1 Hurram sultan

In this Ottoman Turkish style name, the given name is Hurrem, the title is Sultan, and there is no family name.

Hurrem Sultan (Turkish pronunciation: [hyɾˈɾæm suɫˈtan], Ottoman Turkish: خُرّم سلطان, romanized: Ḫurrem Sulṭān, Modern Turkish: Hürrem Sultan; c. 1502 – 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana (Ukrainian: Роксолана; lit. 'the Ruthenian one'), was the chief consort and official wife of the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history as well as a prominent and controversial figure during the era known as the Sultanate of Women.

Born in Ruthenia (then an eastern region of the Kingdom of Poland, now Ukraine) to a Ruthenian Orthodox priest, Hurrem was captured by Crimean Tatars during a slave raid and eventually taken to Istanbul, the Ottoman capital. She entered the Imperial Harem, rose through the ranks and became the favourite of Sultan Suleiman. Breaking Ottoman tradition, he married Hurrem, making her his legal wife; sultans had previously married only foreign free noble ladies. She was the first imperial consort to receive the title Haseki Sultan. Hurrem remained in the sultan's court for the rest of her life, having six children with him, including the future sultan, Selim II. She was the grandmother of Murad III.

Hurrem eventually achieved power, influencing the politics of the Ottoman Empire. Through her husband, she played an active role in affairs of the state. She probably acted as the sultan's advisor, wrote diplomatic letters to King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland (r. 1548–1572) and patronized major public works (including the Haseki Sultan Complex and the Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse). She died in 1558, in Istanbul and was buried in a mausoleum within the Süleymaniye Mosque complex

Suleiman the Magnificent

Roxelana, called Hurrem Sultan by the Ottomans, probably entered the harem around seventeen years of age. The precise year that she entered the harem is unknown, but scholars believe that she became Suleiman's concubine around the time he became sultan in 1520.

Hurrem's unprecedented rise from harem slave to Suleiman's legal wife and "queen of the Ottoman Empire" attracted jealousy and disfavor not only from her rivals in the harem, but also from the general populace. She soon became Suleiman's most prominent consort beside Mahidevran (also known as Gülbahar). While the exact dates for the births of her children are disputed, there is academic consensus that the births of her five children —Şehzade Mehmed, Mihrimah Sultan, Şehzade Abdullah, Sultan Selim II and Şehzade Bayezid — occurred quickly over the next four to five years. Suleiman and Hurrem's last child, Şehzade Cihangir was born with a hunchback, but by that time Hurrem had borne enough healthy sons to secure the future of the Ottoman dynasty.

Her joyful spirit and playful temperament earned her a new name, Hurrem, from Persian Khorram, "the cheerful one". In the Istanbul harem, Hurrem became a rival to Mahidevran and her influence over the sultan soon became legendary. Hurrem was allowed to give birth to more than one son which was a stark violation of the old imperial harem principle, "one concubine mother — one son," which was designed to prevent both the mother's influence over the sultan and the feuds of the blood brothers for the throne.[9] She was to bear the majority of Suleiman's children. Hurrem gave birth to her first son Mehmed in 1521 (who died in 1543) and then to four more sons, destroying Mahidevran's status as the mother of the sultan's only son.Suleiman's mother, Hafsa Sultan, partially suppressed the rivalry between the two women.According to Bernardo Navagero's report, as a result of the bitter rivalry a fight between the two women broke out, with Mahidevran beating Hurrem, which angered Suleiman.According to Necdet Sakaoğlu, a Turkish historian, these accusations were not truthful. After the death of Suleiman's mother Hafsa Sultan in 1534, Hurrem's influence in the palace increased, and she took over the ruling of the Harem.[16] Hurrem became the only partner of the ruler and received the title of Haseki, which means the favorite. When Suleiman freed and married her, she became the Haseki Sultan (adding the word sultan to a woman's name or title indicated that she was a part of the dynasty).

In 1533 or 1534 (the exact date is unknown), Suleiman married Hurrem in a magnificent formal ceremony. Never before had a former slave been elevated to the status of the sultan's lawful spouse, a development which astonished observers in the palace and in the city. It was only possible for Hurrem to marry Suleiman after the death of Hafsa Sultan. It was not because Hafsa Sultan was firmly against this unification, but because it was not allowed for a concubine to rise above the status of the Valide Sultan (Queen Mother). Hurrem also became the first consort to receive the title Haseki Sultan.This title, used for a century, reflected the great power of imperial consorts (most of them were former slaves) in the Ottoman court, elevating their status higher than Ottoman princesses, and making them the equals of empresses consort in Europe. In this case, Suleiman not only broke the old custom, but began a new tradition for the future Ottoman sultans: To marry in a formal ceremony and to give their consorts significant influence on the court, especially in matters of succession. Hurrem's salary was 2,000 aspers a day, making her one of the highest-paid Hasekis.After the wedding, the idea circulated that the sultan had limited his autonomy and was dominated and controlled by his wife. Also, in Ottoman society, mothers played more influential roles in their sons' educations and in guiding their careers.

After the death of Suleiman's mother, Hafsa Sultan, in 1534, Hurrem became the most trusted news source of Suleiman. In one of her letters to Suleiman, she informs him about the situation of the plague in the capital. She wrote, "My dearest Sultan! If you ask about Istanbul, the city still suffers from the plague; however, it is not like the previous one. God willing, it will go away as soon as you return to the city. Our ancestors said that the plague goes away once the trees shed their leaves in autumn.

Statue of Roxolana (Nastia Lisovska) in Rohatyn, Ukraine

Later, Hurrem became the first woman to remain in the sultan's court for the duration of her life. In the Ottoman imperial family tradition, a sultan's consort was to remain in the harem only until her son came of age (around 16 or 17), after which he would be sent away from the capital to govern a faraway province, and his mother would follow him. This tradition was called Sancak Beyliği. The consorts were never to return to Istanbul unless their sons succeeded to the throne.[23] In defiance of this age-old custom, Hurrem stayed behind in the harem, even after her sons went to govern the empire's remote provinces.

Moreover, remaining in Istanbul, she moved out of the harem located in the Old Palace (Eski Saray) and permanently moved into the Topkapı Palace after a fire destroyed the old harem. Some sources say she moved to Topkapı, not because of the fire, but as a result of her marriage to Suleiman. Either way, this was another significant break from established customs, as Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror had specifically issued a decree to the effect that no women would be allowed to reside in the same building where government affairs were conducted.After Hürrem resided at Topkapı it became known as the New Palace (saray-ı jedid).

She wrote many love letters to Suleiman when he was away for campaigns. In one of her letters, she wrote:

"After I put my head on the ground and kiss the soil that your blessed feet step upon, my nation's sun and wealth my sultan, if you ask about me, your servant who has caught fire from the zeal of missing you, I am like the one whose liver (in this case, meaning heart) has been broiled; whose chest has been ruined; whose eyes are filled with tears, who cannot distinguish anymore between night and day; who has fallen into the sea of yearning; desperate, mad with your love; in a worse situation than Ferhat and Majnun, this passionate love of yours, your slave, is burning because I have been separated from you. Like a nightingale, whose sighs and cries for help do not cease, I am in such a state due to being away from you. I would pray to Allah to not afflict this pain even upon your enemies. My dearest sultan! As it has been one-and-a-half months since I last heard from you, Allah knows that I have been crying night and day waiting for you to come back home. While I was crying without knowing what to do, the one and only Allah allowed me to receive good news from you. Once I heard the news, Allah knows, I came to life once more since I had died while waiting for you.[22]

Under his pen name, Muhibbi, Sultan Suleiman composed this poem for Hurrem Sultan:

"Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.

My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.

The most beautiful among the beautiful...

My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf...

My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this world...

My Istanbul, my Caraman, the earth of my Anatolia

My Badakhshan, my Baghdad and Khorasan

My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of mischief...

I'll sing your praises always

I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy.