Gülbahar Hatun (wife of Mehmed II)

Gülbahar Hatun کل بھار خاتون
Valide-i macide Meliketü'l-Melikât Tâcü'l-mükerremât Fahrü'l-muazzamat Fatihetü'l-maeyâmin ve'l hayrat [1]
The interior appearance of the tomb in Gülbahar's mausoleum at the Fatih Mosque, Istanbul.
Valide sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Tenure	3 May 1481 – 1492
Predecessor	Emine Hatun
Successor	Hafsa Sultan
Born	c. 1432 Undetermined
Died	1492 Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Burial	Fatih Mosque, Istanbul
Spouse	Fatih Sultan Mehmed
Issue	Gevherhan Hatun Bayezid II (possibly step-son)[2]
Religion	Sunni Islam

Gülbahar Hatun (c. 1432–1492) was the Empress consort of Sultan Mehmed II, and mother^[3] of Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire.^[1]

Life

She married Sultan Mehmed II in 1446 at Manisa.^[4]

Origin

There have been differing views of her origin. The Ottoman inscription (vakfiye) describes her as Hātun bint-i Abdullah (Daughter of Abdullah), which means that her father was a convert to Islam. She was the real biological mother of Bayezid II.^[1]

• Albanian origin.^[5][6][7]
• Pontic Greek from Douvera in Trabzon.^[8]

Issue

There are differing views of her issue:

• She was mother of "Gevher-Han Sultan", who married the son of Akkoyunlu Sultan Uzun Hasan, "Şâh-Zâde Uğurlu Damad Muhammed Mirza Paşa"^[4] in 1474, and the adoptive/step-mother of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II.^[9][2]
• According to some other sources, on the other hand, she was the real-biological mother of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II^[10] as well.

According to custom, Gülbahar got the highest position as Valde Hatun in the imperial family after the sultan himself when her son, Bayezid II, ascended the throne in 1481 until her death in 1492.

In popular culture

In 2012 film, Fetih 1453, Gülbahar was portrayed by Şahika Koldemir.

Gülbahar's mausoleum at the Fatih Mosque, Istanbul.

Further reading

• Peirce, Leslie P., The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-19-508677-5 (paperback).
• Yavuz Bahadıroğlu, Resimli Osmanlı Tarihi, Nesil Yayınları (Ottoman History with Illustrations, Nesil Publications), 15th Ed., 2009, ISBN 978-975-269-299-2 (Hardcover).

Sources

1. Necdet Sakaoğlu (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak publications. pp. 110–112. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6. (The name of the real biological mother of Bayezid II is given as Meliketû'l-Melikât Gül-Bahar Valide Hâtun).
2. Yavuz Bahadıroğlu, Resimli Osmanlı Tarihi, Nesil Yayınları (Ottoman History with Illustrations, Nesil Publications), 15th Ed., 2009, page 129, ISBN 978-975-269-299-2
3. Diyanet İslâm Ansiklopedisi, p.234-238, vol: 5, 1992
4. The Imperial House of Osman - 3
5. Edmonds, Anna (1997). Turkey's Religious Sites. Damko. p. 1997. ISBN 975-8227-00-9.
6. Babinger, Franz (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-691-01078-1.
7. Bozbora, Nuray (1997), Osmanlı yönetiminde Arnavutluk ve Arnavut ulusçuluğu'nun gelişimi, pp. 81–82
8. Heath W. Lowry (1 February 2012). The Nature of the Early Ottoman State. SUNY Press. pp. 153–. ISBN 978-0-7914-8726-6. Mother of Bayezid II was Gülbahar Hatun (a Pontic Greek from the village of Douvera in Trabzon)
9. Sultan II. Bayezid Han, Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism, retrieved 6 February 2009
10. Necdet Sakaoğlu (2007). Famous Ottoman women. Avea. p. 69. The graves of Gül-Bahars are very well khown. First one - Gülbahar Hatun I is in Fatih Mosque in Istanbul and the second one - Gülbahar Hatun II is in Gül-Bahar Hatun Mosque in Trabzon. Only the grave of Aisha Hatun, who was the Fourth wife of Bayezid II and the daughter of Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey, the eleventh ruler of the Dulkadirids centered around Elbistan in Kahramanmaraş, is unknown. We do not have any documents about Aisha Hatun." He supports the theory of "Aisha Gulbahar". Another reason for this confusion is that Bayezid's mother was also Gulbahar.