Valide sultan

Valide Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: والده سلطان, lit. "mother sultan") was the title held by the "legal mother" of a ruling sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The title was first used in the 16th century for Hafsa Sultan (died 1534), consort of Selim I (r. 1512–1520) and mother of Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), superseding the previous title of mehd-i ulya ("cradle of the great").[1] Normally, the living mother of a reigning sultan held this title. Those mothers who died before their sons' accession to the throne were never bestowed with the title of Valide Sultan. In special cases, grandmothers and stepmothers of a reigning sultan assumed the title Valide Sultan.

Valide Sultan of
the Ottoman Empire
A bust of the first Valide sultan, Hafsa Sultan in Manisa, Turkey
StyleValide Sultanefendi
Residence
Formation30 September 1520
First holderHafsa Sultan
Final holderRahime Perestu Sultan
Abolished11 December 1904

Term

The word valide (والده) literally means "mother" in Ottoman Turkish, from Arabic wālida. The Turkish pronunciation of the word valide is [vaː.liˈde].

Sultan (سلطان sulṭān) is an Arabic word originally meaning "authority" or "dominion". By the beginning of the 16th century, this title, carried by both men and women of the Ottoman dynasty, was replacing other titles by which prominent members of the imperial family had been known (notably hatun for women and bey for men). Consequently, the title valide hatun (title for living mother of reigning Ottoman sultan before 16th century) also turned into valide sultan. This usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative.

Western tradition knows the Ottoman ruler as "sultan", but the Ottomans themselves used "padişah" (emperor) or "hünkar" to refer to their ruler. The emperor’s formal title consisted of "sultan" together with "khan" (for example, Sultan Suleiman Khan). In formal address, the sultan’s children were also entitled "sultan", with imperial princes (şehzade) carrying the title before their given name, with imperial princesses carrying it after. Example, Şehzade Sultan Mehmed and Mihrimah Sultan, son and daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent. Like imperial princesses, the living mother and main consort of reigning sultans also carried the title after their given names, for example, Hafsa Sultan, Suleiman’s mother and first valide sultan, and Hürrem Sultan, Suleiman’s chief consort and first haseki sultan. The evolving usage of this title reflected power shifts among imperial women, especially between Sultanate of Women, as the position of main consort eroded over the course of 17th century, the main consort lost the title "sultan", which replaced by "kadin", a title related to the earlier "khatun". Henceforth, the mother of the reigning sultan was the only person of non imperial blood to carry the title "sultan".[2]

Title valide carried before or after given name. Many westerner often translated their official title, sultan, to title which not exist in Ottoman royalti officially, sultana, possibly for distinguished them from Ottoman ruler and other male member of Ottoman dynasty.

Role and position

An Eighteenth Century painting of a Valide Sultan by Jean Baptiste Vanmour.

Valide sultan was perhaps the most important position in the Ottoman Empire after the sultan himself. As the mother to the sultan, by Islamic tradition ("A mother's right is God's right"),[3] the valide sultan would have a significant influence on the affairs of the empire. She had great power in the court and her own rooms (always adjacent to her son's) and state staff.[1] Valide sultan also traditionally had access to considerable economic resources and often funded major architectural projects. In particular during the 17th century, in a period known as the "Sultanate of Women", a series of incompetent or child sultans raised the role of the valide sultan to new heights.[4]

The most powerful and well-known of all valide sultans in the history of the Ottoman Empire were Nurbanu Sultan,[5] Safiye Sultan, Kösem Sultan and Turhan Sultan.

Most harem women who were slaves were never formally married to the sultans. Nevertheless, their children were considered fully legitimate under Islamic law if recognized by the father.[6]

List of valide sultans

The list does not include the complete list of mothers of the Ottoman sultans. Most who held the title of valide sultan were the biological mothers of the reigning sultans. The mothers who died before their sons' accession to throne, never assumed the title of valide sultan, like Hurrem Sultan, Muazzez Sultan, Mihrişah Kadın, Şermi Kadın, Tirimüjgan Kadın, Gülcemal Kadın, and Gülüstü Hanım. In special cases, there were grandmothers and stepmothers of the reigning sultans who assumed the title of valide sultan, like Kösem Sultan and Perestu Kadın.

Name Maiden Name Origin Became Valide Ceased to be Valide Death Sultan(s)
Hafsa Sultan
حفصه سلطان
Daughter of Crimean Khan Meñli I Giray.[7][8] or more likely a Christian slave[9]30 September 1520
son's ascension
19 March 1534Suleiman the Magnificent (son)
Nurbanu Sultan
نور بانو سلطان
Cecilia Venier-Baffo[10] or
Rachel[11]
Venetian or Jew or Greek15 December 1574
son's ascension
7 December 1583Murad III (son)
Safiye Sultan
صفیه سلطان
unknownAlbanian15 January 1595
son's ascension
22 December 1603
son's death
10 November 1618Mehmed III (son)
Handan Sultan
خندان سلطان
unknown[12]unknown[12]22 December 1603
son's ascension
9 November 1605Ahmed I (son)
Halime Sultan[13]
حلیمه سلطان
Abkhaz22 November 1617
son's ascension
(first tenure)
26 February 1618
son's deposition
(first tenure)
1623Mustafa I (son)
19 May 1622
son's reinstatement
(second tenure)
10 September 1623
son's deposition
(second tenure)
Kösem Sultan
ماه پیکر كوسم سلطان
AnastasiaGreek. Born on Tinos, Republic of Venice10 September 1623
son's ascension
2 September 1651Murad IV (son)
Ibrahim (son)
Mehmed IV (grandson)
Turhan Sultan

ترخان خدیجه سلطان

Ruthenian2 September 1651
mother-in-law's death
4 August 1683Mehmed IV (son)
Aşub Sultan

صالحه دل آشوب سلطان

unknown[12]unknown[12]8 November 1687
son's ascension
4 December 1689Suleiman II (son)
Rabia Gülnuş Sultan

رابعه گلنوش سلطان

Evmania VoriaGreek6 February 1695
son's ascension
6 November 1715Mustafa II (son)
Ahmed III (son)
Saliha Sultan

صالحه سلطان

unknown[12]unknown[12]20 September 1730
son's ascension
21 September 1739Mahmud I (son)
Şehsuvar Sultan

شهسوار سلطان

Russian[12]13 December 1754
son's ascension
April 1756Osman III (son)
Mihrişah Sultan

مهر شاه سلطان

Daughter of Georgian Orthodox priest[14]7 April 1789
son's ascension
16 October 1805Selim III (son)
Sineperver Sultan

سینه پرور سلطان

Bulgarian29 May 1807
son's ascension
28 July 1808
son's deposition
11 December 1828Mustafa IV (son)[15]
Nakşidil Sultan

نقش دل سلطان

unknownGeorgian28 July 1808
son's ascension
22 August 1817Mahmud II (son)
Bezmiâlem Sultan

بزم عالم سلطان

Georgian2 July 1839
son's ascension
2 May 1853Abdülmecid I (son)
Pertevniyal Sultan

پرتو نهال سلطان

HasnaCircassian25 June 1861
son's ascension
30 May 1876
son's deposition
5 February 1883Abdülaziz I (son)
Şevkefza Sultan
شوق افزا سلطان
VilmaGeorgian. Born in Russian Empire30 May 1876
son's ascension
31 August 1876
son's deposition
17 September 1889Murad V (son)
Perestu Sultan
رحيمه پرستو سلطان
Rahime GogenCircassian31 August 1876
step-son's ascension
11 December 1904Abdul Hamid II (step-son)[16][17]

Exceptional cases

Normally, living mother of reigning sultan held title Valide Sultan. But in exceptional cases, there were women who didn't hold this title when their sons became Sultan.

Name Maiden Name and Origin Son Note
Mahfiruz Osman II Privy Purse registers no Valide Sultan during Osman's reign. Apparently, Mahfiruz fell into disfavour, was banished from the palace at some point before Osman's accession, and never recovered her status. Banishment in disgrace would explain both Mahfiruz's absence from the palace and her burial in the popular shrine of Eyüb rather than in her husband's tomb. The Venetian ambassador Contarini reported in 1612 that the sultan, Ahmed I, had a beating administered to a woman who had irritated Kösem. Perhaps this woman was Mahfiruz.[2]
Reconstructed scene of a Valide Sultan and her attendants in her apartments at Topkapı Palace.

See also

References

  1. Davis, Fanny (1986). "The Valide". The Ottoman Lady: A Social History from 1718 to 1918. ISBN 0-313-24811-7.
  2. Peirce, Leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 0-19-507673-7.
  3. "Muslims can celebrate Mothers Day because honoring your mother comes right after worshipping God". Beliefnet.com. 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  4. Peirce, Leslie P., The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-19-508677-5 (paperback)
  5. Peirce, Leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195086775.
  6. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1980). "The Imperial Family of Turkey". Burke's Royal Families of the World. Volume II: Africa & the Middle East. London: Burke's Peerage. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-85011-029-6.
  7. Kasaba, Reşat (July 2011). A moveable empire: Ottoman nomads, migrants, and refugees. University of Washington Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-295-80149-0. Hafsa Sultan, the daughter of the Crimean ruler Mengli Giray Khan.
  8. Peter G. Bietenholz; Thomas Brian Deutscher (2003). Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, Volumes 1-3. University of Toronto Press. pp. 298. ISBN 978-0-802-08577-1. Suleiman i (Solymannus), known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the son of *Selim i and Hafsa Sultan, the daughter of Mengli Giray
  9. Alan Fisher (1993). "The Life and Family of Suleyman I". In İnalcık, Halil; Kafadar, Cemal (eds.). Süleymân The Second [i.e. the First] and his time. Isis Press. That she was a Tatar, a daughter of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, was a story apparently begun by Jovius, repeated by other western sources, and taken up by Merriman in his biography of Suleyman
  10. Godfrey Goodwin, The Private World of Ottoman Women, Saqi Book, ISBN 0-86356-745-2, ISBN 3-631-36808-9, 2001. page 128
  11. Valeria Heuberger, Geneviève Humbert, Geneviève Humbert-Knitel, Elisabeth Vyslonzil (ed.), Cultures in Colors, page 68. ISBN 3-631-36808-9, 2001
  12. A. D. Alderson, The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty, Oxford: Clarendon, 1956, p.83
  13. According to Yavuz Bahadıroğlu, Resimli Osmanlı Tarihi, Nesil Yayınları (Ottoman History with Illustrations, Nesil Publications), 15th Ed., 2009, page 245, ISBN 978-975-269-299-2, Mustafa I's mother is Handan Sultan.
  14. Y. İzzettin Barış (2002). Osmanlı padişahlarının yaşamlarından kesitler, hastalıkları ve ölüm sebepleri. Bilimsel Tıp Yayınevi. p. 184. ISBN 978-975-6986-17-2. Selim'in annesi olan Mihrişah, Gürcistan'dan kaçırılan bir papazın kızıydı
  15. Yavuz Bahadıroğlu, Resimli Osmanlı Tarihi, Nesil Yayınları (Ottoman History with Illustrations, Nesil Publications), 15th Ed., 2009, page 387 & 395, ISBN 978-975-269-299-2
  16. Brookes, Douglass Scott, The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher, p.287. University of Texas Press, 2008. ISBN 0-292-71842-X
  17. "Sultan II. Abdülhamid Han". Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Retrieved 2009-02-06.

Further reading

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