Bedrifelek Kadın

Bedrifelek Kadın (Ottoman Turkish: بدرے فلك قادین‎; 4 January 1851 – 6 February 1930) was the second wife and chief consort of Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire.

In this Ottoman Turkish style name, the given name is Bedrifelek, the title is Kadın, and there is no family name.
Bedrifelek Kadın
Born4 January 1851
Poti, Georgia
Died6 February 1930(1930-02-06) (aged 79)
Serencebey Mansion, Istanbul, Turkey
Burial
Yahya Efendi cemetery, Istanbul
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1868; died 1918)​
Issue
Full name
Turkish: Bedrifelek Kadın
Ottoman Turkish: بدرے فلك قادین‎
HouseKerzedzh (by birth)
Ottoman (by marriage)
FatherPrince Kerzedzh Mehmed Bey
Motherİnal-lpa Faruhan Hanım
ReligionSunni Islam

Early life

Bedrifelek Kadın was born on 4 January 1851 in Poti, Georgia. She was a member of Natukhai Circassian princely family, the House of Kerzedzh (Adyghe: Къэрзэдж).[1] Her father was Prince Kerzedzh Mehmed Bey,[2] and her mother was Princess İnal-lpa Faruhan Hanım, an Abkhazian, daughter of İnal-lpa Tataş Bey. She had an elder sister, Princess Bezmigül Dilber Hanım, and a younger brother, Prince Kazım Pasha. She was the maternal niece of Sultan Abdulmejid I's wife Şayeste Hanım. She also had three younger half-sisters, Princess Şazıdil Hanım, Princess Nevrestan Hanım and Princess Melekistan Hanım, whose mother was her father's second wife, Melekyar Hanım Vorkoj.[1]

In 1864, aged thirteen, during the ethnic cleansing of Circassians, she had been brought to Constantinople, where her father entrusted her and her sisters in the care of their aunt Şayeste Hanım. Here her name according to the custom of the Ottoman court was changed to Bedrifelek.[1]

Marriage

Bedrifelek married Abdul Hamid on 15 November 1868 in the Dolmabahçe Palace. After her marriage, her younger brother Kazım Pasha was given the post of Sixth Army Cavalry in Baghdad.[3]

A year after the marriage, on 11 January 1870, she gave birth to the couple's first child, a son, Şehzade Mehmed Selim,[4] followed two years later by Zekiye Sultan, born on 21 January 1872.[5]

After Abdul Hamid's accession to the throne on 31 August 1876,[6] she was given the title of the "Second Consort".[7][8] In 1877, Bedrifelek and other members of the imperial family settled in the Yıldız Palace,[9] after Abdul Hamid moved there on 7 April 1877.[10] Here on 11 February 1878, she gave birth to the couple's third child, a son, Şehzade Ahmed Nuri.[11]

She was described a beautiful woman with blue eyes. She was the only one of Abdul Hamid's wives who didn't showed jealousy to his other consorts, and always approached the other consorts with kindness and smile.[12]

On 16 September 1895,[12] after the death of Abdul Hamid's first wife, Nazikeda Kadın, Bedrifelek was installed the principal consort with the title of "Senior Consort".[7][8] After Perestu Kadın's death in 1904, she became the principal lady in the imperial harem.[7]

On 27 April 1909, Abdul Hamid was deposed, and sent into exile in Thessaloniki.[13] Bedrifelek didn't followed him, and so remained in Istanbul.[3] Abdul Hamid's whole family was expelled from Yıldız Palace, and most of them didn't even have a place to live in. Bedrifelek, and her sons, Selim, and Ahmed, initially settled in her daughter, Zekiye Sultan's mansion in Tarlabaşı,[14] before she settled with her son Selim, in his mansion located in Serencebey.[15]

After Thessaloniki fell to Greece in 1912, Abdul Hamid returned to Istanbul, and settled in the Beylerbeyi Palace, where he died in 1918.[16]

Sponsorings

In 1900, Bedrifelek sponsored the construction of a fountain known as the "Körük Fountain" in Gebze.[17] In 1909, she sponsored the repairing of the tekke and tomb of Nûreddin Cerrâhi in Karagümrük, Istanbul. She also made donations to the "Ottoman Hilal-i Ahmer Association" (Hilâl-i Ahmer Cemiyet).[12]

Last years and death

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Bedrifelek remained in her son's mansion in Serencebey.[3] On 14 January 1925, she gave the power of attorney to Sami Günzberg, a well-known Turkish Jewish lawyer, authorising him to regain from usurpers buildings, lands, mines, concessions left by Abdul Hamid situated in Turkish territory and elsewhere.[18]

She died on 6 February 1930 at the age of seventy-nine, and was buried in Yahya Efendi cemetery, Istanbul.[19]

Issue
NameBirthDeathNotes
Şehzade Mehmed Selim 11 January 1870[20][8][21] 4 May 1937[20][21] married six times, and had issue, two sons and one daughter
Zekiye Sultan 21 January 1872[20][22][23] 13 July 1950[20][22][23] married once, and had issue, two daughters
Şehzade Ahmed Nuri 11 February 1878[8][24][14] August 1944[24][14] married once, without issue

See also

References
  1. Açba 2007, p. 124.
  2. Akyıldız 2018, p. 696.
  3. Açba 2007, p. 125.
  4. Freely, John (1 July 2001). Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul. Penguin. p. 287.
  5. Tuğlacı, Pars (1985). Türkiyeʼde kadın, Volume 3. Cem Yayınevi. p. 331.
  6. Clare, Israel Smith (1885). Illustrated Universal History: Being a Clear and Concise History of All Nations. P. W. Ziegler & Company. p. 549.
  7. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 672.
  8. Uluçay 2011, p. 246.
  9. Oriental Gardens: An Illustrated History. Chronicle Books. 1992. pp. 21. ISBN 978-0-811-80132-4.
  10. NewSpot, Volumes 13-24. General Directorate of Press and Information. 1999.
  11. Bey, Mehmet Sürreya (1969). Osmanlı devletinde kim kimdi, Volume 1. Küğ Yayını. p. 132.
  12. Uru, Cevriye (2010). Sultan II. Abdülhamid’in kızı Zekiye Sultan’ın hayatı (1872-1950). p. 3.
  13. Hall, Richard C. (9 October 2014). War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-1-610-69031-7.
  14. "Sultan Hamid'in Açlıktan Ölen Şehzâdesi: Ahmed Nuri Efendi". www.erkembugraekinci.com. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  15. Akyıldız 2018, p. 701.
  16. Parry, Milman; Lord, Albert B. (1979). Serbocroation heroic songs, Volume 1. Harvard University Press. p. 371.
  17. Kankal, Recep (2018). Bedrifelek Başkadınefendinin Bir İhya-kerdesi:Körük Çeşmesi, Uluslararası Orhan Gazi ve Kocaeli Tarihi - Kültürü Sempozyumu - V. p. 1568.
  18. Kark, Ruth; Frantzman, Seth J. (2010). "One of the most spectacular lawsuits ever launched": Abdülhamid's heirs, his lands and the land case in Palestine, 1908-1950. p. 138.
  19. Açba 2007, p. 125-6.
  20. Brookes 2010, p. 289.
  21. Osmanoğlu 2000, p. 260-61.
  22. Uluçay 2011, p. 246, 253-54.
  23. Osmanoğlu 2000, p. 261.
  24. Osmanoğlu 2000, p. 262.

Sources
  • Uluçay, M. Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ötüken. ISBN 978-9-754-37840-5.
  • Açba, Harun (2007). Kadın efendiler: 1839-1924. Profil. ISBN 978-9-759-96109-1.
  • Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları: Vâlide Sultanlar, Hâtunlar, Hasekiler, Kandınefendiler, Sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-6-051-71079-2.
  • Akyıldız, Ali (2018). Son Dönem Osmanlı Padişahlarının Nikâh Meselesi.
  • Brookes, Douglas Scott (2010). The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78335-5.
  • Osmanoğlu, Ayşe (2000). Babam Sultan Abdülhamid. Mona Kitap Yayinlari. ISBN 978-6-050-81202-2.
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