Kösem Sultan

Kösem Sultan Mehpeyker Sultan
Kösem Sultan with servants in 1647
Born	Anastasia 1590 Ottoman Bosnia
Died	1651 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Resting place	Istanbul, Turkey, in the mausoleum of her husband Ahmed I
Residence	Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Ethnicity	Greek[1][2]
Known for	She was one of the most powerful woman in Ottoman history, she achieved power and influenced the course of the Ottoman empire.
Religion	Greeks Orthodox Christian, subsequently converted to Islam after her capture
Spouse	Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I
Children	Murad IV, Ibrahim I, Sulayman, Kasim, and daughters 'A'isha, Fatima and Djawharkhan[3]
Relatives	Mehmed IV her grandson

Kösem Sultan's sons who were Sultans of the Ottoman Empire. Left: Murad IV(ca. 1612–1640) Right: Ibrahim I (ca. 1615–1648)

Kösem Sultan (ca. 1589 – 3 September 1651) — also known as Mehpeyker Sultan^[4] — was one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history ^[4][5][6][7]. Consort and favourite concubine of Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-1617). She achieved power and influenced the course of the Ottoman empire through her consort Sultan Ahmet I(r 1603–17), then through her sons Murad IV (r 1623–40) and Ibrahim I ('the Mad’, r 1640–48) and finally through her minor grandson Mehmed IV (r 1648–87). She was Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) from 1623 to 1651^[4], when her sons Murad IV and Ibrahim I and her grandson Mehmed IV (1648–1687) reigned as Ottoman sultans. She was a prominent figure during the sultanate of the women. She was official regent twice and was thereby one of two women to have been formal regents of the Ottoman Empire.

Biography

Early life

Kösem was of Greek ethnic origin^{[1][4][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}, and the daughter of a priest from the island of Tinos.^[16][17] Her maiden name was Anastasia.^[8] She was as a youth captured,^[16] sent to Constantinople the capital of the Ottoman Empire by Bosna Beylerbeyi where she was sold^[1][17] at the age of fifteen to the harem of Sultan Ahmed I after cancelling her education in Istanbul. Her name was changed after her capture to Mahpeyker (Moon-Shaped), and later by Sultan Ahmed I to Kösem.^[15] She was transferred to the old palace on the death of Sultan Ahmed in 1617, but returned as Valide Sultan (Queen Mother), when her son Murat IV was installed in 1623.

First reign

She was appointed not only Valide Sultan but also, as her son was a minor, as official regent during his minority; between 1623 and 1632 she became the first of two women in history who ruled the Ottoman Empire officially and alone. While women had been de facto regents in the empire before her, no woman had ever formally been regents, and her position was thereby new. During most of the reign of Murad IV she effectively ran the empire, attending meetings of the Divan (cabinet) from behind a curtain, even after 1632, when she was not longer official regent.

Second reign

When her son Ibrahim I succeeded his brother in 1640, he proved too mentally unstable to rule. This enabled Kösem to continue in power. Eventually Ibrahim was deposed and Kösem presented her seven year old grandson Mehmed IV to the divan with the words "Here he is!, see what you can do with him!" Thus, she declared herself official regent for the second time, and ruled openly again between 1648 and 1651.

Death

It was Mehmed's mother Turhan Hatice who proved to be Kösem's nemesis. It is rumored that Turhan ordered Kösem's assassination when she heard that Kösem was said to be plotting Mehmed's removal and replacement by another grandson with a more pliant mother. Furthermore, some have speculated that Kösem was strangled with a curtain by the Chief Black Eunuch of the Harem, Tall Süleyman.

After her death her body was taken from Topkapi to the Old Palace (Eski Sarayı) and then buried in the mausoleum of her husband Ahmad I.^[18] Kösem was renowned for her charity work and for freeing her slaves after 3 years of service. When she died the people of Constantinople observed three days of mourning.

References

• Mansel, Philip (1995), Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453-1924; New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Freely, John (1999), Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul
• Imber, Colin (2009), "The Ottoman Empire"; New York: Palgrave MacMillian.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Amila Buturović, İrvin Cemil Schick (2007). Women in the Ottoman Balkans: gender, culture and history. I.B.Tauris. p. 23. ISBN 1845115058. "Kösem, who was of Bosnian origin. Orphaned very young, she found herself at the age of fifteen in the harem of Sultan Ahmed I." 
2. ^ Singh, Nagendra Kr (2000). International encyclopaedia of Islamic dynasties. Anmol Publications PVT. pp. 423–424. ISBN 8126104031. "Kosem Walide or Kosem Sultan, called Mahpaykar (ca. 1589-1651), wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmad I and mother of the sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I [q.vv.]. She was Bosnian by birth, and achieved power in the first place through the harem, exercising a decisive influence in the state" 
3. ^ Singh, Nagendra Kr (2000). International encyclopaedia of Islamic dynasties. Anmol Publications PVT. pp. 423–424. ISBN 8126104031. "Through her beauty and intelligence, Kösem Walide was especially attractive to Ahmad I, and drew ahead of more senior wives in the palace. She bore the sultan four sons — Murad, Sulayman, Ibrahim and Kasim — and three daughters — 'A'isha, Fatima and Djawharkhan. These daughters she subsequently used to consolidate her political influence by strategic marriages to different viziers." 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Douglas Arthur Howard, The official History of Turkey, Greenwood Press, isbn= 0313307083, p 195
5. ^ Bator, Robert, - Rothero, Chris (2000). Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Istanbul. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 42. ISBN 0822532174. "When such a son became sultan, his slave mother would become the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire. The Greek slave Kösem earned this distinction" 
6. ^ Akbar, M. J. (2002). The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict Between Islam and Christianity. Routledge. p. 89. ISBN 0415284708. "His mother, Valide Kosem, said to be the most powerful woman in the history of the dynasty, ruled in his name." 
7. ^ Westheimer, Ruth Karola, - Kaplan, Steven (2001). Power. University of Virginia: Madison Books. p. 19. ISBN 1568332300. "Maypeyker Sultan, better known as Kosem Sultan, is remembered by the Turks as the most powerful woman of her time" 
8. ^ ^{a b} Sonyel, Salâhi Ramadan (1993). Minorities and the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. Turkish Historical Society Printing House. p. 61. ISBN 975160544X. "Many of the women of the harem were non-Muslim, for example Sultana Kösem (Anastasia), of Greek origin, Kosem sultana was born in 1590. Bosnia Governor had sent her to the sultan. who was the wife of Ahmet I (1603-17), and the mother of Murat IV (1623-40), and of Ibrahim I (1640-8)" 
9. ^ al-Ayvansarayî, Hafiz Hüseyin  ; Crane, Howard (2000). The garden of the mosques : Hafiz Hüseyin al-Ayvansarayî's guide to the Muslim monuments of Ottoman Istanbul. Brill. p. 21. ISBN 9004112421. "Kosem Valide Mahpeyker, known also simply as Kosem Sultan (c. 1589-1651), consort of Sultan Ahmed I and mother of Murad IV and Ibrahim I. Greek by birth, she exercised a decisive influence in the Ottoman state" 
10. ^ Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (1980). Burke's Royal Families of the World: Africa & the Middle East. Burke's Peerage. p. 239. OCLC 311403844. "Valide Sultan (who was of Greek origin)" 
11. ^ [1]
12. ^ E. van Donzel, Islamic Desk Reference: Compiled from the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brill Academic Publishers, p 219
13. ^ Robert Bator, Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Istanbul, Runestone Press, p 42
14. ^ Gibb, Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen (1954). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill. p. 597. ISBN 9004070265. "Kosem [qv] Mahpeyker, a woman of Greek origin (Anastasia, 1585-1651)" 
15. ^ ^{a b} Davis, Fanny (1970). The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul. Scribner. pp. 227–228. OCLC 636864790. "Kosem was a Greek, said to have been the daughter of a Greek priest of one of the Aegean islands, probably captured during one of the Ottoman-Venetian maritime campaigns. Her name was Anastasia but was changed after her capture, no doubt on her admission to the palace, to Mahpeyker (Moon-Shaped), and later by Sultan Ahmet to Kosem" 
16. ^ ^{a b} Hogan, Christine (2006). The Veiled Lands: A Woman's Journey Into the Heart of the Islamic World. Macmillan Publishers Aus. p. 74. ISBN 1405037016, 9781405037013. "Kosem was born on the Greek island of Tinos, where she was Anastasia, the daughter of a Greek Orthodox priest. Captured by slavers, she was sent to Istanbul by Bosna beylerbeyi" 
17. ^ ^{a b} Freely, John (1996). Istanbul: the imperial city. Viking. p. 215. ISBN 0140244611. "Then around 1608 Ahmet found a new favourite, a Greek girl named Anastasia, who had been captured on the island of Tinos and sent as a slave to the Harem, where she took the name of Kosem" 
18. ^ Singh, Nagendra Kr (2000). International encyclopaedia of Islamic dynasties. Anmol Publications PVT. p. 425. ISBN 8126104031. "Kosem Walide…Her body was taken from Topkapi to the Eski Saray and then buried in the mausoleum of her husband Ahmad I." 

Preceded by Mahfiruze Hatice Sultan

Valide Sultan 1623–1648

Succeeded by Turhan Hadice