#kosemweek

KÖSEM SULTAN WEEK | day 2: Kösem and Ahmed I

Although she was not the mother of Ahmed I's eldest child, Kösem quickly became his absolute favourite, outranking everyone else in the harem. She also received the title of Haseki Sultan at some point during his reign: a document dated between Handan Sultan's death in 1605 and the Grand Vizier's death in 1606 reveals that Ahmed I had ordered a daily stipend of 500 aspers for the "Hasseki Sultan". She may have become Haseki Sultan after she gave birth to her eldest son Mehmed.

In 1612, Kösem was described as a woman of "beauty and shrewdness, and futherniore ... of many talents, she sings excellently, whence she continues to be extremely well loved by the king.... Not that she is respected by all, but she is listened to in some matters and is the favorite of the king, who wants her beside him continually". In 1616, "she can do what she wishes with the King and possesses his heart absolutely, nor is anything ever denied to her." Nevertheless, she "restrains herself with great wisdom from speaking [to the sultan] too frequently of serious matters and affairs of state."

According to Kumrular, Kösem was Ahmed I's legal wife; her claim rests on a letter sent to Venice on the eve of Murad IV's succession in which it was stated that she had been very important for "the late sultan Ahmed" and that "he loved her and honoured her by marrying her".

“My skin has turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel.” 

KÖSEM SULTAN WEEK | day 1: early life 

According to tradition - but without actual contemporary evidence - the future Kösem Sultan was born as Anastasia, the daughter of a Greek Orthodox Priest. She was kidnapped by pirates and given to the Beylerbey of Bosnia, who then gifted her to the Imperial Harem. There she was given the name "Mahpeyker", meaning moon-faced. Since it is traditional for concubine names to be about the girl's personality or physical appearance, her name may have meant that she had a round face and possibly very white skin.

Mahpeyker may have been around the same age as the future Ahmed I who, according to Venetian ambassador Contarini, noticed her among his mother's retinue during the end of Mehmed III's reign. The two had a sort of dalliance before being discovered by Handan Sultan, who had the young concubine beaten up and sent away.

Mehmed III suddenly died at the end of 1603 and, with Prince Ahmed's ascension, young Mahpeyker was called back to the Imperial Harem, where the two "rekindled the old love".

Mahpeyker changed her name into Kösem right after becoming Ahmed I's favourite, said Italian traveller Pietro della Valle. Her new name meant leader, and he believed she had chosen it because she had managed to outrank the other consorts.

KÖSEM SULTAN WEEK | day 3: Kösem and her children

There is no general consensus on the number and names of Kösem's children. The number goes from the six suggested by Sakaoğlu to the eleven claimed by Kumrular; other than her sons who became sultan - Murad IV and Ibrahim - Ayşe Sultan (b. 1605/1608), Fatma Sultan (b. 1605/1606) and Şehzade Kasım (b. 1613/1615) are usually considered her children by all historians.

In 2001, Tezcan successfully demonstrated that Şehzade Mehmed (b. 8.03.1605) was Kösem's eldest child, and Hanzade Sultan (b. 1609) was most certainly her daughter as well. While it is not proven that Gevherhan Sultan (b. 1605/1608) was one of Kösem's daughters, she is sometimes considered as such. Some historians (Sakaoğlu, Kumrular and Peirce as well) believe that Şehzade Süleyman was - or may have been - one of her sons, but Finkel thinks that he was, on the contrary, Şehzade Bayezid and Osman II's blood brother. 

In her 2015 book about Kösem Sultan, Kumrular states that Şehzade Selim and Şehzade Orhan should be added to the list of the haseki sultan's children. Both of them are mentioned in a letter sent to Venice on the occasion of Murad IV's ascension to the throne as being currently alive and younger than the new sultan. Historian Erhan Afyoncu suggested that Selim and Orhan may have been Kasım and Ibrahim's second names but Kumrular does not believe that. The absence of the names of Kösem's known sons in that letter hasn't been explained yet, however. 

KÖSEM SULTAN WEEK | day 7: the death of Kösem Sultan

As time passed and the general situation in the empire did not improve, two factions formed both inside the harem and outside: one headed by the regent Kösem and her supporters, the other answered to Turhan Sultan, the mother of Mehmed IV. The presence of two valide sultans brought problems to the stability of the harem, as the eunuchs especially did not know whose orders they were supposed to follow. Each of the valide sultans had a Chief Black Eunuch, for example, who was supposed to oversee the whole harem. Naturally this created tension.

As Turhan Sultan had begun to acquire political influence as well, with the help of the black eunuch Uzun Süleyman Ağa and Grand Vizier Siyavuş Paşa, Kösem Sultan decided to change strategy: Mehmed IV was to be dethroned and replaced with his younger brother Şehzade Süleyman, whose mother - Saliha Dilaşub Sultan - was said to have been less ambitious and "not anxious to exercise the authority of the valide sultan's station".

Things did not go according to plan: on the night of 2 September 1651, Meleki Hatun, one of Kösem's closest servants, informed Turhan Sultan of her mistress' plot, and the junior valide's faction quickly acted. One of her associates, Ali Ağa, suggested that the Great Valide Sultan should have been killed.

According to Naima, Süleyman Ağa was able to gather a hundred men without alarming Kösem, who was caught by surprise when she heard his voice outside her chambers. The elderly valide sultan fled and even attempted to hide inside a cupboard but to no avail: she was discovered and dragged out of her hiding place. A man called Küçük Mehmed cut a curtain and used it as rope to strangle her.

The funerals of the former valide sultan, called by Naima "the martyred mother", were held on the same day, while the people of Istanbul honoured her with three days of mourning despite no official order had been issued by the Palace. Kösem Sultan was buried in the mausoleum of her husband Ahmed I, where she rests between him and her daughter Ayşe.

KÖSEM SULTAN WEEK | day 4: the first regency of Kösem Sultan 

On 10 September 1623, Mustafa I was deposed for the second time, and Prince Murad - only 11 years old - was proclaimed Sultan. Immediately, foreign ambassadors realised that the true power would have been in Kösem's hands: "he wilbee gouerned by his mother, who gouerned his father, a man of spirit and witt", reported Thomas Roe, the English ambassador. A Venetian dispatch dated 10 September, said about Kösem: "[A[ll power and authority [is with] the mother, a woman completely different from that of Sultan Mustafa, in the prime of life and of lofty mind and spirit, [who] often took part in the government during the reign of her husband."

A letter sent to Venice on this occasion clearly states that Kösem would rule in her son's name: "We have great hope and faith in the Valide Sultan, who - among all women enjoying the position - is distinguished by maturity and virtue of character."

The Valide Sultan and regent maintained an ongoing correspondence with government officials, in which she spoke for Murad IV. The Grand Vizier used to address her as my sovereign lady, an indication that her status was recognised by everyone at any level of the hierarchy.

During her first regency, Kösem had to weather through turbolent times: the Imperial treasury was suffering, units of the army rebelled, and even the plague striked. In 1625 Murad IV - maybe for the first time - vocally objected his mother's truce with Spain; the treaty was called back on the sultan's orders. In 1628, it was clear that the young sultan was tired of leaving power to his mother: he annulled the marriage of his sister Fatma to the admiral Çatalcalı Haşan Paşa (on whom Kösem had relied a lot) and neglected his mother-- sometimes not seeing her for days.

Kösem was worried sick: "My son leaves in the morning and comes back at night, I never see him. He won't stay out of the cold, he's going to get sick again. I tell you, this grieving over the child is destroying me. Talk to him, when you get a chance. He must take care of himself. What can I do-he won't listen." and "Caution him about it, but not right away. What can I do? My words are bitter to him now. Just let him stay alive, he is vital to all of us. I have so many troubles I can't begin to write them all. You must give him as much advice as you can-if he doesn't listen to one thing, he'll listen to another."

The disorders provoked by the dismissal of Grand Vizier Boşnak Husrev Paşa at the beginning of 1632 marked the end of Kösem's regency. The rebels murdered the sultan's favourite Musa Çelebi, the heads of the Regent's faction, and even demanded custody of the princes-- Murad's brothers. Deprived of her allies, Kösem finally relinquished power to her son.

KÖSEM SULTAN WEEK | day 5: Kösem Valide Sultan

Her regency ended, Kösem did not leave the public scene. She had numerous foundations to care for and, most importantly, she kept a watchful eye on the empire to protect Murad IV from any kind of threat. In 1634, she informed him to come back to Istanbul as soon as possible because the ulema had become restless over his decision to execute the judge of Iznik for a minor offence.

However, Peirce is sure that Kösem was not accorded the same degree of power precedently enjoyed by Safiye and Nurbanu: "The few indications of the relationship between Murad and his mother suggest a modus vivendi in which each respected the other's formal role. Kösem Sultan figured in public ceremonies, but she did not endow a mosque complex during her son's reign". This was probably due to Murad IV’s unique way of ruling: he exercised a total control on the government, similar only to Selim I's.

One of Kösem's duties was the protection of the dynasty, especially because Murad IV's sons kept dying in infancy. While Venetian ambassadors were certain that she may have been behind the sultan's decision to execute Princes Bayezid and Suleyman (who were not her sons), she strived to protect hers but partially failed: Prince Kasim was executed in 1638 while her youngest, Ibrahim, was kept alive only because of his precarious mental health.

Murad IV died on 8 February 1640 and it was exactly Prince Ibrahim who succeeded him on the throne. As the new sultan was inexperienced, Kösem took the reins of the government again. The valide sultan and the grand vizier, despite their tense relationship, governed well up until 1644, when Ibrahim suddenly had Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Paşa executed and his mother exiled from Topkapi.

Kösem Sultan therefore presumably spent the last 4 years of Ibrahim's reign in the gardens of İskender Çelebi, where she continuously received letters from the Grand Vizier and other echelons of the government. It's from there that she may have penned to Hezarpare Ahmed Paşa: "In the end he will leave neither you nor me alive. We will lose control of the government. The whole society is in ruins. Have him removed from the throne immediately"

KÖSEM SULTAN WEEK | day 6: Kösem, the Great Valide Sultan

On 8 August 1648, the Şeyhülislam and other statesmen wrote to the Valide Sultan that they were ready to depose Sultan Ibrahim. Kösem agreed to meet them at Topkapi Palace, where the discussion lasted hours. She berated the statesmen for having permitted anything Ibrahim wanted and not teaching him well, and she refused to deliver Prince Mehmed - the sultan's eldest son - to the rebels, who wanted to enthrone him in a mosque. The stalemate was overcome when she was addressed as umm al-mu'minin (mother of all believers); this meant that Kösem's maternal role was now extended to the whole empire. For its sake, therefore, she sanctioned the deposition. Ibrahim was sent back to the kafes and later executed.

Prince Mehmed was only 6 (7, according to the Islamic calendar) and it was clear to everyone that he needed a regent to govern. According to Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi: "… the elder valide requested permission to retire to a life of seclusion. But because the loving mother of the new sultan was still young and truly ignorant of the state of the world, it was thought that if she were in control of government, there would result the possibility of harm to the welfare of the state. Therefore the elder valide was reappointed for a while longer to the duty of training and guardianship, and it was considered appropriate to renew the assignment of crown lands to the valide sultan". Mehmed IV's mother, Turhan Hatice Sultan, was therefore passed over and Kösem was appointed regent of the empire once again.

Although a seasoned politician by now, Kösem still encountered obstacles during her second official regency. She accused the Grand Vizier, Sofu Ahmed Paşa of trying to kill her: "Thanks to God, I have lived through four reigns and I have governed myself for a long while. The world will be neither reformed nor destroyed by my death.", then she turned to Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi, a long-time antagonist of hers: "When certain imperial commands have been issued, they have said [to the sultan], 'my dear, who taught you to say these things'?' Such patronizing behavior towards sultans is impermissible! And what if the sultan is instructed?". Another obstacle, much bigger, was Turhan Hatice Sultan, who had started to gather a political faction around her made of statesmen who were dissatified with Kösem's policies but, especially, with the degree of power that she had allowed the janissaries to wield.