#mihrimahsultan

While only a fool would blindly trust the word that came of unknown strangers, at times it was the only source of information you had to act on and if nothing else, it provided a starting point when venturing into strange waters. The sultana was undeniably something foreign, her language and her culture close to unknown to William, but fearing that wouldn’t serve England well. It was better to know the risks of strangers and the possible advantages of allies, if you asked him.

One of the few things he knew was that the sultana kept her hair covered and he believed that was a religious choice, perhaps something about honor or tempting men. Women staying chaste and being of upstanding morality wasn’t a foreign concept, so that piece of information wasn’t terribly useful beyond knowing the Sultana used different methods to convey her honor. 

Portugal’s beauty was something that grew every day in preparation to the Pageant and Cristiano had watched with no small shred of shining wonder in his eyes as things came together to form the perfect evening. 

There weren’t any fights, weren’t any declarations of war, and that was a good outcome even if the world hadn’t declared itself to be at peace unanimously. Considering how long it took to get everything organized for the Pageant, it was truly shocking just how quickly it was over, the night feeling as though it passed in the blink of an eye to  Cristiano, but the clean up of the remaining shreds of beauty was something that was almost just as quick. 

Soon enough, the only remnants of the loveliness of that night came in the forms of the guests that still lingered in Portugal, royals from various countries housed in different places, in the finest of homes that Portugal had to offer. There were some royals that Cristiano thought he would see more of than others, but he didn’t expect to be graced with one of the beauties of the Ottoman empire.

Hümaşah was born Manisa. She might be born in autumn 1543 during visit of Hürrem Sultan or she might be posthume child of Sehzade Mehmed. According to historian Alderson, her mother's name was Aya. It is known that Aya was married off to Pertev Pasha. After Sehzade Mehmed's death, Hümaşah and Aya Hatun moved from Manisa to Istanbul, Old Palace. Hümaşah was close to her grandparents and her cousin, Ayşe Hümaşah, daughter of Mihrimah Sultan and Rüstem Paşa. Perhaps, both girls were educated together. Both of them were close to their uncle Sehzade Cihangir. Apparently an outgoing personality, the teenage Changir was the perfect uncle to his nieces.

In 1566/1567 Hümaşah was married off to the third Vezir, Ferhad Paşa. The marriage lasted 8-9 years till Ferhat Pasha's death on 06. January 1575. The ceremony took place in the Old Palace. From marriage with Ferhad Pasha she had several children. The known ones are: Sultanzade Hüsni, Sultanzade Osman, Fatma Hanimsultan, Sultanzade Ibrahim, Sultanzade Mustafa. They had at least 4 more daughters but the names are unknown, probably because they didn't reached adulthood. It appears that some of the childern were twins. In August 1575, Hümasah remarried to Sokolluzade Lala Mustafa Pasha. But the marriage lasted also till Lala Mustafa Pasha's death, on 7. August 1580. They had a son Sultanzade Sokolluzade Abdülbaki. Her third marriage took place in 1581 with Gaazi Mehmed Pasha who outlived Hümasah. They didn't have children together.Hümasah sultan also educated and trained Safiye and presented her to her cousin Murad, son of Selim Il and Nurbanu. Safiye lived in Hümasah's household after her abduction but Safiye's role in Hümasah's household is still unclear.

Hümasah Sultan died in 1582, the cause of death is unknown. She is buried in Shezade Mosque. The Mosque was built in honor of Hümasah's father, Sehzade Mehmed.

Her children are also buried in Sehzade's mosque.

Out of all the conversations that William held on the night of the pageant, there were few that truly stuck with him as unexpected or notably pleasant. Perhaps that wasn’t overly consequential in the search for familiarizing himself with other countries in an attempt to help secure allies for England, but it did give him a preference in which he wished to seek out others yet again.

The Sultana Mihrimah was easily in the top three of William’s interactions and the fact so much time passed between the night of the pageant and his visit seemed somewhat surprising to him. Perhaps there were higher ranking people from the Ottoman Empire he should have been concerned about visiting, but it was hardly as if William was high ranking himself - he wasn’t even royal, only related to them.

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