Valide sultan

Valide sultan of the Ottoman Empire
A bust of Hafsa Sultan, first Valide Sultan
Style	Valide Sultanefendi
Residence	Topkapı Palace Dolmabahçe Palace Yıldız Palace
Formation	1522
First holder	Hafsa Sultan
Final holder	Rahime Perestu Sultan
Abolished	1904

Valide sultan (Ottoman Turkish: والده سلطان‎) 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, consort of Selim I and mother of Suleiman the Magnificent, superseding the previous title of mehd-i ülya ("cradle of the great").^[1] Normally, this title was held by the living mother of a reigning sultan. The mothers who died before their sons' accession to the throne were never bestowed with the title of valide sultan. In special cases, there were grandmothers and stepmothers of a reigning sultan who assumed the title valide sultan.

Term

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

Sultan (سلطان) 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. According to a genealogical website, the formal way of addressing a valide is Devletlû İsmetlu (given name) Vâlide Sultân Aliyyetü'ş-Şân Hazretleri.^[3] 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.

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

Role and position

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"),^[4] 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.^[5]

The most powerful and well-known of all valide sultans in the history of the Ottoman Empire were Nurbanu Sultan, Safiye Sultan, Kösem Sultan and Turhan Hatice 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 Hürrem Sultan, Hatice Muazzez Sultan, Rabia Şermi Kadınefendi, Tirimüjgan Kadınefendi, Gülcemal Kadınefendi, and Gülüstü Kadınefendi. In special cases, there were grandmothers and stepmothers of the reigning sultans who assumed the title of valide sultan, like Mahpeyker Kösem and Rahîme Piristû (Perestû).

Name	Maiden Name	Origin	Became Valide	Ceased to be Valide	Death	Sultan(s)
Hafsa Sultan عائشه 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 1534		Suleiman the Magnificent (son)
Nurbanu Sultan نور بانو سلطان	Cecilia Venier-Baffo[10] or Rachel[11]	Venetian or Jew or Greek	15 December 1574 son's ascension	7 December 1583		Murad III (son)
Safiye Sultan صفیه سلطان		Albanian	15 January 1595 son's ascension	22 December 1603 son's death	10 November 1618	Mehmed III (son)
Handan Sultan خندان سلطان	unknown[12] / Helena	unknown[12] / Possibly Greek	22 December 1603 son's ascension	26 November 1605		Ahmed I (son)
Halime Sultan[13][14] حلیمه سلطان		Abkhaz	22 November 1617 son's ascension (first tenure)	26 February 1618 son's deposition (first tenure)	1623	Mustafa I (son)
			19 May 1622 son's reinstatement (second tenure)	10 September 1623 son's deposition (second tenure)
Mahpeyker Kösem Sultan ماه پیکر كوسم سلطان	Anastasia	Greek. Born on Tinos, Republic of Venice	10 September 1623 son's ascension	2 September 1651		Murad IV (son) Ibrahim (son) Mehmed IV (grandson)
Turhan Hatice Sultan ترخان خدیجه سلطان	Nadia	Ruthenian	2 September 1651 mother-in-law's death	4 August 1683		Mehmed IV (son)
Saliha Dilaşub Sultan صالحه دل آشوب سلطان	unknown[12] / Katarina	unknown[12] / Serb[15]	8 November 1687 son's ascension	4 December 1689		Suleiman II (son)
Emetullah Rabia Gülnuş Sultan رابعه گلنوش سلطان	Evmania Voria	Greek	6 February 1695 son's ascension	6 November 1715		Mustafa II (son) Ahmed III (son)
Saliha Sultan صالحه سلطان	unknown[12] / Alexandra[16]	unknown[12] / Greek.[17] Born in Istanbul	20 September 1730 son's ascension	21 September 1739		Mahmud I (son)
Şehsuvar Sultan شهسوار سلطان	Maria	Russian[12] / Serb[18]	13 December 1754 son's ascension	April 1756		Osman III (son)
Emine Mihrişah Sultan[19] امینہ مهر شاه سلطان			30 October 1757 son's ascension	May 1762[19]		Mustafa III (son)
Mihrişah Sultan مهر شاه سلطان	Agnes	Daughter of Georgian Orthodox priest[20]	7 April 1789 son's ascension	16 October 1805		Selim III (son)
Ayşe Sîna-Parvar Sultan عائشه سینه پرور سلطان	Sonia	Bulgarian	29 May 1807 step-son's ascension	28 July 1808 step-son's deposition	11 December 1828	Mustafa IV (step-son)[21]
Nakşidil Sultan نقش دل سلطان	According to a myth Aimée du Buc de Rivéry[22]	According to the myth, French noble cousin of Napoleon's wife Josephine. Real origin unknown.	28 July 1808 step-son's ascension	22 August 1817		Mahmud II (step-son)
Bezmiâlem Sultan بزم عالم سلطان		Russian Jewish[23] or Georgian[24][12]	2 July 1839 son's ascension	2 May 1853		Abdülmecid I (son)
Pertevniyal Sultan پرتو نهال سلطان	Hasna Khater	Circassian	25 June 1861 son's ascension	30 May 1876 son's deposition	5 February 1883	Abdülaziz I (son)
Şevkefza Sultan شوق افزا سلطان	Vilma	Georgian. Born in Russian Empire	30 May 1876 son's ascension	31 August 1876 son's deposition	17 September 1889	Murad V (son)
Rahime Perestu Sultan رحیمه پرستو سلطان	Rahime Gogen	Circassian	31 August 1876 step-son's ascension	11 December 1905		Abdul Hamid II (step-son)[25][26]

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	Period[27]	Son	Note
Mahfiruz Hatice	Eudoxia. Serb[18]	26 February 1618 (son's ascension) – 26 October 1620 (her death)	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 had had a beating administered to a woman who had irritated Kösem, perhaps this woman was Mahfiruz[2]
Nükhetsezâ	Georgian	29 May 1807 (son's ascension) – 28 July 1808 (son's deposition)	Mustafa IV	Since Ayşe Seniyeperver was the first consort of the deceased Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid I Khan, Nükhetsezâ was not allowed to be a Valide Sultan, because she was only Hanımefendi

Reconstructed scene of a Valide Sultan and her attendants in her apartments at Topkapı Palace.

See also

• Harem
• Seraglio
• Haseki Sultan
• Kadınefendi
• Hanımefendi
• Sultana (title)
• Ottoman Emperors family tree
• Ottoman family tree (more detailed)
• List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire
• List of mothers of the Ottoman sultans
• Queen Mother

Further reading

• Leslie P. Peirce (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-508677-5.
• Yavuz Bahadıroğlu (2007). Resimli Osmanlı tarihi. Nesil yayınları. ISBN 978-975-269-299-2.

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. RoyalArk-Turkey at the Wayback Machine (archived April 18, 2002)
4. "Muslims can celebrate Mothers Day because honoring your mother comes right after worshipping God.". Beliefnet.com. 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
5. Peirce, Leslie P., The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-19-508677-5 (paperback)
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. 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. p. 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. 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. According to some other sources, the name of Mustafa I's mother was undetermined, but popularly known with name Halime or Alime
15. İnal & Arşivi 2005, p. 27, "Siileyman'in annesi Sirp Katrin yani Dilasiip Hatun".
16. İnal & Arşivi 2005, p. 27, "Mahmutun annesi Aleksandra yani Saliha Sultan".
17. Meram 1977, p. 347.
18. Meram 1977, p. 355, "İkinci Mustafa'nın (Şehsuvar Sultan) takma adlı câriyesi Sırp kızı Mari'den doğan oğlu Üçüncü Osman", İnal & Arşivi 2005, p. 27, "Osman'in annesi Sirp Mari yani §ehsiivar Sultan"
19. Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. p. 303. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
20. 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
21. 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
22. Christine Isom-Verhaaren, Royal French Women in the Ottoman Sultans' Harem: The Political Uses of Fabricated Accounts from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century, Journal of World History, vol. 17, No. 2, 2006
23. Meram 1977, p. 393, "Bezmiâlem Sultan ... Rus Yahudisin".
24. Palmer, Alan, The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, p.106. Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1992. ISBN 1-56619-847-X
25. Brookes, Douglass Scott, The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher, p.287. University of Texas Press, 2008. ISBN 0-292-71842-X
26. "Sultan II. Abdülhamid Han". Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
27. The period that she had to be a Valide Sultan

Sources

• İnal, Günseli; Arşivi, Semiramis (2005). Semiramis: Sultan'ın gözünden şenlik. YKY. ISBN 978-975-08-0928-6.
• Meram, Ali Kemal (1977). Padişah anaları: resimli belgesel tarih romanı. Öz Yayınları.

External links

• Guide2womenleaders.com