In the middle of the 16th century, one of the most famous phenomena of the Islamic world, the female sultanate, began to emerge in the Ottoman Empire. Despite the fact that disputes continue to this day as to who became its first representative, history will not contradict the fact that this phenomenon completely changed the course of development of history not only for the empire, but for the whole world.

What is a female sultanate

During the time of the monarchy Ottoman Empire every woman was assigned a secondary role in the life of the people. They did not have access to politics, did not deal with the important affairs of the empire, did not have the right to vote. Their only task was to obey their man, honor Allah and bear children. These were the medieval laws of the great empire that time. But has anything changed since then?

The great love and respect of the sultans for their wives and mothers allowed them to gradually intervene in the affairs of politics: give advice to the sultans, help them out of difficult situations, and sometimes take all power into their own hands.

It took too much courage and effort from the women of the Middle Ages in order to gain at least some influence in the palace. The first sultana, who was not afraid to take power into her own hands and had an extraordinary influence on the sultan, was Hürrem Sultan, the legal wife of Sultan Suleiman I. It cannot be said that until that time no woman wanted to receive more respect and power, rather the opposite. However, the excessive severity of the rulers and the belief that the place of a woman is a harem did not give them the opportunity to rise even a little in their eyes.

- a woman who from a young age was engaged in self-education. She knew several foreign languages, which subsequently gave her the opportunity to freely negotiate with any foreign envoy. She was well versed in politics, as evidenced by the ambassadors in their memoirs of her. At the same time, she always remained a loving woman. Suleiman I because of his Great love to his wife allowed her more than previous sultans. This is evidenced at least by the fact that he became the first sultan who entered into a legal marriage with his concubine, which already in the future became a tradition among other rulers.

It cannot be said that the subsequent sultanas built their political careers only on the love of the sultans for them. Rather, on the contrary, at the time when their sons became rulers, they gained the greatest power. Why is that? Each of the sultanas is not only a leader by nature, thirsty for power, she is also a rather difficult and cunning rival in the struggle for the throne. Only one is celebrated in the empire real case when a woman simply needed to take the post of regent due to the infancy of her son and his inability to govern the state. In all other cases, each sultana craved power, she was not alien to deceit and cunning, she could kill hundreds of people on the way to greatness. Do not forget about the fact that the subsequent successor always watched the current Valide Sultan, adopted her experience, learned from her mistakes, received a dose of the same thirst for power.

All this gave rise to the female sultanate, the first and last phenomenon in the Islamic world, when a woman was allowed to power. His period lasted just over 100 years until the famous Battle of Vienna in 1683. It was after these events that the Ottoman Empire entered a period of stagnation (stagnation). Often, influential sultanas-mistresses are accused of this.

Consequences of a female sultanate

Among the ruling women, who are among the persons of the female sultanate, include:

Nurbanu Sultan;

Safiye Sultan;

Turhan Sultan.

It is not for nothing that the Sultan is not mentioned here, although it was this great and fearless woman who laid the foundation for its development. Her daughter-in-law Nurbanu Sultan followed the example of her mother-in-law. An important fact was the fact that Sultan Selim, Nurbanu's husband, was prone to drinking large amounts of alcohol, therefore he was often not very interested in political issues. His vital value became a harem in which he spent a large amount of time for entertainment. Therefore, his wife found supporters in the Council and often independently made important decisions for the state.

The female sultanate caused the stagnation of the Ottoman Empire. The sultanas-mistresses had a strong enough influence on the decline in the power of the empire. During their reign, campaigns were quite rare, and therefore the state was losing more and more of its personal territories.

If in the first 100 years of the Women's Sultanate its influence was practically not noticed and the empire remained one of the strongest in the world, then after 1683 it became clear to everyone that the Ottoman Empire did not have the means and strength to maintain its world authority. Every year the lands of the monarchy began to be conquered by other states. The process could no longer be stopped, because in 1922 the Ottoman Empire completely ceased to exist, owning at that time only territories commensurate with modern Turkey.

The biggest reason is not that women have become allowed to power. Many of the sons of the Sultan, from a very early age, were involved in state issues, attended the Council, studied the art of war, politics, tactics and strategy, and oratory. The sultanas were limited in such skills. Everything that they could independently study and assimilate, they applied. Surprisingly, many of them were quite talented politicians.

The dispute of the Ottomanists about the "Women's Sultanate"

What do you know about Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan?

Some historians on the Ottoman period hypothesize that it was Hürrem Sultan who initiated the period Ottoman history, called the "Women's Sultanate". They claim that this is one of the main reasons for the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Although the "Female Sultanate" is not the reason for the decline of the Empire. This is, in fact, its result.

Before, I already went to the tomb of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan. Where is this tomb, you yourself can guess. Of course, next to the Suleymaniye Mosque, along with the tomb of Sultan Suleiman.
My attention was drawn to the interest shown by foreign tourists in her tomb. The conversations of tourists among themselves at the exit indicate that this visit was not accidental, and they have knowledge about Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan herself. Interestingly, this proposal creates a demand, or does people's interest in Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan cause information about her to appear?

To answer this question, I went to Inter No, and entered the word "Roksolana" in the search engine. In response, I received a bunch of pages with Internet addresses. Legends about the life of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska from the words of witnesses of that time expanded from the time of the ambassadors of Venice under Sultan Suleiman right up to the time of the Austrian ambassador Busbek. Her "life struggle" was met with understanding and emphasized that she was trying to win back her right to life. Although relying on the same sources, historians of the last century are racing to accuse Hürrem.

The ambassadors of Venice described Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan as "not a beauty, but charming", but the historian Ahmet Refik Altynay brings her beauty to the fore and smashes it to smithereens:

“... (Hyurrem Sultan) wanted to take possession of the Padishah with the help of her beauty and become the only Sultana in both the palace and the state. In order to fulfill this dream, she did not disdain either deceit, or betrayal, or murder.

And this is not enough for our historian. Sultan Suleiman also gets it: “Sultan Suleiman was just a tool in the hands of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, who did whatever she wanted. (...) After a string of murders, he was buried in the arms of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and the era of the Sultanate of Nurbanu began .. ”(Ahmet Refik Altynay,“ Women's Sultanate ”).
Historian Ismail Hani Danishmend also claims that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan laid the foundation for the "Women's Sultanate", which became the main reason for the fall of the Ottoman Empire:
“It is believed that the death of the mother of Kanuni and the wife of Sultan Yavuz Hafsa Sultan (...) created favorable circumstances for the emergence of the “Women's Sultanate” in the Ottoman palace. The famous "Hyurrem Sultan", which Western literature and history speaks of as Roksolan, just at that very time, in palace intrigues, began to use her influence on Kanuni to achieve her own interests. This means that one of the main reasons for the stagnation (decline) of the Ottoman Empire manifested itself in its greatest days. (Ismail Hani Danishmend, Chronology of Ottoman History with Commentary, Volume 2).
Danishmend believes that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska has accumulated a lot of sins: “As a result, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Haseki, after Makbul Igrahim Pasha (this is Pargaly - approx. Lane), sacrificed Kara Ahmed Pasha to her interests, that is, let her under death penalty two viziers, and it is also necessary to take into account that, together with the strangled heir Mustafa, the heir Jihangir also died, who could not bear the death of his brother, so that she became the cause of the death of two more.
If we recall that Shehzade Cihangir was the son of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, on the conscience of Roksolana, who initiated the period of the "Women's Sultanate", which gave rise to the decline of the Empire, in addition to three deaths, the death of her own son.
Danishmend, who considered the very existence of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska a mistake, even complains about her death:
“In 1558, the death of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, who created the “Women's Sultanate” in the palace and killed poor Mustafa in order for her favorite, Bayezid, to inherit the throne, although she did not leave Selim’s comrades-in-arms with room for maneuver, nevertheless brought tragedy and became just as destructive for the state, like the life of this greedy lady.
It seems that if Hürrem had died earlier, Danishmend would have taken his accusations back.

Fight with Mahidevran

Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan got into the palace as a concubine and became "Haseki" when, a year after the ascension to the throne of Sultan Suleiman, she gave him the heir Mehmed. And she entered into a serious battle with Mahidevran, who 5 years before gave birth to an heir, Mustafa. In order to strengthen her position, she also gave birth to Mihrimah Sultan (1522), Shehzade Abdullah (1523), Shehzade Selim (1524), Shehzade Bayazid (1525) and Shehzade Cihangir (1531).
Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan managed to convince Kanuni to go beyond traditions and marry her, and send Mahidevrat away - to his son Mustafa in Manisa, where he was the governor. After the death of Hafsa Sultan in 1534, who was the guarantor of the preservation of the dynasty and maintained strict discipline in the harem, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska became the sole mistress. She tied the Sultan to herself with excessive sensuality, emotionality. The people, who did not understand the relationship between the Ruler and the slave concubine, believed that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Suleiman bewitched.
Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan put the husband of her daughter Mihrimah, Damat Ryustem Pasha, in the chair of the vizier for a long time, then she tried to make one of her sons ascend the throne. That is why she is responsible for the fact that Sultan Suleiman executed the vizier Ibrahim Pasha, who supported Mustafa, Kara Ahmed Pasha and Şehzade Mustafa himself.
After the strangulation of Mustafa's heir, Hurrem Sultan died in 1558 at the age of 50.

Fight for the throne

After the death of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, the heir Baezid, whom Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska would like to see as Sultan, and the heir Selim opposed each other. Shehzade Baezid, who lost the fight because Selim was supported by Qanuni troops, fled to Iran with Shah Tahmasp. After lengthy bargaining, the Shah handed Baezid over to Selim's men, who promptly killed him and his sons.
In 1566, after the death of Kanuni, the last will of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan came true: her son Selim, similar to her both in appearance and in his behavior, ascended the throne and became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Selim II.
If we cover the concept of "Women's Sultanate", which was proposed by one of the popular historians Ahmet Refik Altynai, as a period, then it began with Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan and lasted a whole century:
“The reign of the Sultan (mother of the Sultan - approx. Lane) began with the wife of Kanuni Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan and lasted a century during the times of Nurbanu, Safiye, Kösem and Turhan Sultan. Historians, starting from the 17th century, among the main factors that influenced the decline of the Empire, indicate the "Women's Sultanate".
If we take this statement of Khalil Inaldzhik (from the preface to the "Love Letters of the Ottoman Sultans") as a starting point for deriving the concept of "Women's Sultanate", then we will notice one discrepancy: Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska died in 1558, her son Selim ascended the throne in 1566 year. And it is obvious that she could not start the "Women's Sultanate", since she never ruled as the mother of the Padishah.
Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan really prevented her stepson Mustafa from ascending the throne and influenced Kanuni to strangle him. Because if Mustafa ascended the throne, her own sons would be killed, and she would lose her status. In this case, can attempts to save one's position and the life of one's own sons be considered "personal interests"?

"Women's Sultanate": cause or effect?

Starting with Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, one after another followed 4 women who strongly influenced the Sultans, gave the name to this period as the "Women's Sultanate". However, do not forget that the "Women's Sultanate" is not the cause of the decline of the Ottoman Empire, it is its consequence.
Kanuni, after he captured Hungary and Baghdad (1520-1566), did not make conquests in the second half of his reign, and could not. 250 years after the founding of the Ottoman Empire, its borders reached the Roman Empire. In the west, Germany and Austria are populous; in the east - Iran. The army, which left Istanbul at the beginning of the summer, still remained at a distance that was impossible to capture. Due to the fact that the management of the Empire was completely dependent on the Sultan, his stay for a long time outside Istanbul, which was at the same distance from the western and eastern borders, was causing problems. The Europeans, meanwhile, improved methods of protection and weapons. Camping costs began to significantly exceed profits. To the question "Women's Sultanate" gave birth to Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan? we can give the answer: "It was born of the end of the campaigns, on which the system of conquering vast expanses and obtaining huge military booty was based."
However, one should not forget that the Ottoman Empire, which broke up into 24 states, as Ilber Ortaily emphasizes, still left a significant mark on history, just like the Third Rome.

Women of the "Women's Sultanate"

Nurbanu Sultan- Haseki son of Hürrem, Selim II. When her son became governor, Hürrem, following the traditions, did not go with him, but remained in the Topkapi Palace. Nurbanu was quickly wrapped around Shehzade, who was left all alone. When Selim ascended the throne, she easily took over the harem, since at that time Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska had already died and Valide Sultan was not in the harem.

Safiye Sultan- Haseki son of Selim II, Murad III. She is from the Venetian family of Baffo, her father was the governor of the island of Corfu. During the reign of Murad III, Nurbanu as Valide Sultan and Safiye as Haseki were constantly at war with each other.

Kösem Sultan– Haseks of Safiye’s grandson, Ahmed I. Nurbanu and Safiye gained their authority in the harem when their husbands were governors away from Istanbul. And Kösem Sultan gained the most power during the reign of her sons Murad IV and Ibrahim, staying in the harem as Valide.

Turhan Sultan- mother of Mehmed IV. Fought with Kösem Sultan. In light of this, Kösem wanted to put another heir on the throne - Suleiman, whose mother was a simpleton, instead of Mehmed IV. As a result of this struggle, Turhan Sultan killed Kösem Sultan and planted her Mehmed IV continued his reign.

© Adnan Nur Baikal, 2001

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

Start here:
First part - The sultana willy-nilly. Roksolana;
The 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 valid Sultan (mother of the ruling Sultan)

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

1. About the origin of this concubine of the Sultan Ibrahim I it is only known for certain 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 some Ker Suleiman Pasha, and already he gave it to the powerful valid Sultan Kösem, the mother of a demented 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 which, at the beginning of the reign, their common mother also ruled Kösem Sultan), was the last of the male line of the dynasty Osmanov. Therefore, the problem of the continuation of the ruling dynasty Kösem Sultan(her idiot son didn't care) should have been resolved as soon as possible. It would seem that in the conditions of polygamy, with a huge choice of concubines in the Sultan's harem, this problem (and many times at once) could be solved within the next 9 months. However, the weak-minded sultan turned out to have rather peculiar ideas regarding female beauty. 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 that Turhan, given by the Sultana to her son around 1640, she could not but be a very large girl. Otherwise, she simply would not have got into the harem of this pervert. I would not have passed, as they say now, the casting.

3. How many children did she give birth to Turhan in total is unknown. But the undoubted fact is 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'état, as a result of which IbrahimI was deposed and killed by the ruler Ottoman Empire.

4. Son Turhan Sultan was only 6 years old when he became sultan Sublime Porta. It would seem that for his mother, who, according to the laws and traditions of the state, was to receive the highest female tutul - valide-sultan (the mother of the ruling sultan), and become a regent, or at least a co-ruler of her young son, the finest hour has come. But it was not there! Her experienced and domineering mother-in-law Kösem Sultan She did not at all 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 with her grandson (which did not happen either before her or after her).

5. Three years, from 1648 to 1651, the palace Topkaly shaken by endless scandals and intrigues of 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, to become a 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, muddied her intrigue with the help of 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 about 62, the Valide Sultan was strangled in her sleep three times.

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

8. Actually, with the appearance at the head Ottoman Empire dynasty Köprülü Women's Sultanate could have ended during the lifetime of its last representative. However, Turhan Sultan, voluntarily refusing to participate in foreign and domestic politics, switched her energies to other government affairs. And in the kind of activity that she chose, she remained the only woman in Brilliant Port . The sultana took up construction.

9. It was under her leadership that two powerful military fortresses were built at the entrance to the strait Dardanelles, one - on the Asian side of the strait, the other - on the European side. In addition, she completed in 1663 the construction of one of the five most beautiful mosques in Istanbul, Yeni Jami (New Mosque), begun under Valide 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 in history Ottoman Empire regent women. The date of its completion is considered to be 1687, when the son Turhan(former 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 Koprulu. Myself Mehmed lived after the overthrow from the throne for another five years, and died in prison in 1693. But to history Women's Sultanate it has nothing to do with it anymore.

11. But to Mehmed IV most directly and immediately related is the famous "Letter of the Zaporizhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan". The addressee of this, to put it mildly, obscene letter, was precisely the Sultan Mehmed IV, who is genetically more than half Ukrainian!

Nurbanu Sultan

Nurbanu Sultan (representative of a noble Venetian family), the wife of Sultan Selim II (1566-1574) and the mother (that is, Valide Sultan) of Sultan Murad III can be considered the full-fledged founder of the female sultanate.

It is characteristic that it is impossible to attribute the beginning of the period of special female influence to the reign of Selim II - under him, Nurbanu was simply the wife of the Sultan, albeit the main one. Her influence increased after the accession of her son Murad III, who, although he ascended the throne at the age of 28, showed no interest in governing the country, spending time in entertainment and enjoyment in the harem. Nurbanu Sultan can generally be called the shadow manager of the empire until her death in 1583.

Safiye Sultan

After Nurbanu Sultan, the role of "guardian" under Murad III was taken over by his main concubine, who never received the status of an official wife, Safiye Sultan. She was also a Venetian, moreover, came from the same family as her mother-in-law. She did not prevent the Sultan from spending time in entertainment, largely deciding state affairs for him. Her influence increased even more after the death of her husband in 1595 and the ascension to the throne of her son, Mehmed III.

The new sultan immediately executed 19 of his brothers and even all of his father's pregnant concubines and further showed himself to be a bloody and incompetent ruler. However, Safiye Sultan under him was very close to being a real ruler. She died in 1604, Mehmed III outlived her by a couple of months.

Kösem Sultan

Then for some time there was a break in the women's sultanate and women lost their influence - but only to be replaced by the real "sultana", Kösem Sultan, the wife of Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617). With her husband, however, Kösem had no influence. She received it already in the status of a valid sultan, when in 1523, at the age of 11, her son Murad IV became the ruler. In 1540, he died and was replaced by his brother, another son of Kösem, Ibrahim I, who went down in history under the nickname Mad.

With her sons, Kösem Sultan was almost the full ruler of the Porte. After the assassination of Ibrahim I in 1648, he was succeeded by his son Mehmed IV. Initially, Kösem maintained a good relationship with her grandson, but quickly quarreled with him and was killed in 1651.

Turhan Sultan

The death of Kösem Sultan is often attributed to the last representative of the female sultanate, the wife of Ibrahim I and the mother of Mehmed IV, known as Turhan Sultan. She was Ukrainian by origin, her name was Nadezhda, and as a child she was kidnapped by the Crimean Tatars. At the age of 12, she became Ibrahim's concubine, she was presented to him by Kösem Sultan herself. At the age of 15, Turhan had already given birth to an heir, the future Mehmed IV. After her son came to power, Turhan now received the title of valid sultan and did not want to put up with an ambitious mother-in-law, whom, according to assumptions, she eliminated.