The most influential valide in the Ottoman Empire. Women's Sultanate of the Ottoman Empire: the dawn or decline of a great state? "Lions of Islam" - Janissaries
A traditional harem (from the Arabic “haram” - forbidden) is primarily the female half of a Muslim home. Only the head of the family and his sons had access to the harem. For everyone else, this part of the Arab home is strictly taboo. This taboo was observed so strictly and zealously that the Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey wrote: “If the sun were a man, even he would be forbidden to look into the harem.” The harem is a kingdom of luxury and lost hopes...
The Sultan's harem was located in the Istanbul palace Topkapi. The mother (valide-sultan), sisters, daughters and heirs (shahzade) of the sultan, his wives (kadyn-effendi), favorites and concubines (odalisques, slaves - jariye) lived here.
From 700 to 1200 women could live in a harem at the same time. The inhabitants of the harem were served by black eunuchs (karagalar), commanded by darussaade agasy. Kapi-agasy, the head of the white eunuchs (akagalar), was responsible for both the harem and the inner chambers of the palace (enderun), where the sultan lived. Until 1587, the kapi-agas had power inside the palace comparable to the power of the vizier outside it, then the heads of the black eunuchs became more influential.
The harem itself was actually controlled by the Valide Sultan. The next in rank were the Sultan's unmarried sisters, then his wives.
The income of the women of the Sultan's family was made up of funds called bashmaklyk (“per shoe”).
There were few slaves in the Sultan's harem; usually concubines became girls who were sold by their parents to the school at the harem and underwent special training there.
In order to cross the threshold of the seraglio, a slave underwent a kind of initiation ceremony. In addition to testing for innocence, the girl had to convert to Islam.
Entering a harem was in many ways reminiscent of being tonsured as a nun, where instead of selfless service to God, no less selfless service to the master was instilled. Concubine candidates, like God's brides, were forced to sever all ties with the outside world, received new names and learned to live in submission.
In later harems, wives were absent as such. The main source of the privileged position was the attention of the Sultan and childbearing. By paying attention to one of the concubines, the owner of the harem elevated her to the rank of temporary wife. This situation was most often precarious and could change at any moment depending on the master’s mood. The most reliable way to gain a foothold in the status of a wife was the birth of a boy. A concubine who gave her master a son acquired the status of mistress.
The largest harem in the history of the Muslim world was the Istanbul harem of Dar-ul-Seadet, in which all the women were foreign slaves; free Turkish women did not go there. The concubines in this harem were called “odalisque”, a little later the Europeans added the letter “s” to the word and it turned out to be “odalisque”.
And here is Topkapi Palace, where the Harem lived
The Sultan chose up to seven wives from among the odalisques. Those who were lucky enough to become a “wife” received the title “kadyn” - madam. The main “kadyn” became the one who managed to give birth to her first child. But even the most prolific “Kadyn” could not count on the honorary title of “Sultana”. Only the mother, sisters and daughters of the Sultan could be called sultanas.
Transport of wives, concubines, in short, a harem taxi fleet
Just below the "kadyn" on the hierarchical ladder of the harem stood the favorites - "ikbal". These women received salaries, their own apartments and personal slaves.
The favorites were not only skilled mistresses, but also, as a rule, subtle and intelligent politicians. In Turkish society, it was through “ikbal” that for a certain bribe one could go directly to the Sultan himself, bypassing the bureaucratic obstacles of the state. Below “ikbal” were “konkubin”. These young ladies were somewhat less fortunate. Conditions of detention are worse, there are fewer privileges.
It was at the “concubin” stage that there was the toughest competition, in which daggers and poison were often used. Theoretically, the Concubins, like the Iqbals, had a chance to climb the hierarchical ladder by giving birth to a child.
But unlike the favorites close to the Sultan, they had very little chance of this wonderful event. Firstly, if there are up to a thousand concubines in the harem, then it is easier to wait for the weather by the sea than for the holy sacrament of mating with the Sultan.
Secondly, even if the Sultan descends, it is not at all a fact that the happy concubine will definitely become pregnant. And it’s certainly not a fact that they won’t arrange a miscarriage for her.
Old slaves watched over the concubines, and any noticed pregnancy was immediately terminated. In principle, it is quite logical - any woman in labor, one way or another, became a contender for the role of a legitimate “kadyn”, and her baby became a potential contender for the throne.
If, despite all the intrigues and machinations, the odalisque managed to maintain the pregnancy and did not allow the child to be killed during an “unsuccessful birth,” she automatically received her personal staff of slaves, eunuchs and an annual salary “basmalik.”
Girls were bought from their fathers at the age of 5-7 years and raised until they were 14-15 years old. They were taught music, cooking, sewing, court etiquette, and the art of giving pleasure to a man. When selling his daughter to a harem school, the father signed a paper stating that he had no rights to his daughter and agreed not to meet with her for the rest of his life. Once in the harem, the girls received a different name.
When choosing a concubine for the night, the Sultan sent her a gift (often a shawl or ring). After that, she was sent to the bathhouse, dressed in beautiful clothes and sent to the door of the Sultan's bedroom, where she waited until the Sultan went to bed. Entering the bedroom, she crawled on her knees to the bed and kissed the carpet. In the morning, the Sultan sent the concubine rich gifts if he liked the night spent with her.
The Sultan could have favorites - güzde. Here is one of the most famous, Ukrainian Roxalana
Suleiman the Magnificent
Baths of Hurrem Sultan (Roksolany), wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, built in 1556 next to the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul. Architect Mimar Sinan.
Mausoleum of Roxalana
Valide with a black eunuch
Reconstruction of one of the rooms of the Valide Sultan apartment in Topkapi Palace. Melike Safiye Sultan (possibly born Sophia Baffo) was a concubine of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III and the mother of Mehmed III. During Mehmed's reign, she bore the title Valide Sultan (mother of the Sultan) and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.
Only the Sultan's mother, Valide, was considered equal to her. Valide Sultan, regardless of her origin, could be very influential (the most famous example is Nurbanu).
Ayşe Hafsa Sultan is the wife of Sultan Selim I and the mother of Sultan Suleiman I.
Hospice Ayşe Sultan
Kösem Sultan, also known as Mahpeyker, was the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (who bore the title Haseki) and the mother of Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I. During the reign of her sons, she bore the title Valide Sultan and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.
Valide apartments in the palace
Bathroom Valide
Valide's bedroom
After 9 years, the concubine, who had never been elected by the Sultan, had the right to leave the harem. In this case, the Sultan found her a husband and gave her a dowry, she received a document stating that she was a free person.
However, the lowest layer of the harem also had its own hope for happiness. For example, only they had a chance for at least some personal life. After several years of impeccable service and adoration in their eyes, a husband was found for them, or, having allocated funds for a comfortable life, they were released on all four sides.
Moreover, among the odalisques - outsiders of the harem society - there were also aristocrats. A slave could turn into a “gezde” - awarded a glance, if the Sultan somehow - with a look, gesture or word - singled her out from the general crowd. Thousands of women lived their whole lives in a harem, but they didn’t even see the Sultan naked, but they didn’t even wait for the honor of being “honored with a glance”
If the Sultan died, all the concubines were sorted by the gender of the children they had managed to give birth to. The girls’ mothers could easily get married, but the mothers of the “princes” settled in the “Old Palace”, from where they could leave only after the accession of the new Sultan. And at this moment the fun began. The brothers poisoned each other with enviable regularity and persistence. Their mothers also actively added poison to the food of their potential rivals and their sons.
In addition to the old, trusted slaves, the concubines were watched over by eunuchs. Translated from Greek, “eunuch” means “guardian of the bed.” They ended up in the harem exclusively in the form of guards, so to speak, to maintain order. There were two types of eunuchs. Some were castrated in early childhood and had no secondary sexual characteristics at all - no beard, a high, boyish voice and a complete lack of perception of women as members of the opposite sex. Others were castrated at a later age.
Partial eunuchs (that’s what those castrated not in childhood, but in adolescence were called) looked very much like men, had the most low masculine basque, sparse facial hair, broad muscular shoulders, and, oddly enough, sexual desire.
Of course, the eunuchs could not satisfy their needs naturally due to the lack of the necessary equipment for this. But as you understand, when it comes to sex or drinking, the flight of human imagination is simply limitless. And the odalisques, who lived for years with an obsessive dream of waiting for the Sultan’s gaze, were not particularly picky. Well, if there are 300-500 concubines in the harem, at least half of them are younger and more beautiful than you, what's the point of waiting for the prince? And in the absence of fish, even a eunuch is a man.
In addition to the fact that the eunuchs monitored order in the harem and at the same time (in secret from the Sultan, of course) consoled themselves and women yearning for male attention in every possible and impossible way, their duties also included the functions of executioners. They strangled those guilty of disobedience to the concubines with a silk cord or drowned the unfortunate woman in the Bosphorus.
The influence of the inhabitants of the harem on the sultans was used by envoys of foreign states. Thus, the Russian Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire M.I. Kutuzov, having arrived in Istanbul in September 1793, sent Valide Sultan Mihrishah gifts, and “the Sultan received this attention to his mother with sensitivity.”
Selim
Kutuzov received reciprocal gifts from the Sultan’s mother and a favorable reception from Selim III himself. The Russian ambassador strengthened Russia's influence in Turkey and persuaded it to join an alliance against revolutionary France.
Since the 19th century, after the abolition of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, all concubines began to enter the harem voluntarily and with the consent of their parents, hoping to achieve material well-being and a career. Harem Ottoman sultans was liquidated in 1908.
The harem, like the Topkapi Palace itself, is a real labyrinth, rooms, corridors, courtyards are all randomly scattered. This confusion can be divided into three parts: The premises of the black eunuchs The actual harem, where the wives and concubines lived The premises of the Valide Sultan and the padishah himself Our tour of the Harem of the Topkapi Palace was very brief.
The premises are dark and deserted, there is no furniture, there are bars on the windows. Cramped and narrow corridors. This is where the eunuchs lived, vindictive and vindictive because of psychological and physical injury... And they lived in the same ugly rooms, tiny, like closets, sometimes without windows at all. The impression is brightened only by the magical beauty and antiquity of the Iznik tiles, as if emitting a pale glow. We passed the stone courtyard of the concubines and looked at Valide's apartments.
It’s also cramped, all the beauty is in the green, turquoise, blue earthenware tiles. I ran my hand over them, touched the flower garlands on them - tulips, carnations, but the peacock’s tail... It was cold, and thoughts were spinning in my head that the rooms were poorly heated and the inhabitants of the harem probably often suffered from tuberculosis.
And even this lack of direct sunlight... My imagination stubbornly refused to work. Instead of the splendor of the Seraglio, luxurious fountains, fragrant flowers, I saw closed spaces, cold walls, empty rooms, dark passages, strange niches in the walls, a strange fantasy world. The sense of direction and connection to the outside world was lost. I was stubbornly overcome by an aura of hopelessness and melancholy. Even the balconies and terraces in some rooms overlooking the sea and the fortress walls were not pleasing.
And finally, the reaction of official Istanbul to the sensational series “The Golden Age”
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan believes that the television series about the court of Suleiman the Magnificent insults the greatness of the Ottoman Empire. However, historical chronicles confirm that the palace really fell into complete decline.
All sorts of rumors often circulate around forbidden places. Moreover, the more mystery they are shrouded in, the more fantastic assumptions mere mortals put forward about what is happening behind closed doors. This applies equally to the secret archives of the Vatican and the CIA caches. The harems of Muslim rulers are no exception.
So it is not surprising that one of them became the setting for a “soap opera” that became popular in many countries. The Magnificent Century series takes place in the 16th-century Ottoman Empire, which at that time stretched from Algeria to Sudan and from Belgrade to Iran. At its head was Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520 to 1566, and in whose bedroom there was room for hundreds of barely dressed beauties. It is not surprising that 150 million television viewers in 22 countries were interested in this story.
Erdogan, in turn, focuses primarily on the glory and power of the Ottoman Empire, which reached its peak during the reign of Suleiman. Invented harem stories from that time, in his opinion, understate the greatness of the Sultan and thus the entire Turkish state.
But what does distortion of history mean in this case? Three Western historians spent a lot of time studying works on the history of the Ottoman Empire. The last of them was the Romanian researcher Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940), whose “History of the Ottoman Empire” also included previously published studies by the Austrian orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall and the German historian Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen (Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen).
Iorga devoted a lot of time to studying the events at the Ottoman court during the time of Suleiman and his heirs, for example, Selim II, who inherited the throne after the death of his father in 1566. “More like a monster than a man,” he spent most of his life drinking, which, by the way, was prohibited by the Koran, and his red face once again confirmed his addiction to alcohol.
The day had barely begun, and he, as a rule, was already drunk. To solving issues of national importance, he usually preferred entertainment, for which dwarfs, jesters, magicians or wrestlers were responsible, in which he occasionally shot with a bow. But if Selim’s endless feasts took place, apparently, without the participation of women, then under his heir Murad III, who ruled from 1574 to 1595 and lived for 20 years under Suleiman, everything was different.
“Women play an important role in this country,” wrote one French diplomat who had some experience in this sense in his homeland. “Since Murad spent all his time in the palace, his environment had a great influence on his weak spirit,” wrote Iorga. “With women, the Sultan was always obedient and weak-willed.”
Most of all, Murad’s mother and first wife took advantage of this, who were always accompanied by “many court ladies, intriguers and intermediaries,” wrote Iorga. “On the street they were followed by a cavalcade of 20 carts and a crowd of Janissaries. Being a very insightful person, she often influenced appointments at court. Because of her extravagance, Murad tried several times to send her to the old palace, but she remained a real mistress until her death.”
Ottoman princesses lived in “typical oriental luxury.” European diplomats tried to win their favor with exquisite gifts, because one note from the hands of one of them was enough to appoint one or another pasha. The careers of the young gentlemen who married them depended entirely on them. And those who dared to reject them lived in danger. Pasha “could easily have been strangled if he did not dare to take this dangerous step - to marry an Ottoman princess.”
While Murad was having fun in the company of beautiful slaves, “all the other people admitted to governing the empire made personal enrichment their goal - no matter by honest or dishonest means,” wrote Iorga. It is no coincidence that one of the chapters of his book is called “Causes of Collapse.” When you read it, you get the feeling that this is a script for a television series, such as, for example, “Rome” or “Boardwalk Empire”.
However, behind the endless orgies and intrigues in the palace and in the harem, important changes in life at court were hidden. Before Suleiman's accession to the throne, it was customary for the Sultan's sons, accompanied by their mother, to go to the provinces and remain aloof from the struggle for power. The prince who inherited the throne then, as a rule, killed all his brothers, which was in some ways not bad, because this way it was possible to avoid a bloody struggle over the Sultan’s inheritance.
Everything changed under Suleiman. After he not only had children with his concubine Roxolana, but also freed her from slavery and appointed her as his main wife, the princes remained in the palace in Istanbul. The first concubine who managed to rise to the position of the Sultan's wife did not know what shame and conscience were, and she shamelessly promoted her children up the career ladder. Numerous foreign diplomats wrote about the intrigues at court. Later, historians relied on their letters in their research.
The fact that Suleiman’s heirs abandoned the tradition of sending wives and princes further to the province also played a role. Therefore, the latter constantly interfered in political issues. “In addition to their participation in palace intrigues, their connections with the Janissaries stationed in the capital are worthy of mention,” wrote historian Surayya Farocki from Munich.
Ottoman Empire, once existed, was the birthplace of 36 Turkish sultans. In fact, everywhere Turkish sultans are called Ottoman, but since the Ottomans were none other than Turks, people from Turkic tribes, I will allow myself to call the sultans of the Ottoman Empire Turkish rulers until 1922.
The Ottoman Turks are people from the Central Asian Oghuz tribe called Kayı, who, fleeing the conquests of Tamerlane's ancestors, first fled to the west from their habitat (the city of Balkh - now an Afghan province), and then settled in Anatolia under the borders of the Byzantine Empire.
The ancestors of the Turkish sultans are considered to be Shah Suleiman, whose son named Ertogul gave birth in 1258 to the first ruler of the entire Ottoman Empire - Osman the First.
Sultans of Turkey: list
In this table you can see all 36 sultans of Ottoman Turkey and the years of their reign.
Interregnum- the period of interregnum in the Ottoman Empire, when the three sons of Lightning Bayezid could not share the throne, lasted about 11 years (1402-1413). These were the first difficulties in a ruling dynasty of this type, after which this problem was solved by the murder of his brothers by the sultan ascending to the throne.
| Sultan's name | Years of reign | State title | Parents |
| 1299-1324 | Ulubey | Ertogrul and concubine Halima | |
| , Urhan. Victorious | 1324-1362 | Ulubey | Osman I and Malhun Khatun |
| 1362-1389 | Sultan | Orhan I and Nilufer Khatun | |
| Bayezid I Yildirim, the Lightning-Fast | 1389-1402 | Sultan | Murad I and Gulchichek Khatun |
| — Suleiman Celebi, Noble — Musa Celebi — Mehmed I, Celebi |
1402-1413 | Sultans | |
| Mehmed I Celebi | 1413-1421 | Sultan | Bayezid I and Devlet Khatun |
| Murad II | 1421-1444 | Sultan | Mehmed I and Emine Hatun |
| Mehmed II Fatih. Conqueror | 1444-1446 | Sultan/Padishah | Murad II and Huma Khatun |
| Bayezid II Dervish. Monk | 1481-1512 | Padishah | Mehmed II and Sitti Mükrime Hatun |
| Selim I Yavuz. Grozny | 1512-1520 | Padishah/Caliph | Bayezid II and Gulbahar Sultan |
| Suleiman I Kanuni. Legislator, Magnificent | 1520-1566 | Padishah/Caliph | Selim I and Ayşe Hafsa Sultan |
| Selim II. Drunkard, Blond | 1566-1574 | Padishah/Caliph | Suleiman I and Hurrem Sultan |
| Murad III | 1574-1595 | Padishah/Caliph | Murad III and Nurbanu Sultan |
| Mehmed III. Bloodthirsty, Depraved | 1595-1603 | Padishah/Caliph | Murad III and Safiye Sultan |
| Ahmed I | 1603-1617 | Padishah/Caliph | Mehmed III and Handan Sultan |
| Mustafa I | 1617-1618 | Padishah/Caliph | Mehmed III and Halime Sultan |
| Osman II | 1618-1622 | Padishah/Caliph | Ahmed I and Mahfiruz Khadiche Sultan |
| Murad IV | 1623-1640 | Padishah/Caliph | Ahmed I and Kösem Sultan |
| Ibrahim I of Delhi. Mindless | 1640-1648 | Padishah/Caliph | Ahmed I and Kösem Sultan |
| Mehmed IV the Hunter | 1648-1687 | Padishah/Caliph | Ibrahim I and Turhan Hatice Sultan |
| Suleiman II. Religious | 1687-1691 | Padishah/Caliph | Ibrahim I and Saliha Dilashub Sultan |
| Ahmed II | 1691-1695 | Padishah/Caliph | Ibrahim I and Hatice Muazzez Sultan |
| Mustafa II | 1695-1703 | Padishah/Caliph | |
| Ahmed III | 1703-1730 | Padishah/Caliph | Mehmed IV and Emetullah Rabia Gulnush Sultan |
| Mahmud I | 1730-1754 | Padishah/Caliph | Mustafa II and Saliha Sebkati Sultan |
| Osman III. Musicophobe | 1754-1757 | Padishah/Caliph | Mustafa II and Shehsuvar Sultan |
| Mustafa III | 1757-1774 | Padishah/Caliph | Ahmed III and Emine Mihrishah Sultan |
| Abdul-Hamid I. The God-fearing | 1774-1789 | Padishah/Caliph | Ahmed III and Rabia Shermi Sultan |
| Selim III. Musician | 1789-1807 | Padishah/Caliph | Mustafa III and Mihrishah Sultan |
| Mustafa IV | 1807-1808 | Padishah/Caliph | Abdul Hamid I and Ayşe Senieperver Sultan |
| Mahmud II | 1808-1839 | Padishah/Caliph | Abdul Hamid I and Naqshidil Sultan |
| Abdul-Mecid I | 1839-1861 | Padishah/Caliph | Mahmud II and Bezmialem Sultan |
| Abdul Aziz | 1861-1876 | Padishah/Caliph | Mahmud II and Pertevniyal Sultan |
| Murad V. Crazy | 1876 | Padishah/Caliph | Abdulmecid I and Shevkefza Sultan |
| Abdul Hamid II | 1876-1909 | Padishah/Caliph | Abdul-Mecid I and Tirimyuzhgan Kadyn Efendi |
| Mehmed V Reshad | 1909-1918 | Padishah/Caliph | Abdulmecid I and Gulcemal Kadın Efendi |
| Mehmed VI Vahideddin | 1918-1922 | Padishah/Caliph | Abdulmecid I and Gülustu Kadın Efendi |
Definition of the titles of Turkish sultans
Ulubey or udjbey (ulubey) is the title of the Ottoman ruler, the leader of the border Turkic tribe with other foreign tribes.
Sultan- the title of the ruler of an Islamic state. If a country is ruled by a sultan, then the country is called a sultanate.
Padishah– a monarchical title from Iran, which began to be used in other Asian countries. Europeans perceived the title of padishah as the title of emperor.
Caliph- the highest Muslim title, which has been interpreted differently at different times. In general and in general, it is a set of such concepts as: the spiritual head of all Muslims, the state and political leader of all Muslims, the supreme judge and the supreme commander in chief.
Now let's see how each Turkish sultan distinguished himself during his years of ruling the Ottoman Empire.
Sultans of Turkey: the structure of personalities on the line of 717 years
Osman I Ghazi. The son of the leader of a small Turkic tribe located on the strategic borders with Byzantium and the Balkans. He bore the title of ulubey and began his reign at the age of 24. Osman 1 is characterized in history as a brave warrior with a noble nomadic spirit, but at the same time a complete barbarian, who organized military campaigns on the way to the creation of the great Ottoman Empire. Having declared his possessions free from the Seljuks, Osman I was able to conquer a new part of Asia Minor, Byzantine Ephesus, the Black Sea cities of Anatolia and draw up a plan for the conquest, in which Osman I was buried. The Turkish Sultan died of old age in 1324.
OrhanI Ghazi. This sultan of ancient Turkey is the youngest son of Osman 1, whose dates of death and end of reign different sources described differently. To be honest, I don’t know which date is correct (1359 or 1362), but, nevertheless, it was under Orhan the First that the territory of the Ottoman Empire expanded quite noticeably. The Turkish Sultan made every effort to create the right conditions for the growth of a great power.
During his reign, the first Ottoman coins began to be minted, it was Orhan 1 who established the famous Janissary detachments, and was the first, after the end of the capture of all of Asia Minor, to set off to conquer Europe. Under Orhan, the population of the state increased to 500,000 people, and in 1354 this Ottoman sultan captured the current capital of Turkey -.
Murad I. This ruler was able to elevate his state to the level of an empire, after which he acquired the title of great sultan. He took Adrianople from the Greeks, where he moved the capital of the state, conquered part of Bulgaria, and on his last campaign he went against the Serbs, and defeated the enemy in the “epicly memorable” battle on Kosovo. However, Sultan Murad 1 was also killed there, in 1389. He was killed by a Serb who pretended to be a defector.
This Sultan of Turkey was illiterate; he sealed contracts with a fingerprint, not a signature. But it is worth giving him credit - Murad 1 was very tolerant, granting foreigners citizenship and the same privileges as Muslims, while remaining a true defender of the Islamic faith.
Bayezid I the Lightning. Bayezid 1 took his first step as ruler of the empire towards the murder of his own brother. It was this Turkish Sultan who introduced the state tradition of fratricide upon accession to the throne. It must be said that this tradition has settled quite firmly in the empire as a means of eliminating competitors. Bayezid the Lightning loved luxury, he feasted and had fun, drinking wine, which is unusual for the Muslim religion. Nevertheless, this Sultan of Turkey was able to completely conquer Asia Minor, take large lands in the Balkans and give a crushing rebuff to the crusaders.
He was going to take Constantinople, which he had been besieging for 6 whole years, but Tamerlane was advancing on the Ottomans from the east, who captured the Turkish Sultan. Bayezid 1 died in captivity in 1402; according to some sources, he committed suicide.
Mehmed I Celebi. He emerged victorious from the internecine war and officially assumed the throne in 1413. He enjoyed strong support from the Janissaries; he was loved for his education, prudence and strict disposition. He managed to hold on to the empire, which had been shaken after his father’s captivity, and began military campaigns again. He was the youngest son of Bayezid the First, who maintained peace with Byzantium and Europe, strengthening the returned lands that Tamerlane had once taken.
Murad II. He married, like his grandfather Bayazid I, a Slavic woman - the daughter of a Serbian ruler, giving his wife complete freedom of religion. After the battle of Varna (in 1444), Murad 2 emerged victorious, suppressing all the energy of Europe. From that time until the end of the 16th century, the entire history of the Turkish sultans is full of nothing but victories and conquests.
Mehmed II the Conqueror. He ruled the Ottomans 2 times, giving his father Murad 2 his throne for 6 years because of his youthful judgments in terms of conquering Constantinople. After the death of his father, Mehmed Fatih the Conqueror finally began to carry out his plans. It was this Turkish Sultan who took and allowed him to be brutally robbed for three days. It was Mehmed 2 who moved the capital of the Ottoman Empire to this city, and converted the sacred temple of Hagia Sophia into the main mosque of old Turkey. The name of the city was also given by this Turkish sultan, and Mehmed Fatih insisted on the presence of representatives of the Islamic clergy at the residence of the patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian and the chief Jewish rabbi. He deprived Serbia of its autonomy, conquered Bosnia, captured the Crimean Khanate, and almost reached Rome; the Turkish Sultan was prevented from capturing this city by his death.
Bayezid II Dervish. He fought little, is considered the first sultan who refused to personally command his army, and Bayezid II went down in history as a patron of culture and literature. He abdicated the throne, passing it on to his youngest son Selim.
Selim I the Terrible. Nicknamed the Merciless because he ordered the death of his brothers and nephews, as well as for the brutal reprisal against the Shiites, killing approximately 45,000 people. He took Kurdistan from the Persians, conquered Western Armenia, conquered Syria with Palestine, Jerusalem, Arabia with Mecca and Medina, plus Egypt. Selim 1 Grozny doubled the territory of the Ottoman Empire in almost 10 years. This Turkish sultan transported the banner and cloak of the Prophet Muhammad to Istanbul, thereby asserting that he had the right to rule the entire Islamic world.
Suleiman I the Magnificent. Known as the Turkish Sultan, the Lawgiver, the Magnificent, the Great and the Kanuni in the Turkish way. Sultan Suleiman 1 also greatly expanded the borders of Ottoman Turkey, which under his rule occupied lands from Budapest to Aswan and the Nile Rapids, from the Euphrates and Tigris to the Strait of Gibraltar. During his reign, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent dreamed of uniting the lands and peoples of the West and the East. For the last 20 years, the famous Turkish Sultan was under the influence of his concubine, and then his wife, Hurrem (Roksolana). Having led a new campaign in Hungary, Sultan Suleiman did not live to see victory; he died in 1566. The death of the padishah was hidden - the empire was ruled without the Sultan, however, on his behalf, until his and Hurrem’s son, Selim the Second, came to the throne, with whom the decline of the Ottoman Empire began.
Selim II the Drunkard. The son of the magnificent Turkish Sultan was a kind and educated man, he wrote exquisite poetry, was a talented poet, but, apparently, like all creative people, he had a special passion for something. Selim 2 was nicknamed a drunkard, he loved wine very much, which prevented him from keeping an eye on the empire. It was during the reign of this Turkish Sultan that the interests of Turkey and Muscovy collided on the border of Azov and Astrakhan.
Sultan Selim the Drunkard was able to conquer Cyprus, this was his only acquisition on the throne. Although, after drinking another glass of local wine in one gulp, all in the same Cyprus, in a bathhouse, the Turkish Sultan slipped and fell. He hit his head on a marble slab and died in 1574.
Murad III. The son of Selim the Drunkard began his ascension to the throne with the order to strangle his five brothers, like his great-grandfather Selim 1. Murad the third was distinguished by his strong greed for numerous concubines, which led to the results of a vast offspring - this Turkish sultan had over a hundred children.
Under Murad 3, Tiflis, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Shirvan, and Tabriz were captured. But the beginning of the decline of the empire never stopped.
Mehmed III. Portrait – Depraved and Bloodthirsty. This Ottoman ruler did not lag behind his father Murad the Third in terms of killing his brothers. If you remember, his father had more than a hundred children. The Turkish Sultan Mehmed the Third ordered the killing of his 19 brothers - this event became the largest fratricide in the history of the Ottomans. Moreover, the newly-made ruler gave an order to drown their pregnant concubines in the Bosphorus, and after some time, he sent his own son to death. The Ottoman Empire was led by his mother, but he managed to make one successful campaign against Hungary.
Ahmed I. Sultan Ahmed the First lived only 27 years and ruled the Ottoman Empire for 14 of them. He was a capricious but very smart boy. During his reign, he showed character and changed his viziers and advisers whenever he wanted, or as the harem demanded. Under this Turkish sultan, Transcaucasia and Baghdad were lost, and Zaporizhian Cossacks began raiding the empire. Under him, corruption intensified; it was in honor of this Sultan that the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul was built, originally named Ahmediye, now simply the Sultanahmet Mosque.
In 1612, in a letter to the Polish king, the Turkish signed the following:
Sultan Ahmed Khan, the Most Serene, son of the Great God, King of all Turks, Greeks, Babylonians, Macedonians, Sarmatians, Lord of Greater and Lesser Egypt, Alexandria, India, as well as all peoples on earth, Sovereign and Monarch, Lord and Most Serene Son of Mohammed, Defender and Guardian of the holy Grotto of the Heavenly God, King of all Kings and Sovereign of all Sovereigns, Sovereign and Heir of all heirs.
Mustafa I Lunatic. Ruled for two terms in 1617-1618 and 1622-1623, - the feeble-minded brother of Ahmed I, noticed in sleepwalking. This newly-made sultan spent 14 years in prison, but some considered him a “holy” man, because for the most part Muslims treated madmen with sacred respect. In his prison, the Turkish Sultan Mustafa 1 threw not crumbs, but real gold coins to the fish in the Bosphorus.
He remained alive at the behest of his brother Ahmed, who did not want to kill his only brother. When everyone realized that Mustafa could not rule, he again went to prison. He was replaced by his brother's son Osman 2, who was overthrown, and Mustafa was again seated on the throne.
Osman II the Cruel. This Sultan of Turkey reigned for almost 4 years, thanks to the Janissaries who brought him to the throne at the age of 14. The portrait shows a warlike character and pathological cruelty (a clear proof of this is that he used living people as targets: prisoners and his pages). Lost the battle with the Cossacks during the siege of Khotyn. Sultan Osman II was killed by the same Janissaries who suspected him of dishonesty. At the time of his death, Osman II was only 18 years old.
Murad IV the Bloody. Another son of Ahmed the first, who took the throne at the age of 11. This is the bloodiest Turkish sultan in the entire history of the Ottomans, however, it was he who cut the knot of the vizier's yoke and army anarchy. Murad 4 could kill simply for the sake of killing a completely innocent person, but it was he who returned justice to the court and discipline to the barracks. Under him, Erivan and Baghdad were recaptured. The bloodthirsty sultan died of a fever, and before his death he ordered the murder of his own brother Ibrahim in order to be known as the last padishah of the Ottoman dynasty... It is strange that with all his cruelty he did not kill him at all when taking the throne.
Ibrahim. Mother saved the Sultan of Turkey from death. Ibrahim ruled for 8 years, distinguishing himself by weakness, lack of will, recklessness, but cruelty... His mother ruled the state for him. The Sultan was strangled by the Janissaries.
Mehmed IV the Hunter. He began to rule the Ottoman Empire at the age of 6 for 40 years. This Turkish Sultan managed to restore the military appearance of the empire, only to then subject the country to unprecedented military humiliation, which ended with the beginning of the partition of Turkey. It was to Sultan Mehmed the Fourth that the Cossacks wrote a letter in the famous painting by Repin.
Suleiman II. The portrait is religious, he spent 40 years in an Ottoman “cage” under the heading of a spare heir. At the same time, the Sultan was given Belgrade (which was later returned) and Bosnia, but Orsova was taken. Suleiman the second died in 1691.
Ahmed II. Just like his brothers, Ahmed II spent about 40 years in isolation and remained on the throne for 4 years.
Mustafa II. He ruled for about 8 years, losing Azov to the Russians and Podolia to Poland. Abdicated the throne under the pressure of the Janissaries, died in 1703.
Ahmed III. This Sultan of Turkey reigned for 27 years. According to history, he offered shelter to the Ukrainian hetman Mazepa and the king of Sweden, Charles XII, who lost the battle of Poltava. He made peace with Peter I and lost many lands in Eastern Europe and North Africa.
Mahmud I. He ruled the Ottoman state for 24 years. He continued the war with Iran and started a war with Russia.
Osman III. Portrait - suffered from music phobia and hated all women in the world. He spent over 50 years in captivity as a spare heir. He ruled for only three years, but he swept away the viziers 7 times, confiscating their personal property into his treasury. He hated Jews and Christians, ordering them to wear special stripes.
Mustafa III. The portrait is of a far-sighted and sensible Sultan of Turkey, who tried in vain to stop the decline of the empire, but it did not work out.
Abdul Hamid I. This Turkish sultan ruled for about 14 years, having lost the Crimea to Catherine the Great, he brought the entire financial situation of the empire into decline to such an extent that sometimes there was nothing to pay employees and soldiers.
Selim III. During his 8 years of ruling the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan tried in vain to modernize it. However, the war with Russian Empire made itself felt, he lost the Black Sea from the Caucasus to Bessarabia to the Russians. He loved music and patronized musicians, even composing many compositions himself. And, like many Turkish sultans, he was overthrown by the Janissaries and was subsequently killed by order of his ruling cousin.
Mustafa IV. Having ordered the murder of the deposed cousin and younger brother, the Turkish Sultan Mustafa 4 himself was able to retain the throne for just over a year. And he himself was killed by the new Sultan, his younger brother, whom they could not kill.
Mahmud II. The Ottoman sultan, with French blood in his veins, during his reign eliminated the Janissary corps and generally changed the military system in the country. He carried out a number of executions, killing, among others, his older brother, the former padishah. It was under this sultan that the influence of France and England on Turkey increased. At times he suffered from long-term binges and died at the age of 54.
Abdul-Mecid the Meek. The first and only Sultan of Turkey with this name. He ascended the throne at the age of 16 and reigned for 22 years. The portrait is of a meek ruler with an attitude of equality and brotherhood. Bethlehem ceded to France and prompted Nicholas I to declare a new war on Turkey “for the keys to the Holy Sepulcher.” Sultan Abdulmecid died of tuberculosis in 1861.
Abdul-Aziz Nevezha. The portrait is a despot, an ignoramus, a rude man who abolished the reforms begun by his predecessors. Author of wild massacres in Serbia, Bosnia, Bulgaria. The Turkish Sultan Abdul Aziz committed suicide in 1876, having been the Ottoman ruler for about 15 years.
Abdul Hamid II the Bloody. The reign of this Ottoman sultan, from 1876 to 1909, was distinguished by the establishment of a despotic regime called “zulum”, which simply meant violence and tyranny. Abdul Hamid II was named the Bloody Sultan of Turkey for the massacre of Greeks in Crete and other cruel acts. He surrendered Adrianople to the Russians, captured by Murad the First, and lost power in the Balkans and North Africa. Only the Young Turks organization was able to pacify the bloody Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid II, after which he later left the throne and was arrested. In fact, it was this Sultan of Turkey who was the last Ottoman ruler with the standard attributes of omnipotence.
Mehmed V Reshad. He is the brother of the bloody Abdul-Hamid, he came to the throne for the kingdom, but not for control. The portrait is of an already elderly sultan, without much energy, who fell under the complete influence of the Young Turks. The Ottomans continued to lose land in year-long wars, and then participated in the First World War in cooperation with Germany. Mehmed the Fifth died in 1918.
Mehmed VI Vahideddin. The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who reigned for about 4 years. I achieved a truce with the Entente, I will lose warships, straits, railways and telegraph and radio lines. This meant one thing! The end of the Ottoman Empire. When the war against the Turkish occupiers began under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, victory came and Mehmed 6 fled abroad. After this, parliament passed a law abolishing the sultanate, and a year later it entered the world.
What were the Turkish sultans like?
As you can see, dear readers, the reign of the Ottoman sultans was very different, it depended on their personal qualities and mood. Some were brave and energetic, some were distinguished by a brilliant mind and incredible military characteristics, while others were angry, despotic, rude and cowardly. In general, the Ottoman Empire rose to unprecedented heights rapidly, but was also quickly able to lose them, leaving only the small Turkish Republic, with an area of 784,000 square kilometers, and this with a maximum territorial peak of 5,200,000 km2 in 1683.
We brought you the online magazine “” with a list of the Sultans of Turkey, we wish you a pleasant time, until new adventures along the Turkish shores!
P The last sultana of Ottoman origin was the mother of Suleiman I the Magnificent, her name was Aishe Sultan Hafsa (December 5, 1479 - March 19, 1534), according to sources, she was from Crimea and was the daughter of Khan Mengli-Girey. However, this information is controversial and has not yet been fully verified.
After Aishe, the era of the “female sultanate” (1550-1656) began, when women influenced government affairs. Naturally, they cannot be compared with European rulers (Catherine II, or Elizabeth I of England) due to the fact that these women had disproportionately less power, personal freedom and were further from absolutism. It is believed that this era began with Anastasia (Alexandra) Lisovskaya, or Roksolana known to us. She was the wife of Suleiman I the Magnificent and the mother of Selim II, and became the first sultana taken from the harem.
After Roksolana, the main women of the country became two relatives, two beautiful Venetian women from the Baffo family, Cecilia and Sofia. Both one and the other came to the top through the harem. Cecilia Baffo became Roksolana's daughter-in-law.
So, Cecilia Vernier-Baffo, or Nurbanu Sultan, was born on the island of Paros around 1525. Her father was a noble Venetian, the governor of the island of Paros, Nicolo Venier, and her mother was Violanta Baffo. The girl's parents were not married, so the girl was named Cecilia Baffo, giving her mother's surname.
According to another, less popular version, based on Ottoman sources, Nurbanu's real name was Rachel, and she was the daughter of Violanta Baffo and an unknown Spanish Jew.
Little is known about Cecilia's history.
It is known that in 1537, the pirate and admiral of the Turkish flotilla Khair ad-din Barbarossa captured Paros and 12-year-old Cecilia was enslaved. She was sold to the Sultan's harem, where Hurrem Sultan was noticed for her intelligence . Hurrem gave her the name Nurbanu, which means "Queen who exudes divine light" and sent her to serve her son, Prince Selim.
According to the chronicles, having reached adulthood in 1543, Selim was sent to Konya to take up the post due to him as heir, Cecilia Nurbanu accompanied him. At this time, the young prince was inflamed with love for his beautiful accompanying odalisque.
Soon Nurbanu had a daughter, Shah Sultan, and later, in 1546, a son, Murad, who was at that time the only son of Selim. Later, Nurbanu Sultan gave birth to four more daughters for Selima. And after Selim’s accession to the throne, Nurbanu becomes Haseki.
In the Ottoman Empire itself, Selim received the nickname “Drunkard” because of his passion for wine, but he was not a drunkard in the literal sense of the word. And yet, state affairs were handled by Mehmed Sokollu (Grand Vizier of Bosnian origin Boyko Sokolović), who came under the influence of Nurbanu.
As a ruler, Nurbanu corresponded with many ruling dynasties, pursued a pro-Venetian policy, for which the Genoese hated her and, judging by rumors, the Genoese ambassador poisoned her.
In honor of Nurban, the Attik Valide Mosque was built near the capital, where she was buried in 1583, bitterly mourned by her son Murad III, who often relied on his mother in his politics.
Safiye Sultan (translated from Turkish as "Pure"), born Sofia Baffo, was of Venetian origin, and was a relative of her mother-in-law, Nurban Sultan. She was born around 1550, the daughter of the ruler of the Greek island of Corfu and a relative of the Venetian senator and poet Giorgio Baffo.
Sofia, like Cecilia, was captured by corsairs and sold into a harem, where she then attracted the attention of Crown Prince Murad, for whom she became the only favorite for a long time. It was rumored that the reason for such constancy were problems in the prince’s intimate life, which only Safiye knew how to somehow overcome. These rumors are very similar to the truth, since before Murad became Sultan (in 1574, at the age of 28, after the death of his father Sultan Selim II), he only had children with Safiye.
Having become the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Murad III, obviously, recovered after some time from his intimate illness, since he moved from forced monogamy to sexual excesses, and practically devoted his future life exclusively to the pleasures of the flesh, to the detriment of state affairs. So 20 sons and 27 daughters (however, we should not forget that in the 15th-16th centuries infant mortality was very high and out of 10 newborn babies, 7 died in childhood, 2 in adolescence and young adulthood, and only one had any chance live to at least 40 years old), which Sultan Murad III left after his death - a completely natural result of his lifestyle.
in the 15th-16th centuries, infant mortality was very high and out of 10 newborn babies, 7 died in childhood, 2 in adolescence and young adulthood, and only one had any chance of surviving at least 40 years
Despite the fact that Murad never married his beloved Safiya, this did not stop her from becoming one of the most influential women of that time.
The first nine years of his reign, Murad completely shared with his mother Nurbana, obeyed her in everything. And it was Nurbanu who played an important role in his attitude towards Safiya. Despite family ties, both in state affairs and in the affairs of the harem, Venetian women constantly fought with each other for leadership. Nevertheless, as they say, youth won.
In 1583, after the death of Nurbanu Sultan, Safiye Sultan began to strengthen the position of her son Mehmed as the heir of Murad III. Mehmed was already 15 years old and he was very popular among the Janissaries, which greatly frightened his father. Murad III even prepared conspiracies, but Safiyya always managed to warn her son. This struggle continued for 12 years, until Murad’s death.
The appearance of the Turkic tribes Se (Sakhi) in the west of Altau occurred in the two hundredth year BC. Then they were oppressed by the Tibetan tribe and had to move even further west. Even the Chinese traveler Zhang Tsang mentioned the Western Turks, who were called Kanly. This was in 130 BC. At that time, small khanates were subordinate to the canals. They ruled Bukhara, Khiva, Kerman, Samarkand and Tashkent. They were also called Scythians or Sakas.
In 1219, Genghis Khan acted very aggressively and the Kanls had to retreat to the lands of Rum. They were headed at that time by Khan Kabi. The Kanls in a foreign land had to wait until the continuous wars had passed, and then they prepared to return to their native land. Then they were led by the son of Kabi Khan, Suleiman. But these plans were not destined to come true; when Suleiman and his people crossed the Frat River, they drowned. This is how his son, the brave and courageous Torgul, begins to rule. Part of the people remained at Arz-Rum to protect the lands of Konia, which at that time were under the rule of King Allaidden. And the raids on them are carried out by the son of Genghis Khan, Chagatai. Allaidden was very grateful to Torgul for the feats he accomplished, and gave him the position of commander-in-chief of the army and endowed him with the lands of Eskud, Karashatau and Tomanshi. Torgul's son, Osman, is also distinguished by his gift for leadership. He also becomes commander-in-chief of the Konya army. After Torgul died in 1272, Osman became commander-in-chief in his place. The territory of the kingdom was significantly expanded during that period thanks to the lands that were captured. Ten years later, Osman was appointed by Allaidden to independently rule one of the territories that had been captured - Karashi Khasar. During the time that Khan Osman ruled, the country became larger and more prosperous, and in the end it became the greatest empire. The formation of the empire occurred in 1300, then the local Turks began to be called Ottoman Turks, and Khan Osman - the Turkish Sultan, the first in a row. In total, there were thirty-six sultans in the history of the Ottoman Empire, and the fate of the state changed under each of them.
According to legend:
Roksolana failed to achieve the repeal of the law adopted in 1478 “On fratricide”. She fought this law all her life. However, on this issue, Suleiman the Magnificent, despite his boundless love for her, remained adamant. A ban on this law would allow Hurrem to strengthen her power in the palace, and she could actually be Valide Sultan all her life, maintaining power over the Empire in her hands. Suleiman disagreed with Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska on this issue, one of the few. As a result, Roksolana was unable to carry out all her plans; this was largely prevented by the early death of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. However, it was with Hurrem Sultan that the most destructive period in history for the empire began, which ultimately led to the collapse of the power - the Women's Sultanate. The women who appeared in the Sultan’s courtyard after Roksolana’s death were able to achieve a ban on the “Fatih law.” This ban is the only positive moment in this historical period. The Female Sultanate itself became a great evil for the Ottoman Empire, which destroyed the Empire.
Historical evidence:
There are many fictional stories and legends associated with the Fatih Law and the Women's Sultanate; these two historical concepts are so closely intertwined that it is very difficult to understand them. It’s even more complicated than with the reasons for the premature death of Shehzade, who died in 1553. To determine the truth, let’s turn to the background of the appearance of these two phenomena and consider each of them separately.
In 1478, he introduced the law “On Succession to the Throne”, the second more common name - the law “On Fratricide” is not official, but more accurately conveys the meaning of this law, which reads:
« Any person who dares to encroach on the Sultan's throne must be immediately executed. Even if my brother wants to take the throne».
Mehmed II introduced his law at the end of his reign. It was supposed to serve the heirs of Mehmed II as reliable protection from pretenders to the throne who were dissatisfied with the power of their opponents, primarily from the siblings and half-brothers of the ruling Sultan, who could openly oppose the padishah and start a rebellion. To prevent such unrest, the brothers were to be executed immediately after the new sultan ascended the throne, regardless of whether they encroached on the throne or not. This was very easy to do, since it was impossible to deny that at least once in their lives the legitimate shehzade did not think about the throne.
The theory that Roksolana made efforts to repeal this law appeared after the release in the late 1990s. onto the screens of the popular Ukrainian television project “Roksolana”, in which many events were fictitious and not based on real historical facts; only the names of historical characters were preserved exactly. Of course, the position of Roksolana’s sons was very precarious, but scientists have not found a single piece of evidence that Hurrem Sultan opposed this law and wanted to get it banned.
The “Female Sultanate” or “Sultanate of Women,” on the contrary, is a very real historical period in the life of the Ottoman Empire. Many researchers do not act entirely correctly when they connect the activities of women of this period to abolish the “Fatih Law” with Hurrem Sultan, who allegedly also fought against this law. As a result, only on the basis of this assumption, Hurrem Sultan is considered a representative of the period of the “Women’s Sultanate”, which, according to the same researchers, should prove the detrimental influence of Haseki Hurrem on the fate of the Ottoman Empire. As for the “Women's Sultanate” itself, most historians consider this period destructive for the Empire and characterize it as a negative phenomenon.
These conclusions are extremely dubious, since there are many real facts that prove that Hurrem could not have become the first of the representatives of the “Women’s Sultanate”, who, rather, implemented the ban on the Fatih law than engaged in its formal abolition. So let's look at these facts:
Female Sultanate- a historical period in the life of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted a little more than a century. It is characterized by the transfer of actual power into the hands of the four mothers of the sultans, whose sons, the ruling padishahs, obeyed them unconditionally, making decisions on domestic, foreign policy, and national issues.
Historians still do not have a consensus on what date should be considered the beginning of the Women's Sultanate. Some researchers who want to make the first woman from the Women's Sultanate cite the date of its formation as 1541. True, it is not clear what these researchers are guided by when naming this particular date. Indeed, according to their theory, one could name, for example, 1521, in which Hurrem was given the title of Haseki, or 1534, in which Aishe Hafsa Sultan died and power over the harem completely passed to Hurrem, or 1553, in which Mustafa was executed. It is impossible to understand such researchers.
But the writer Danishmend Ismail Hani speaks about the Women's Sultanate:
« The stagnation (collapse) of the Ottoman Empire was caused by reasons that appeared in the days of its greatest prosperity. Once again, therefore, let me remind you that the Female Sultanate is not the cause of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, but its consequence».
This statement by Danishmend is quoted by many online and print publications. However, even if we do not take into account that this writer often expresses ideas of a nationalistic nature and argues that only the indigenous Turks were able to make positive changes in the development of the Ottoman Empire, and the exaltation of Hurrem is only the only exception to this rule, Danishmend’s statement about the character of the Feminine The Sultanate can be considered erroneous and even meaningless, since it contains several obvious inaccuracies.
First of all, “stagnation” and “collapse” cannot be synonymous words, since they denote different phenomena in the life of the state. Almost a century and a half passed between the collapse and stagnation in the Ottoman Empire. Stagnation began in the empire after the end of the period of the Women's Sultanate, when the territorial and economic development of the country stopped. In addition, it is important to remember that all representatives of the Female Sultanate ruled for a very short period of time, and they are also united by the fact that they all bore the title “Valide Sultan”. Danishmend, of course, does not dispute these obvious conclusions, although none of them can be applied to characterize Hurrem Sultan. She did not have time to become Valide, as she died 8 years earlier. It is simply impossible to call the reign of Suleiman I the collapse of the Empire, if you really call the Women's Sultanate a consequence of the collapse of the Empire.
If we also assume the theories put forward about the beginning of the Female Sultanate in 1541, then this will also include the 8-year period when she ruled the harem, serving in 1558-1566. Valide's responsibilities. However, none of the researchers of this period of history dares to call its time the Women’s Sultanate.
This suggests the conclusion that the correct date for the beginning of the Female Sultanate should be considered 1574, when Valide Sultan became. And it is Nurbana Sultan who should be considered the first representative of the historical period of the Ottoman Empire called the Female Sultanate. Nurbanu began leading the harem in 1566, but there is not a single piece of evidence that during this period she influenced the decision-making of the ruling sultan, her husband. Nurban managed to seize real power only during the reign of her son.
In the year of his accession to the throne, Murad III, which takes us to the original topic of our article, the “Fatih Law,” succumbed to the influence of Nurbanu’s mother and the Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha Sokollu, who was an obedient executor of Nurbanu’s will, gave the order to execute all his half-brothers. Until this point, the Fatih law had not been used for 62 years. Murad III, explaining his decision, mentioned this particular law of 1478.
After 21 years, the son of Murad III, Mehmed III again uses this law and again this will be done at the insistence of the Sultan’s mother, already. Mehmed III executed 19 of his half-brothers in 1595. This year will go down in history as the bloodiest year of application of the Fatih law.
After Mehmed III, he will ascend the throne, whose concubine will be the famous Kösem, in the future the powerful and cunning Valide Sultan. Ahmed I would introduce the practice of imprisoning the brothers of the ruling sultans in one of the palace pavilions, in the “Cafes” (translated as a cell), which, however, was not a repeal of the Fatih law.
And Kösem Sultan did not make any effort to introduce this practice, since she was able to interfere in the decisions of the sultans much later. By the way, most of the negative traits that are attributed to Hurrem Sultan were taken precisely from the image of Kösem. We will only mention that the ruling Sultan Murad IV, Kösem’s son who was left without heirs in 1640, will try to reintroduce the Fatih law by ordering the murder of his brother, Kösem’s other son, Ibrahim. However, Kösem, who had enormous power at that time, would prevent this, since otherwise the rule of the Ottoman dynasty would have ended, and the Ottomans ruled the Empire for 341 years.
To be fair, we note that the Fatih law was never officially repealed; it was in force until the beginning of the twentieth century, until the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. It was last used in 1808, 121 years after the end of the period called the Female Sultanate (it ended in 1687, 4 years after the last powerful Valide Turhan Sultan died). In 1808, Sultan Mahmud II, who took the throne, would kill his brother Sultan Mustafa IV.
Regarding the influence of the Women's Sultanate on the development of the history of the Ottoman Empire, the following can be said: representatives of the Women's Sultanate indeed, albeit indirectly, contributed to the beginning of stagnation in the Ottoman Empire. Although the actions of the last of them, Turhan Sultan and Mehmed IV, her son, who lost the Battle of Vienna in 1683 on September 11, led to this most of all. However, it is impossible to call the Women's Sultanate the main reason for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The common phrase “It began with Ukrainian, and ended with Ukrainian,” directly alluding to Roksolana Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska as the first representative of this period, is clearly inaccurate and erroneous.
Later, at the beginning of the 18th century. heirs began to ascend to the throne at a fairly mature age. Therefore, many of their mothers died before their sons became ruling sultans, or were so old that they could no longer fight for power and interfere in government issues. Therefore, by the middle of the 18th century, the Valides did not have much power at court and did not influence the ruling sultans; they no longer interfered in resolving any issues of the country.
As for other changes that began precisely during the period of the Women's Sultanate and continued to operate after its completion, the most important of them is the use of the practice of imprisoning the Sultan's brothers in Kafes instead of the Fatih law. Although this solution to the issue was more humane, it turned out to be not very useful for the empire. Heirs were no longer appointed to the post of provincial rulers, as a result of which many mediocre and cowardly governors and insolvent rulers appeared in the empire. In addition, during the period of the Women's Sultanate, Turhan Sultan contributed to the appointment of her son Mehmed Koprulu as Grand Vizier. This marked the beginning of a new period in history Ottoman state, however, this fact deserves a separate article.
