Mahidevran
Vorlage:Use dmy dates Vorlage:Infobox royalty Vorlage:Contains Ottoman Turkish text
Mahidevran Sultan (Vorlage:Lang-ota, Vorlage:Circa 1498[1] – 3 February 1581) was a wife[2] of Suleiman the Magnificent and the mother of Şehzade Mustafa and Raziye Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Etymology
Mahidevran’s name (Vorlage:IPA-tr, Vorlage:Lang-ota) means "one who is always beautiful", "one whose beauty never fades" or "beauty of the times". Another meaning of her name is "Moon of Fortune."[3] It was Suleiman who named her Gülbahar (Vorlage:IPA-tr), with gül meaning 'rose' and bahar meaning 'spring' in Turkish and Persian.
Origin
Little is known of Mahidevran’s early life. Her ethnical background is a matter of controversy. She was either from Caucasus or from Albania.[4][5][6] According to an interview with Saide Perizat Temrukoğlu, a descendant of Mahidevran, Mahidevran was the daughter of Mirza Haydar Temruk Bey, a 16th-century Kabarday prince and his Crimean Tartar wife Princess Nazcan Hatun, the daughter of Meñli I Giray.[7] This interview supports the Caucasus-origin theory. Other sources, including André Clot also support the Caucasian-origin theory and say that she was married to Suleiman in January or February of 1512 in Crimea.
Biography
Suleiman was still a şehzade ("Ottoman prince") and the governor of Manisa sanjak (then known as Saruhan) when she gave birth to Şehzade Mustafa in 1515. When Selim I died in 1520, Suleiman moved to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, along with his family to ascend the throne.
In the Istanbul harem, Mahidevran Sultan had a very influential rival, Hürrem Sultan, who soon proved to be Suleiman’s favorite consort as well as his legal wife. Hürrem gave birth to her first son Mehmed in 1521 (who died in 1543) and then Selim (future sultan Selim II) in 1524, destroying Mahidevran’s status of being the mother of the sultan’s only son.[8] The rivalry between the two women was partially suppressed by Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, Suleiman’s mother,[9] but after her death in 1534, as a result of the bitter rivalry a fight between the two women broke out, with Mahidevran beating Hürrem. This angered Suleiman, who subsequently sent Mahidevran to live with her son.
According to Turkish tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors (Sanjak-bey) as a part of their training. Mustafa was sent to Manisa and Mahidevran accompanied him.
Towards the end of Suleiman’s long reign, the rivalry between his sons became evident. Furthermore, both Hürrem Sultan and the grand vizier Rüstem Pasha turned him against Mustafa and Mustafa was accused of causing unrest. During the campaign against Safavid Persia in 1553, Suleiman ordered the execution of Mustafa.[10]
For several years after her son’s execution, Mahidevran lived a troubled life. She moved to Bursa where her son’s tomb lay, but lived in poverty for she had almost no income of her own. Her last years, however, were not in poverty, for Selim II, the new sultan after 1566 as well as her stepson, put her on a salary. She died in 1581.[8]
Issue
Mahidevran and Suleiman had two children together:
Depictions in literature and popular culture
In the TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, Mahidevran Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Nur Fettahoğlu.
See also
References
- ↑ Ailesinin ağzından Mahidevran’ın hikâyesi. Archiviert vom am 29. Januar 2013.
- ↑ Ghada Hashem Talhami: Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Rowman & Littlefield, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-6858-8, S. 279 (com.pk).
- ↑ Peirce Leslie P.: The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016-4314 1993, ISBN 978-0-19-508677-5, Wives and Concubines: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, S. 55.
- ↑ http://books.google.al/books?id=L6-VRgVzRcUC&pg=PA55&dq=mahidevran+sultan+albanian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=T7DUU5PvIeX8ygPE8oHoAw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=mahidevran%20sultan%20albanian&f=false
- ↑ http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=L6-VRgVzRcUC&pg=PA56&dq=%22Mahidevran%22&hl=tr&sa=X&ei=wsiqT8-nA8Gq-AaS9JmeCg&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=Za0TAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Mahidevran%22+albanian&dq=%22Mahidevran%22+albanian&hl=tr&sa=X&ei=luKqT-DtJY6JhQfi8MSeCg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ
- ↑ An interview with Saide Perizat Vorlage:Tr icon
- ↑ a b Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire
- ↑ Selçuk Aksin Somel: Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire, Oxford, 2003, ISBN 0-8108-4332-3, p. 123
- ↑ Lord Kinross: The Ottoman Centuries, (Trans. by Nilifer Epçeli) Altın Kitaplar, İstanbul, 2008, ISBN 978-975-21-0955-1 p. 233.