Halime Sultan
Halime Sultan | |
---|---|
Eastern Orthodox |
Halime Sultan (
Halime lived in the
Early life
She was born around 1570. A
She sent a message to a religious seer for she was superstitious, and anxious to know if her son would become the next Sultan, and how much longer her husband would reign. The seer responded, but the message was intercepted by Abdürrezzak Agha, the chief black eunuch of the imperial harem, and who later gave it to Mehmed and Safiye, instead of her.[5] The message said that Mehmed would die within six months without showing whether by death or deposition, and her son will become the next Sultan. Safiye incensed Mehmed, and he had Mahmud executed, who indeed knew nothing of his mother's action.[6]
Mahmud's followers who were supposed to be involved in the matter were thrown into the sea. It was also rumored that she was also executed. However, she was sent to the Eski (old) Palace located at the Beyazıt Square by the end of June.[5] Mehmed died just six months after Mahmud's death. On Friday January 9, Safiye Sultan, along with Şehzade Mustafa were also sent to the Eski Palace.[7] Between Mehmed's death and Mustafa's enthronement her stipend consisted of 100 aspers a day.[8]
As Valide Sultan
First tenure
When Mustafa ascended the throne in 1617 she became the
She had a potential ally in Kara Davud Pasha, but during Mustafa's first reign which lasted for only three months, she was unable to exploit her relationship by appointing Davud Pasha vizier. One of the few political alliances the valide was able to forge with her son's sword-bearer, Mustafa Agha, a high ranking inner palace officer, who was brought out of the palace and awarded the prestigious and strategically vital post of governor of Egypt on condition that he would marry the Sultan's wet nurse.[10] Within a few months the pasha was brought back to Istanbul as grand vizier.[11][12][13]
Osman's reign
Later, Mustafa was dethroned and his nephew Osman II ascended the throne due to Mustafa's mental condition. Mustafa was sent back to the kafes. She and her daughter Şah were sent to the Eski Palace.[14] However, she received only 2,000 aspers during her retirement to the Old Palace between her son's two reigns; during the first months of her retirement Safiye was still alive, perhaps a neighbour in the Old Palace, receiving 3,000 aspers a day.[14] Also, Kösem Sultan received 1,000 aspers a day during her retirement in the Old Palace. From her location in the Old Palace, she was a key figure in the deposition and assassination of Osman II and showed that she was no stranger to the art of damat politic.[15] The basic and exceptional weakness from which Osman II suffered was the conspicuous absence of a female power basis in the harem. From 1620 until Osman's death, a governess (daye hatun, lit. wet-nurse) was appointed as a stand-in valide, and she could not counterbalance the contriving of Halime Sultan in the Old Palace.
Second tenure
Seeking a counterweight to Janissary influence, Osman II closed their coffee shops and started planning to create a new and more loyal army consisting of Anatolian sekbans. The result was a palace uprising by the Janissaries which was supported by Halime Sultan as she wanted to free her son from his confinement and become the Valide Sultan once again . Later on 18 May 1622 Osman was again dethroned and the rebels, meanwhile, broke into the imperial palace and freed Mustafa from his confinement and acclaimed him as their master. She once again returned from the Old Palace and became the Valide Sultan. Some of the
Murad's enthronement
After Osman's death, the governor general of Erzurum, Abaza Mehmed Pasha, decided to advance to Istanbul to settle the score with the murderers of Osman II. Kara Davud Pasha was chosen as a scapegoat and was executed in an attempt to modify the discontent and preempt the rebellions that were building up in the empire, but to no avail: Mehmed Pasha, despite the offers made by the emissaries from the capital, continued his advance. Faced with an ever-deepening crises, clerics and the new Grand Vizier Kemankeş Kara Ali Pasha petitioned her to agree to the deposition of her son in favour of eleven year old Şehzade Murad, the oldest surviving son of Ahmed I. She concurred, only pleading that her son's life be spared. Accordingly, Mustafa was dethroned and incarcerated again.[1]
Death
She died in the Eski Saray (Old Palace) after 1623. She is buried in the mausoleum of her son Mustafa I in Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul.[3][19]
Issue
Together with Mehmed, Halime had at least two sons and two daughters:
- Şehzade Mahmud (1587, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 7 June 1603, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople; executed under Mehmed III's order, buried in Şehzade Mahmud Mausoleum, Şehzade Mosque).[3]
- Hatice Sultan (1588?, Manisa Palace, Manisa - 1613, Constantinople), married firstly in 1604 to Mirahur Mustafa Pasha, married secondly on 10 February 1612 to Cağaloğlu Mahmud Pasha, son of Cigalazade Sinan Pasha and Saliha Hanımsultan (great-granddaughter of Sultan Suleiman I). After her death, Mahmud married Hümaşah Sultan, an other daughter of Mehmed III;[20][21][22]
- Şah Sultan (1590?, Manisa Palace, Manisa - after 1623), married in 1604 (consummated in March 1606) to
- Mustafa I (1600/1601,[23][24] Topkapi Palace, Constantinople – 20 January 1639, Kafes, Eski Palace, Constantinople; buried in Mustafa I Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
In popular culture
In the 2015 TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, Halime Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Aslıhan Gürbüz.[25]
See also
- Ottoman dynasty
- Ottoman family tree
- List of Valide Sultans
- List of consorts of the Ottoman Sultans
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-438-11025-7.
- ^ M. Sadık Bilge (2005). Osmanlı devleti ve Kafkasya: Osmanlı varlığı döneminde Kafkasya'nın siyasî-askerî tarihi ve idarî taksimâtı, 1454-1829. Eren Yayıncılık.
- ^ a b c Börekçi, Günhan. Factions And Favorites At The Courts Of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predecessors. pp. 65 and n. 96.
- ^ Peirce 1993, p. 231.
- ^ a b Börekçi, Günhan. İnkırâzın Eşiğinde Bir Hanedan: III. Mehmed, I. Ahmed, I. Mustafa ve 17. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Siyasî Krizi - A Dynasty at the Threshold of Extinction: Mehmed III, Ahmed I, Mustafa I and the 17th-Century Ottoman Political Crisis. p. 78.
- ^ Peirce 1993, p. 231-2.
- ISBN 978-0-521-29163-7.
- ^ Peirce 1993, p. 129.
- ^ Peirce 1993, p. 127.
- ^ Peirce 1993, p. 145.
- ISBN 978-0-801-49702-5.
- ISBN 978-1-136-20632-0.
- ISBN 978-0-520-25444-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-195-08677-5.
- ISBN 978-0-520-93005-6.
- ISBN 978-0-761-83600-1.
- ISBN 978-0-520-93005-6.
- ^ A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730. CUP Archive. p. 137.
- ^ Haber, Internet (2016-06-02). "Halime Sultan kimdir hayatı bakın nasıl öldü!". www.internethaber.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 2022-01-05.
- ^ a b Tezcan, Baki. The Debut Of Kösem Sultan's Political Career. p. 357.
- ^ a b Günhan Börekçi - Factions and Favorites at the Courts of Sultan Ahmed I and His Immediate Predecessors (2010)
- ^ a b Tezcan, Baki (2001). Searching For Osman: A Reassessment Of The Deposition Of Ottoman Sultan Osman II (1618-1622)
- ^ Baki Tezcan - The Debut of Kosem Sultan's Political Career (2008)
- ^ Günhan Börekçi - Factions and Favorites at the Courts of Sultan Ahmed I and His Immediate Predecessors (2010), p.64
- ^ In the series she is depicted as the mother of three children, Sehzade Mahmud, Mustafa I and Dilruba Sultan (invented name because, when the series was filmed, the names of Mehmed III's daughters were not known. The name of the corresponding historical princess is now known as Sah Sultan).
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-19-508677-5.