Fatma Sultan (daughter of Selim II)

Fatma was born circa 1559[1] during Selim's princedom, at Konya or Karaman where he served as sanjakbey, or provincial governor, at the time.[2] She was her father's youngest daughter.[3] Her mother's identity is uncertain; it is suggested that she was the fourth daughter of Nurbanu Sultan,[3][4] however the claim remains disputed.[1]

In 1574,[3] she married Kanijeli Siyavuş Pasha (died 1602), then Beylerbey (governor-general) of Rumelia,[5] and eventually Grand Vizier 1582–1584, 1586–1589, 1592–1593. Stephan Gerlach, first assistant and clergyman to the ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire at Istanbul from 1573 to 1578, recorded word that the Beylerbey was originally a slave whom Fatma's father Selim bought as a boy for 500 ducats and came to regard as his own son. It was stipulated in Sultan Selim's will that this marriage be arranged.[5]

Fatma's dowry amounted to approximately 4988 ducats.[3] The marriage was happy, as indicated by the fact that she pleaded with her brother Murad to spare Siyavuş Pasha's life when at some point the latter fell out of favour.[6] She bore her husband three sons and a daughter.[7]

Fatma Sultan died in October 1580,[3] at Istanbul, in childbirth as a result of her daughter being born prematurely. The latter reportedly died too.[3][7] She was entombed in her father Sultan Selim II's mausoleum in Hagia Sophia Mosque.[8] She had a provision made, supported by vakfs, that is, charitable foundations, so that the Quran would be read every morning, for the sake of her soul.[3]

Fatma had an elementary school, or mektep, as well as a religious college, or medrese, constructed at Edirnekapı.[3]

• Peirce, Leslie Penn (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Studies in Middle Eastern History. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507673-8.
• Tezcan, Baki (2001). Searching For Osman: A Reassessment Of The Deposition Of Ottoman Sultan Osman II (1618–1622). unpublished Ph.D. thesis. pp. 327 n. 16.
• Tezcan, Baki (November 2010). The Second Ottoman Empire: Political and Social Transformation in the Early Modern World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51949-6.
• Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (1992). Padışahların kadınları ve kızları. Türk Tarihi Kurumu Yayınları.
• And, Metin (1994). Istanbul in the 16th Century: The City, the Palace, Daily Life. Akbank.
• Goodwin, Godfrey (27 January 2006). Private World of the Ottoman Women. London: Saqi Books. ISBN 978-0-86356-745-2.
• Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. p. 303. ISBN 978-975-329-623-6.