Ayşe Hafsa Sultan

Ayşe Hafsa Sultan
عایشه حفصه سلطان

Bust of Ayşe Hafsa Sultan in Manisa, Turkey
Born A'ishā
1479
Died March 1534
Constantinople
Resting place Yavuz Selim Mosque, in Fatih, Istanbul
Known for Valide Sultan
Religion Islam
Spouse Ottoman Sultan Selim I,
Children Her son:
Suleiman the Magnificent;
Her daughters:
Hatice, Fatma, and Hafsa

Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, or in short, Hafsa Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: عایشه حفصه سلطان), sometimes also transcribed as "A'ishā Hâfize Sultana" in strict transliteration, (b. ca. 1479 – d. 1534) was the first Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) of the Ottoman Empire, wife of Selim I and mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Especially during the period between her son's enthronement in 1520 until her death in 1534, she was one of the most influential persons in the Empire, her son's de facto co-regent during these fourteen years, coming second only to the sovereign, a point remarked also by the ambassadors of European powers at the Ottoman court [1].

Contents

Origins

Although Ayşe Hafsa Sultan’s year of birth is known, however historians dispute that she was the daughter of Meñli I Giray of the Crimean Khanate. According to an alternative theory, the daughter of Meñli I Giray of the Crimean Khanate was another wife of Selim I known as Ayşe Hatun and this namesake was the mother of Beyhan and Shāh Sultâns, and consequently the stepmother of Suleiman the Magnificent.

Life

Having resided in the city of Manisa in western Turkey with her son, who administered the surrounding region between 1513 to 1520, the town being one of the traditional residences for Ottoman crown princes (shahzade) in apprenticeship for future power, Ayşe Hafsa Sultana is the initiator of the Manisa's "Mesir Festival", a local tradition still continued today. She also had a large complex consisting of a mosque, a primary school, a college and a hospice built in the city.

She was also the first imperial spouse to be called by the title usually rendered in English language as Sultana (full title in Turkish; "Valide Sultan", literally "the Queen Mother" but in only approximate terms in the Ottoman context). Her period signalled the shifting status of the sultan's mother and her increased share in power [2]. After the birth of her son Suleiman the Magnificent born on 6 November 1494 in Trabzon, she had also three daughters from her husband Selim I: Hatice, Fatma, and Hafsa [3].

Ayşe Hafsa Sultan died in March 1534 and was buried near her husband in a mausoleum behind the qiblah wall of Yavuz Selim Mosque, in Fatih, Istanbul. The mausoleum was largely destroyed in an earthquake in 1884, a reconstruction effort started in the first decade of the 20th century having been left discontinued, and her tomb today is much simpler than it was built originally.

References

  1. ^ Pietro Bragadin, Venetian Republic's ambassador in the early years of Suleiman the Magnificent's reign notes "a very beautiful woman of 48, for whom the sultan bears great reverence and love..." Leslie Peirce (1993). The Imperial Harem : Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire p. 62 ISBN 0195086775. Oxford University Press. 
  2. ^ Amy Singer (2002). Constructing Ottoman beneficence: An imperial soup kitchen in Jerusalem p. 90 ISBN 0791453510. State University of New York Press. 
  3. ^ Hafsa the daughter later married Dulkadirid Ahmed Pasha, grand vizier for ten months in 1514 - 1515 and, after his execution, a vizier and soldier of note, Çoban Mustafa Paşa.
    There were half a dozen notable female figures in Ottoman history who were named "Hafsa". Among these, it is Ayşe Hafsa Sultan who is referred to as "Hafsa Sultan" in short, "Sultan" in this case standing for "Sultana".
    A namesake also of primary historical prominence and who had preceded Ayşe Hafsa Sultan by about two centuries was the wife of the sultan Bayezid I and the daughter of İsa Bey, the last bey of Aydin, and she is generally referred to as Hafsa (Hâfize) Khātun. It is this earlier Hafsa who is at the origin of the final form the name of a town depending Edirne, Havsa, has taken.
    The word Hâfiz designates a male person who memorized the Qur'an, and Hâfize indicates that the person is female. Hafsa is the more common and easier to pronounce, especially when fastly discoursed, of this name.

Further reading

External links

Preceded by
Ayşe Hatun		 Valide Sultan
1520 - 1534		 Succeeded by
Nurbanu Sultan

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