During the sixteenth to seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire saw a change in its political dynamic as Imperial women began to influence the decisions of the Imperial court.[1] 1534-1683 is known as the ‘Sultanate of Women’ as Imperial women within the Ottoman dynasty, beginning with Hurrem Sultan (d.1558) and ending with Gülnuş Sultan (d.1715), exerted political power through their relation to the Sultan, by either being his favourite concubine or wife (haseki) or as Queen mother (valide). As was custom in Ottoman culture, the haseki, valide and other Imperial women remained inside their residence of the harem, physically secluded from the Imperial court and public domain.[2] However, feminist scholarship rightly argues that this physical seclusion did not preclude their exercise of power. They were still able to forge networks of power to assert their influence over the Imperial court and the Sultan. Renee Langlois’ Comparing the French Regent and the Ottoman Valide Sultan (2018) highlights the position of valide and their role in controlling the empire in the absence of the Sultan.[3] Leslie Pierce’s The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (1993) examines the era of the ‘Sultanate of Women’ with fresh scrutiny by paying particular focus on Hurrem.[4] As the first haseki of the empire, Hurrem began an era in which Imperial women changed the political dynamic of the Imperial court for over one hundred years. In this brief survey of her life, I will demonstrate that Hurrem’s role as haseki allowed her to have considerable influence over the empire and Sultan, which ultimately allowed subsequent Imperial women to exercise political power.
Hurrem Sultan (1502-1558), also known as Roxelana in Europe, was a Russian captive taken to Istanbul to become a concubine for Sultan Suleiman (r.1520-1566). She quickly rose through the ranks of the Imperial household, with Suleiman changing harem protocol by marrying her (1534) and allowing her and their son to stay in the Imperial capital instead of a province, as was customary.[5] An ambassador present in Istanbul noted that their wedding was an ‘extraordinary event, one absolutely unprecedented in the history of Sultans’.[6] Hurrem’s marriage to Suleiman and birthing of five sons secured her role as the first haseki in Ottoman history. Her strong connection and intimacy with Suleiman gave her access to power that no other Imperial woman had previously enjoyed.
Hurrem used her political power within the Imperial court to advocate for a change of Grand Vizier to her son-in-law, and, in turn, to gain greater influence. Hurrem strategically married her daughter, Mihrimah (d.1578), to Rustem (d.1561) who was the governor of Diyarbekir.[7] Through Hurrem’s plotting, he became Grand Vizier to Suleiman (1544-1553 and 1555-1561), with his predecessor, Hadim Suleiman Pasha, being executed (1544).[8] While Rustem benefitted from Mihrimah and Hurrem’s relationship with Suleiman, as he became the highest Vizier in the Imperial court, Hurrem was able to use this strategic marriage to create an alliance with Rustem, gaining constant access to information about the empire, and the opportunity to assert her influence over the entirety of the Imperial court.[9] Ambassador Navagero (d.1565) commented that there had ‘never been in the history of Ottoman house a lady that held more authority’, highlighting Hurrem’s political power despite being secluded to the harem.[10]
Hurrem’s influence in the Imperial court and relationship with Suleiman was heavily criticised by contemporaries throughout Europe and within the empire. Hurrem was demonised in diplomatic documents, literature, and European theatre in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A widely circulated political pamphlet by Nicolas de Moffan, ‘A Cruell Fact of Soltan Solyman’ (1555) popularised the story of Suleiman’s first born son Mustafa’s execution and Hurrem’s involvement, and it was translated into multiple languages. He accused her of being ‘crafty’, ‘wicked’ and ‘devilish’ for ‘corrupting the Kyng’s mynd’ by using ‘certayne sorceries’.[11] Hurrem’s ‘devilish’ influence upon Suleiman became the subject of several dramas, including Gabriel Bounin’s La Soltane performed in 1560 and published in 1561.[12] The plot revolved around Rose (Hurrem) and Rustem’s scheme to have Mustafa executed by leading Suleiman to believe that he was trying to overthrow the Sultanate.[13] Hurrem was widely condemned for her role in Mustafa’s death as his execution worked favourably for her as her son, Selim II (d.1574) became the first choice of heir to the Sultanate, which guaranteed Hurrem’s continued influence throughout the empire.
Despite the extent of contemporary criticism, the role Hurrem played as haseki allowed subsequent Imperial women to also exercise political power in influencing the Imperial court. Haseki was developed into the role of valide upon the haseki’s son being crowned Sultan. Although Hurrem never took this role for herself, as she died before Selim II could ascend to the throne, the precedent she set for Imperial women in politics allowed Nurbanu to create the role of valide to claim power. Nurbanu (1525-1583) was haseki to Sultan Selim II (r.1566-1574) and became a powerful valide to Sultan Murad III (r.1574-1595). She regularly sat on Murad’s council of state and concerned herself with all the facets of government, including foreign policy towards Venice.[14] Safiye Sultan (d.1621), valide to Sultan Mehmed III (r.1595-1603), also played a prominent role in foreign affairs by maintaining a friendly and diplomatic relationship with Queen Elizabeth I.[15]
Although Imperial women were physically secluded in the harem, the ‘Sultanate of Women’ era highlights that hasekis and valides were able to influence the Imperial court and exert their own political power. Hurrem’s marriage to Suleiman allowed her to strategically establish networks of power within the Imperial court in order to achieve her objectives. This set a precedent for future Imperial wives and mothers as they were able to use their connection to the Sultan to exercise influence over the Empire.
Tracing Hurrem’s biography shows us the strategies that were open to ambitious Imperial women. We are able to see how she transformed from a concubine into a powerful haseki who was able to directly influence the Sultan and Imperial court. Beyond setting a precedent for future Imperial women, Hurrem’s life is an important element to the Ottoman decline thesis, where Noel Barber cites the marriage between Suleiman and Hurrem as the ‘first link in the chain of events that brought about the downfall of the empire’.[16] The role of haseki and valide helps us to understand the change in the Ottoman political dynamic which contemporaries believe to be the corruption of the Ottoman state.
Zhara Adal is currently a History Masters student at Queen Mary University of London, with a focus on the Medieval Islamic World. Her current interests include the social and military history of 15th-16th century Ottoman Empire, with particular focus on Sultan Mehmed II and Suleiman. Her undergraduate dissertation titled, Golden or Gilded?: A Re-Evaluation of Ḳānūnī Sulṭān Süleymān’s Reign, re-examines the Ottoman decline thesis and explores Suleiman’s role in the perceived decline of the empire.
Image: La Sultana Rossa, or Portrait of a Woman, wikicommons.
[1] Renee Langlois, ‘Comparing the French Regent Queen and the Ottoman Valide Sultan During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’, in Elena Woodacre (ed.,) A Companion to Global Queenship (Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2018) p.271
[2] Ayse Y. Evrensel & Tiffany Mix, ‘An Institutional Approach to the Decline of the Ottoman Empire’, Cogent Economics & Finance 5, no.1 (2017) p.6
[3] Langlois, ‘Ottoman Valide Sultan’ in Woodacre (eds.,) Global Queenship (2018) p.271
[4] Leslie Pierce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (Oxford University Press, 1993)
[5] Evrensel & Mix, ‘An Institutional Approach’ (2017) p.6
[6] Galinda Ivanova Yermolenko, Roxolana in European Literature, History, and Culture (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2010) p.30
[7] Ülkü Bates, ‘Women as Patrons of Architecture in Turkey’, in Lois Beck and Nikki Keddie (eds.,) Women in the Muslim World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978) p.252
[8] Muzaffer Ozgules, The Women Who Built the Ottoman World: Female Patronage and Architectural Legacy of Gülnuş Sultan (New York, 2017) p.47
[9] Christine Isom-Verhaaren & Kent Schull (eds.,) Living in the Ottoman Realm: Empire and Identity, 13th to 20th Centuries (Indiana University Press, 2016) p.154
[10] Yermolenko, Roxolana (2010) p.30
[11] William Painter, The Second Tome of the Palace of Pleasure, Joseph Jacob (ed.) (London, 1890) pp.401-4
[12] Gabriel Bounin, La Soltane, Michael Heath (ed.) (Exeter: University of Exeter, 1977)
[13] Antonia Szabari, ‘The Crescent Moon and the Orb: Political Allegory and Cosmographie DeTour in Gabriel Bounin’s “La Soltane”’, French Forum 40, no.2/3 (2015) p.1
[14] Ian Dengler, ‘Turkish Women in the Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age’, in Beck and Keddie, Women (1978) p.237; Pierce, The Imperial Harem (1993) p.222
[15] Fatima & Asmat Naz, ‘Imperial Women: Patrons of Political Power in the Ottoman Empire (1520-1660)’, Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences 40, no.3 (2020) p.1350
[16] Noel Barber, The Sultans (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973) p.43
