spot, pulling no punches to defend what she saw as her legitimate rights and position. She wasn’t especially brilliant; in fact she was so simple as to be incapable of cunning. But she was easily influenced, which is why a woman as intriguing and deceitful as Nakşifend Kalfa, who could fool the devil himself into putting his sandals on backwards, was able to drag the Lady Mother into a number of intrigues that she launched on behalf of our master, both while he was Heir and after his confinement in Çırağan. The great weakness of the Lady Mother Şevkefza was the deep devotion she nurtured toward her son. If she had had to sacrifice her life in order to restore the throne to her son, whom she loved madly, she would not for a moment have shrunk from doing so. But she lacked the ability to cook up plans for such an event and bring them to fruition.” -- Douglas Scott Brookes - The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem // Şefika Tolun as Şevkefza

[ottomanladies]

On this day, 17 September, in Ottoman history: 

17 September 1889 - death of Şevkefza Valide Sultan: consort of Sultan Abdülmecid and mother of Murad V, she was born on 12 December 1820 near the Abkhazian border to Çerkeş Mehmed Bey Zaurum and Cemile Hanım, both Circassians. She entered palace service at a young age and was given to Mahmud II's consort Nurtap Kadın to be educated. Şevkefza was incredibly beautiful so Sultan Abdülmecid married her on 1 August 1839, right after his accession. She gave birth to Şehzade Mehmed Murad a year later and to Aliye Sultan in 1842, who died at the age of three. After Abdülmecid's death, she tried to put her son on the throne - like her husband had wished - but failed; she reportedly contributed to the uprising of 1876 which overthrew Abdülaziz, and possibly to his death as well. Şevkefza was Valide Sultan for only 93 days, as her son was overthrown as well for his younger brother Abdülhamid. She lived imprisoned in Çırağan Palace until her death on 17 September 1889, and was buried in the New Mosque.   

[ottomanladies]

On this day, 10 July, in Ottoman history

10 July 1538 - death of Hafsa Sultan: daughter of Selim I, she is also called Hafise in some sources. She married Dukaginzade Ahmed Paşa, who was executed by her own father in Amasya. According to Uluçay, she was married to İskender Bey/Paşa instead. Either way, after the death of her husband, she married Bosnian Mustafa Paşa in 1522. With him she had Sultanzade Osman Bey, later Paşa, who would be known as Kara Osman-şah. Hafsa Sultan died on 10 July 1538 and she was laid to rest in the Selimiye Mosque in Istanbul.

10 July 1780 - birth of Aynışah Sultan: daughter of Abdülhamid I, she died on 11 August of the same year and was buried in the Hamidiye tomb.

10 July 1845 - probable death of Aliye Sultan: daughter of Sultan Abdülmecid and either Şevkefza or Başikbal Nükhetseza Hanım, she was born on 20 October 1842. The other probable date of death is 23 July 1844.

10 July 1887 - birth of İnşirah Hanım: born Seniye in Maşukiye, she was the daughter of Voçibe Aziz Bey. She entered palace service at sixteen as one of the ladies in waiting to Sayeste Hanım, one of Abdülmecid I’s widow, and it was there that the future Mehmed VI Vahideddin caught sight of her. She would be forced to marry him by her family but would bear no children. Depressed and miserable, she would kill herself in Cairo, on 30 June 1930.

10 July 1897 - birth of Hatice Sultan: daughter of Abdülhamid II and Third Ikbal Fatma Pesend Hanımefendi, she died only seven months after her birth. Her father would later build the Şişli Etfâl Hamîdiyye Hospital out of grief.

[ottomanladies]

𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲