Female sultanate- historical definition historical period Ottoman Empire from 1541 to 1687 (according to another dating, from 1550 to 1656). Almost 150 (or just over 100 years), during which women have had a great, and in the end even decisive, influence on the state policy of the Sublime Porte. Mothers, wives and concubines of Turkish kings.

The term "female sultanate" was introduced into the history of the Ottoman Empire by the Turkish historian Ahmet Refik Altynay in 1916 in his book of the same name, in which he considered the participation of the weaker sex in the government of Turkey as the reason for the decline of the Ottoman state. Although most of his colleagues both then and later disagreed with this assessment, explaining the increased influence of women on the politics of the Islamic empire of the 16th-17th centuries. consequence, not the cause of its weakening.

It should be noted that each sultana, a member of the “Women's Sultanate”, was able to truly take power into her own hands only after the death of her sovereign, as a valid sultan (something like a “queen mother” in European monarchies) with her sons who became sultans (with one exception - Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska never became a valid, because she died before her husband, Sultan Suleiman). Moreover, in most cases, this measure was forced - due to the infancy of the ruling sultan or because of his mental retardation. And yet - all these women, with a single exception, were born and formed as individuals in the conditions of European Christian civilization (two Ukrainians, two Venetians, a Greek), which provided the weaker sex, even in those harsh patriarchal times, much more freedom and independence than the Islamic tradition .

Alexandra (Anastasia) Gavrilovna Lisovskaya (1505/1506-1558) , concubine since 1520, since 1534 - the legal wife of Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, Ukrainian, daughter of an Orthodox priest from Western Ukraine. Never been a valid sultan;

AFIFE NURBANU-SULTAN - Cecilia (Olivia) Venier-Baffo (c.1525-1583), She got into the harem to the son of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, shehzade (heir to the throne) Selim, around 1537. Legal wife of Sultan Selim II from 1570-1571. By origin - a Venetian, an illegitimate descendant of two noble families (her parents were not married). Valide Sultan since 1574;

MELIKI SAFIE-SULTAN – Sofia Baffo (c.1550-1619). A Venetian, a relative of her mother-in-law, Nurbanu. She got into the harem to the grandson of Hurrem, shehzade Murad, in 1563 - she was presented to her nephew by the daughter of Roksolana, Mihrimah Sultan. Valide Sultan since 1595;

HALIME-SULTAN - name given at birth, unknown (c.1571-after 1623). Originally from modern Abkhazia, most likely a Circassian by origin. The circumstances under which she ended up in the harem of the future Sultan Mehmed III are unknown. It is only known that this happened even before his accession to the throne, when shehzade was the sanjak-bey of Manisa. Twice (a total of two and a half years) she was a valid sultan with her mentally disabled son Mustafa I. Due to the incapacity of Mustafa, Halime Sultan for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire became not only a valid sultan, but also a regent of the Islamic empire.

MAHPEYKER KÖSEM-SULTAN - (c.1590-1651)- the most influential woman in the history of the Ottoman Empire, three times valid sultan. Presumably a Greek woman named Anastasia, the daughter of an Orthodox priest. Concubine of Sultan Ahmed I from 1603. Valide Sultan (and regent of the state) under his son Murad IV from 1623 to 1631; under the second son Ibrahim I from 1640 to 1648; under grandson Mehmed IV from 1648 until his death in 1651;

TURKHAN KHATIJE-SULTAN (c.1628-1683) - Ukrainian woman named Nadezhda, originally from the Ukrainian Sloboda region, presumably from the city of Trostyanets of the modern Sumy region of Ukraine. Concubine of Sultan Ibrahim I from 1641. Valide Sultan and regent of the state since 1651 with his young son Mehmed IV. Voluntarily renounced the title of regent on September 15, 1565 in favor of the new Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, appointed by her. This date is considered the end of the “female sultanate”, although Turhan herself lived for another 18 years, and her son-sultan, on whose behalf she ruled, died 28 years later, having lost power before that in 1687, just four years after his death. mother. Some Turkish historians consider 1687 to be the end of the “female sultanate”, thus extending its term for 31 years. Since all these powerful sultanas, no matter how smart, enterprising and wise they were, meant nothing without their often not just stupid, but mentally retarded sons, in whose name they ruled. The independent rule of a woman in the Ottoman Empire was absolutely excluded for the Islamic world.

One more moment. In those harsh times of the late Middle Ages, with huge infant mortality (out of 10 newborns, 5 died in the first days and months of life) and the frequent death of women in childbirth, a girl was considered ready for marriage (and, accordingly, for marital relations) immediately after the first menstruation. And in southern countries(unlike the northern ones) this is quite common and now occurs in girls at 10-11, even at 9 years old. It is clear that then no one knew or heard anything about any pedophilia - life was too short and harsh, a woman had to have time to give birth to as many children as possible, so that, in turn, from them as possible large quantity survived. In addition, in those days it was believed that the younger the woman in labor, the more likely she was to survive the birth of a child. So all the concubines of the Turkish sultans first got into their bed at 11-12, a maximum of 13-14 years. Which confirm the dates of birth of their children. For example, the father of Sultan Suleiman I, Selim I, was born by his grandmother Gulbahar-Khatun (Greek Maria) at less than 12 years old. At the same age, the concubine of the conqueror of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II Fatih, Sitti Myukrime-khatun, gave birth to her son Bayezid II (grandfather of Sultan Suleiman).

The founder of the “Women’s Sultanate” in the Ottoman Empire is Roksolana (Hyurrem Sultan), a Ukrainian slave concubine, and later, the beloved legal wife of Sultan Suleiman I.

Which is not entirely correct for several reasons.

The success of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was largely due to and prepared by the activities of her mother-in-law, the mother of Sultan Suleiman, Aisha Hafsa-Sultan, an outstanding woman of her time, whom her son loved and respected until his death. Perhaps, for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire, not only as a mother, but, first of all, as a person.

AISH HAFSA-SULTAN (December 5, 1479 - March 19, 1534)
Crimean khanbika (princess), daughter of the Crimean Khan Mengli I Girey (1445-1515) from the dynasty of the Crimean rulers Geraev (Gireev). Her father was forced to accept an Ottoman protectorate in 1578, a year before Hafsa was born.

Hafsa-Khatun ended up in the harem at the shehzade of Selima somewhere in the spring and summer of 1493, at about 13 years old. Selim was then the sanjak-bey (governor, governor of the Ottoman province) of Trambzon (now the administrative center in northeastern Turkey, on the Black Sea coast, not far from the border with Georgia) - the former capital of the recently captured (in 1461) Ottoman Empire of Trebizond - heirs of Byzantium, so that the Crimean khanbika, in order to become the concubine of one of the heirs of the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, had only to cross Black Sea on his father's ship.

The future Sultan Suleiman was born in Trambzon the following year, on November 6, 1494, and his twin sister, Hafiza (Hafsa) Khanim Sultan (1494-1538), was also born at the same time. The birth of twins and twins is usually a hereditary family feature. In this regard, it is worth remembering that after more than thirty years, in 1530, Suleiman's younger sister and at the same time the daughter of his mother Aishe Hafsa, Hatice Sultan, also gave birth to twins - the boy Osman and the girl Khuridzhikhan.

The two daughters of Roksolana's son, Shekhzade Selim, from his concubine Nurbanu - Esmehan Sultan and Gevkerkhan Sultan, were twins or twins - there is even an assumption that their older sister, Shah Sultan, a year older than them, was actually born in one a day with the girls—that is, they were triplets. Already after the death of Sultan Osman II, the great-great-great-grandson of Suleiman I, twins were born to him, Shehzade Mustafa and Zeynep Sultan. And the brother of Sultan Osman on his father, Ahmed I, also had a pair of twins from Kösem Sultan - shehzade Kasim and Atike Sultan.

The twin sister of Sultan Suleiman lived a quiet and inconspicuous life. At the age of 20, she was married to Damad Mustafa Pasha, who later, from 1522 to 1523, was the governor of Egypt. Hafiza Sultan never had children, and therefore, having been widowed at the age of 29, she returned to Istanbul to her mother, Aisha Hafse Valide Sultan, in the Topkapi Palace. She did not marry again, and ended her days here - on July 10, 1538, at the age of incomplete 44 years.

Suleiman spent the first years of his life in his father's sanjak, in Trambzon, and after the circumcision ceremony at the age of 7, his grandfather, Sultan Bayazid II, took his grandson to his court in Constantinople. Shekhzade studied military affairs there, legal law, philosophy, history and fencing. In addition, Suleiman taught foreign languages- Serbian, Arabic and Persian, which he later mastered perfectly. Then he mastered the craft of a jeweler, which became his passion for life.

The grandfather-sultan treated the future husband of Roksolana very well (much better than his father), which is proved by the following circumstance.

According to the Ottoman tradition, everyone who had reached a certain age (usually 14 years old, but exceptions to the rules in both directions happened quite often) crown princes (shehzade) were appointed governors (sanjak-beys) of the provinces (sanjaks) in Anatolia (the Asian part of modern Turkey); this was part of their preparation for further rule. In the Ottoman Empire there were no clear rules for the succession to the throne, all men - carriers of the sacred blood of the Ottomans, had the right to power. According to custom, the throne was given to the shehzade who was the first to reach Istanbul immediately after the death of the padishah of the Sublime Porte. Therefore, by the distance from the capital of this or that sanjak, each son or grandson of the Turkish Sultan could judge his preferences - it is clear that the one whom the father saw as his heir became the sanjak-bey of the province closest to the capital. And in this respect, Suleiman's father, Selim, everything was not just bad, but hopeless - his sanjak Trambzon, in comparison with Amasya, his father's favorite, older brother, shehzade Ahmet, and Antalya of the second rival brother, shehzade Korkut, was in such deaf f@nyah, of which he had no chance to get to Istanbul first (the distance from Trambzon to Istanbul in a straight line is 902 km. In those days, even on the best horses and in good weather, one way to get ten days) . For comparison: the distance from Amasya Ahmet to Istanbul is 482 km, and exactly the same distance, only in the south direction from Istanbul, to Antalya Korkut.

And then, like thunder from a clear sky, his only son Suleiman, who reached the age of 14 (in 1508), receives from his grandfather the first appointment not just anywhere, but to the small sanjak of Bolu, located almost next to Istanbul (223 km. straight). However, the favorite of the Sultan’s race, the eldest son of Bayezid II, Suleiman’s uncle, Ahmet (who by that time had four grown-up sons of his own), quickly corrected this unfortunate circumstance for him, sending his nephew as governor “to hell with the horns” - to the Crimean Kaffa ( Feodosia), to the other side of the Black Sea, to the homeland of his mother, Aisha Khafsy-Sultan. Thus, he made a fatal mistake for himself.

Some time after Suleiman was sent as a sanjakbey to the Crimea, his father Selim asked his father for a sanjak in Rumelia (the European part of the empire), closer to Istanbul. Although at first he was denied these lands, since they were usually not granted to shehzade, later, obviously in mockery (apparently, it could not have done without his older brother Akhmet) Selim received the control of the province of Semendire (in modern Serbia) - a blind hole in the north the western edge of the empire. Here Selim showed at first clear disobedience, refusing to go to his new sanjak, and then raised an uprising against his father, moving a hastily assembled army to Istanbul. Sultan Bayezid, at the head of a large army, easily defeated his son in August 1511. defeated Selim fled to the Crimea - to his son Suleiman and his father-in-law, the Crimean Khan Mengli I Giray, who provided his son-in-law with all possible help and support. To somehow catch the fugitive in the Crimea, where he is under the protection of the selective troops of his father by one of his sultanas, Sultan Bayezid had no opportunity. Yes, and the sanjak-bey Suleiman could imitate the search for a rebel in front of his grandfather, the sultan, as much as he liked.

Meanwhile, the eldest son of the Ottoman ruler, Ahmet, who was entrusted by his father with the suppression of the uprising to Shahkul in Anatolia, having received large military forces at his disposal while Bayezid II dealt with Selim, declared himself Sultan of Anatolia, and began to fight against one of his nephews (whose father was already dead). He captured the city of Konya and, although Sultan Bayezid demanded that he return to his sanjak, Ahmet insisted on ruling this city. He even made an attempt to capture the capital, but to no avail, as the Janissaries refused to help him, strongly supporting the Crimean fugitive Selim.

Ultimately, having lost the support of the Janissaries, and due to some complex religious motives, Bayazid II abdicated on April 25, 1512 in favor of Suleiman's father.

After becoming Sultan, Selim I first ordered the execution of all his male relatives who were entitled to the throne of the Ottomans. A month later, he ordered his father to be poisoned. Selim's hated older brother, Ahmet, continued to control parts of Anatolia during the first few months of his reign. Eventually, Selim and Ahmet's armies met at the Battle of Yenişehir near Bursa on April 24, 1513, the anniversary of the abdication of their father, Sultan Bayezid. Ahmet's army was defeated, he himself was captured and was soon executed.

The second rival brother of Selim, Shehzade Korkut, did not take any part in these strife, being quite content with his position as the sanjak-bey of Manisa. He recognized Selim's authority without hesitation when he became sultan. However, the incredulous Selim I decided to test his loyalty by sending him fake letters on behalf of some statesmen of the empire, in which Korkut was called to take part in the uprising against Selim. Upon learning of his brother's positive response, Selim ordered his execution, which was done.

All the time that Selim II was solving, of course, the most important issues for him, not just succession to the throne, but elementary survival, of course, he was not up to Suleiman. Shehzade's mother, Ayse Hafsa-sultan, a smart, courageous and independent woman, completely took over the leadership of his son's upbringing. The fact that the Crimean khans in their homeland always enjoyed much more freedom than the Turkish sultanas at home led to the fact that many contemporaries considered Ayse Hafsa a violator of traditional Ottoman foundations. It was she, and not at all her daughter-in-law Roksolana, who was the first to violate the unshakable rule of the main harem of Turkey “one concubine - one shehzade”. The eunuchs did not allow women who had already given birth to his son to the halvet (literally - “complete solitude of a man and a woman in an enclosed space without any interference”) to the sultan of women who had already given birth to his son (unless the sovereign himself summoned one of them). Such a principle, it must be admitted, made almost equal chances for the throne of the Ottomans for all shehzades after the death of their common father. And he did not allow any one odalisque to significantly strengthen his position in the harem (and this could be done only by giving birth to boys). So, it was Aishe Hafsa Sultan who gave birth to Selim I nine children (Roksolana gave way to her here too, having given birth to “only” six), of which there were four sons and five daughters. In addition to five full-blooded ones (from common parents), Suleiman had five more half-sisters from various concubines of his father. Suleiman's younger brothers - Orkhan, Musa and Korkut died in early childhood. Of all the sons of Sultan Selim, only the eldest son of the Crimean khanbika survived to adulthood, which, of course, later greatly facilitated his path to the throne.

The significance for Selim I of his concubine Aishe Hafsy-Sultan, the mother of his only shehzade, after being defeated by his father Sultan Bayazid II, he fled to her father in the Crimea, cannot be overestimated. Hafsa-sultan became a connecting and unifying link between the three men closest to her - her son Suleiman, the sanjak-bey of Crimea (to whom, of course, the Ottoman troops on the peninsula were subordinate), her father, the Crimean Khan Mengli I Girey, who subordinated a considerable local army (the raids of the Crimean Tatars on Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland kept the whole of Eastern Europe at bay), and her husband (for lack of another definition), Selim, heir to the Ottoman Empire.

It is unlikely that Sultan Selim appreciated this - a very cruel and rude person even by the standards of his time, but young Suleiman, who at the age of 17 found himself in the very epicenter of the dynastic crisis of a huge state, this circumstance, of course, made an indelible impression. And, obviously, this is what made him see a person in a woman, who in those days was not even considered a person.

After the accession of Selim I to the throne in April 1512, he sent Suleiman as a governor in the "heir apparent" Sanjak Sarukhan with its capital in Manisa. The distance from Manisa to Istanbul in a straight line is 297 km. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Ottoman sultans sent to her sanjak-beys those of their sons whom they wanted to leave power over the Brilliant Porte after their death. Aishe Hafsa Sultan went to Surukhan with her son, and in 1520, after the death of Sultan Selim I, accompanied him to Istanbul, where he became Sultan Suleiman I. From 1520 until her death in 1534, she led the main harem of the empire. She became the first mother of the ruling Turkish padishah, who bore the title of valid sultan.

During the eight years during which her son ruled Sarukhan in Manisa, Aisha Hafsa Sultan did a lot for the prosperity of this region. At her own expense, she built mosques, schools and hospitals in Manisa. The building of the charitable center founded by her to help the mentally ill has survived to this day.

The day of the death of the mother of Sultan Suleiman - March 19, 1534 - is still celebrated in Turkey as the day of memory of one of the most revered women in the country.

If at the very beginning of the Sultanate of Selim I in the Brilliant Port there were only two carriers of the sacred blood of the Ottomans in the male line - he himself and his only son Suleiman (he himself destroyed the rest), then after the death of his father, Suleiman arrived in Istanbul from Manisa already with three (according to to other data - five) by his sons from three concubines (in total he had seventeen of them in the harem), the eldest of whom was 7-8 years old, including Mustafa, then 5 years old. And in Istanbul, he was waiting for the throne of the greatest power of that time - the Islamic empire of the Ottomans, which he further expanded and strengthened by military campaigns during his reign. And Roksolana.

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The love of Sultan Abdul-Hamid I for the harem concubine named Rukhshah was so great that he himself became a slave of this girl

Here is a letter from the Sultan begging Rukhshah for love and forgiveness (the originals of all his letters are kept in the library of the Topkapı Palace Museum).

"My Rukhshah!

Your Abdul-Hamid calls to you...

The Lord, the creator of all living things, has mercy and forgives, but you left your faithful servant, me, whose sin is so insignificant.

I'm on my knees, I'm begging you, I'm sorry.

Let me see you tonight; if you want, kill, I will not resist, but please hear my cry, or I will die.

I fall at your feet, unable to endure any longer.

It is also love worthy of being preserved for centuries, like the love of Sultan Suleiman and Roksolana

The emir of Bukhara Seyyid Abd al-Ahad Bahadur Khan (reigned 1885-1910), according to Russian travelers who visited him, had only one wife, and he kept the harem more for show.

There have been other examples in history.

Rights of a Muslim Wife

According to Sharia law, the sultan could have four wives, but the number of slaves was not limited. But from the point of view of Muslim law, the status of kadin-effendi (the wife of the Sultan) was different from the status of married women who had personal freedom. Gerard de Nerval, who traveled in the East in the 1840s, wrote: “A married woman in the Turkish Empire has the same rights as we have and can even forbid her husband to have a second wife, making this a sine qua non of the marriage contract […] Do not even think that these beauties are ready to sing and dance in order to entertain their master - an honest woman, in their opinion, should not have such talents.

A Turkish woman could well have initiated a divorce herself, for which she only needed to present evidence of ill-treatment to the court.

The most famous women of the Ottoman Empire

It is safe to say that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, who lived during the heyday of the Ottoman Empire, in the era of the famous Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, tops the list of the most famous women of the Ottoman dynasty. Historians continue this list in this order: after the famous Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, or Roksolana, she is also La Sultana Rossa, Nurbanu goes - the wife of the son of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, Sultan Selim I; then follow the favorite concubines of the Ottoman sultans - Safiye, Makhpeyker, Hatice Turhan, Emetullah Gulnush, Saliha, Mihrishah, Bezmialem, who received the title of the Sultan's mother (Queen Mother). But Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan began to be called the Queen Mother during the life of her husband, before the accession of their son to the throne. And this is another consistent violation of traditions that followed the first - when Sultan Suleiman made Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska his official wife. And only the chosen ones are allowed to break the centuries-old traditions.

Ottoman monarchs from Osman I to Mehmed V

Ottoman Empire. Briefly about the main

The Ottoman Empire was formed in 1299, when Osman I Gazi, who went down in history as the first sultan of the Ottoman Empire, declared the independence of his small country from the Seljuks and took the title of Sultan (although some historians believe that for the first time only his grandson officially began to wear such a title - Murad I).

Soon he managed to conquer the entire western part of Asia Minor.

Osman I was born in 1258 in the Byzantine province of Bithynia. He died a natural death in the city of Bursa in 1326.

After that, power passed to his son, known as Orhan I Gazi. Under him, a small Turkic tribe finally turned into a strong state with a strong army.

The Four Capitals of the Ottomans

For the entire long history During its existence, the Ottoman Empire changed four capitals:

Següt (first capital of the Ottomans), 1299–1329;

Bursa (former Byzantine fortress of Brus), 1329–1365;

Edirne ( former city Adrianople), 1365-1453;

Constantinople (now the city of Istanbul), 1453–1922.

Sometimes the city of Bursa is called the first capital of the Ottomans, which is considered erroneous.

Ottoman Turks, descendants of the Kaya

Historians say: in 1219, the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan attacked Central Asia, and then, saving their lives, leaving their belongings and domestic animals, everyone who lived on the territory of the Kara-Khitan state rushed to the southwest. Among them was a small Turkic tribe Kayi. A year later, it reached the border of the Kony Sultanate, which by that time occupied the center and east of Asia Minor. The Seljuks who inhabited these lands, like the Kays, were Turks and believed in Allah, so their sultan considered it reasonable to allocate to the refugees a small border allotment-beylik near the city of Bursa, 25 km from the coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara. No one could have imagined that this small plot of land would turn out to be a springboard from which lands from Poland to Tunisia would be conquered. This is how the Ottoman (Ottoman, Turkish) empire will arise, populated by the Ottoman Turks, as the descendants of the kaya are called.

The further the power of the Turkish sultans spread over the next 400 years, the more luxurious their court became, where gold and silver flowed from all over the Mediterranean. They were trendsetters and role models in the eyes of the rulers of the entire Islamic world.

The Battle of Nikopol in 1396 is considered the last major crusade of the Middle Ages, which could not stop the advance of the Ottoman Turks in Europe.

Seven periods of the empire

Historians divide the existence of the Ottoman Empire into seven main periods:

The formation of the Ottoman Empire (1299-1402) - the period of the reign of the first four sultans of the empire: Osman, Orhan, Murad and Bayezid.

The Ottoman Interregnum (1402–1413) is an eleven-year period that began in 1402 after the defeat of the Ottomans in the Battle of Angora and the tragedy of Sultan Bayezid I and his wife in captivity at Tamerlane. During this period, there was a struggle for power between the sons of Bayazid, from which the youngest son Mehmed I Celebi emerged victorious only in 1413.

Rise of the Ottoman Empire (1413-1453) - the period of the reign of Sultan Mehmed I, as well as his son Murad II and grandson Mehmed II, ended with the capture of Constantinople and the destruction of the Byzantine Empire by Mehmed II, nicknamed "Fatih" (Conqueror).

Growth of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1683) - the period of the main expansion of the borders of the Ottoman Empire. It continued under the reign of Mehmed II, Suleiman I and his son Selim II, and ended with the defeat of the Ottomans in the Battle of Vienna during the reign of Mehmed IV (son of Ibrahim I the Mad).

Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire (1683-1827) - a period that lasted 144 years, which began after the victory of the Christians in the Battle of Vienna forever put an end to the conquering aspirations of the Ottoman Empire in European lands.

The decline of the Ottoman Empire (1828-1908) is a period characterized by the loss of a large number of territories of the Ottoman state.

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) is the period of reign of the last two sultans of the Ottoman state, the brothers Mehmed V and Mehmed VI, which began after the change in the form of government of the state to a constitutional monarchy, and continued until the complete cessation of the existence of the Ottoman Empire (the period covers the participation of the Ottomans in the First world war).

The main and most serious reason for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, historians call the defeat in the First World War, caused by the superior human and economic resources of the Entente countries.

November 1, 1922 is called the day the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist, when the Turkish Grand National Assembly adopted a law on the separation of the Sultanate and the Caliphate (then the Sultanate was abolished). On November 17, Mehmed VI Vahideddin, the last Ottoman monarch, the 36th in a row, left Istanbul on a British warship, the battleship Malaya.

On July 24, 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, which recognized the independence of Turkey. On October 29, 1923, Turkey was proclaimed a republic, and Mustafa Kemal, later known as Atatürk, was elected its first president.

The last representative of the Turkish Sultan dynasty of the Ottomans

Ertogrul Osman - grandson of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II

“The last representative of the Ottoman dynasty, Ertogrul Osman, has died.

Osman spent most of his life in New York. Ertogrul Osman, who would have become the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire if Turkey had not become a republic in the 1920s, has died in Istanbul at the age of 97.

He was the last surviving grandson of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, and his official title, had he become ruler, would have been His Imperial Highness Prince Shahzade Ertogrul Osman Efendi.

He was born in Istanbul in 1912, but lived most of his life modestly in New York.

12-year-old Ertogrul Osman was studying in Vienna when he learned that his family had been expelled from the country by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the modern Republic of Turkey on the ruins of the old empire.

Osman eventually settled in New York, where he lived for over 60 years in an apartment above a restaurant.

Osman would have become Sultan if Atatürk had not founded the Republic of Turkey. Osman has always maintained that he has no political ambitions. He returned to Turkey in the early 1990s at the invitation of the Turkish government.

During a visit to his homeland, he went to the Dolmobakhce Palace near the Bosphorus, which was the main residence of the Turkish sultans and in which he played as a child.

According to BBC columnist Roger Hardy, Ertogrul Osman was very modest and, in order not to draw attention to himself, he joined a group of tourists to get into the palace.

The wife of Ertogrul Osman is a relative of the last king of Afghanistan.”

Tughra as a personal sign of the ruler

Tugra (togra) is the personal sign of the ruler (sultan, caliph, khan), containing his name and title. From the time of the ulubey Orkhan I, who applied an imprint of a palm dipped in ink to documents, it became customary to surround the signature of the Sultan with the image of his title and the title of his father, merging all the words in a special calligraphic style - a distant resemblance to a palm is obtained. The tughra is drawn up in the form of an ornamentally decorated Arabic script (the text may not be on Arabic, but also in Persian, Turkic, etc.).

Tughra is placed on all state documents, sometimes on coins and mosque gates.

For the forgery of the tughra in the Ottoman Empire, the death penalty was due.

In the chambers of the lord: pretentious, but tasteful

The traveler Theophile Gauthier wrote about the chambers of the lord of the Ottoman Empire: “The chambers of the Sultan are decorated in the style Louis XIV, slightly modified in an oriental way: here one can feel the desire to recreate the splendor of Versailles. Doors, window casings, architraves are made of mahogany, cedar or massive rosewood with elaborate carvings and expensive iron fittings studded with gold chips. A most wonderful panorama opens from the windows - not a single monarch of the world has an equal in front of her palace.

Tughra Suleiman the Magnificent

So not only European monarchs were fond of the style of their neighbors (say, oriental style, when they arranged boudoirs like a pseudo-Turkish alcove or arranged oriental balls), but the Ottoman sultans also admired the style of their European neighbors.

"Lions of Islam" - Janissaries

Janissaries (Turkish yeniçeri (yenicheri) - new warrior) - the regular infantry of the Ottoman Empire in 1365-1826. The Janissaries, together with the sipahis and akynji (cavalry), formed the basis of the army in the Ottoman Empire. They were part of the capykula regiments (the personal guard of the Sultan, which consisted of slaves and prisoners). Janissary troops also performed police and punitive functions in the state.

The Janissary infantry was created by Sultan Murad I in 1365 from Christian youths aged 12–16. Basically, Armenians, Albanians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Georgians, Serbs, who were later brought up in Islamic traditions, were enrolled in the army. Children recruited in Rumelia were given to be raised by Turkish families in Anatolia and vice versa.

Recruitment of children in the Janissaries ( devshirme- blood tax) was one of the duties of the Christian population of the empire, since it allowed the authorities to create a counterbalance to the feudal Turkic army (sipahs).

The Janissaries were considered slaves of the Sultan, lived in monasteries-barracks, they were initially forbidden to marry (until 1566) and do household chores. The property of the deceased or perished Janissary became the property of the regiment. In addition to military art, the Janissaries studied calligraphy, law, theology, literature and languages. Wounded or old Janissaries received a pension. Many of them have gone on to civilian careers.

In 1683, the Janissaries also began to be recruited from Muslims.

It is known that Poland copied the Turkish army system. In the army of the Commonwealth, according to the Turkish model, volunteers formed their own Janissary units. King August II created his personal Janissary guard.

The armament and uniform of the Christian Janissaries completely copied the Turkish samples, including the military drums were of the Turkish model, while differing in color.

The Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire had a number of privileges, from the 16th century. received the right to marry, engage in trade and crafts in their free time from service. The Janissaries received salaries from the sultans, gifts, and their commanders were promoted to the highest military and administrative positions of the empire. Janissary garrisons were located not only in Istanbul, but in all major cities Turkish empire. From the 16th century their service becomes hereditary, and they turn into a closed military caste. Being the sultan's guard, the Janissaries became a political force and often interfered in political intrigues, overthrowing unnecessary sultans and enthroning the sultans they needed.

The Janissaries lived in special quarters, often rebelled, staged riots and fires, overthrew and even killed the sultans. Their influence acquired such dangerous proportions that in 1826 Sultan Mahmud II defeated and completely destroyed the Janissaries.

Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire

The Janissaries were known as courageous warriors who rushed at the enemy without sparing their lives. It was their attack that often decided the fate of the battle. No wonder they were figuratively called "the lions of Islam."

Did the Cossacks use profanity in a letter to the Turkish Sultan?

Letter of the Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan is an insulting response of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, written to the Ottoman Sultan (probably Mehmed IV) in response to his ultimatum: stop attacking the Sublime Porte and surrender. There is a legend that, before sending troops to the Zaporizhian Sich, the Sultan sent a demand to the Cossacks to submit to him as the ruler of the whole world and the viceroy of God on earth. The Cossacks allegedly replied to this letter with their own letter, not embarrassed in expressions, denying any valor of the Sultan and cruelly mocking the arrogance of the “invincible knight”.

According to legend, the letter was written in the 17th century, when the tradition of such letters was developed among the Zaporozhye Cossacks and in Ukraine. The original letter has not been preserved, but several versions of the text of this letter are known, some of which are replete with obscene words.

Historical sources cite the following text of a letter from the Turkish Sultan to the Cossacks.

"Proposal of Mehmed IV:

I, the sultan and ruler of the Sublime Porte, the son of Ibrahim I, the brother of the Sun and the Moon, the grandson and vicegerent of God on earth, the ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia, Babylon, Jerusalem, Great and Lesser Egypt, king over kings, ruler over rulers, an incomparable knight, no one conquered warrior, owner of the tree of life, relentless guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ, guardian of God himself, hope and comforter of Muslims, intimidator and great protector of Christians, I command you, Zaporozhye Cossacks, surrender to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and do not make me worry about your attacks.

Turkish Sultan Mehmed IV.

The most famous version of the Cossacks' answer to Mohammed IV, translated into Russian, is as follows:

“Zaporozhye Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan!

You, Sultan, Turkish devil, and damned devil brother and comrade, secretary of Lucifer himself. What a hell of a knight you are when you can't kill a hedgehog with your bare ass. The devil vomits, and your army devours. You will not, you son of a bitch, have Christian sons under you, we are not afraid of your troops, we will fight with you with land and water, spread ... your mother.

You are a Babylonian cook, a Macedonian charioteer, a Jerusalem brewer, an Alexandrian goat, a swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, an Armenian thief, a Tatar sagaydak, a Kamenets executioner, a fool of all the world and illumination, the grandson of the asp himself and our x ... hook. You are a pig's muzzle, a mare's asshole, a butcher's dog, an unbaptized forehead, damn it ....

That's how the Cossacks answered you, shabby. You will not even feed the pigs of the Christians. We end with this, because we don’t know the date and we don’t have a calendar, a month in the sky, a year in a book, and our day is the same as yours, for this, kiss us on the ass!

Signed: Kosh ataman Ivan Sirko with the entire Zaporizhia camp.

This letter, replete with profanity, is cited by the popular Wikipedia encyclopedia.

Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan. Artist Ilya Repin

The atmosphere and mood among the Cossacks composing the text of the answer is described in the famous painting by Ilya Repin "The Cossacks" (more often called: "The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan").

Interestingly, in Krasnodar at the intersection of Gorky and Krasnaya streets in 2008, a monument was erected "Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan" (sculptor Valery Pchelin).

Roksolana is the queen of the East. All the secrets and mysteries of the biography

Information about the origin of Roksolana, or Hurrem, as her beloved Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent called her, is contradictory. Because there are no documentary sources and written evidence telling about the life of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska before her appearance in the harem.

About the origin of this great woman we know from legends, literary works and reports of diplomats at the court of Sultan Suleiman. At the same time, almost all literary sources mention her Slavic (Rusyn) origin.

“Roksolana, she is Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska (according to the historical and literary tradition, her birth name is Anastasia or Alexandra Gavrilovna Lisovskaya; the exact year of birth is unknown, she died on April 18, 1558) - a concubine, and then a wife Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, mother of Sultan Selim II, ”Wikipedia reports.

The first details about the early years of Roksolana-Hyurrem's life before entering the harem appear in literature in the 19th century, while this amazing woman lived in the 16th century.

Captive. Artist Jan Baptist Huysmans

Therefore, it is possible to believe in such "historical" sources that arose through the centuries only by virtue of one's imagination.

Abduction by Tatars

According to some authors, the Ukrainian girl Nastya Lisovskaya, who was born in 1505 in the family of the priest Gavrila Lisovsky in Rogatin, a small town in Western Ukraine, became the prototype of Roksolana. In the XVI century. this town was part of the Commonwealth, which at that time suffered from the devastating raids of the Crimean Tatars. In the summer of 1520, on the night of the attack on the settlement, the young daughter of a priest caught the eye of the Tatar invaders. Moreover, from some authors, say, from N. Lazorsky, the girl is kidnapped on the day of the wedding. While others - she has not yet reached the age of the bride, but was a teenager. In the TV series "The Magnificent Century" they also show Roksolana's fiancé - the artist Luka.

After the kidnapping, the girl ended up in the slave market of Istanbul, where she was sold and then donated to the harem of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman. Suleiman was then crown prince and held a government post in Manisa. Historians do not exclude that the girl was given to 25-year-old Suleiman as a gift on the occasion of accession to the throne (after the death of his father Selim I on September 22, 1520). Once in the harem, Roksolana received the name Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, which in Persian means "cheerful, laughing, giving joy."

How the name came about: Roksolana

According to the Polish literary tradition, the real name of the heroine was Alexandra, she was the daughter of the priest Gavrila Lisovsky from Rohatyn (Ivano-Frankivsk region). In the Ukrainian literature XIX For centuries, she has been called Anastasia from Rohatyn. This version is colorfully presented in the novel by Pavlo Zagrebelny "Roksolana". Whereas, according to the version of another writer, Mikhail Orlovsky, set out in the historical story “Roksolana or Anastasia Lisovskaya”, the girl was from Chemerovets (Khmelnitsky region). In those ancient times, when the future Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan could be born there, both cities were located on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland.

In Europe, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska became known as Roksolana. Moreover, this name was literally invented by Ogyer Giselin de Busbeck, the Hamburg ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and the writer of the Latin-language Turkish Notes. In his literary work, based on the fact that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska came from the territory of the Roksolani or Alans tribe, he called her Roksolana.

Wedding of Sultan Suleiman and Hürrem

From the stories of the Austrian ambassador Busbek, the author of the Turkish Letters, we learned many details from the life of Roksolana. We can say that thanks to him we learned about her very existence, because the name of a woman could easily be lost in the centuries.

In one of the letters, Busbek reports the following: “The Sultan loved Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska so much that, in violation of all palace and dynastic rules, he married according to Turkish tradition and prepared a dowry.”

One of the portraits of Roksolana-Hyurrem

This significant event in all respects took place around 1530. The Englishman George Young described it as a miracle: “This week an event took place here, which the whole history of the local sultans does not know. The great ruler Suleiman took a slave from Russia named Roksolana as empress, which was marked by a great feast. The marriage ceremony took place in the palace, which was dedicated to feasts of an unprecedented scale. The streets of the city are filled with light at night and people are having fun everywhere. Houses are hung with garlands of flowers, swings are installed everywhere, and people swing on them for hours. On the old hippodrome, large stands were built with seats and a gilded lattice for the empress and her courtiers. Roksolana with close ladies watched from there the tournament, in which Christian and Muslim knights participated; performances of musicians took place in front of the podium, wild animals were seen off, including outlandish giraffes with such long necks that they reached the sky ... There are many different rumors about this wedding, but no one can explain what all this can mean.

It must be pointed out that some sources say that this wedding took place only after the death of the Valide Sultan, the mother of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. And the valid Sultan of Hafsa Khatun died in 1534.

In 1555, Hans Dernshvam visited Istanbul, in his travel notes he wrote the following: “Suleiman, more than other concubines, fell in love with this girl with Russian roots, from an unknown family. Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was able to obtain a document of freedom and become his legal wife in the palace. In addition to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, there is no padishah in history who would listen to the opinion of his wife so much. Whatever she wished, he immediately fulfilled.

Roksolana-Hyurrem was the only woman in the Sultan's harem with the official title of Sultana Haseki, and Sultan Suleiman shared his power with her. She made the Sultan forget about the harem forever. All of Europe wanted to know the details about the woman who, at one of the receptions in the palace, in a dress of golden brocade, rose with the Sultan to the throne with an open face!

Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska children born in love

Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska gave birth to the Sultan 6 children.

Sons:

Mehmed (1521–1543)

Abdullah (1523–1526)

Daughter:

Of all the sons of Suleiman I, only Selim survived the magnificent father-sultan. The rest died earlier in the struggle for the throne (except Mehmed, who died in 1543 from smallpox).

Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and Suleiman wrote each other letters full of passionate declarations of love

Selim became the heir to the throne. After the death of his mother in 1558, another son of Suleiman and Roksolana - Bayazid - rebelled (1559). He was defeated by his father's troops in the battle of Konya in May 1559 and tried to hide in Safavid Iran, but Shah Tahmasp I betrayed him to his father for 400 thousand gold coins, and Bayezid was executed (1561). Five sons of Bayazid were also killed (the youngest of them was only three years old).

Hürrem's letter to his master

Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska's letter to Sultan Suleiman was written when he was on a campaign against Hungary. But there were many similar touching letters between them.

“The soul of my soul, my lord! Hail to the one who raises the morning breeze; a prayer to the one who bestows sweetness on the lips of lovers; praise to the one who fills with heat the voice of the beloved; reverence for the one who burns, like the words of passion; boundless devotion to the one who is illumined by the most pure lordship, like the faces and heads of the ascended; the one who is a hyacinth in the form of a tulip, perfumed with the fragrance of fidelity; glory to the one who holds the banner of victory in front of the army; the one whose cry is: “Allah! Allah!" - heard in heaven to his majesty my padishah. God help him! - we convey the wonder of the Highest Lord and the conversations of Eternity. An enlightened conscience that adorns my mind and remains a treasure of the light of my happiness and my sad eyes; the one who knows my innermost secrets; the peace of my aching heart and the pacification of my wounded chest; to the one who is the sultan on the throne of my heart and in the light of the eyes of my happiness, the eternal slave, devoted, with a hundred thousand burns on her soul, worships him. If you, my lord, my highest tree of paradise, even for a moment deign to think or ask about this orphan of yours, know that everyone except her is under the tent of mercy of the All-Merciful. For on that day when the unfaithful sky with all-encompassing pain inflicted violence on me and numerous swords of separation plunged into my soul, despite these poor tears, on that judgment day, when the eternal fragrance of paradise flowers was taken away from me, my world turned into nothingness my health into sickness, and my life into ruin. From my incessant sighs, sobs and painful cries, which do not subside day or night, human souls were filled with fire. Maybe the creator will have mercy and, responding to my longing, will return you to me again, the treasure of my life, in order to save me from the current alienation and oblivion. May it come true, my lord! The day has turned into night for me, O yearning moon! My lord, the light of my eyes, there is no night that would not be incinerated by my hot sighs, there is no evening when my loud sobs and my longing for your sunny face would not reach heaven. The day has turned into night for me, O yearning moon!

Fashionista Roksolana on the canvases of artists

Roksolana, she is Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan in many areas of palace life was a pioneer. For example, this woman became the trendsetter of the new palace fashion, forcing tailors to sew loose-fitting clothes and unusual capes for herself and her loved ones. She also adored all kinds of exquisite jewelry, some of which were made by Sultan Suleiman with his own hands, while the other part of the jewelry was purchases or gifts from ambassadors.

We can judge the outfits and preferences of Hürrem from the paintings of famous artists who tried to both restore her portrait and recreate the outfits of that era. For example, in a painting by Jacopo Tintoretto (1518 or 1519–1594), a painter of the Venetian school of the late Renaissance, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska is depicted in a long-sleeved dress with a turn-down collar and cape.

Portrait of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, stored in the museum of the Topkapı Palace

The life and rise of Roksolana so excited creative contemporaries that even the great painter Titian (1490-1576), whose student, by the way, was Tintoretto, painted a portrait of the famous sultana. A painting by Titian painted in the 1550s is called La Sultana Rossa, that is, the Russian sultana. Now this masterpiece of Titian is stored in the Ringling Brothers Museum of Art and Circus Art in Sarasota (USA, Florida); The museum contains unique works of painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages in Western Europe.

Another artist who lived at that time and was related to Turkey was a prominent German artist from Flemburg, Melchior Loris. He arrived in Istanbul as part of the Austrian embassy of Busbek to Sultan Suleiman Kanuni, and stayed in the capital of the Ottoman Empire for four and a half years. The artist made many portraits and everyday sketches, but, in all likelihood, his portrait of Roksolana could not have been made from life. Melchior Loris portrayed the Slavic heroine as a little plump, with a rose in her hand, with a cape on her head, decorated with precious stones and with her hair in a braid.

About the unprecedented outfits of the Ottoman queen colorfully told not only picturesque canvases, but also books. Vivid descriptions of the wardrobe of the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent can be found in the famous book by P. Zagrebelny "Roksolana".

It is known that Suleiman composed a short poem, which is directly related to the wardrobe of his beloved. In the view of a lover, the dress of his beloved looks like this:

I repeated many times:
Sew my favorite dress.
Make the top of the sun, line the moon,
Pluck fluff from white clouds, twist threads
from sea blue
Sew on buttons from the stars, and make loops out of me!

enlightened ruler

Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan managed to show her mind not only in love affairs, but also in communication with people of equal status. She patronized artists, corresponded with the rulers of Poland, Venice, and Persia. It is known that she corresponded with the queens and the sister of the Persian Shah. And for the Persian prince Elkas Mirza, who was hiding in the Ottoman Empire from enemies, she sewed a silk shirt and vest with her own hands, thus demonstrating generous maternal love, which should have aroused both gratitude and the prince's trust.

Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Haseki Sultan even received foreign envoys, corresponded with influential nobles of that time.

Preserved historical information that a number of Hurrem's contemporaries, in particular Sehname-i Al-i Osman, Sehname-i Humayun and Taliki-zade el-Fenari, presented a very flattering portrait of Suleiman's wife, as a woman revered "for her numerous charitable donations, for her patronage of students and respect for learned men, connoisseurs of religion, as well as for the acquisition of rare and beautiful things by her.

Contemporaries believed that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska bewitched Suleiman

She implemented large-scale charitable projects. Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska received the right to build religious and charitable buildings in Istanbul and other major cities of the Ottoman Empire. She created a charitable foundation in her own name (tur. Külliye Hasseki Hurrem). With donations from this fund, the Aksaray district or women's bazaar, later also named after Haseki (tour. Avret Pazari), was built in Istanbul, the buildings of which included a mosque, a madrasah, an imaret, an elementary school, hospitals and a fountain. It was the first complex built in Istanbul by the architect Sinan in his new position the chief architect of the ruling house, as well as the third largest building in the capital, after the complexes of Mehmet II (tour. Fatih Camii) and Suleymaniye (tour. Süleymanie).

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;
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 by the Crimean Tatars, sold by them to a certain 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 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 her own inexperience in public affairs, the young Valide Sultan never hesitated to seek advice from members of the government, thereby cementing her authority among senior officials 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), started even under the valid 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!

Harem-i Humayun is the harem of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire, which influenced the decisions of the sultan in all areas of politics.

The Eastern harem is the secret dream of men and the personified curse of women, the focus of sensual pleasures and the exquisite boredom of beautiful concubines languishing in it. All this is nothing more than a myth created by the talent of novelists.

The traditional harem (from the Arabic "haram" - forbidden) is primarily the female half of the Muslim home. Only the head of the family and his sons had access to the harem. For everyone else, this part of the Arab home is a strict taboo. This taboo was observed so strictly and zealously that the Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey wrote: "If the sun were a man, then even he would be forbidden to look into the harem." Harem - the realm of luxury and lost hopes ...

The Sultan's harem was located in the Istanbul Palace Topkapi. The mother (valid-sultan), sisters, daughters and heirs (shahzade) of the sultan, his wife (kadyn-efendi), favorites and concubines (odalisques, slaves - jariye) lived here.

From 700 to 1200 women could live in a harem at the same time. The inhabitants of the harem were served by black eunuchs (karaagalar), commanded by daryussaade agasy. Kapy-agasy, the head of the white eunuchs (akagalar), was responsible for both the harem and the inner chambers of the palace (enderun), where the sultan lived. Until 1587, the kapy-agasy had power inside the palace comparable to the power of the vizier outside it, then the heads of the black eunuchs became more influential.

The harem itself was actually controlled by the Valide Sultan. The next in rank were the unmarried sisters of the Sultan, then his wives.

The income of the women of the Sultan's family was made up of funds called a shoe (for a shoe).

There were few slaves in the Sultan's harem, usually girls who were sold by their parents to the school at the harem and underwent special training became the concubines.

In order to cross the threshold of the seraglio, the slave went through a kind of initiation ceremony. In addition to checking for innocence, the girl had to convert to Islam without fail.

Entering the harem was in many ways reminiscent of being tonsured as a nun, where instead of selfless service to God, no less selfless service to the master was instilled. Candidates for concubines, like God's brides, were forced to break all ties with the outside world, received new names and learned to live in humility.

In later harems, wives were absent as such. The main source of a privileged position was the attention of the Sultan and childbearing. Showing attention to one of the concubines, the owner of the harem elevated her to the rank of a temporary wife. This situation was most often shaky and could change at any moment depending on the mood of the master. The most reliable way to gain a foothold in the status of a wife was the birth of a boy. A concubine who gave her master a son acquired the status of mistress.

The largest in the history of the Muslim world was the Istanbul harem Dar-ul-Seadet, in which all women were foreign slaves, free Turkish women did not get there. The concubines in this harem were called “odalisk”, a little later the Europeans added the letter “c” to the word and it turned out “odalisque”.

And here is the Topkapi Palace, where the Harem lived

From among the odalisques, the Sultan chose up to seven wives. Who was lucky to become a "wife" received the title of "kadyn" - mistress. The main "kadyn" was the one who managed to give birth to her first child. But even the most prolific "kadyn" could not count on honorary title"sultanas". Only the mother, sisters and daughters of the Sultan could be called sultanas.

Transport of wives, concubines, in short, a harem taxi depot

Just below the "kadyn" on the hierarchical ladder of the harem stood favorites - "ikbal". These women received salaries, their own apartments and personal slaves.

The favorites were not only skilled mistresses, but also, as a rule, subtle and intelligent politicians. In Turkish society, it was through "ikbal" for a certain bribe that one could go directly to the Sultan himself, bypassing the bureaucratic obstacles of the state. Below the "ikbal" were the "concubines". These young ladies were a little less fortunate. The conditions of detention are worse, there are fewer privileges.

It was at the stage of "concubin" that there was the toughest competition, in which a dagger and poison were often used. Theoretically, the "konkubin", like the "ikbal", had a chance to climb the hierarchical ladder by giving birth to a child.

But unlike the favorites close to the Sultan, they had very few chances for this wonderful event. Firstly, if there are up to a thousand concubines in the harem, then it is easier to wait for the weather by the sea than the holy sacrament of mating with the Sultan.

Secondly, even if the Sultan descends, it is not at all a fact that the happy concubine will definitely become pregnant. And even more so, it’s not a fact that she won’t organize a miscarriage.

The old slaves followed the concubines, and any pregnancy noticed was immediately terminated. In principle, it is quite logical - any woman in labor one way or another, became a contender for the role of a legitimate "kadyn", and her baby - a potential contender for the throne.

If, despite all the intrigues and intrigues, the odalisque managed to keep the pregnancy and did not allow the child to be killed during the “unsuccessful birth”, she automatically received her personal staff of slaves, eunuchs and the annual salary “basmalik”.

Girls were bought from their fathers at the age of 5-7 years and raised up to 14-15 years. They were taught music, cooking, sewing, court etiquette, the art of pleasing a man. When selling his daughter to a harem school, the father signed a paper stating that he had no rights to his daughter and agreed not to meet her for the rest of his life. Getting into the harem, the girls received a different name.

Choosing a concubine for the night, the Sultan sent her a gift (often a shawl or a ring). After that, she was sent to the bath, dressed in beautiful clothes and sent to the door of the Sultan's bedroom, where she waited until the Sultan went to bed. Entering the bedroom, she crawled on her knees to the bed, and kissed the carpet. In the morning, the Sultan sent rich gifts to the concubine if he liked the night spent with her.

The Sultan could have a favorite - guzde. Here is one of the most famous, Ukrainian Roxalana

Suleiman the Magnificent

Bani Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan (Roksolana), wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, built in 1556 next to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Architect Mimar Sinan.

Mausoleum of Roxalana

Valide with black eunuch

Reconstruction of one of the rooms of the Valide Sultan apartments in the Topkapi Palace. Melike Safie Sultan (possibly born Sofia Baffo) was the concubine of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III and the mother of Mehmed III. During the reign of Mehmed, she held the title of Valide Sultan (mother of the Sultan) and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.

Only the Sultan's mother, Valide, was considered equal to her. Valide Sultan, regardless of her origin, could be very influential (the most famous example is Nurbanu).

Aishe Hafsa Sultan is the wife of Sultan Selim I and the mother of Sultan Suleiman I.

Hospice Ayse-Sultan

Kösem Sultan, also known as Mahpeyker, was the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (she bore the title of Haseki) and the mother of Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I. During the reign of her sons, she bore the title of valid Sultan and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.

Valide apartments in the palace

Bathroom Valide

Bedroom Valide

After 9 years, the concubine, who had never been elected by the Sultan, had the right to leave the harem. In this case, the Sultan found her a husband and gave her a dowry, she received a document stating that she was a free person.

However, the lowest layer of the harem also had its own hope for happiness. For example, only they had a chance at least for some kind of personal life. After several years of impeccable service and adoration in their eyes, a husband was found, or, having allocated funds for a non-poor life, they were released in all four directions.

Moreover, among the odalisques - outsiders of the harem society - there were also their own aristocrats. A slave could turn into a "gezde" - awarded a look, if the sultan somehow - with a look, gesture or word - singled her out from the general crowd. Thousands of women have lived all their lives in a harem, but neither the fact that the Sultan was seen naked, but they did not even wait for the honor of being "honored with a look"

If the sultan died, all the concubines were sorted by the sex of the children they had given birth to. The mothers of girls could well get married, but the mothers of the “princes” settled in the “Old Palace”, from where they could leave only after the accession of the new sultan. And at this moment the most fun began. The brothers poisoned each other with enviable regularity and perseverance. Their mothers were also active in putting poison into the food of their potential rivals and their sons.

In addition to the old proven slaves, eunuchs followed the concubines. Translated from Greek, "eunuch" means "guardian of the bed." They got into the harem exclusively in the form of guards, so to speak, to maintain order. There were two types of eunuchs. Some were castrated in early childhood and had no secondary sexual characteristics at all - a beard did not grow, there was a high, boyish voice and a complete rejection of a woman as an individual of the opposite sex. Others were castrated at a later age.

Incomplete eunuchs (namely, as they were called castrated not in childhood, but in adolescence), they even looked like men, had the most low male bass, thin facial hair, broad muscular shoulders, and oddly enough, sexual desire.

Of course, the eunuchs could not satisfy their needs in a natural way due to the lack of the necessary device for this. But as you understand, when it comes to sex or drinking, the flight of human imagination is simply limitless. And the odalisques, who for years lived with an obsessive dream of waiting for the sultan's gaze, were not particularly legible. Well, if there are 300-500 concubines in the harem, at least half of them are younger and more beautiful than you, well, what's the point of waiting for the prince? And on bezrybe and the eunuch is a man.

In addition to the fact that the eunuchs watched over the order in the harem and in parallel (secretly from the Sultan, of course) consoled themselves and women yearning for male attention in all possible and impossible ways, their duties also included the functions of executioners. Those guilty of disobedience to the concubines they strangled with a silk cord or drowned the unfortunate woman in the Bosphorus.

The influence of the inhabitants of the harem on the sultans was used by envoys foreign states. So, the Russian ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, M. I. Kutuzov, arriving in Istanbul in September 1793, sent gifts to the valid Sultan Mikhrishah, and "the sultan accepted this attention to his mother with sensitivity."

Selim

Kutuzov was honored with reciprocal gifts from the mother of the Sultan and a favorable reception from Selim III himself. The Russian ambassador strengthened Russia's influence in Turkey and persuaded her to enter into an alliance against revolutionary France.

Since the 19th century, after the abolition of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, all concubines began to enter the harem voluntarily and with the consent of their parents, hoping to achieve material well-being and a career. The harem of the Ottoman sultans was liquidated in 1908.

The harem, like the Topkapi Palace itself, is a real labyrinth, rooms, corridors, courtyards are all randomly scattered. This confusion can be divided into three parts: The premises of the black eunuchs The actual harem, where the wives and concubines lived The premises of Valide Sultan and the padishah himself Our tour of the Topkapi Palace Harem was very brief.

The rooms are dark and deserted, there is no furniture, there are bars on the windows. Close and narrow corridors. Here lived the eunuchs, vengeful and vindictive due to psychological and physical injury ... And they lived in the same ugly rooms, tiny, like closets, sometimes without windows at all. The impression is brightened up only by the magical beauty and antiquity of the Iznik tiles, as if emitting a pale glow. We passed the stone courtyard of the concubines, looked at Valide's apartments.

It is also crowded, all the beauty is in green, turquoise, blue faience tiles. She ran her hand over them, touched the flower garlands on them - tulips, carnations, but the peacock's tail ... It was cold, and thoughts were spinning in my head that the rooms were not warmed well and the inhabitants of the harem probably often had tuberculosis.

Moreover, this lack of direct sunlight ... Imagination stubbornly did not want to work. Instead of the splendor of the Seraglio, luxurious fountains, fragrant flowers, I saw closed spaces, cold walls, empty rooms, dark passages, incomprehensible niches in the walls, a strange fantasy world. Lost sense of direction and connection to the outside world. I was stubbornly embraced by an aura of some kind of hopelessness and longing. Even the balconies and terraces in some rooms, overlooking the sea and the fortress walls, did not please.

And finally, the reaction of official Istanbul to the sensational series "Golden Age"

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan believes that the TV series about the court of Suleiman the Magnificent offends the greatness of the Ottoman Empire. However historical chronicles confirm that the palace really has sunk into complete decline.

Rumors often circulate around forbidden places. Moreover, the more secret they are shrouded in, the more fantastic assumptions are put forward by mere mortals about what is happening behind closed doors. This applies equally to secret archives Vatican, and CIA caches. The harems of Muslim rulers are no exception.

So there is nothing surprising in the fact that one of them became the scene of the "soap opera" that has become popular in many countries. The Magnificent Century series is set in the 16th century Ottoman Empire, which at that time stretched from Algeria to Sudan and from Belgrade to Iran. At the head was Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520-1566, in whose bedroom there was a place for hundreds of barely dressed beauties. Not surprisingly, 150 million television viewers in 22 countries were interested in this story.

Erdogan, in turn, focuses primarily on the glory and power of the Ottoman Empire, which reached its peak during the reign of Suleiman. Invented harem stories from that time, in his opinion, underestimate the greatness of the Sultan and thus the entire Turkish state.

But what does the distortion of history mean in this case? Three Western historians spent a lot of time studying works on the history of the Ottoman Empire. The last of these was the Romanian researcher Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940), whose "History of the Ottoman Empire" also included previously published studies by the Austrian orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall and the German historian Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen (Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen).

Iorga devoted much of his time to studying events in the Ottoman court during the time of Suleiman and his heirs, such as Selim II, who inherited the throne after the death of his father in 1566. “More like a monster than a man,” he spent most of his life in drunkenness, by the way, forbidden by the Koran, and his red face once again confirmed his addiction to alcohol.

The day had barely begun, and he was usually already drunk. He usually preferred entertainment to solving issues of national importance, for which dwarfs, jesters, conjurers or wrestlers were responsible, in which he occasionally shot from a bow. But if the endless feasts of Selim took place, apparently, without the participation of women, then under his heir Murad III, who ruled from 1574 to 1595 and lived for 20 years under Suleiman, everything was already different.

"Women in this country play important role”, - wrote one French diplomat who had some experience in this sense in his homeland. “Since Murad spent all his time in the palace, his environment had a great influence on his weak spirit,” Iorga wrote. "With women, the Sultan was always obedient and weak-willed."

Most of all, Murad's mother and first wife used this, who were always accompanied by "many court ladies, intriguers and intermediaries," Iorga wrote. “On the street they were followed by a cavalcade of 20 carts and a crowd of Janissaries. Being a very insightful person, she often influenced appointments at court. Because of her extravagance, Murad tried several times to send her to the old palace, but she remained a real sovereign until her death.

Ottoman princesses lived in "typically oriental luxury". European diplomats tried to win their favor with exquisite gifts, because one note from the hands of one of them was enough to appoint this or that pasha. The careers of the young gentlemen who married them depended entirely on them. And those who dared to reject them lived in danger. Pasha "could easily be strangled if he did not dare to take this dangerous step - to marry an Ottoman princess."

While Murad was having fun in the company of beautiful slaves, “all the other people who were allowed to manage the empire made personal enrichment their goal - it doesn’t matter, honestly or dishonestly,” Iorga wrote. It is no coincidence that one of the chapters of his book is called "The Causes of the Collapse". When you read it, you get the feeling that this is the script of a television series, such as, for example, "Rome" or "Boardwalk Empire".

However, behind the endless orgies and intrigues in the palace and in the harem, important changes were hidden in life at court. Before the accession of Suleiman to the throne, it was accepted that the sons of the Sultan, accompanied by their mother, left for the province and remained aloof from the struggle for power. The prince who succeeded to the throne, then, as a rule, killed all his brothers, which was in some way not bad, because in this way it was possible to avoid a bloody struggle for the succession of the Sultan.

Everything changed under Suleiman. After he not only had children with his concubine Roksolana, but also freed her from slavery and appointed her his main wife, the princes remained in the palace in Istanbul. The first concubine, who managed to rise to the sultan's wife, did not know what shame and conscience were, and she shamelessly promoted her children up the career ladder. Numerous foreign diplomats wrote about intrigues at court. Later, historians relied on their letters in their studies.

It also played a role that the heirs of Suleiman abandoned the tradition of sending wives and princes away to the province. Therefore, the latter constantly interfered in political issues. “In addition to participating in palace intrigues, their connections with the Janissaries stationed in the capital are worthy of mention,” wrote historian Suraiya Farocki from Munich.

Anastasia Gavrilovna Lisovskaya, or Roksolana, or Hurrem (1506-1558) - first was a concubine, and then became the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Nobody knows why she was called by this name Khurrem, but in Arabic it can mean “cheerful, bright”, but there are serious disputes about Roksolana, the name goes back to the Rusyns, Russians - that was the name of all the inhabitants of Eastern Europe ..

And where she was born, no one knows the exact location. Perhaps the city of Rogatin, Ivano-Frankivsk region or the city of Chemerovtsy, Khmelnytsky region. When she was little she was kidnapped Crimean Tatars and sold to a Turkish harem.

Life in the harem was not easy. She could die or fight. She chose to fight and is now known to the whole world. Everyone in the harem was ready for anything, just to get the Sultan's tenderness. Everyone wanted to survive and put their offspring on their feet. The life of Roksolana-Nastya is well known to everyone, but there is little information about other slaves who could also escape from slavery.

Kezem Sultan

The most famous Valide Sultan Közem Sultan (1589-1651), she was the favorite concubine of Sultan Ahmet the First. During her short girlhood, she was the girl Anastasia, the daughter of a priest from the Greek island of Tinos.

She was officially and single-handedly at the head of the Muslim empire for many years. She was a tough woman, but mercy was also present in her - she freed all her slaves after 3 years.

She died a violent death, was strangled on the orders of the future sultan-valid by the chief eunuch of the harem.

Handan Sultan

Valide Sultan was also Handan (Handan) Sultan, wife of Sultan Mehmed III and mother of Sultan Ahmed I (1576-1605). She used to be Helena, the daughter of a priest, also Greek.

She was kidnapped into a harem, and tried by all means to get to power.

Nurbanu Sultan

Nurbanu Sultan (translated as “princess of light”, 1525-1583) was the beloved wife of Sultan Selim II (the Drunkard) and the mother of Sultan Murad III. She was of noble birth. But that didn't stop the slave traders from kidnapping her and taking her to the palace.

When her husband died, she overlaid him with people in order to wait for her son to arrive and ascend the throne.

The body lay like that for 12 days.

Nurbanu was related to the most influential and wealthy people in Europe, such as the senator and poet Giorgio Baffo (1694-1768). In addition, she was a relative of the ruler of the Ottoman Empire - Safie Sultan, who was a Venetian by birth.

At that time, many Greek islands belonged to Venice. They were relatives both “on the Turkish line” and “on the Italian line”.

Nurbanu corresponded with many ruling dynasties, led a pro-Venetian policy, for which the Genoese hated her. (There is also a legend that she was poisoned by a Genoese agent). They built the Attik Valide Mosque in honor of Nurban near the capital.

Safiye Sultan

Safie-Sultan was born in 1550. She was the wife of Murad III and the mother of Mehmed III. In freedom and girlhood, she bore the name Sophia Baffo, was the daughter of the ruler of the Greek island of Corfu and a relative of the Venetian senator and poet Giorgio Baffo.

She was also kidnapped and taken to the harem. She corresponded with European monarchs - even Queen Elizabeth I of Great Britain, who even gave her a real European carriage.

Safie-Sultan made excursions around the city in a donated carriage, her subjects were shocked by such behavior.

She was the ancestor of all subsequent Turkish sultans after her.

There is a mosque in her honor in Cairo. And the mosque Turhan Hatis, which she herself began to build, was completed by another Valide-Sultan Nadia from a small Ukrainian town. She was kidnapped when she was 12 years old.

Sultans due to circumstances

The stories of such girls cannot be called happy. But they did not die, they did not sit in captivity in the farthest rooms of the palace, they were not expelled. They themselves began to rule, it seemed impossible to everyone.

They achieved power in cruel ways, including orders to kill. Türkiye is their second home.

They did not try to commit suicide, but after all, someone had stabbed the many thousands of girls of many nationalities sold to the seraglio. And someone just died. And some decided to rule those who deprived them of their homes, parents and homeland. We will not blame them for anything.

What was the strength of character and will of the girls who found themselves in such situations. They fought for their lives, scheming, killing. But is life in a harem so sweet?