Which of the Ottoman wives became valid Sultan. Sultans of the Ottoman Empire

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 decided to return to 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 took place 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.

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 Turkmens (beylik), who pursued a policy of expanding his beylik: he captured small towns, proclaimed ghazavat - 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 appreciate it at all human life, but 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. Spent many government reforms. The last 20 years have passed under the influence of the concubine and then the wife of Roksolana. He is 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 of the Ottoman Empire with the Moscow Principality and the first major defeat on the sea. 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. Sheltered Hetman Mazepa and Charles XII after Battle of Poltava. During his reign, the war with Venice and Austria was lost, part of the possessions in Eastern Europe, as well as Algeria and Tunisia.

  

Since the creation of the Ottoman Empire, the state has been continuously ruled by the male line descendants of Osman. But despite the fertility of the dynasty, there were also those who ended their lives childless.

The founder of the dynasty, Osman Gazi (ruled 1299-1326) was the father of 7 sons and 1 daughter.

The second ruler was Osman's son Orhan Ghazi (pr.1326-59) and had 5 sons and 1 daughter.

God did not deprive Murad 1 Hyudavendigur (son of Orhan, d. 1359-89) of offspring - 4 sons and 2 daughters.

The famous Bayezid the Lightning (son of Murad 1, pr. 1389-1402) was the father of 7 sons and 1 daughter.

Bayazid's son Mehmet 1 (1413-21) left behind 5 sons and 2 daughters.

Murad 2 the Great (son of Mehmet 1, pr. 1421-51) - 6 sons and 2 daughters.

The conqueror of Constantinople Fatih Mehmet 2 (r. 1451-1481) was the father of 4 sons and 1 daughter.

Bayezid 2 (son of Mehmet 2, pr. 1481-1512) - 8 sons and 5 daughters.

The first Caliph from the Ottoman dynasty, Yavuz Sultan Selim-Selim the Terrible (pr. 1512-20), had only one son and 4 daughters.

2.

The famous Suleiman the Magnificent (Lawgiver), husband of the no less famous Roxolaa (Hurrem Sultan, 4 sons, 1 daughter), was the father of 8 sons and 2 daughters from 4 wives. He ruled for so long (1520-1566) that he outlived almost all of his children. The eldest son Mustafa (Makhidervan) and the 4th son Bayazid (Roksolana) were strangled by order of Suleiman 1 on charges of conspiracy against their father.

The third son of Suleiman and the second son of Roksolana Selim 2 (Red Selim or Selim the Drunkard, pr. 1566-1574) had 8 sons and 2 daughters from 2 wives. Despite his love for wine, he was able to expand his holdings from 14,892,000 km2 to 15,162,000 km2.

And now let’s welcome the record holder - Murad 3 (project 1574-1595). He had one official wife, Safiye Sultan (Sofia Baffo, the daughter of the ruler of Corfu, was kidnapped by pirates) and many concubines, from whom he had 22 sons and 4 daughters (they write that at the time of his death, the heir Mehmet 3 ordered all his pregnant wives to be strangled). But despite his love for the fairer sex, he was able to expand his possessions to 24,534,242 km2.

Mehmet 3 (pr. 1595-1603) was a record holder in another part - on the night of his father’s death he ordered all his brothers and sisters to be strangled. In terms of fertility, he was much inferior to his father - only 3 sons from 2 wives

The eldest son of Mehmet 3, Akhmet 1 (pr. 1603-1617, died of typhus at the age of 27), having ascended the throne, introduced a new dynastic law, according to which the eldest son of the deceased ruler became the ruler.

Mustafa 1, who sat on the throne due to the infancy of his son Akhmet 1 (pr. 1617-1623, d. 1639), apparently had to pay for the sins of his father - he was not only childless, but 6 years after his accession to the throne he began fall into madness, and by fatwa of Sheikh-ul-Islam he was removed from the throne.

Little-known facts from the life of the sultans...

OSMAN 1.

They describe that when he stood, his lowered arms reached his knees, based on this they believed that he had either very long arms or short legs. Another of his distinctive feature character was that he never put on outer clothing again. And not because he was a dude, he just loved to give his clothes to commoners. If someone looked at his caftan for a long time, he took it off and gave it to that person. Osman loved to listen to music before meals, was a good fighter and skillfully wielded weapons. The Turks had a very interesting old custom - once a year, ordinary members of the tribe took away from the leader’s house everything that they liked in this house. Osman and his wife left the house empty-handed and opened the doors for their relatives.

ORKHAN.

Orhan's reign lasted 36 years. He owned 100 fortresses, and spent all his time visiting them. He did not stay in any of them for more than one month. He was a big fan of Mevlana-Jelaleddin Rumi.

MURAD 1.

In European sources, the brilliant ruler was a tireless hunter, a very gallant knight and a symbol of honesty. He was the first Ottoman ruler to create a private library. He was killed in the Battle of Kosovo.

BAESIT 1.

For his ability to quickly cover long distances with his army and appear in front of the enemy at the most unexpected moment, he received the nickname Lightning Fast. He loved hunting very much and was an avid hunter, often participating in wrestling competitions. Historians also note his mastery of weapons and horsemanship. He was one of the first rulers to write poetry. He was the first to besiege Constantinople, and more than once. Died in captivity of Timur.

MEHMET CELEBI.

He is considered the revivalist of the Ottoman state as a result of the victory over the Timurils. When he was with him, they called him the wrestler Mkhemet. During his reign, he introduced the custom of sending gifts to Mecca and Medina every year, which was not canceled even in the most difficult times until the First World War. Every Friday evening I cooked food with my personal money and distributed it to the poor. Like my father, he loved hunting. While hunting a boar, he fell from his horse and broke his hip bone, which is why he soon died.

And tell us how it happened that there are portraits, because Islam prohibits images of people.
Have you found Italian infidels to perpetuate yourself, the great ones?

• Mothers of the padishahs
  Murat, the 1st, 3rd ruler of the Ottoman Empire, was the son of Orhan and the Byzantine Holofira, (Nilüfer Khatun).

Baezid 1 Lightning, the 4th ruler ruled from 1389 to 1403. His father was Murat 1, and his mother was Bulgarian Maria, after converting to Islam Gulchichek Khatun.

• • 
    Mehmet 1 Celebi, 5th Sultan. His mother was also Bulgarian, Olga Khatun.

    1382-1421

    Murat 2 (1404-1451) was born from the marriage of Mehmet Çelebi and the daughter of the ruler of the beylik, Dulkadiroglu, Emine Hatun. According to some unconfirmed sources, his mother was Veronica.

    

    Mehmet 2 the Conqueror (1432-1481)

    Son of Murat 2 and Huma Hatun, daughter of a bey from the Jandaroglu clan. It was believed that his mother was the Serbian Despina.

    Baezid 2 was also no exception - his mother was also a Christian Cornelia (Albanian, Serbian or French). After accepting Islam, her name was Gulbahar Khatun. Father was Fatih Sultan Mehmet 2.

    

    SELIM 1.(1470-1520)

    Selim 1 or Yavuz Sultan Selim, the conqueror of Egypt, Baghdad, Damascus and Mecca, the 9th padishah of the Ottoman state and the 74th Caliph was born from Bayezid 2nd and the daughter of an influential bey in western Anatolia from the Dulkadiroglu clan Gulbahar Hatun.

    

    SULEMAN 1 (1495-1566).

    Suleiman Qanuni was born on April 27, 1495. He became Sultan when he was 25 years old. An uncompromising fighter against bribery, Suleiman won the favor of the people with good deeds and built schools. Suleiman Kanuni patronized poets, artists, architects, wrote poetry himself, and was considered a skilled blacksmith.

    Suleiman was not as bloodthirsty as his father, Selim I, but he loved conquest no less than his father. Moreover, neither kinship nor merit saved him from his suspicion and cruelty.

    Suleiman personally led 13 campaigns. A significant part of the wealth received from military booty, tribute and taxes was spent by Suleiman I on the construction of palaces, mosques, caravanserais, and tombs.

    Also under him, laws (kanun-name) were drawn up on the administrative structure and position of individual provinces, on finances and forms of land ownership, the duties of the population and the attachment of peasants to the land, and on the regulation of the military-feudal system.

    Suleiman Kanuni died on September 6, 1566 during his next campaign in Hungary - during the siege of the Szigetvár fortress. He was buried in a mausoleum at the Suleymaniye Mosque cemetery along with his beloved wife Roksolana.

    The 10th Ottoman ruler and 75th Muslim caliph Suleman the Magnificent, also known for being the husband of Roksolana, was born from Selim 1 and the Polish Jew Helga, later Havza Sultan.

    

    

    Hawza Sultan.

    SELIM 2. (1524-1574)

    The son of the famous Roksolana (Hurrem Sultan) Selim 2 ascended the throne after her death. Her real name was Alexandra Anastasia Lisovska, she was Suleiman’s beloved wife.

    MURAT 3 (1546-1595).

    

    Born from Selim 2nd and Jewish woman Rachel (Nurbanu Sultan) Murat 3, was their eldest son and heir to the throne.

    MEHMET 3 (1566-1603).

    

    He ascended the throne in 1595 and ruled until his death. His mother was no exception; she was also kidnapped and sold into a harem. She was the daughter of a wealthy Baffo family (Venice). She was captured while traveling on a ship when she was 12 years old. In the harem, the father of Mehmet the 3rd fell in love with Cecilia Baffo and married her, her name became Safiye Sultan.

    So I am for the friendship of peoples and faiths. Now is the 21st century and people should not differ based on race or religion. Do we see how many Christian women the sultans had? By the way, if I’m not mistaken, the last sultan had an Armenian grandmother. The Russian tsars also have German, Danish and English parents.

    Son of Murat 2 and Huma Hatun, daughter of a bey from the Jandaroglu clan. It was believed that his mother was the Serbian Despina -
    And I read that the mother of Mehmet II was an Armenian concubine.

    Palace intrigues of the wives of the padishahs

    

    

    Khyurem Sultan (Roksolana 1500-1558): thanks to her beauty and intelligence, she not only managed to attract the attention of Suleiman the Magnificent, but also became his beloved woman. Her struggle with Suleiman's first wife, Mahidervan, was the most famous intrigue of that time; such a struggle was not life or death. Roksolana surpassed her in all respects and finally became his official wife. As her influence on the ruler increased, her influence also increased in government affairs. Soon she managed to remove the veziri-i-azam (prime minister) Ibrahim Pasha, who was married to Suleiman’s sister. He was executed for adultery. She married the next vizier and azam, Rustem Pasha, to her daughter and with the help of whom she managed to discredit, by substituting letters, accusing her eldest son Suleiman Shahzade Mustafa of hostile ties with the main enemies of the Iranians. For his intelligence and great abilities, Mustafa was predicted to be the next padishah, but on the orders of his father he was strangled during the campaign against Iran.

    

    Over time, during meetings, being in a secret compartment, Khyurem Sultan listened and shared her opinion with her husband after the council. From the poems dedicated by Suleiman to Roksolana, it becomes obvious that his love for her was dearer to him than anything in the world.

    Nurbanu Sultan(1525-1587):

    At the age of 10, she was kidnapped by corsairs and sold at the famous Pera market in Istanbul to slave traders. The traders, noting her beauty and intelligence, sent her to a harem, where she managed to attract the attention of Khyurem Sultan, who sent her to be raised in Manisa. From there she returned a real beauty and managed to win the heart of her son Hurrem Sultan Selim 2, who soon married her. The poems written by Selim in her honor were included as excellent examples of lyricism. Selim was the youngest son, but as a result of the death of all his brothers, he became the only heir to the throne, which he ascended. Nurbanu became the only mistress of his heart and, accordingly, the harem. There were other women in Selim's life, but none of them could win his heart like Nurbanu. After the death of Selim (1574), her son Murat 3 became padishah, she became Valide Sultan (queen mother) and for a long time kept the threads of government in her hands, despite the fact that this time her rival was Murat’s wife 3 Safiye Sultan.

    Safiye Sultan

    

    A life of intrigue became the subject of many novels after her death. Just like Nurbanu Sultan, she was kidnapped by corsairs and sold to a harem, where she was bought for a lot of money by Nurbanu Sultan for her son Murat 3.

    

    The son's ardent love for her shook the mother's influence on her son. Then Nurbanu Sultan begins to introduce other women into his son’s life, but his love for Safiya Sultan was unshakable. Soon after the death of her mother-in-law, she actually ruled the state.

    

    Kosem Sultan.

    Murad's mother 4 (1612-1640) Kosem Sultan became a widow when he was still small. In 1623, at the age of 11, he was enthroned and Kosem Sultan became his regent. In fact, they ruled the state.

    

    As her son grew older, she faded into the shadows, but continued to influence her son until his death. Her other son, Ibrahim (1615-1648), was placed on the throne. The beginning of his reign was the beginning of the struggle between Kosem Sultan and his wife Turhan Sultan. Both of these women sought to establish their influence in government affairs, but over time this struggle became so obvious that it served to form opposing factions.

    

    As a result of this long struggle, Kosem Sultan was found strangled in her room, and her supporters were executed.

    Turkhan Sultan (Nadezhda)

    She was kidnapped in the steppes of Ukraine and given to a harem. Soon she became the wife of Ibrahim, after whose death her young son Menmet 4 was placed on the throne. Although she became regent, her mother-in-law Kosem Sultan was not going to let go of the threads of rule from her hands. But she was soon found strangled in her room, and her supporters were executed the next day. The regency of Turhan Sultan lasted 34 years and this was a record in the history of the Ottoman Empire.

  • • Roksolana, with the help of her son-in-law, slandered him in front of his father, letters were drawn up, allegedly written by Mustafa to the Shah of Iran, where he asks the latter to help seize the throne. All this is happening against the backdrop of an intense struggle between the Rumelian Turks (Ottomans) and the Iranian Turks for possession of the east. Anatolia, Iraq and Syria. Suleiman ordered Mustafa to be strangled.

      Could Mara save Krnstantinople? The 15th century was marked by the unrelenting Ottoman onslaught on Byzantium. By this time, essentially only Constantinople remained from Byzantium. As Sultan Mehmet II once said, “Either I will take Constantinople, or he will take me.”

  

Any Hollywood script pales in comparison with the life path of Roksolana, who became the most influential woman in history. great empire. Her powers, contrary to Turkish laws and Islamic canons, could only be compared with the capabilities of the Sultan himself. Roksolana became not just a wife, she was a co-ruler; They didn’t listen to her opinion; it was the only one that was correct and legal.
Anastasia Gavrilovna Lisovskaya (born c. 1506 - d. c. 1562) was the daughter of the priest Gavrila Lisovsky from Rohatyn, a small town in Western Ukraine, located southwest of Ternopil. In the 16th century, this territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and was constantly subject to devastating raids by the Crimean Tatars. During one of them, in the summer of 1522, the young daughter of a clergyman was caught by a detachment of robbers. Legend has it that the misfortune happened just before Anastasia’s wedding.
First, the captive ended up in Crimea - this is the usual route for all slaves. The Tatars did not drive valuable “live goods” on foot across the steppe, but carried them on horseback under vigilant guard, without even tying their hands, so as not to spoil the delicate girl’s skin with ropes. Most sources say that the Crimeans, struck by the beauty of Polonyanka, decided to send the girl to Istanbul, hoping to sell her profitably at one of the largest slave markets in the Muslim East.

“Giovane, ma non bella” (“young, but ugly”), Venetian nobles said about her in 1526, but “graceful and short in stature.” None of her contemporaries, contrary to legend, called Roksolana a beauty.
The captive was sent to the capital of the sultans on a large felucca, and the owner himself took her to sell her - history has not preserved his name. On the very first day, when the Horde took the captive to the market, she accidentally caught the eye of the all-powerful vizier of the young Sultan Suleiman I, the noble Rustem, who happened to be there - Pasha. Again, the legend says that the Turk was struck by the dazzling beauty of the girl, and he decided to buy her to give a gift to the Sultan.
As can be seen from the portraits and confirmations of contemporaries, beauty clearly has nothing to do with it - I can call this coincidence of circumstances with only one word - Fate.
During this era, the sultan was Suleiman I the Magnificent (Luxurious), who ruled from 1520 to 1566, considered the greatest sultan of the Ottoman dynasty. During the years of his rule, the empire reached the apogee of its development, including all of Serbia with Belgrade, most of Hungary, the island of Rhodes, significant territories in North Africa to the borders of Morocco and the Middle East. Europe gave the Sultan the nickname Magnificent, while in the Muslim world he is more often called Kanuni, which translated from Turkish means Lawgiver. “Such greatness and nobility,” the report of the 16th-century Venetian ambassador Marini Sanuto wrote about Suleiman, “was also adorned by the fact that he, unlike his father and many other sultans, had no inclination towards pederasty.” An honest ruler and uncompromising fighter against bribery, he encouraged the development of the arts and philosophy, and was also considered a skilled poet and blacksmith - few European monarchs could compete with Suleiman I.
According to the laws of faith, the padishah could have four legal wives. The children of the first of them became heirs to the throne. Or rather, one firstborn inherited the throne, and the rest often faced a sad fate: all possible contenders for supreme power were subject to destruction.
In addition to wives, the Commander of the Faithful had any number of concubines that his soul desired and his flesh required. IN different time under different sultans, from several hundred to a thousand or more women lived in the harem, each of whom was certainly an amazing beauty. In addition to women, the harem consisted of a whole staff of castrati eunuchs and maids of different ages, chiropractors, midwives, masseuses, doctors and the like. But no one except the padishah himself could encroach on the beauties belonging to him. All this complex and hectic economy was supervised by the “chief of the girls” - the eunuch of Kyzlyaragassy.
However, amazing beauty alone was not enough: the girls destined for the padishah’s harem mandatory taught music, dance, Muslim poetry and, of course, the art of love. Naturally, the course of love sciences was theoretical, and the practice was taught by experienced old women and women experienced in all the intricacies of sex.
Now let’s return to Roksolana, so Rustem Pasha decided to buy the Slavic beauty. But her Krymchak owner refused to sell Anastasia and presented her as a gift to the all-powerful courtier, rightly expecting to receive for this not only an expensive return gift, as is customary in the East, but also considerable benefits.
Rustem Pasha ordered it to be fully prepared as a gift to the Sultan, in turn hoping to achieve even greater favor with him. The padishah was young; he ascended the throne only in 1520 and greatly appreciated female beauty, and not just as a contemplator.
In the harem, Anastasia receives the name Khurrem (laughing). And for the Sultan, she always remained only Khurrem. Roksolana, the name under which she went down in history, is just the name of the Sarmatian tribes in the 2nd-4th centuries AD, who roamed the steppes between the Dnieper and Don, translated from Latin as “Russian”. Roksolana will often be called, both during her life and after her death, nothing more than “Rusynka” - a native of Rus' or Roxolanii, as Ukraine was previously called.

The mystery of the birth of love between the Sultan and a fifteen-year-old unknown captive will remain unsolved. After all, there was a strict hierarchy in the harem, and anyone who violated it would face severe punishment. Often - death. The female recruits - adzhemi, step by step, first became jariye, then shagird, gedikli and usta. No one except the mouth had the right to be in the Sultan's chambers. Only the mother of the ruling sultan, Valide Sultan, had absolute power inside the harem, and decided who and when to share a bed with the Sultan from her mouth. How Roksolana managed to occupy the Sultan’s monastery almost immediately will forever remain a mystery.
There is a legend about how Hurrem came to the attention of the Sultan. When new slaves (more beautiful and expensive than she) were introduced to the Sultan, a small figure suddenly flew into the circle of dancing odalisques and, pushing away the “soloist,” laughed. And then she sang her song. The harem lived according to cruel laws. And the eunuchs were waiting for only one sign - what to prepare for the girl - clothes for the Sultan’s bedroom or a cord used to strangle the slaves. The Sultan was intrigued and surprised. And that same evening, Khurrem received the Sultan’s scarf - a sign that in the evening he was waiting for her in his bedroom. Having interested the Sultan with her silence, she asked for only one thing - the right to visit the Sultan’s library. The Sultan was shocked, but allowed it. When he returned from a military campaign some time later, Khurrem already spoke several languages. She dedicated poems to her Sultan and even wrote books. This was unprecedented at that time, and instead of respect it aroused fear. Her learning, plus the fact that the Sultan spent all his nights with her, created Khurrem's lasting fame as a witch. They said about Roksolana that she bewitched the Sultan with the help of evil spirits. And in fact he was bewitched.
“Finally, let us unite with soul, thoughts, imagination, will, heart, everything that I left mine in you and took with me yours, oh my only love!”, the Sultan wrote in a letter to Roksolana. “My lord, your absence has kindled a fire in me that does not go out. Have pity on this suffering soul and hurry up your letter so that I can find at least a little consolation in it,” answered Khurrem.
Roksolana greedily absorbed everything that she was taught in the palace, took everything that life gave her. Historians testify that after some time she actually mastered the Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages, learned to dance perfectly, recite her contemporaries, and also play according to the rules of the foreign, cruel country in which she lived. Following the rules of her new homeland, Roksolana converted to Islam.
Her main trump card was that Rustem Pasha, thanks to whom she got to the palace of the padishah, received her as a gift, and did not buy her. In turn, he did not sell it to the kyzlyaragassa, who replenished the harem, but gave it to Suleiman. This means that Roxalana remained a free woman and could lay claim to the role of the padishah’s wife. According to the laws of the Ottoman Empire, a slave could never, under any circumstances, become the wife of the Commander of the Faithful.
A few years later, Suleiman enters into an official marriage with her according to Muslim rites, elevates her to the rank of bash-kadyna - the main (and in fact, the only) wife and addresses her “Haseki,” which means “dear to the heart.”
Roksolana’s incredible position at the Sultan’s court amazed both Asia and Europe. Her education made scientists bow down, she received foreign ambassadors, responded to messages from foreign sovereigns, influential nobles and artists. She not only came to terms with the new faith, but also gained fame as a zealous orthodox Muslim, which earned her considerable respect at court.
One day, the Florentines placed a ceremonial portrait of Hurrem, for which she posed for a Venetian artist, in an art gallery. It was the only female portrait among the images of hook-nosed, bearded sultans in huge turbans. “There was never another woman in the Ottoman palace who had such power” - Venetian ambassador Navajero, 1533.
Lisovskaya gives birth to the Sultan four sons (Mohammed, Bayazet, Selim, Jehangir) and a daughter, Khamerie. But Mustafa, the eldest son of the padishah’s first wife, Circassian Gulbekhar, was still officially considered the heir to the throne. She and her children became mortal enemies of the power-hungry and treacherous Roxalana.

Lisovskaya understood perfectly well: until her son became the heir to the throne or sat on the throne of the padishahs, her own position was constantly under threat. At any moment, Suleiman could be carried away by a new beautiful concubine and make her his legal wife, and order the execution of one of the old wives: in the harem, an unwanted wife or concubine was put alive in a leather bag, an angry cat was thrown into it and poisonous snake, they tied the bag and lowered it with a tied stone along a special stone chute into the waters of the Bosphorus. The guilty considered it lucky if they were simply quickly strangled with a silk cord.
Therefore, Roxalana prepared for a very long time and began to act actively and cruelly only after almost fifteen years!
Her daughter turned twelve years old, and she decided to marry her to... Rustem Pasha, who was already over fifty. But he was in great favor at court, close to the throne of the padishah and, most importantly, was something of a mentor and “godfather” to the heir to the throne, Mustafa, the son of the Circassian Gulbehar, Suleiman’s first wife.
Roxalana's daughter grew up with a similar face and chiseled figure to her beautiful mother, and Rustem Pasha with great pleasure became related to the Sultan - this is a very high honor for a courtier. Women were not forbidden to see each other, and the sultana deftly found out from her daughter about everything that was going on in the house of Rustem Pasha, literally collecting the information she needed bit by bit. Finally, Lisovskaya decided it was time to strike the fatal blow!
During a meeting with her husband, Roxalana secretly informed the Commander of the Faithful about the “terrible conspiracy.” Merciful Allah granted her time to learn about the secret plans of the conspirators and allowed her to warn her adored husband about the danger that threatened him: Rustem Pasha and the sons of Gulbehar planned to take the life of the padishah and take possession of the throne, placing Mustafa on it!
The intriguer knew well where and how to strike - the mythical “conspiracy” was quite plausible: in the East during the time of the sultans, bloody palace coups were the most common thing. In addition, Roxalana cited as an irrefutable argument the true words of Rustem Pasha, Mustafa and other “conspirators” that the daughter of Anastasia and the Sultan heard. Therefore, the seeds of evil fell on fertile soil!
Rustem Pasha was immediately taken into custody, and an investigation began: Pasha was terribly tortured. Perhaps he incriminated himself and others under torture. But even if he was silent, this only confirmed the padishah in the actual existence of a “conspiracy.” After torture, Rustem Pasha was beheaded.
Only Mustafa and his brothers were spared - they were an obstacle to the throne of Roxalana’s first-born, red-haired Selim, and for this reason they simply had to die! Constantly instigated by his wife, Suleiman agreed and gave the order to kill his children! The Prophet forbade the shedding of the blood of the padishahs and their heirs, so Mustafa and his brothers were strangled with a green silk twisted cord. Gulbehar went crazy with grief and soon died.
The cruelty and injustice of her son struck Valide Khamse, the mother of Padishah Suleiman, who came from a family Crimean khans Gireev. At the meeting, she told her son everything she thought about the “conspiracy,” the execution, and her son’s beloved wife Roxalana. It is not surprising that after this Valide Khamse, the Sultan’s mother, lived for less than a month: the East knows a lot about poisons!
The Sultana went even further: she ordered to find in the harem and throughout the country other sons of Suleiman, whom wives and concubines gave birth to, and to take the lives of all of them! As it turned out, the Sultan had about forty sons - all of them, some secretly, some openly, were killed by order of Lisovskaya.
Thus, over forty years of marriage, Roksolana managed the almost impossible. She was proclaimed the first wife, and her son Selim became the heir. But the sacrifices did not stop there. Roksolana's two youngest sons were strangled. Some sources accuse her of involvement in these murders - allegedly this was done in order to strengthen the position of her beloved son Selim. However, reliable data about this tragedy has never been found.
She was no longer able to see her son ascend the throne, becoming Sultan Selim II. He reigned after the death of his father for only eight years - from 1566 to 1574 - and, although the Koran forbids drinking wine, he was a terrible alcoholic! His heart once simply could not withstand the constant excessive libations, and in the memory of the people he remained as Sultan Selim the drunkard!
No one will ever know what the true feelings of the famous Roksolana were. What is it like for a young girl to find herself in slavery, in a foreign country, with a foreign faith imposed on her. Not only not to break, but also to grow into the mistress of the empire, gaining glory throughout Asia and Europe. Trying to erase shame and humiliation from her memory, Roksolana ordered the slave market to be hidden and a mosque, madrasah and almshouse to be erected in its place. That mosque and hospital in the almshouse building still bear the name of Haseki, as well as the surrounding area of ​​the city.
Her name, shrouded in myths and legends, sung by her contemporaries and covered in black glory, remains forever in history. Nastasia Lisovskaya, whose fate could be similar to hundreds of thousands of the same Nastya, Khristin, Oles, Mari. But life decreed otherwise. No one knows how much grief, tears and misfortunes Nastasya endured on the way to Roksolana. However, for the Muslim world she will remain Hurrem - LAUGHING.
Roksolana died either in 1558 or 1561. Suleiman I - in 1566. He managed to complete the construction of the majestic Suleymaniye Mosque - one of the largest architectural monuments of the Ottoman Empire - near which Roksolana’s ashes rest in an octagonal stone tomb, next to the also octagonal tomb of the Sultan. This tomb has stood for more than four hundred years. Inside, under the high dome, Suleiman ordered to carve alabaster rosettes and decorate each of them with a priceless emerald, Roksolana’s favorite gem.
When Suleiman died, his tomb was also decorated with emeralds, forgetting that his favorite stone was ruby.

Ending history of women's rule in the Ottoman Empire, Women's Sultanate (1541-1687)

Start here:
First part - Sultana unwillingly. Roksolana;
Second part - Women's Sultanate. Roksolana's daughter-in-law;
The third part - Women's Sultanate. Queen of the Ottoman Empire;
Fourth part - Women's Sultanate. Thrice Valide Sultan (mother of the reigning Sultan)

Turhan Sultan (1627 or 1628 - 1683) . The last great valide sultan (mother of the reigning sultan).

1.About the origin of this concubine of the Sultan Ibrahim I All that is known for sure is that she was Ukrainian, and until the age of 12 she bore the name Hope. She was captured at about the same age Crimean Tatars, sold by them to someone Kör Süleyman Pasha, and he already gave it to the powerful Valida Sultan Kösem, mother of a feeble-minded Ibrahim, which ruled Ottoman Empire instead of his mentally incapable son.

2.Ibrahim I, ascending the throne Osmanov in 1640, at the age of 25, after the death of his older brother, the Sultan Murad IV(for whom at the beginning of the reign their common mother also ruled Kösem Sultan), was the last representative of the male line of the dynasty Osmanov. Therefore, the problem of continuing the ruling dynasty Kösem Sultan(her idiot son didn't care) had to be decided as soon as possible. It would seem that in conditions of polygamy, with a huge selection of concubines in the Sultan’s harem, this problem (and many times at once) could be solved over the next 9 months. However, the weak-minded Sultan has a relatively female beauty turned out to be quite peculiar ideas. He only liked fat women. And not just fat, but very fat - in the chronicles there is a mention of one of his favorites, nicknamed Sugar Loaf, whose weight reached 150 kilograms. So Turhan, given by the Sultana to her son around 1640, she could not help but be a very large girl. Otherwise, she simply would not have ended up in this pervert's harem. I would not have passed, as they say now, the casting.

3.How many children did she give birth to? Turhan in total, unknown. But there is no doubt that it was she who was the first of his other concubines to give birth Ibrahim I son Mehmed- January 2, 1642. This boy became, from birth, first the official heir to the Sultan, and in 1648, after a coup d'etat, as a result of which IbrahimI was deposed and killed - by the ruler Ottoman Empire.

4. To my son Turhan Sultan was only 6 years old when he became Sultan Sublime Porte. It would seem that for his mother, who, according to the laws and traditions of the state, was supposed to receive the highest female tutul - valide sultan (mother of the ruling sultan), and become a regent, or at least co-ruler of her young son, the time had come finest hour. But it was not there! Her experienced and powerful mother-in-law Kösem Sultan She did not help eliminate (according to some rumors) her idiot son in order to give unlimited power to a 21-year-old girl. Having easily outplayed her “green” daughter-in-law at first, she for the third time (for the first time in Ottoman Empire) became a valid sultan under her grandson (which never happened before or after her).

5. Three years, from 1648 to 1651, palace Topkala rocked by endless scandals and intrigues of the opposing sultanas. Ultimately Kösem Sultan decided to replace her reigning grandson on the throne with one of his younger brothers, with a more accommodating mother. However, becoming valid Sultan for the fourth time Kösem Sultan did not make it - her hated daughter-in-law, having learned about the conspiracy against her son, in which the dear grandmother relied on the Janissaries, stirred up her intrigue with the help of the harem eunuchs, who, by the way, were in Ottoman Empire great political force. The eunuchs turned out to be more agile than the Janissaries, and on September 3, 1651, at the age of approximately 62 years, the Valide Sultan was strangled three times in her sleep.

6.So, the Ukrainian won and received unlimited regent power in the empire Osmanov at the age of only 23-24 years. An unprecedented case, such young Valide Sultan Sublime Porte I haven't seen it yet. Turhan Sultan not only accompanied her son during all important meetings, but also spoke on his behalf during negotiations with envoys (from behind the curtain). At the same time, realizing her own inexperience in government affairs, the young Valide Sultan never hesitated to seek advice from members of the government, thereby cementing her authority among the highest officials of the empire.

8.Actually, with the appearance at the head Ottoman Empire dynasties Köprülü Female Sultanate could have ended during the lifetime of its last representative. However, Turhan Sultan, voluntarily refusing to participate in foreign and domestic policy, switched her energies to other government affairs. And in the line of work that she chose, she remained the only woman in Sublime Porte. The Sultana started construction.

9. It was under her leadership that two powerful military fortresses were built at the entrance to the strait Dardanelles, one is on the Asian side of the strait, the other is on the European side. In addition, she completed the construction of one of the five most beautiful mosques in Istanbul in 1663, Yeni Cami (New Mosque), started under the Valid Sultan Safiye, her son's great-great-grandmother, in 1597.

10.Turhan Sultan died in 1683, at the age of 55-56, and was buried in a tomb completed by her New mosque. However Female Sultanate continued after the death of the last one in history Ottoman Empire female regent. The date of its end is considered to be 1687, when the son Turhan(who was her co-ruler), Sultan Mehmed IV(at the age of 45) was deposed as a result of a conspiracy by the son of the Grand Vizier, Mustafa Köprülü. Myself Mehmed lived after the overthrow of the throne for another five years, and died in prison in 1693. But to the story Women's Sultanate this has nothing to do with it anymore.

11. But to Mehmed IV the most direct and immediate relation is the famous "Letter from the Zaporozhye Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan." The addressee of this, to put it mildly, obscene letter, was the Sultan Mehmed IV, who was genetically more than half Ukrainian!