#the statement of how Suleymanic period was irregular is so apt

[fymagnificentwomcn]

What we have is half a century of transition, at the heart of which the Haile-i Osmaniye is located, through which forces of change and continuity run concurrently; toward the second half of the seventeenth century, however, seniority was clearly seen to prevail.  Another possible explanation for the survival and enthronement of Mustafa is the ascendancy of the valide sultan both in itself and at the expense of the haseki sultan. Peirce convincingly entitles Süleyman’s reign (1520 – 66) the age of the haseki and the period from Süleyman’s death to the emergence of the Köprülü grand vezirs (1566 –1656) that of the valide. These insightful observations, taken a step further, suggest that the haseki institution was less in congruity with the dynasty’s history than the overwhelming dominance of the valide. Also, we seem to have in the period 1520 –1656 a historical process in which personalities carry a substantial explanatory force. These are Kanuni Sultan Süleyman and his consort and then wife, Hürrem Sultan, at the beginning of the process and Kösem Sultan, haseki of Ahmed I and valide of Murad IV and Ibrahim I, at a crucial juncture. Rather than being the zenith of Ottoman civilization, as the traditional Orientalist narrative of a subsequent decline has framed it, Süleyman’s reign seems to have been, in certain respects, strewn with “irregularities,” among which the royal household seems to have figured prominently: for example, the unprecedented and never again repeated status of his beloved daughter Mihrimah. I think that the explanation of the rise of the haseki institution and its demise owes much to the particular personalities of Süleyman and Hürrem and to their relationship as the royal couple. At the risk of being simplistic, I would venture that the haseki institution and Hürrem's personality and the influence she wielded on Süleyman were inseparable. In a similar vein, though in a way more typical of the ruling house’s history, the explanation for the decline of the haseki and the re-emergence of the valide in the first decades of the seventeenth century has much to do with Kösem’s personality and the fact that in she had ceased being a haseki and, if she were to regain power, could obtain it only from the position of valide sultan. The woman who might have played a crucial role in Mustafa I’s survival was not his mother but his brother’s (Ahmed I’s) consort, Kösem Sultan. She must have realized the personal gain that might stem from the transition to seniority, coupled with the fact that she was no longer haseki but had sons “in waiting.” And indeed, according to the Venetian ambassador, Kösem 'lobbied to spare Mustafa the fate of fratricide with the ulterior goal of saving her own sons from the same fate.' Mustafa’s own valide, an Abkhasian consort of Mehmed III’s whose name is unknown, turned out to be, though not at all insignificant, no Kösem. From the revealing use Peirce makes of the privy purse registers to establish the harem’s institutional and personal hierarchies, it is evident that she was not one of the outstanding harem personalities of the period, like Nurbanu and Safiye earlier and Turhan later. However, while Mustafa’s mother may not have been as instrumental as Kösem in saving her son from fratricide, his mental state allowed her to assume center stage as regent, especially during his second, longer reign. From her location in the Old Palace she was a key figure in the deposition and assassination of Osman II and showed that she was no stranger to the art of damad (son-in-law) politics.

Taken from: An Ottoman Tragedy: History and Historiography at Play by Gabriel Piterberg