Kösem Sultan

Kösem is generally said to be of Greek origin,[7] the daughter of a priest on the island of Tinos whose maiden name was Anastasia,[8][9][10] but these views do not seem reliable.[1] She was bought as a slave by the Bosnian Beylerbey, and sent, at the age of fifteen, to the [harem] of Sultan Ahmed I. Upon her conversion to Islam, her name was changed to Mahpeyker ("Moon-Faced" in Persian, meaning "beautiful"),[11] and later by Sultan Ahmed I to Kösem,[12] meaning "leader of the herd", indicating Kösem's leadership and political intelligence.

Kösem rose to prominence early in Ahmed's reign as part of a series of changes to the hierarchy of the imperial harem. Safiye Sultan, Ahmed's once-powerful grandmother and manager of the harem, was deprived of power and banished to the Old Palace (Eski Saray) in January 1604, and Handan Sultan, Ahmed's mother and Valide Sultan, died in November of the following year. These two vacancies allowed Kösem to rise to the top of the imperial harem hierarchy from her previous position as the Sultan's second or third concubine.[4]

As a Haseki Sultan to Ahmed I Kösem was considered his favorite consort and gave birth to many of his children.[4] During her time as haseki sultan she received 1,000 aspers a day.[13] As the mother to a number of princesses she had the right to arrange their marriages which were of political use.[4] Venetian ambassador Simon Contarini mentions Kösem in his report in 1612 and portrays her as:

"[A woman] of beauty and shrewdness, and furthermore ... of many talents, she sings excellently, whence she continues to be extremely well loved by the king ... Not that she is respected by all, but she is listened to in some matters and is the favorite of the king, who wants her beside him continually."[4]

Contarini reported in 1612 that the Sultan ordered a woman to be beaten for having irritated Kösem. She may have been Kösem's fellow consort Mahfiruz, mother of Ahmed's eldest son Osman.[14] Kösem also made efforts to keep her brother-in-law Mustafa safe from execution, and may have regarded Mahfiruz as a rival intent on lobbying in favor of her own son.[14] After Mahfiruz's apparent expulsion from the palace, probably in the mid-1610s, Kösem and Osman grew fond of each other. She used to let him join her in carriage rides where he showed himself to the crowd, but once this came to Ahmed's attention he forbade any conversation between them.[15]

Kösem's influence over the Sultan increased in the following years and it is said that she acted as one of his advisers.[4] However, she refrained from involving herself constantly in serious issues as the Sultan refused to be overshadowed by his wife.[4] Kösem is sometimes accused of trying to save her own position and influence throughout her long career "rather than that of the sultan or of the dynasty".[16]

Kösem also had a long career as a guardian of şehzades. It is possible that the significant modifications in the pattern of succession to the throne during Ahmed's time owed something to her efforts. She must have realized the personal gain that might stem from the transition to seniority coupled with the fact that she was no longer haseki but had a son "in waiting". According to the Venetian ambassador, Kösem "lobbied to spare Mustafa the fate of fratricide with the ulterior goal of saving her own son from the same fate."[17]

Like his parents, Ahmed died at a young age (27 years) on 22 November 1617. This made Kösem lose her position in Topkapi Palace and she retired in the Old Palace during the reign of her brother-in-law Mustafa I and step-son Osman II.

Due to the emergence of seniority as the principle of succession, which meant that a prince's mother might mark time in the Old Palace between the death of her master and the accession of her son, Kösem was able to maintain her Haseki status and daily stipend of 1,000 aspers during her retirement there;[18] still, after the end of Kösem's tenure as haseki, the position lost its prominence.[16]

In 1619, her step-son Osman II paid her a three-day visit at the Old Palace, thus manifesting his special fondness for her. Even if their relation was cultivated, though, it did not yield consequential results for the young sultan, whose most exceptional weakness was the lack of a valide sultan to lobby in his favour.[15]

Murder of Kösem Sultan engraving by Paul Rycaut, 1694

It was Mehmed IV's mother, Turhan, who proved to be Kösem's nemesis. When she was about 12 years old, Turhan was sent to the Topkapı Palace as a gift from the khan of Crimea to Kösem Sultan.[25][26] It was probably Kösem Sultan who gave Turhan to Ibrahim as a concubine. Turhan turned out to be too ambitious a woman to lose such a high position without a fight. In her struggle to become valide sultan, Turhan was supported by the chief black eunuch in her household and the grand vizier, while Kösem was supported by the Janissary Corps. Although Kösem's position as valide was seen as the best for the government, the people resented the influence of the Janissaries on the government.[27]

In this power struggle, Kösem planned to dethrone Mehmed and replace him with another young grandson. According to one historian, this switching had more to do with replacing an ambitious daughter-in-law with one who was more easily controlled. The plan was unsuccessful as it was reported to Turhan by Meleki Hatun, one of Kösem's slaves, that Kösem was said to be plotting Mehmed's removal and replacement by another grandson with a more pliant mother.[27] Whether Turhan sanctioned it or not, Kösem Sultan was murdered three years after becoming regent for her young grandson. It is rumoured that Turhan ordered Kösem's assassination. Furthermore, some have speculated that Kösem was strangled with a curtain by the chief black eunuch of the harem, Tall Suleiman. The Ottoman renegade Bobovi, relying on an informant in the harem, states that Kösem was strangled with her own hair.[28]

After her death her body was taken from Topkapi to the Old Palace (Eski Sarayı) and then buried in the mausoleum of her husband Ahmed I.[29]

Kösem made charities and donations both for people and ruling class in the state. She visited the prisons every year, paid the debts of imprisoned people, supplied the trousseaus of daughters of poor families and servant girls trained by her, wedded them and won their confidence. She had Çinili Mosque (tr) and a school near it constructed in Üsküdar in 1640 and she also had the small mosques and fountain of the Valide madrasa of Anadolu Kavağı, fountain in Yenikapı, Valide Han mosques, fountains in Beşiktaş and Eyüp and Valide Caravanserai in Çakmakçilar Yokuşu built. It is also known that she had also laid fountains built outside the city of Istanbul.[30]

She financed irrigation works in Egypt and provided relief for the poor people of Mecca. 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.

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

Kösem's sons were:

• Murad IV[31][32] (26/27 July 1612 – 8 February 1640), sultan from 20 January 1623 until his death
• Şehzade Süleyman[31][4] (1613 – murdered 27 July 1635).
• Şehzade Kasım[31][32] (early 1614 – 17 February 1638), heir apparent since 1635
• Ibrahim[31][32] (5 November 1615 – 18 August 1648), sultan from 9 February 1640 until 12 August 1648

She may also have been the mother of Şehzade Mehmed (8 March 1605 – murdered 12 January 1621), according to Baki Tezcan,[33] though he is generally not believed to have been Kösem's son.

Kösem's daughters were:[31][32]

• Gevherhan Sultan[31][34]
• Ayşe Sultan[31][4]
• Fatma Sultan[31][34]
• Hanzade Sultan[34]

• Genç Osman ve Sultan Murat Han (1962) movie, starring Muhterem Nur as Kösem Sultan
• IV. Murat (1980) TV series, starring Ayten Gökçer as Kösem Sultan
• Istanbul Kanatlarımın Altında (1996) movie, starring Zuhal Olcay as Kösem Sultan
• Ankara Theatre (2013–2014 season) Özlem Ersönmez as Kösem Sultan.
• Mahpeyker: Kösem Sultan (2010), starring Damla Sönmez (as young Kösem) and Selda Alkor (as old Kösem)[35]
• Tims Production produced a historical fiction television series following Muhteşem Yüzyıl, titled Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, starring Anastasia Tsilimpiou as young Kösem and Beren Saat[36] as adult Kösem in season one. In season two, middle aged Kösem was portrayed by Nurgül Yeşilçay.[37]

• List of mothers of the Ottoman sultans
• List of consorts of the Ottoman sultans

• Mansel, Philip (1995), Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453–1924; New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Imber, Colin (2009), "The Ottoman Empire"; New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
• Peirce, Leslie P. (1993), The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195086775
• Tezcan, Baki (2007). "The Debut of Kösem Sultan's Political Career". Turcica. Éditions Klincksieck. 39–40.
• Lucienne Thys-Senocak, Ottoman Women Builders (Aldershot: Ashgate 2006).
• Piterberg, Gabriel (2003). An Ottoman Tragedy: History and Historiography at Play. California: University of California Press. p. 271. ISBN 0-520-23836-2.