Mahidevran

wife of Suleiman the Magnificent first queen in ottoman empire

Mahidevran Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: ماه دوران; meaning "moon of fortune"[1]; c. 1500 - 3 February 1581[2][3]) also known as Gulbahar Hatun [4](Ottoman Turkish: کل بھار; meaning "spring rose"[5]) was a concubine of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and she was the mother of Şehzade Mustafa of the Ottoman Empire.

Mahidevran Hatun
Bornc. 1500
Circassia or Montenegro or Albania
Died3 February 1581(1581-02-03) (aged 80–81)
Bursa, Ottoman Empire
Burial
Muradiye Complex, Bursa
ConsortSuleiman the Magnificent
IssueŞehzade Mustafa
ReligionSunni Islam (converted)

Title and status

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Mahidevran was the mother of Şehzade Mustafa, the eldest son of Suleiman the Magnificent. She held a prominent position in her son's harem at Manisa. Altrough Hürrem became Sultan Suleiman's favorite and legal wife, Mahidevran retained the status of mother to Suleiman's eldest son.[6]According to some diplomats, she was the Suleiman's "first wife", altrough they were never married.[7] When Hürrem got the title of "Sultan" and "Haseki Sultan", then all concubine simply called "Hatun", meaning "lady","woman".[8]So Mahidevran had never the title of "Sultan" in the harem and she was simply called "Mahidevran Hatun". Altrough as the mother of the eldest son she still held the rank of Baş Kadin.[9] However, she is often mistakenly given the title of "Sultan" in historical fiction.[10][11][12]

Life with Suleiman

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Mahidevran was came from Circassia[1][4][13]or Albania[14][1] or Montenegro.[4][15] Mahidevran was listed among seventeen women in Suleiman's harem when Suleiman was governor of Manisa. Mahidevran gave birth to her only one son, Şehzade Mustafa in 1516 or 1517[16]and her status within the harem rose.[1]After the death of Sultan Selim I in 1520, Suleiman ascended the throne. After Suleiman ascended the throne, Mahidevran came to live Old palace in Constaintinople.[17]

In 1520, Suleiman lost his two sons, Mahmud and Murad. Then Mustafa became the eldest son of Suleiman.[1] This gave Mahidevran a high position, but early in Suleiman's reign, Mahidevran faced a new rival, Hürrem, who soon became Suleiman's favorite and later his wife.[1][4] It is recorded by Bernardo Navero that Suleiman cherished Mahidevran along with Hürrem.[18][19] According to his report, a bitter rivalry led to a fight between two women, with Mahidevran beating Hürrem, which angered Suleiman.[20]

The enmity between the two women was partially quelled by Suleiman's mother, Hafsa Sultan.[21] By 1526, Suleiman stopped paying attention to Mahidevran and devoted his entire attention to Hürrem.[18] Altrough a close relationship developed between Suleiman and Hürrem. Mahidevran, as Mustafa's mother, maintained a privileged position within the harem.[22]Ambassador Pietro Bragadin reported that, early in Suleiman's reign, both Mahidevran and Mustafa lived in the royal palace in Istanbul, and Mustafa was the sources of all his mother's joy.[1]

Mustafa's governorship

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According to Turkish tradition, all princes seved as provincial governors (sanjak-bey) for training. In 1553 Mustafa was sent to Manisa and Mahidevran accompanied him.[23][24]Bassano wrote in 1540 about the court of Şehzade Mustafa at Diyarbakir near the Safavid border that, Şehzade had "a wonderful and opulent court, in no way interior to that of his father". He also wrote that, "his mother, who was with him, showed him how to favourite himself to the people".[25] According to tradition, Mahidevran was the head of Mustafa's royal harem.[26] She tried to protect Mustafa from his political rivals until the last days of her sons and probably kept in touch with several correspondents to do this.[26] Pargali Ibrahim Pasha was also a supporter of Mustafa.[27]

In 1541, Mustafa moved to Amaysa.[1] By 1546, compettion for Mustafa's succession began with Suleiman's three other sons, altrough the sultan would live another twenty years.[1]

Mustafa was a talented, popular and a warrior prince. So, jannisaries loved him very much.[2]

Towards the end of Suleiman's long reign, a rivalry arose between his sons. Both Hürrem and Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha turned Mustafa against Suleiman and they were responsible for Mustafa's unrest. The envolvement of Hürrem Sultan and Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha was questioned but never proved. During the campaing against Safavid Iran in 1553, Suleiman ordered to kill Mustafa,[28] accused of plotting to dethrone his father, later, proved wrong.[2] Mahidevran sent a letter to him that his father want to kill him. But Mustafa don't take her mother's words.[2]

Last years and death

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Tomb of Şehzade Mustafa

After the death of Şehzade Mustafa, Mahidevran lived a trouble life. She went to Bursa, where her son Mustafa is buried. She was the last concubine who went to Bursa. She could not to pay the rent of the house she lived in, and her servants were mocked and cheated in the local markets.[2] Suleiman's childhoob friend Yahya Efendhi request Mahidevran to back the palace. She asked Yahya to intercede on her behalf. Suleiman's considered Yahya request to be insolent, causing him to be dismissed from his teaching position.[29] Mahidevran's situation improved when Sultan Selim II ascended the throne in 1566.[2] She died in 3 February 1581, after the death of Suleiman and his all childrens. She was buried in Mustafa's tomb.[2][3]

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  • Mahidevran is a character in a historical novel Hurrem Sultan (1937) by M. Turhan Tan's.[30]
  • Hatice Aslan played Mahidevran in the TV series, Hürrem Sultan (2003).[31]
  • Nur Fettahoğlu played Mahidevran in the TV series, Muhteşem yüzyil (2011-2014).[32]
  • Mahidevran is the main character in a historical novel Mahidevran Sultan (2012) by Kemalettin Çalik.[33]

See also

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Peirce 1993, p. 55.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Peirce 1993, p. 56.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Şahin 2023, p. 235.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Yermolenko 2013, p. 2.
  5. Andrews, W.G.; Kalpakli, M. (2005). The Age of Beloveds: Love and the Beloved in Early-Modern Ottoman and European Culture and Society. Early modern cultural studies, 1500-1700. Duke University Press. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-8223-3424-8.
  6. Isom-Verhaaren, Christine; Schull, Kent F. (2016-04-11). Living in the Ottoman Realm: Empire and Identity, 13th to 20th Centuries. Indiana University Press. p. 152. ISBN 9780253019486.
  7. John Freely (2001). Inside the Seraglio: private lives of the sultans in Istanbul. Penguin. p. 56. The bailo also noted that Mustafa was the 'whole joy' of his mother Mahidevran, who was still Süleyman's birinci kadın, though she had been supplanted as haseki by Roxelana.
  8. Peirce, Leslie (2019). Empress of the East: how a slave girl became queen of the Ottoman Empire. Icon Books. ISBN 978-1-78578-560-3. OCLC 1083138400.
  9. Mahidevran is described in academic history books (incl. Harem II by M. Çağatay Uluçay, p. 45, e.g., Mustafa'nin annesi Mahidevran baş kadinin mũeadelesi gelir by Pars Tuğlacı p. 189, 315 and in Tarih Dergisi, Issue 36 by İbrahim Horoz Basımevi, eg; Mustafa'nin annesi ve Kanuni'nin baş kadin olan Mahidevran Hatun... vya Gũlbahar Sultan p. 357) as Suleiman's consort.
  10. "The Magnificent Century (2011–2014)". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
  11. Kemalettin, Çalık (2012). Mahidevran Sultan. Truva Yayınları. ISBN 978-6-055-41637-9.
  12. Akbay, Ridvan (2021-03-11). Mother to a Prince: Mahidevran Sultan. Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp. ISBN 979-8-720-20766-3.
  13. Marie Broxup (1996). The North Caucasus Barrier: The Russian Advance Towards the Muslim World. Hurst. ISBN 978-1-850-65305-9. p.29
  14. According to which she was the daughter of a local composer, and that her original name was Pranverë Rosne. Note that Pranverë Rosne means, respectively, "spring" and "rose" in Albanian, the same meaning as Gülbahar, or "spring rose". (Relazione dell'impero ottomano riferita in Senato, Daniello de Ludovisi, Venice, 3 June 1534)
  15. Nicolae Iorga, Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches, vol.2, 1909, p.344. The Turkish translation by Nilüfer Epçeli, ISBN 975-6480-19-X p.291, translates it by "Euboean".
  16. Şahin 2023, p. 89.
  17. Şahin 2023, p. 120.
  18. 18.0 18.1 Peirce 1993, p. 59.
  19. Hughes, Sarah Shaver; Hughes, Brady (2015-04-29). Women in World History: V. 2: Readings from 1500 to the Present. Routledge. p. 38. ISBN 9781317451822.
  20. Peirce 1993, pp. 59–60.
  21. Somel, S.A. (2010). The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire. A to Z guides. Scarecrow Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-8108-7579-1.
  22. Şahin 2023, p. 122.
  23. Peirce 1993, p. 61.
  24. Yermolenko 2013, p. 7.
  25. Peirce 1993, pp. 55, 61.
  26. 26.0 26.1 Peirce 1993, pp. 55–56.
  27. Peirce 1993, p. 78.
  28. Lord Kinross: The Ottoman Centuries, (Trans. by Nilifer Epçeli) Altın Kitaplar, İstanbul, 2008, ISBN 978-975-21-0955-1 p. 233.
  29. Şahin 2023, p. 260.
  30. Yermolenko 2013, pp. 142–143, 146–147.
  31. "Hürrem Sultan (TV Series 2003)". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
  32. "The Magnificent Century (2011–2014)". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
  33. Çalık, Kemalettin (2012). Mahidevran Sultan. Truva Yayınları. ISBN 978-6-055-41637-9.