Valide sultan

Valide Sultan (, lit. "Sultana Mother") was the title held by the mother of a ruling sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The title was supposedly created by Murad III in the 16th century for his mother Nurbanu, superseding the previous epithets of mehd-i ulya ("cradle of the great").

Normally, the living mother of a ruling sultan held this title; mothers who died before their sons' accession to the throne never received it. In special cases, there were grandmothers, stepmothers, adoptive mothers and sisters of the ruling sultans who, although not officially holding the title, assumed the role of , like Mihrimah Sultan the most powerful and influential Ottoman princess, and Rahime Perestu Sultan.

Term

The word () literally means 'mother' in Ottoman Turkish, from Arabic . The Turkish pronunciation of the word is .

Sultan (, ) 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 (title for living mother of reigning Ottoman sultan before 16th century) also turned into . 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 (emperor) or 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. For example, Şehzade Sultan Mehmed and Mihrimah Sultan were the 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 , 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 the 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 , a title related to the earlier . Henceforth, the mother of the reigning sultan was the only person of non-imperial blood to carry the title sultan.

Role and position

thumb|289x289px|Painting of a ([[Saliha Sultan (mother of Mahmud I)|Saliha Sultan), by Jean Baptiste Vanmour.]]

was, in most cases, 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"), the would often 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.

List of

The list does not include the complete list of mothers of the Ottoman sultans. Most who held the title of were the biological mothers of the reigning sultans. The mothers who died before their sons' accession to throne, never assumed the title of , like Hürrem Sultan, Mahfiruz Hatun, Muazzez Sultan, Mihrişah Kadın, Şermi Kadın, Tirimüjgan Kadın, Gülcemal Kadın and Gülistu Kadın. In special cases, there were grandmothers, stepmothers, adoptive mothers and sisters of the reigning sultans who, although not officially holding the title, assumed the role of , like Mihrimah Sultan, the most powerful and influential imperial woman in the Ottoman Empire, and Rahime Perestu Sultan.

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="text-align:center"

!Appearance

!Name

!Maiden name

!Origin

!Became

!Ceased to be

!Death

!Sultan(s)

|180x180px

| align="center" |Ayşe Hafsa Sultan || align="center" | unknown|| align="center" | Slave of European or Circassian origin|| align="center" | 30 September 1520 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |19 March 1534 || align="center" | Suleiman the Magnificent (son)

||center|thumb|| align="center" | Mihrimah or Mihrimah Sultan

مهرماه سلطان

| align="center" | Turkish( by her mother roots she was also Polish or Ukrainians or Ruthenians ) || align="center" | daughter of Suleiman I, sister of Selim II || align="center" |1566

brother's accesion

| colspan="2" |25 January 1578

| align="center" |thumb|| align="center" | Afife Nurbanu Sultan Cecilia Venier-Baffo or Kalē Karatanou or Rachel Marié Nassi

| align="center" | Venetian or Greek or Jewish|| align="center" | 15 December 1574 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |7 December 1583 || align="center" | Murad III (son)

|155x155px

| align="center" |Safiye Sultan || align="center" | (?)Sofia|| align="center" | Albanian|| align="center" | 15 January 1595 son's ascension || align="center" | 22 December 1603

son's death

| align="center" |January/April 1619|| align="center" | Mehmed III (son)

| align="center" | Handan Sultan || align="center" | (?)Helena|| align="center" | Bosnian or Greek|| align="center" | 22 December 1603 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |9 November 1605 || align="center" | Ahmed I (son)

|137x137px

| align="center" |Halime Sultan || align="center" | unknown|| align="center" | Abkhaz|| align="center" | 22 November 1617 son's ascension 19 May 1622 son’s second ascension

| align="center" | 26 February 1618 son's first deposition 10 September 1623 son’s second deposition

| align="center" | after 1623 || align="center" | Mustafa I (son)

|257x257px

| align="center" | Mahpeyker Kösem Sultan || align="center" | Anastasía (?)|| align="center" | Greek or Bosnian||| align="center" | 10 September 1623 son's ascension || align="center" |8 August 1648 son's deposition|| align="center" | 2 September 1651|| align="center" |Murad IV (son) Ibrahim (son)

|192x192px

| align="center" |Hatice Turhan Sultan

|Nadia or Nadieżda(?)||| Russian, Circassian or Ukrainian|| align="center" | 8 August 1648 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |4 August 1683 || align="center" | Mehmed IV (son)

|160x160px

| align="center" |Saliha Dilaşub Sultan

| align="center" | Katrina or Katerina(?)|| align="center" | Serbian|| align="center" | 8 November 1687 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |4 December 1689 || align="center" | Suleiman II (son)

|215x215px

| align="center" | Emetullah Rabia Gülnuş Sultan

| align="center" | Evmania Voria Verzini|| align="center" | Greek or Venetian from the island of Crete|| align="center" | 6 February 1695 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |6 November 1715 || align="center" | Mustafa II (son) Ahmed III (son)

|219x219px

| align="center" | Sebkati Saliha Sultan

| align="center" | unknown|| align="center" | unknown, Serbian or Greek|| align="center" | 20 September 1730 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |21 September 1739 || align="center" | Mahmud I (son)

| align="center" | Şehsuvar Sultan

| align="center" | unknown|| align="center" | Ukrainian, Russian or Serbian|| align="center" | 13 December 1754 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |27 April 1756 || align="center" | Osman III (son)

|208x208px

| align="center" | Mihrişah Sultan

| align="center" | || align="center" | Georgian || align="center" | 7 April 1789 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |16 October 1805 || align="center" | Selim III (son)

|312x312px

| align="center" | Ayşe Sineperver Sultan

| align="center" | unknown || align="center" | Bulgarian, Circassian or Georgian|| align="center" | 29 May 1807 son's ascension || align="center" | 28 July 1808 son's deposition || align="center" | 11 December 1828 || align="center" | Mustafa IV (son)

|156x156px

| align="center" | Nakşidil Sultan

| align="center" | unknown|| align="center" | Georgian or Circassian|| align="center" | 28 July 1808 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |22 August 1817 || align="center" | Mahmud II (son)

| align="center" | Bezmiâlem Sultan

| align="center" | unknown|| align="center" | Georgian or Circassian|| align="center" | 2 July 1839 son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |2 May 1853 || align="center" | Abdülmecid I (son)

| align="center" | Pertevniyal Sultan

| align="center" | Besime|| align="center" | Kurd, Romanian or Circassian|| align="center" | 25 June 1861 son's ascension || align="center" | 30 May 1876 son's deposition || align="center" | 5 February 1883 || align="center" | Abdülaziz I (son)

|178x178px

| align="center" | Şevkefza Sultan || align="center" | || align="center" | Mingrelian and Circassian|| align="center" | 30 May 1876 son's ascension || align="center" | 31 August 1876 son's deposition || align="center" | 17 September 1889 || align="center" | Murad V (son)

|185x185px

| align="center" | Rahime Perestu Sultan || align="center" | Rahime Hanim || align="center" | Ubykh

adoptive daughter of Esma Sultan

| align="center" | 31 August 1876 step-son's ascension || colspan="2" align="center" |11 December 1904 || align="center" | Abdul Hamid II (adoptive son)

The title of Büyük Valide Sultan (Senior Valide Sultan) or Büyükanne Sultan (Grandmother Sultana) was created by Kösem Sultan and officially used only by her during the reign of her grandson Mehmed IV, thus limiting the power of Turhan Sultan who was deemed too young to fulfill the title of Valide Sultan.

{| class="wikitable"

!Appearance

!Name

!Maiden name

!Note

!Became

!Ceased to be

!Death

!Sultan(s)

|257x257px

| align="center" | Büyük Valide Mahpeyker Kösem Sultan || align="center" | Anastasía (?)|| align="center" | Following Mehmed IV's accession, she proclaimed herself as Büyük Valide Sultan || align="center" | 8 August 1648 – her death || colspan="2" align="center" |2 September 1651|| align="center" | Mehmed IV (grandson)

Term

Role and position

List of

See also

References

Bibliography