All valid Ottoman Empire. Harem of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire. Fight for the throne

Actually, with this haseki of Roksolana’s grandson, Sultan Murad III (1546-1595), the reign of unrestricted (since their overlords were just a shadow of their outstanding ancestors) power bitches, quarreling with each other for their influence on their husbands (for lack of better term) and sons. “Almighty” in the series Roksolana looks like a tender violet and an innocent forget-me-not against their general background.

MELIKIE SAFIYE-SULTAN (SOFIA BAFFO) (c.1550-1618/1619).
There are two versions about the origin of the main Haseki (she never became the legal wife of the Sultan) Murad III, as well as about the origin of her mother-in-law Nurbanu Sultan.
The first, generally accepted one, is that she was the daughter of Leonardo Baffo, the Venetian governor of the island of Corfu (and, therefore, a relative of Nurbanu, née Cecilia Baffo).
Another version, and in Turkey itself they prefer this one - Safiye was from the Albanian village of Rezi, located on the Dukagin Highlands. In this case, she was a fellow countrywoman, or, quite possibly, even a relative of the poet Tashlijaly Yahya Bey (1498 - no later than 1582), a friend of Sehzade Mustafa, executed by Suleiman I, a serial “admirer” of Mihrimah Sultan, who was also Albanian by origin.

In any case, Sophia Baffo was captured around 1562, at age 12, by Muslim pirates, and bought by the sister of the then reigning Turkish padishah Selim II, Mihrimah Sultan. In accordance with Ottoman traditions, Roksolana’s daughter kept the girl in her service for a year. Since Mihrimah, both under her father, Sultan Suleiman, and later, during the reign of her brother Selim, ruled the main harem of Turkey, most likely, from the first days of her stay in the Ottoman Empire, Sophia immediately found herself in Bab-us-Saada (the name of the Sultan’s harem, literally - “The Gates of Bliss”), where, by the way, Nurbana was not favored, to put it mildly, before she became a valid Sultan. In any case, such hardening at the very beginning of the young concubine’s career was very useful to her in the future, including in the fight against her mother-in-law, when Murad became the Sultan. After a year of teaching the girl everything that an odalisque needed to know, Mihrimah Sultan gave her to her nephew, Shehzade Murad. This happened in 1563. Murad was then 19 years old, Safiye (most likely, her name was given by Mihrimah, in Turkish it means “pure”) - about 13.
Apparently, in Aksehir, where Suleiman I appointed Selim's son as sanjak bey in 1558, Safiye did not succeed immediately.
She gave birth to her first son (and first-born Murad), Sehzade Mehmed, only three years later, on May 26, 1566. Thus, Sultan Suleiman, who was then living the last year of his life, managed to learn about the birth of his great-grandson (there is no information that he personally saw the newborn) 3.5 months before his own death on September 7, 1566.

As in the case of Nurbanu Sultan and Sehzade Selim, before Murad’s accession to the throne, Safiye gave birth to his children exclusively. However, what made her position fundamentally different from that of her mother-in-law as the haseki heir to the throne was that all this time (almost 20 years) she remained Murad’s only sexual partner (even though he, as befits a shehzade, had a large harem ). The fact is that the son of Nurbanu Sultan had some intimate psychological problems in his sexual life, which he could only overcome with Safiye, and therefore he had sex exclusively with her (with legal polygamy among the Ottomans, which is especially offensive). Haseki Murada bore him many children (their exact number is unknown), but only four of them survived early childhood - sons Mehmed (b. 1566) and Mahmud, and daughters Aishe-Sultan (b. 1570) and Fatma Sultan (b. 1580). Safiye's second son died in 1581 - by that time his father Murad III had already been Sultan for 7 years, and thus, like Nurbanu before, she had only one son left (and he is also the only heir of the Ottomans in the male line).

Murad's selective impotence, which allowed him to have children only from Safiye, greatly concerned his mother Nurbana Sultan only after she became valid, and even then not immediately, but when it became clear to her that her daughter-in-law would give her all the power without a fight is not going to - not so much because of his health, but because of the enormous influence that the hated Safiye had on her son for this reason (and between the mother and the Haseki of Murad, who had just ascended the throne, a war for influence on him had just begun) .

Nurbana can be completely understood - if Roksolana was most likely given to Sultan Suleiman by his mother, Aishe Hafsa-Sultan, and Nurbana herself was chosen for Selim by his mother Hurrem, then Safiye was the choice of Mihrimah Sultan, and, accordingly, did not owe anything to her mother-in-law (who, by the way, categorically refused to acknowledge her relationship with her).

One way or another, in 1583, Valide Sultan Nurbanu accused Safiye of witchcraft, which made Murad impotent, unable to have sex with other women. Several of Safiye's servants were captured and tortured, but they could not prove her guilt (of what?).
In the chronicles of that time they write that Murad’s sister, Esmekhan Sultan, gave her brother two beautiful slaves in 1584, “whom he accepted and made his concubines.” The fact that before this Sultan Murad met (at the insistence of his mother) in a secluded place with a foreign doctor is mentioned in passing in the same chronicles.

However, Nurbanu nevertheless achieved her goal - having received the freedom to choose sexual partners at the age of 38, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire literally became obsessed with his libido. In fact, he devoted the rest of his life exclusively to harem pleasures. He bought beautiful slaves almost wholesale and for any money wherever he could. Viziers and sanjak beys, instead of managing the state, looked for young beauties for him in their provinces and abroad. During the reign of Sultan Murad, the number of his harem, according to various estimates, ranged from two hundred to five hundred concubines - he was forced to significantly enlarge and rebuild the premises of Bab-us-Saade. As a result, in just the last 10 years of his life, he managed to become the father of 19-22 (according to various estimates) sons and about 30 daughters. Considering the very high early infant mortality rate at that time, we can safely assume that his harem gave birth to at least about 100 children during this time.

The triumph of Valide Sultan Nurbanu, however, was short-lived - she believed that with one blow (naive) she knocked her most powerful weapon out of the hands of her hated daughter-in-law. However, she still could not defeat Safiye in this way. The intelligent woman, having accepted the inevitable, never once showed her annoyance or dissatisfaction; moreover, she herself began to buy beautiful slaves for Murad’s harem, which earned him gratitude and trust, no longer as a concubine, but as a wise adviser in state matters, and after her death (in 1583), Safiye easily and naturally took her place not only in the state hierarchy of the Ottoman Empire, but also in the eyes of Murad III. Along the way, he took into his own hands all the influence and connections of the mother-in-law in Venetian merchant circles, which brought Nurban a lot of income as a lobbyist for their interests in the Divan.

The fact that Valide Murad III switched all the vital interests of her son to the pleasures of the flesh ultimately benefited both herself and her daughter-in-law - they were able to completely take into their own hands the now completely uninteresting power for Murad.

By the way, it was during the reign of the sexually preoccupied Murad III that representatives of the ruling European dynasties again appeared in the main harem of the Sublime Porte after a very long break (almost two centuries). However, now they were content with the position not of wives, but of the Sultan’s concubines, or, at best, their haseki. The political situation in Europe has changed very much over these 200 years, the rulers of states that fell under the Ottoman protectorate, and those who tried to maintain their independence from Istanbul, themselves offered daughters and sisters to the harem of the Turkish padishah. So, for example, one of Murad’s favorites was Fulane-Khatun (real name unknown) - the daughter of the Wallachian ruler Mircea III Draculestu, the great-granddaughter of that same Vlad III Tepes Dracula (1429/1431-1476). Her brothers, as vassals of the Ottoman Empire, participated with their troops in the campaign of the Turkish army against Moldova. And the nephew, Mihnya II Turk (Tarkitul) (1564-1601), was born and raised in Istanbul, in Topkapi. He was converted to Islam with the name Mehmed Bey. In September 1577, after the death of his father, the Wallachian ruler Alexander Mircea Mihnya, the Turk was proclaimed by the Porte as the new ruler of Wallachia.

Another Haseki of Murad III, the Greek Helen, belonged to the Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Great Komnenos. She was a descendant of the rulers of the Empire of Trebizond (the territory on the northern coast of modern Turkey, up to the Caucasus), captured by the Ottomans back in 1461. Biography of her son Yahya (Alexander) (1585-1648) - an outstanding adventurer or politician, but, of course, at the same time an excellent warrior and commander who devoted his entire life to organizing military anti-Turkish coalitions (with the participation of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, Moscow, Hungary, Don Cossacks, the states of Northern Italy and the Balkan countries) with the aim of capturing the Ottoman Empire and creating a new Greek state - deserves a separate story. I will only say that this daredevil, on both his father’s and mother’s sides, was a descendant of the Galician Rurikovichs. And, of course, he had every right to the throne of Byzantium if his escapade had been successful. But now the conversation is not about him.

As a ruler, Sultan Murad was as weak as his father Selim. But if the reign of Selim II was quite successful thanks to his chief vizier and son-in-law, Mehmed Pasha Sokoll, an outstanding statesman and military figure of his time, then Murad after the death of Sokoll (he was his uncle, since he was married to his own aunt, his father’s sister) five years after the start of his own sultanate, no such grand vizier could be found. The heads of the Divan replaced each other several times a year during his reign - not in last resort through the fault of the sultanas - Nurban and Safiye, each of whom wanted to see her own person in this position. However, even after the death of Nurbanu, the leapfrog with the great viziers did not end. During Safiye's tenure as valid sultan, there were 12 chief viziers.

However, the military forces and material resources accumulated by the ancestors of Sultan Murad still provided, by inertia, the opportunity for their mediocre descendant to continue the work of conquest they had begun. In 1578 (during the life of the outstanding Grand Vizier Sokollu, and through his works), the Ottoman Empire began another war with Iran. According to legend, Murad III asked those close to him which of all the wars that took place during the reign of Suleiman I was the most difficult. Having learned that it was an Iranian campaign, Murad decided to at least in some way surpass his great grandfather. Having significant numerical and technical superiority over the enemy, the Ottoman army achieved a number of successes: in 1579, the territories of modern Georgia and Azerbaijan were occupied, and in 1580, the southern and western coasts of the Caspian Sea. In 1585, the main forces of the Iranian army were defeated. According to the Treaty of Constantinople with Iran, concluded in 1590, most of Azerbaijan, including Tabriz, the entire Transcaucasus, Kurdistan, Luristan and Khuzestan, passed to the Ottoman Empire. Despite such significant territorial gains, the war led to the weakening of the Ottoman army, which suffered heavy losses, and the undermining of finances. In addition, the protectionist government of the state, first by Nurbanu Sultan, and after her death by Safiye Sultan, led to a strong increase in bribery and nepotism in the highest authorities of the country, which, of course, also did not benefit the Sublime Porte.

By the end of his life, Murad III (and he lived only 48 years) turned into a huge, fat, clumsy carcass, suffering from urolithiasis (which ultimately brought him to the grave). In addition to the illness, Murad was also tormented by suspicions about his eldest son and official heir, Sehzade Mehmed, who was then about 25 years old and who was very popular among the Janissaries - Roksolana’s grandson feared that he would try to take power from him. During this difficult period, Safiye Sultan had to make considerable efforts to protect his son from the danger of poisoning or murder by his father.

By the way, despite the enormous influence that she again acquired on Sultan Murad after the death of his mother Nurban, she never managed to force him to perform nikkah with her. Before her death, the mother-in-law managed to convince her son that a wedding with Safiye would hasten his own end, as happened with his father, Selim II - he died three years after his marriage with Nurbanu herself. However, such a precaution did not save Murad - he lived for 48 years without any nikkah, two years less than Sultan Selim, who committed nikkah.

Murad III began to get seriously ill in the fall of 1594, and died on January 15, 1595.
His death, like the death of his father, Sultan Selim 20 years ago, was kept in deep secrecy, covering the body of the deceased with ice, and in the same closet where Selim’s corpse had previously lay, until Sehzade Mehmed arrived from the hereditary Manisa on January 28 . He was met, already as a valid, by his mother, Safiye Sultan. Here it should be noted that Mehmed was appointed sanjak bey of Manisa by his father back in 1583, when he was about 16 years old. All these 12 years, mother and son never saw each other. This is about the maternal feelings of Safiye Sultan.

28-year-old Mehmed III began his reign with the greatest fratricide in the history of the Ottoman Empire (with the full support and approval of his valid). On one day, on his orders, 19 (or 22, according to other sources) of his younger brothers were strangled, the eldest of whom was 11 years old. But this was not enough for Safiyya’s son to ensure the safety of his reign, and the next day all his father’s pregnant concubines were drowned in the Bosphorus. What was an innovation even for those cruel times - in such cases, they waited for the woman to give birth to her child, and killed exclusively male babies. The concubines themselves (including the boys' mothers) and their daughters were usually allowed to live.

Looking ahead, it was “thanks to” the paranoidly suspicious Sultan Mehmed that the Ottoman ruling dynasty developed a pernicious custom of not giving the shehzade the opportunity to take even the slightest part in governing the empire (as was done previously). Mehmed's sons were kept locked up in a harem in a pavilion called “The Cage” (Kafes). They lived there, albeit in luxury, but in complete isolation, drawing information about the world around them only from books. It was forbidden to inform sehzade about current events in the Ottoman Empire under penalty of death. In order to avoid the birth of “extra” carriers of the sacred blood of the Ottomans (and, therefore, competitors for the throne of the Sublime Porte), the Shehzade had no right not only to their harem, but also to sexual life. Now only the ruling sultan had the right to have children.

Immediately after Mehmed came to power, the Janissaries rebelled and demanded increased salaries and other privileges. Mehmed satisfied their claims, but after this, unrest broke out among the population of Istanbul, which became so widespread that the Grand Vizier Ferhad Pasha (of course, on the orders of the Sultan) used artillery against the rebels in the city for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Only after this was the rebellion managed to be suppressed.

At the insistence of the Grand Vizier and Sheikh ul-Islam, Mehmed III in 1596 moved with an army to Hungary (where, in the last years of Murad’s reign, the Austrians began to gradually regain the territories they had previously conquered), won the Battle of Kerestetsky, but failed to take advantage of it. The English ambassador Edward Barton, who, at the invitation of the Sultan, participated in this military campaign, left interesting notes on Mehmed’s behavior in a military situation. On October 12, 1596, the Ottoman army captured the Erlau fortress in northern Hungary, and two weeks later it met with the main forces of the Habsburg armies that occupied well-fortified positions on the Mezőkövesd plain. At this moment, Mehmed’s nerves gave way, and he was ready to abandon his troops and return to Istanbul, but the vizier Sinan Pasha convinced him to stay. When the next day, October 26, both armies met in a decisive battle, Mehmed was afraid and was about to flee the battlefield, but Sededdin Hoxha put the sacred ilash of the Prophet Muhammad on the Sultan and literally forced him to join the fighting troops. The result of the battle was an unexpected victory for the Turks, and Mehmed earned himself the nickname Gazi (defender of the faith).

After his triumphant return, Mehmed III never again led Ottoman troops on campaign. The Venetian ambassador Girolamo Capello wrote: “The doctors announced that the Sultan could not go to war due to his poor health caused by excesses in food and drink.”

However, doctors in in this case they did not sin so much against the truth - the Sultan’s health, despite his youth, was rapidly deteriorating: he grew weaker, lost consciousness several times and fell into oblivion. Sometimes it seemed that he was on the verge of death. One of these cases is mentioned by the same Venetian ambassador Capello in his message dated July 29, 1600: “Great Ruler retired to Scutari, and there are rumors that there he fell into dementia, which had happened to him several times before, and this attack lasted three days, during which there were short periods of clarity of mind.”. Like his father Sultan Murad at the end of his life, Mehmed turned into a huge fat carcass that no horse could support. So there was no question of any military campaigns.

This condition of the son, who even before his illness was not very interested in state affairs, made the power of Sophia Sultan truly limitless. Having become a valid, Safiye received enormous power and great income: in the second half of the reign of Mehmed III, she received only 3,000 akçe per day as a salary; In addition, profits were generated by lands given from state ownership for the needs of the Valide Sultan. When Mehmed III set out on a campaign against Hungary in 1596, he granted his mother the right to manage the treasury. Until the death of Mehmed III in 1603, the country's politics were determined by a party led by Safiye together with Gazanfer Agha, the head of the white eunuchs of the main harem of the Ottoman Empire (the eunuchs were a huge political force that, without attracting outside attention, participated in government and even later - in the enthronement of the sultans).
In the eyes of foreign diplomats, Valide Sultan Safiye played a role comparable to the role of queens in European states, and was even considered by Europeans as a queen.

Safiye, like her predecessor Nurbanu, adhered to a mainly pro-Venetian policy and regularly interceded on behalf of the Venetian ambassadors. The Sultana also maintained good relations with England. Safiye maintained a personal correspondence with Queen Elizabeth I and exchanged gifts with her: for example, she received a portrait of the English queen in exchange for “two robes of silver cloth, one belt of silver cloth and two handkerchiefs edged with gold.” In addition, Elizabeth presented Valida Sultan with a luxurious European carriage, in which Safiye traveled throughout Istanbul and the surrounding area, causing discontent among the ulema - they believed that such luxury was indecent for her. The Janissaries were dissatisfied with the influence that the Valide Sultan had on the ruler. The English diplomat Henry Lello wrote about this in his report: “ She [Safie] was always in favor and completely subjugated her son; despite this, muftis and military leaders often complain about her to their monarch, pointing out that she misleads him and rules over him.”
However, the direct cause of the Sipahi riot (a type of Turkish heavy cavalry) that broke out in Istanbul in 1600 armed forces Ottoman Empire, “brothers” of the Janissaries) a woman named Esperanza Malhi stood against the Sultan’s mother. She was Kira and the mistress of Safiye Sultan. Kirami usually became women of non-Islamic faith (usually Jewish), who acted as a business agent, secretary and intermediary between the women of the harem and the outside world. Safiya, in love with a Jewish woman, allowed her kira to profit from the entire harem and even put her hand into the treasury; in the end, Malkhi and her son (they “heated up” the Ottoman Empire for more than 50 million akche) were brutally killed by the sipahis. Mehmed III ordered the execution of the rebel leaders, since the son of Kira was an adviser to Safiye and, thus, a servant of the Sultan himself.
The diplomats also left a mention of the Sultana's passion for the young secretary of the English embassy, ​​Paul Pindar - however, it remained without consequences. “The Sultana really liked Mr. Pinder and sent for him for a personal meeting, but their meeting was cut short.”. Apparently, the young Englishman was then rushed back to England.

It was Safiye Sultan who, for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire, began to be (unofficially) called the “great valide” - and for the reason that she (the first among the sultanas) concentrated the management of the entire Sublime Porte in her hands; and because, due to the early death of her son, new valides appeared in the state - the mothers of her grandchildren-sultans, while she was then only 53 years old.

Uncontrollably power-hungry and greedy, Safiye was even more afraid than Mehmed III himself of the possibility of a coup by one of her grandchildren. That is why she played a major role in the execution of Mehmed's eldest son, 16-year-old Sehzade Mahmud (1587-1603). Safiye Sultan intercepted a letter from a religious seer sent to Mahmud's mother, Halima Sultan, in which he predicted that Mehmed III would die within six months and be succeeded by his eldest son. According to the notes of the British ambassador, Mahmud himself was upset by “that his father is under the rule of the old Sultana, his grandmother, and the state is collapsing, since she respects nothing more than her own desire to receive money, which his mother [Halime Sultan] often laments,” who was “not to the queen’s liking -mother”. Safiye immediately informed her son about everything (with the right “sauce”). As a result, the Sultan began to suspect Mahmud of conspiracy and was jealous of Shehzade's popularity among the Janissaries. All this, as expected, ended with the execution (strangulation) of his senior shehzade on June 1 (or 7), 1503. However, the first part of the seer's prediction still came true - two weeks late. Sultan Mehmed III died in his Istanbul Topkapi Palace on December 21, 1503, at the age of only 37, of a heart attack - an absolute wreck. Apart from his mother, no one regretted his death.

A cruel and ruthless man, he apparently was not capable of passion and ardent feelings. Historians know of five of his concubines who bore him children, but none of them ever bore the title of Haseki, let alone the possibility of a padishah marrying any of them. Mehmed, as the Sultan of the Sublime Porte, also had few children - historians know his six sons (two died as teenagers during his father’s lifetime, he executed one) and the names of four daughters (in fact there were more, but how many and how were they name - covered in the darkness of the unknown).

This time there was no need to hide the death of the Sultan - all his sons were in Topkapi, in the harem “Cage” for sehzade. The choice was obvious - the 13-year-old eldest son of Mehmed, Ahmed I, ascended the Ottoman throne. By the way, at the same time, he saved the life of his younger brother (he was only a year younger than him), Shehzade Mustafa. Firstly, because he was (before Ahmed had his own children) his only heir, and secondly (when Ahmed had his own children) because of his mental illness.

Well, it was not for nothing that Safiye Sultan was afraid of her grandchildren coming to power - one of the first decisions of Sultan Ahmed was to remove her from power and exile to the Old Palace, where all the concubines of the late sultans lived out their days. However, at the same time, Safiye, as the eldest, “great” valida, continued to receive her fantastic salary of 3,000 akche per day.

Grandmother Sultana, although she lived, in general, not such a long life (especially by the standards of our time) - she died at about 68-69 years old, and outlived her grandson Sultan Ahmed (he died in November 1617 ), and saw the beginning of the reign of his son, his great-grandson Osman II (1604-1622), who became Sultan in February 1618, at the age of 14, after the Janissaries overthrew his uncle, the mentally disabled Sultan Mustafa I. By the way, after the overthrow of Mustafa in Old His mother, Halime Sultan, was exiled to the palace. One must think she organized some “fun” last days the life of his mother-in-law Safiye, through whose fault Mehmed III executed her eldest son, Mahmud, in 1603.

The exact date of death of the great Valida Safiye Sultan is unknown to historians. She died at the end of 1618 - beginning of 1619, and was buried in the Aya Sophia mosque in the turba (mausoleum) of her ruler, Murad III. There was no one to mourn her.

All the sultans of the Ottoman Empire and the years of their reign are divided into several stages in history: from the period of creation to the formation of the republic. These time periods have almost exact boundaries in Ottoman history.

Formation of the Ottoman Empire

It is believed that the founders Ottoman state arrived in Asia Minor (Anatolia) from Central Asia(Turkmenistan) in the 20s of the 13th century. Sultan of the Seljuk Turks Keykubad II provided them with areas near the cities of Ankara and Segut for their residence.

The Seljuk Sultanate perished in 1243 under the attacks of the Mongols. Since 1281, Osman came to power in the possession allocated to the Turkmen (beylik), who pursued a policy of expanding his beylik: he captured small towns, proclaimed ghazawat - a holy war with the infidels (Byzantines and others). Osman partially subjugates the territory of Western Anatolia, in 1326 he takes the city of Bursa and makes it the capital of the empire.

In 1324, Osman I Gazi dies. He was buried in Bursa. The inscription on the grave became a prayer said by the Ottoman sultans upon ascending the throne.

Successors of the Ottoman dynasty:

Expansion of the empire's borders

In the middle of the 15th century. The period of the most active expansion of the Ottoman Empire began. At this time, the empire was headed by:

• Mehmed II the Conqueror - reigned 1444 - 1446. and in 1451 - 1481. At the end of May 1453, he captured and plundered Constantinople. He moved the capital to the plundered city. St. Sophia Cathedral was converted into the main temple of Islam. At the request of the Sultan, the residences of the Orthodox Greek and Armenian patriarchs, as well as the chief Jewish rabbi, were located in Istanbul. Under Mehmed II, the autonomy of Serbia was terminated, Bosnia was subordinated, and Crimea was annexed. The death of the Sultan prevented the capture of Rome. The Sultan did not value human life at all, but he wrote poetry and created the first poetic duvan.

  

• Bayezid II the Holy (Dervish) - reigned from 1481 to 1512. Almost never fought. Stopped the tradition of the Sultan's personal leadership of troops. He patronized culture and wrote poetry. He died, transferring power to his son.
• Selim I the Terrible (Merciless) - reigned from 1512 to 1520. He began his reign by destroying his closest competitors. Brutally suppressed the Shiite uprising. Captured Kurdistan, western Armenia, Syria, Palestine, Arabia and Egypt. A poet whose poems were subsequently published by the German Emperor Wilhelm II.

  

• Suleiman I Kanuni (Lawgiver) - reigned from 1520 to 1566. Expanded the borders to Budapest, the upper Nile and the Strait of Gibraltar, the Tigris and Euphrates, Baghdad and Georgia. Conducted many government reforms. The last 20 years have passed under the influence of the concubine and then the wife of Roksolana. The most prolific among the sultans in poetic creativity. He died during a campaign in Hungary.

  

• Selim II the Drunkard - reigned from 1566 to 1574. There was an addiction to alcohol. A talented poet. During this reign, the first conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Principality of Moscow and the first major defeat at sea occurred. The only expansion of the empire was the capture of Fr. Cyprus. He died from hitting his head on stone slabs in a bathhouse.

  

• Murad III - on the throne from 1574 to 1595. A “lover” of numerous concubines and a corrupt official who was practically not involved in managing the empire. During his reign, Tiflis was captured, and imperial troops reached Dagestan and Azerbaijan.

  

• Mehmed III - reigned from 1595 to 1603. Record holder for the destruction of competitors for the throne - on his orders, 19 brothers, their pregnant women and son were killed.

  

• Ahmed I - reigned from 1603 to 1617. The reign is characterized by a leapfrog of senior officials, who were often replaced at the request of the harem. The Empire lost Transcaucasia and Baghdad.

  

• Mustafa I - reigned from 1617 to 1618. and from 1622 to 1623. He was considered a saint for his dementia and sleepwalking. I spent 14 years in prison.
• Osman II - reigned from 1618 to 1622. Enthroned at the age of 14 by the Janissaries. He was pathologically cruel. After the defeat near Khotin from the Zaporozhye Cossacks, he was killed by the Janissaries for attempting to escape with the treasury.

  

• Murad IV - reigned from 1622 to 1640. At the cost of great blood, he brought order to the corps of the Janissaries, destroyed the dictatorship of the viziers, and cleared the courts and government apparatus of corrupt officials. Returned Erivan and Baghdad to the empire. Before his death, he ordered the death of his brother Ibrahim, the last of the Ottomanids. Died of wine and fever.

  

• Ibrahim ruled from 1640 to 1648. Weak and weak-willed, cruel and wasteful, greedy for female caresses. Deposed and strangled by the Janissaries with the support of the clergy.

  

• Mehmed IV the Hunter - reigned from 1648 to 1687. Proclaimed Sultan at age 6. The true administration of the state was carried out by the grand viziers, especially in the early years. During the first period of reign, the empire strengthened its military power, conquered about. Crete. The second period was not so successful - the Battle of St. Gotthard was lost, Vienna was not taken, the Janissaries revolt and the overthrow of the Sultan.

  

• Suleiman II - reigned from 1687 to 1691. Enthroned by the Janissaries.
• Ahmed II - reigned from 1691 to 1695. Enthroned by the Janissaries.
• Mustafa II - reigned from 1695 to 1703. Enthroned by the Janissaries. The first partition of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 and the Treaty of Constantinople with Russia in 1700.

  

• Ahmed III - reigned from 1703 to 1730. He sheltered Hetman Mazepa and Charles XII after the Battle of Poltava. During his reign, the war with Venice and Austria was lost, part of his possessions in Eastern Europe, as well as Algeria and Tunisia, were lost.

  

Titenko Yulia

Class 7 “A”, MBOU “Lyceum”, Russian Federation, Dalnerechensk

Olga Yakovlevna Barabash

scientific supervisor, teacher of the highest category, history teacher, MBOU "Lyceum", Russian Federation, Dalnerechensk

The Ottoman or Ottoman Empire was formed in 1299, when the man who went down in history as the first Sultan of the Ottoman Empire under the name Osman I Ghazi declared the independence of his small country from the Seljuks and took the title of Sultan (although some sources note that this was the first time such a title was officially Only his grandson, Murad I, began to wear it). The reign of Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent (1521-1566) is considered the dawn of the Ottoman Empire.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. The Ottoman Empire was one of the most powerful countries in the world. Its territory by 1566 extended from Budapest (Hungary) in the north and Baghdad (Persia) in the east to Algeria in the west and Mecca in the south. Since the 17th century, the influence of the Ottoman Empire in the region began to gradually be lost. It finally collapsed after defeat in the First World War. The Ottoman dynasty reigned for 623 years, from 1299 until November 1, 1922, when the monarchy was abolished.

Unlike European monarchies, women in the Ottoman Empire (as in any other Islamic state) were not allowed to govern the country. But in the history of this country there is a period called the Women's Sultanate, when women had a great influence on public affairs. The term was first coined by Turkish historian Ahmet Refik Altınay in 1916 in a book of the same name. Disputes about the impact this period had on the great Ottoman Empire continue to this day. There is also no consensus as to what should be considered the main cause of this phenomenon, unusual for the Islamic world, and who should be considered its first representative.

Some historians believe that Female Sultanate gave rise to the period of the end of the campaigns, on which the system of conquering vast expanses and obtaining enormous military booty was based. Others call the reason for the emergence of the Women's Sultanate the struggle for the abolition of the law of Mehmed II Fatih "On Succession to the Throne", according to which all the brothers of the Sultan, after his accession to the throne, were to be executed, regardless of their intentions, and call the founder of the Women's Sultanate of the Ottoman Empire Hurrem Sultan the wife of Sultan Suleiman I, who for the first time in the history of this state, in 1521 became the bearer of the title “Haseki Sultan”, which literally means “most beloved wife”.

Hurrem Sultan or Alexandra (Anastasia) Lisovskaya (known in Europe as Roksolana) was born in 1505 in the city of Rohatina, in Western Ukraine. In 1520 she ended up in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, where Sultan Suleiman I gave her a new name - Hurrem, which translated from Arabic means “bringing joy.” The title "Haseki Sultan", given to her by her husband Sultan Suleiman I, gave her a lot of power, which became even stronger after the death of Valide Sultan in 1534, when Hurrem began to rule the harem. The most educated woman of her time, who knew several foreign languages, Hurrem Haseki Sultan answered letters from foreign rulers, influential nobles and artists, and received foreign ambassadors. In fact, Hurrem was a political adviser to her husband, Sultan Suleiman I, who spent a significant part of his reign on campaigns.

But, as noted above, not all researchers are inclined to classify Hurrem Sultan as a representative of the Women's Sultanate. Among the main arguments, they note the fact that each of its representatives was characterized by two points: the presence of the title “Valide”, and the relatively short reign of the Sultans. None of them applied to Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, since she did not live 8 years before the opportunity to become “Valide”, and to call the reign of Suleiman I short is simply absurd (Suleiman I ruled for 46 years), as in fact, to call it “decline” his actions during his reign (if we consider the Female Sultanate as a consequence of the “decline” of the empire).

Due to the above reasons, most historians are inclined to consider four women as representatives of the Women’s Sultanate of the Ottoman Empire: Valide Afife Nurbanu Sultan (1525-1583) - the Venetian Cecilia Venier-Baffo; Valide Safiye Sultan (1550-1603) - Venetian Sophia Baffo; Valide Mahpeyker Kösem Sultan (1589-1651) - presumably the Greek Anastasia; Valide Hatice Turhan Sultan (1627-1683) - Ukrainian Nadezhda. The date of the beginning of the period of the Female Sultanate of the Ottoman Empire, in their opinion, should be considered 1574, when Nurbanu Sultan received the title “Valide”, and the date of its end was 1687, when Sultan Suleiman II ascended the throne, who received supreme power while already in adulthood (4 years after the death of the last influential Valide in the history of the Ottoman Empire, Turhan Sultan).

Historians name the main reasons for the increased influence of women on state affairs: the love of the sultans for specific women, the influence of mothers on their sons, the incapacity of the sultans at the time of their accession to the throne, the intrigues and deceit of women, as well as a simple coincidence of circumstances. Another important factor is the frequent change of grand viziers, whose duration of office at the beginning of the 17th century averaged just over a year, which created a situation of political fragmentation and chaos in the empire.

As for the assessments of the era of the Women's Sultanate, as noted above, they are very ambiguous. Indeed, female regents who were once slaves and rose to the status of Valide were often not ready to conduct political affairs. In selecting applicants and appointing them to important government positions, they relied on the advice of their intimates, often basing their selection not on the abilities of specific individuals or their loyalty to the dynasty, but on ethnic loyalty.

On the other hand, female rule also had its positive sides. It made it possible to preserve the existing monarchical order, which was based on all sultans belonging to one dynasty. The personal shortcomings or incompetence of the sultans (such as the mentally ill Mustafa I, the cruel Murad IV, the half-mad and wasteful Ibrahim I) were compensated by the strength of their women or mothers. And yet, one cannot ignore the fact that the actions of women of this era indirectly pushed the empire into stagnation, but, for the most part, at the expense of Turhan Sultan and her son Mehmed IV, who lost the Battle of Vienna on September 11, 1683.

In general, we can conclude that at the moment there is no unambiguous historical assessment of the influence of the era of the female sultanate on the empire. Some believe that the rule of women led to the death of the empire, others believe that the rule of women was a consequence rather than a cause of the decline of a great empire. But one thing is clear: Ottoman women had disproportionately less power and were further from absolutism than European female monarchs of the time (for example, Catherine II or Elizabeth I).

Bibliography:

1. Kinross L. The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire: trans. from English M.: Algorithm, 2013. - 240 p.
2. Petrosyan Yu.A. Ottoman Empire: power and death. Historical essays. M.: Eksmo, 2003.
3. Suleiman the Magnificent, his reign and his family. [Electronic resource] - Access mode. - URL: http://www.portalostranah.ru/view.php?id=223 (date accessed 03/16/2015).
4. Shirokograd A. The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire. M.: Veche, 2012. - 420 p.

The Female Sultanate is the historical definition of the historical period of the Ottoman Empire from 1541 to 1687 (according to another dating, from 1550 to 1656). For almost 150 (or just over 100 years), during which women had a great, and in the end even decisive, influence on the public policy of the Sublime Porte. Mothers, wives and concubines of the Turkish padishahs.

The term “female sultanate” was introduced into the history of the Ottoman Empire by the Turkish historian Ahmet Refik Altinay in 1916 in his book of the same name, in which he considered the participation of the weaker sex in the governance of Turkey as the reason for the decline of the Ottoman state. Although most of his colleagues, both then and later, did not agree with this assessment, explaining the increased influence of women on the politics of the Islamic empire of the 16th-17th centuries. a consequence, not a cause, of its weakening.

It should be noted that each sultana included in the “Women’s Sultanate” was able to truly take power into her own hands only after the death of her ruler, as a valid sultan (something like a “queen mother” in European monarchies) under her sons who became sultans (with one exception - Hurrem Sultan never became valid, since she died before her husband, Sultan Suleiman). Moreover, in most cases this measure was forced - due to the young age of the ruling Sultan or due to his mental retardation. And one more thing - all these women, with a single exception, were born and formed as individuals in the conditions of European Christian civilization (two Ukrainians, two Venetians, a Greek), which provided the weaker sex, even in those harsh patriarchal times, much more freedom and independence than the Islamic tradition .

KHURREM-SULTAN (ROKSOLANA) Alexandra (Anastasia) Gavrilovna Lisovskaya (1505/1506-1558) , concubine from 1520, from 1534 - the legal wife of Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, Ukrainian, daughter of an Orthodox priest from Western Ukraine. I have never been a valid sultan;

AFIFE NURBANU-SULTAN – Cecilia (Olivia) Venier-Baffo (c.1525-1583), Came into the harem of the son of Hurrem Sultan, shehzade (heir to the throne) Selim, around 1537. Legal wife of Sultan Selim II from 1570-1571. By origin, she is a Venetian, an illegitimate descendant of two noble families (her parents were not married). Valide Sultan since 1574;

MELIKIE SAFIYE-SULTAN – Sophia Baffo (c.1550-1619). Venetian, relative of her mother-in-law, Nurbanu. She entered the harem of Khyurrem's grandson, Shehzade Murad, in 1563 - Roksolana's daughter, Mihrimah Sultan, gave her to her nephew. Valide Sultan since 1595;

HALIME-SULTAN – name given at birth is unknown (c.1571-after 1623). Originally from modern Abkhazia, most likely of Circassian origin. The circumstances under which she ended up in the harem of the future Sultan Mehmed III are unknown. It is only known that this happened even before his accession to the throne, when he was the sanjak bey of Manisa. Twice (for a total of two and a half years) she was Valide Sultan under her mentally disabled son Mustafa I. Due to Mustafa’s incapacity, Halime Sultan, for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire, became not only Valide Sultan, but also the regent of the Islamic Empire.

MAHPAKER KOSEM-SULTAN – (c.1590-1651)- the most influential woman in the entire history of the Ottoman Empire, three times valid Sultan. Presumably a Greek woman named Anastasia, the daughter of an Orthodox priest. Concubine of Sultan Ahmed I from 1603. Valide Sultan (and regent of the state) under his son Murad IV from 1623 to 1631; under the second son Ibrahim I from 1640 to 1648; under his grandson Mehmed IV from 1648 until his death in 1651;

TURKHAN HATIJE-SULTAN (c.1628-1683) - Ukrainian woman named Nadezhda, originally from the Ukrainian Slobozhanshchina, presumably from the city of Trostyanets in the modern Sumy region of Ukraine. Concubine of Sultan Ibrahim I from 1641. Valide Sultan and regent of the state since 1651 under his young son Mehmed IV. She voluntarily renounced the title of regent on September 15, 1565 in favor of the new grand vizier she appointed, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. This date is considered the end of the “female sultanate,” although Turhan herself lived for another 18 years, and her son, the Sultan, on whose behalf she ruled, died 28 years later, having previously lost power in 1687, just four years after his death mother. Some Turkish historians consider 1687 to be the end of the “female sultanate”, thus extending its term by 31 years. Because all these powerful sultanas, no matter how smart, enterprising and wise they were, meant nothing without their often not just stupid, but mentally retarded sons, in whose name they ruled. Independent rule by a woman in the Ottoman Empire was absolutely impossible for the Islamic world.

One more thing. In those harsh times of the late Middle Ages, with enormous infant mortality (out of 10 newborns, 5 died in the first days and months of life) and the frequent death of women in labor, a girl was considered ready for marriage (and, accordingly, for marital relations) immediately after her first menstruation. And in southern countries(unlike the northern ones) this is quite common and now occurs in girls at 10-11, even at 9 years old. It is clear that no one knew or heard anything about any pedophilia at that time - life was too short and harsh, a woman had to have time to give birth to as many children as possible, so that, in turn, as many of them as possible would survive. In addition, in those days it was believed that the younger the woman in labor, the greater her chances of surviving the birth of the child. So all the concubines of the Turkish sultans first fell into their bed at the age of 11-12, maximum at 13-14 years. Which is confirmed by the birth dates of their children. For example, the father of Sultan Suleiman I, Selim I, was given birth to by his grandmother Gulbahar Khatun (Greek Maria) when she was less than 12 years old. At the same age, the concubine of the conqueror of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II Fatih, Sitti Mukrime Khatun, gave birth to her son Bayezid II (the grandfather of Sultan Suleiman).

The founder of the “Women’s Sultanate” in the Ottoman Empire is considered to be Roksolana (Hurrem Sultan), a Ukrainian slave-concubine, and later the beloved legal wife of Sultan Suleiman I.

Which is not entirely correct for several reasons.

Hurrem's success was largely due and prepared by the activities of her mother-in-law, the mother of Sultan Suleiman, Aisha Hafsa-Sultan - an outstanding woman of her time, whom her son loved and respected very much until his death. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire, not only as a mother, but, first of all, as a person.

AIŞE HAFSA-SULTAN (December 5, 1479 – March 19, 1534)
Crimean khanbika (princess), daughter of the Crimean khan Mengli I Giray (1445-1515) from the dynasty of rulers of the Crimea Geraev (Gireev). Her father was forced to accept the Ottoman protectorate in 1578, a year before Hafsa was born.

Hafsa-khatun ended up in the harem of shehzade Selim sometime in the spring and summer of 1493, at about 13 years old. Selim was then the sanjak bey (governor of the Ottoman province) of Trambzon (now the administrative center in northeastern Turkey, on the Black Sea coast, near the border with Georgia) - the former capital of the Trebizond Empire, recently captured (in 1461) by the Ottomans - heiress of Byzantium, so the Crimean hanbika, in order to become a concubine of one of the heirs of the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, only had to cross the Black Sea on her father’s ship.

The future Sultan Suleiman was born in Trambzon in next year, November 6, 1494, and at the same time his twin sister, Hafiza (Hafsa) Hanim Sultan (1494-1538), was born. The birth of twins and twins is usually a hereditary family trait. In this regard, it is worth remembering that more than thirty years later, in 1530, Suleiman’s younger sister and at the same time the daughter of his mother Aishe Hafsa, Hatice Sultan, also gave birth to twins - a boy Osman and a girl Khurijikhan.

The two daughters of Roksolana's son, Shehzade Selim, from his concubine Nurbanu - Esmekhan Sultan and Gevkerkhan Sultan, were twins or twins - there is even an assumption that their elder sister, Shah Sultan, a year older than them, was actually born on the same day day with the girls - that is, they were triplets. After the death of Sultan Osman II, the great-great-great-grandson of Suleiman I, twins were born to him, Shehzade Mustafa and Zeynep Sultan. And Sultan Osman’s paternal brother, Ahmed I, also had a pair of twins from Kösem Sultan - Sehzade Kasim and Atike Sultan.

The twin sister of Sultan Suleiman lived a quiet and inconspicuous life. At the age of 20, she was married to Damad Mustafa Pasha, who later, from 1522 to 1523, was governor of Egypt. Hafiza Sultan never had children, and therefore, having become a widow at the age of 29, she returned to Istanbul to her mother, Aisha Hafse Valide Sultan, in the Topkapi Palace. She never married again, and here she ended her days - on July 10, 1538, at the age of less than 44 years.

Suleiman spent the first years of his life in his father’s sanjak, in Trambzon, and after the circumcision ceremony at the age of 7, his grandfather, Sultan Bayezid II, took his grandson to his court in Constantinople. There shehzade studied military affairs, jurisprudence, philosophy, history and fencing. In addition, Suleiman learned foreign languages ​​- Serbian, Arabic and Persian, which he later mastered perfectly. It was then that he mastered the craft of a jeweler, which became his lifelong passion.

Grandfather Sultan treated Roksolana’s future husband very well (much better than his father), which is proven by the following circumstance.

According to Ottoman tradition, all crown princes (shehzade) who reached a certain age (usually 14 years old, but exceptions to the rules in both directions) were appointed governors (sanjak beys) of provinces (sanjaks) in Anatolia (the Asian part of modern Turkey); this was part of their preparation for further rule. In the Ottoman Empire there were no clear rules for succession to the throne; all men - bearers of the sacred blood of the Ottomans, had the right to power. According to custom, the throne was given to the shehzade who would be the first to reach Istanbul immediately after the death of the padishah of the Sublime Porte. Therefore, by the distance from the capital of one or another sanjak of each son or grandson of the Turkish sultan, one could judge his preferences - it is clear that the one whom the father saw as his heir became the sanjak bey of the province closest to the capital. And in this regard, with Suleiman’s father, Selim, everything was not just bad, but hopeless - his sanjak Trambzon, in comparison with Amasya of his father’s favorite, older brother, Shehzade Akhmet, and Antalya of his second brother-competitor, Shehzade Korkut, was in such deaf fucking, of which he did not have a single chance to get to Istanbul first (the distance from Trambzon to Istanbul in a straight line is 902 km. In those days, even on the best horses and in good weather, it took ten days to get there one way) . For comparison: the distance from Amasya Akhmet to Istanbul is 482 km, and exactly the same distance, only in the southern direction from Istanbul, to Antalya Korkut.

And then, like a bolt from the blue, his only son Suleiman, who reached the age of 14 (in 1508), receives from his grandfather his first assignment not just anywhere, but to the small sanjak of Bolu, located almost next to Istanbul (223 km along straight). However, the favorite of the Sultan's race, the eldest son of Bayezid II, Suleiman's uncle, Akhmet (who by that time had four grown-up sons of his own), quickly corrected this annoying circumstance for him, sending his nephew as governor “to hell with his horns” - to the Crimean Kaffa ( Feodosia), to the other side of the Black Sea, to the homeland of his mother, Aisha Hafsa-Sultan. Thus making a fatal mistake.

Some time after Suleiman was sent as a sanjakbey to the Crimea, his father Selim asked his father for a sanjak in Rumelia (the European part of the empire), closer to Istanbul. Although at first he was denied these lands, since they were usually not provided to the shehzade, later, clearly in mockery (apparently, this could not have happened without his older brother Akhmet), Selim received control of the province of Semendire (in modern Serbia) - a remote hole in the north -western outskirts of the empire. Here Selim first showed clear disobedience, refusing to go to his new sanjak, and then rebelled against his father, moving a hastily assembled army towards Istanbul. Sultan Bayezid, at the head of a large army, easily defeated his son in August 1511. Defeated, Selim fled to Crimea - to his son Suleiman and father-in-law, Crimean Khan Mengli I Giray, who provided his son-in-law with all possible help and support. Sultan Bayezid had no opportunity to somehow catch the fugitive in the Crimea, where he is under the protection of the selected army of the father of one of his sultanas. And Sanjak Bey Suleiman could imitate the search for a rebel in front of his grandfather the Sultan as much as he wanted.

Meanwhile, the eldest son of the Ottoman ruler, Ahmet, to whom his father entrusted the suppression of the Shahkul uprising in Anatolia, having received large military forces at his disposal while Bayezid II was dealing with Selim, declared himself the Sultan of Anatolia, and began to fight against one of his nephews (whose father was already dead). He captured the city of Konya and, although Sultan Bayezid demanded that he return to his sanjak, Ahmet insisted on governing this city. He even made an attempt to capture the capital, but was unsuccessful, since the Janissaries refused to help him, strongly supporting the Crimean fugitive Selim.

Ultimately, having lost the support of the Janissaries, and due to some complex religious motives, Bayezid II abdicated the throne on April 25, 1512 in favor of his father Suleiman.

Having become Sultan, Selim I first ordered the execution of all his male relatives entitled to the Ottoman throne. A month later, he ordered his father to be poisoned. Selim's hated older brother, Ahmet, continued to control parts of Anatolia in the first few months of his reign. Ultimately, Selim and Ahmet's forces met at the Battle of Yenisehir near Bursa on April 24, 1513, the anniversary of the abdication of their father, Sultan Bayezid. Akhmet's army was defeated, he himself was captured and was soon executed.

Selim's second rival brother, Shehzade Korkut, did not take any part in these feuds, being quite content with his position as Sanjak Bey of Manisa. He accepted Selim's authority without hesitation when he became Sultan. However, the incredulous Selim I decided to test his loyalty by sending him forged letters on behalf of some statesmen of the empire, in which Korkut was called upon to take part in the uprising against Selim. Having learned about his brother’s positive response, Selim ordered his execution, which was carried out.

All the time while Selim II was deciding, of course, the most important issues for him, not just succession to the throne, but basic survival, of course, he had no time for Suleiman. Shehzade’s mother, Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, a smart, courageous and independent woman, completely took charge of the upbringing of his son. The fact that the Crimean khans in their homeland always enjoyed much greater freedom than the Turkish sultanas at home led to the fact that many contemporaries considered Aishe Hafsa a violator of traditional Ottoman foundations. It was she, and not her daughter-in-law Roksolana, who was the first to break the unshakable rule of the main harem of Turkey “one concubine - one shehzade”. The eunuchs did not allow women who had already given birth to his son to visit the sultan for halvet (literally – “complete privacy of a man and a woman in a closed space without any interference”) (unless the ruler himself summoned one of them). This principle, it must be admitted, made the chances of all sehzades on the Ottoman throne almost equal after the death of their common father. And he did not give any one odalisque the opportunity to significantly strengthen her position in the harem (and this could be done only by giving birth to boys). So, it was Aishe Hafsa Sultan who gave birth to nine children to Selim I (Roksolana gave in to her here too, giving birth to “only” six), of which four sons and five daughters. In addition to five full-blooded (from common parents), Suleiman had five more half-sisters from different concubines of his father. Little brothers Suleiman - Orhan, Musa and Korkut died in early childhood. Of all the sons of Sultan Selim, only the eldest son of the Crimean khanbiki survived to adulthood, which, of course, later made his path to the throne very easy.

The significance for Selim I of his concubine Aishe Hafsa-Sultan, the mother of his only shehzade, after being defeated by his father Sultan Bayezid II, he fled to her father in Crimea, cannot be overestimated. Hafsa Sultan became the connecting and unifying link between the three men closest to her - her son Suleiman, the Sanjak Bey of Crimea (to whom, of course, the Ottoman troops on the peninsula were subordinate), her father, the Crimean Khan Mengli I Girey, who was subordinate to a considerable local army (Crimean Tatar raids on Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland kept all of Eastern Europe in fear), and husband (for lack of another definition), heir to the Ottoman Empire, Selim.

It is unlikely that Sultan Selim appreciated this - he was a very cruel and rude man even by the standards of his time, but this circumstance certainly made an indelible impression on young Suleiman, who at the age of 17 found himself in the very epicenter of the dynastic crisis of a huge state. And, obviously, this is what made him see a person in a woman who in those days was not even considered a person.

After the accession of Selim I to the throne in April 1512, he sent Suleiman as governor to the “hereditary” sanjak of Sarukhan with its capital in Manisa. The distance from Manisa to Istanbul in a straight line is 297 km. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Ottoman sultans sent those of their sons to it as sanjak beys, to whom they wanted to leave power over the Sublime Porte after their death. Aishe Hafsa Sultan went to Surukhan with her son, and in 1520, after the death of Sultan Selim I, she accompanied him to Istanbul, where he became Sultan Suleiman I. From 1520 until her death in 1534, she led the main harem of the empire. She became the first mother of the ruling Turkish padishah to bear the title Valide Sultan.

During the eight years during which her son ruled Sarukhan in Manisa, Aishe Hafsa Sultan did a lot for the prosperity of this region. At her own expense, she built mosques, schools and hospitals in Manisa. The building of the charity center she founded to help the mentally ill has survived to this day.

The day of the death of Sultan Suleiman's mother - March 19, 1534 - is still celebrated in Turkey as a day of remembrance for one of the most revered women in the country.

If at the very beginning of the Sultanate of Selim I in the Sublime Porte there were only two bearers of the sacred blood of the Ottomans in the male line - he himself and his only son Suleiman (he destroyed the rest), then Suleiman, after the death of his father, arrived in Istanbul from Manisa with three (each according to other data - five) by his sons from three concubines (in total he had seventeen of them in his harem at that time), the eldest of whom was 7-8 years old, including the then 5-year-old Mustafa. And in Istanbul, the throne of the greatest power of that time awaited him - the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which he further expanded and strengthened with military campaigns during his reign. And Roksolana.

In the article we will describe in detail the Women's Sultanate. We will talk about its representatives and their rule, about assessments of this period in history.

Before examining the Women's Sultanate in detail, let's say a few words about the state itself in which it was observed. This is necessary to fit the period of interest to us into the context of history.

The Ottoman Empire is otherwise called the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299. It was then that Osman I Ghazi, who became the first Sultan, declared the territory of a small state independent from the Seljuks. However, some sources report that the title of Sultan was first officially accepted only by Murad I, his grandson.

Rise of the Ottoman Empire

The reign of Suleiman I the Magnificent (from 1521 to 1566) is considered the heyday of the Ottoman Empire. A portrait of this sultan is presented above. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman state was one of the most powerful in the world. The territory of the empire by 1566 included lands located from the Persian city of Baghdad in the east and Hungarian Budapest in the north to Mecca in the south and Algeria in the west. The influence of this state in the region began to gradually increase from the 17th century. The Empire finally collapsed after losing the First World War.

The role of women in government

For 623 years, the Ottoman dynasty ruled the country's lands, from 1299 to 1922, when the monarchy ceased to exist. Women in the empire we are interested in, unlike the monarchies of Europe, were not allowed to govern the state. However, this situation existed in all Islamic countries.

However, in the history of the Ottoman Empire there is a period called the Women's Sultanate. At this time, representatives of the fair sex actively participated in government. Many famous historians have tried to understand what the Sultanate of Women is and to comprehend its role. We invite you to take a closer look at this interesting period in history.

The term "Female Sultanate"

This term was first proposed to be used in 1916 by Ahmet Refik Altynay, a Turkish historian. It appears in the book of this scientist. His work is called “Women’s Sultanate”. And in our time, debates continue about the impact this period had on the development of the Ottoman Empire. There is disagreement as to what is the main reason for this phenomenon, which is so unusual in the Islamic world. Scientists also argue about who should be considered the first representative of the Women's Sultanate.

Causes

Some historians believe that this period was generated by the end of the campaigns. It is known that the system of conquering lands and obtaining military spoils was based precisely on them. Other scholars believe that the Sultanate of Women in the Ottoman Empire arose due to the struggle to repeal the Law of Succession issued by Fatih. According to this law, all the Sultan's brothers must be executed after ascending to the throne. It didn't matter what their intentions were. Historians who adhere to this opinion consider Hurrem Sultan to be the first representative of the Women's Sultanate.

Khurem Sultan

This woman (her portrait is presented above) was the wife of Suleiman I. It was she who in 1521, for the first time in the history of the state, began to bear the title “Haseki Sultan”. Translated, this phrase means “most beloved wife.”

Let's tell you more about Hurrem Sultan, with whose name the Women's Sultanate in Turkey is often associated. Her real name is Lisovskaya Alexandra (Anastasia). In Europe, this woman is known as Roksolana. She was born in 1505 in Western Ukraine (Rohatina). In 1520, Hurrem Sultan came to the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Here Suleiman I, the Turkish Sultan, gave Alexandra a new name - Hurrem. This word from Arabic can be translated as “bringing joy.” Suleiman I, as we have already said, bestowed on this woman the title “Haseki Sultan”. Alexandra Lisovskaya received great power. It became even stronger in 1534, when the Sultan's mother died. From that time on, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska began to manage the harem.

It should be noted that this woman was very educated for her time. She owned several foreign languages, so she responded to letters from influential nobles, foreign rulers and artists. In addition, Hurrem Haseki Sultan received foreign ambassadors. Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was actually a political adviser to Suleiman I. Her husband spent a significant part of his time on campaigns, so she often had to take on his responsibilities.

Ambiguity in assessing the role of Hurrem Sultan

Not all scholars agree that this woman should be considered a representative of the Women's Sultanate. One of the main arguments they present is that each of the representatives of this period in history was characterized by the following two points: the short reign of the sultans and the presence of the title “valide” (mother of the sultan). None of them refer to Hurrem. She did not live eight years to receive the title "valide". Moreover, it would be simply absurd to believe that the reign of Sultan Suleiman I was short, because he ruled for 46 years. However, it would be wrong to call his reign a “decline.” But the period we are interested in is considered to be a consequence of precisely the “decline” of the empire. It was the poor state of affairs in the state that gave birth to the Women's Sultanate in the Ottoman Empire.

Mihrimah replaced the deceased Hurrem (her grave is pictured above), becoming the leader of the Topkapi harem. It is also believed that this woman influenced her brother. However, she cannot be called a representative of the Women's Sultanate.

And who can rightfully be included among them? We present to your attention a list of rulers.

Women's Sultanate of the Ottoman Empire: list of representatives

For the reasons mentioned above, the majority of historians believe that there were only four representatives.

• The first of them is Nurbanu Sultan (years of life - 1525-1583). She was Venetian by origin, the name of this woman was Cecilia Venier-Baffo.
• The second representative is Safiye Sultan (about 1550 - 1603). She is also a Venetian whose real name is Sofia Baffo.
• The third representative is Kesem Sultan (years of life - 1589 - 1651). Her origins are not known for sure, but she was presumably a Greek woman, Anastasia.
• And the last, fourth representative is Turkhan Sultan (years of life - 1627-1683). This woman is a Ukrainian named Nadezhda.

Turhan Sultan and Kesem Sultan

When the Ukrainian Nadezhda turned 12 years old, the Crimean Tatars captured her. They sold it to Ker Suleiman Pasha. He, in turn, resold the woman to Valide Kesem, the mother of Ibrahim I, a mentally disabled ruler. There is a film called "Mahpaker", which tells about the life of this sultan and his mother, who was actually at the head of the empire. She had to manage all the affairs as Ibrahim I was mentally retarded and therefore could not perform his duties properly.

This ruler ascended the throne in 1640, at the age of 25. Such an important event for the state occurred after the death of Murad IV, his elder brother (for whom Kesem Sultan also ruled the country in the early years). Murad IV was the last sultan of the Ottoman dynasty. Therefore, Kesem was forced to solve the problems of further rule.

Question of succession to the throne

It would seem that getting an heir if you have a large harem is not at all difficult. However, there was one catch. It was that the weak-minded Sultan had an unusual taste and his own ideas about female beauty. Ibrahim I (his portrait is presented above) preferred very fat women. Chronicle records of those years have been preserved, which mention one concubine he liked. Her weight was about 150 kg. From this we can assume that Turhan, which his mother gave to her son, also had considerable weight. Perhaps that's why Kesem bought it.

Fight of two Valides

It is unknown how many children were born to Ukrainian Nadezhda. But it is known that it was she who was the first of the other concubines to give him a son, Mehmed. This happened in January 1642. Mehmed was recognized as the heir to the throne. After the death of Ibrahim I, who died as a result of the coup, he became the new sultan. However, by this time he was only 6 years old. Turhan, his mother, was legally required to receive the title "valide", which would have elevated her to the pinnacle of power. However, everything did not turn out in her favor. Her mother-in-law, Kesem Sultan, did not want to give in to her. She achieved what no other woman could do. She became Valide Sultan for the third time. This woman was the only one in history who had this title under the reigning grandson.

But the fact of her reign haunted Turkhan. In the palace for three years (from 1648 to 1651), scandals flared up and intrigues were woven. In September 1651, 62-year-old Kesem was found strangled. She gave her place to Turhan.

End of the Women's Sultanate

So, according to most historians, the start date of the Women's Sultanate is 1574. It was then that Nurban Sultan was given the title of Valida. The period of interest to us ended in 1687, after the accession to the throne of Sultan Suleiman II. Already in adulthood, he received supreme power, 4 years after Turhan Sultan, who became the last influential Valide, died.

This woman died in 1683, at the age of 55-56 years. Her remains were buried in a tomb in a mosque that she had completed. However, not 1683, but 1687 is considered the official end date of the period of the Women's Sultanate. It was then that at the age of 45 he was overthrown from the throne. This happened as a result of a conspiracy that was organized by Köprülü, the son of the Grand Vizier. Thus ended the sultanate of women. Mehmed spent another 5 years in prison and died in 1693.

Why has the role of women in governing the country increased?

Among the main reasons why the role of women in government has increased, several can be identified. One of them is the love of the sultans for the fair sex. Another is the influence that their mother had on the sons. Another reason is that the sultans were incapacitated at the time of their accession to the throne. One can also note the deceit and intrigue of women and the usual coincidence of circumstances. Another important factor is that the grand viziers changed frequently. Their duration of office in the early 17th century averaged just over a year. This naturally contributed to chaos and political fragmentation in the empire.

Beginning in the 18th century, sultans began to ascend the throne at a fairly mature age. The mothers of many of them died before their children became rulers. Others were so old that they were no longer able to fight for power and participate in solving important state issues. It can be said that by the middle of the 18th century, valides no longer played a special role at court. They did not participate in government.

Estimates of the Women's Sultanate period

The female sultanate in the Ottoman Empire is assessed very ambiguously. Representatives of the fair sex, who were once slaves and were able to rise to the status of valide, were often not prepared to conduct political affairs. In their selection of candidates and their appointment to important positions, they relied mainly on the advice of those close to them. The choice was often based not on the abilities of certain individuals or their loyalty to the ruling dynasty, but on their ethnic loyalty.

On the other hand, the Women's Sultanate in the Ottoman Empire had its positive sides. Thanks to him, it was possible to maintain the monarchical order characteristic of this state. It was based on the fact that all sultans should be from the same dynasty. The incompetence or personal shortcomings of rulers (such as the cruel Sultan Murad IV, whose portrait is shown above, or the mentally ill Ibrahim I) were compensated by the influence and power of their mothers or women. However, one cannot fail to take into account that the actions of women carried out during this period contributed to the stagnation of the empire. This applies to a greater extent to Turhan Sultan. Mehmed IV, her son, lost the Battle of Vienna on September 11, 1683.

Finally

In general, we can say that in our time there is no unambiguous and generally accepted historical assessment of the influence that the Women's Sultanate had on the development of the empire. Some scholars believe that the rule of the fair sex pushed the state to its death. Others believe that it was more a consequence than a cause of the country's decline. However, one thing is clear: the women of the Ottoman Empire had much less influence and were much further from absolutism than their modern rulers in Europe (for example, Elizabeth I and Catherine II).