Handan Sultan

Handan Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: خندان سلطان, "smiling"; c. 1568 - 9 November 1605) was a consort of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III, and mother and Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Ahmed I.

In this Ottoman Turkish style name, the given name is Handan, the title is Sultan, and there is no family name.
Handan Sultan
Tomb of Handan Sultan in Mehmed III's mausoleum
Valide sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Tenure22 December 1603 – 9 November 1605
PredecessorSafiye Sultan
SuccessorHalime Sultan
BornHelena
c. 1568
Bosnia
Died(1605-11-09)9 November 1605 (aged c. 36-37)
Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Burial
Mehmed III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul
SpouseMehmed III
IssueFatma Sultan
Şehzade Selim
Şehzade Süleyman
Ayşe Sultan
Ahmed I
Şehzade Osman
ReligionSunni Islam

Early life

Of Greek[1][2] or Bosnian origin,[3][4] her original name was Helen or Helena.[2][4] Handan Sultan was a servant in the household of Cerrah Mehmed Pasha, the Beylerbey of the Rumelia Eyalet. He was the husband of Gevherhan Sultan, daughter of Sultan Selim II, sister of Sultan Murad III, and aunt of Sultan Mehmed III. Mehmed Pasha was a surgeon ("cerrah") and had circumcised Prince Mehmed in 1582.[5][6]

As imperial consort

In 1583, when Mehmed was appointed the sancak-bey of Saruhan, Mehmed Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan decided to let Handan, described as beautiful, into his harem. Handan became quickly Mehmed's first favorite and gave him at least four sons and two daughters.[5][6] When Mehmed ascended the throne after his father's death in 1595, Handan came to Istanbul with him. She was allied with Safiye Sultan against Halime, Mehmed's second favorite and mother of two sons and at least two daughters, however she and Safiye didn't really like each other and Handan never was Haseki Sultan. Handan also had an ally in Raziye Hatun, an harem staff member who had helped her to became Mehmed's favorite.

Issue

Together with Mehmed, Handan had at least six children, four sons and two daughters:[7][8]

  • Fatma Sultan (c. 1584, Manisa Palace, Manisa - ?). She married the governor of Cairo, Mahmud Pasha, in the early 1600s. She married Tiryaki Hasan Pasha in 1604 and had a son and two daughters. When Hasan died in 1611, she married Güzelce Ali Pasha in 1616, until his death in 1621.
  • Şehzade Selim (1585, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 1597/1598, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque);
  • Şehzade Süleyman (1586, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 1597/1598, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque);
  • Ayşe Sultan (c. 1587 – after 1614), married firstly to Destari Mustafa Pasha, with whom she had a son and two daughters who died young. Some sources also suggest that she married Gazi Hüsrev Pasha[9]
  • Ahmed I (18 April 1590,[10][11] Manisa Palace, Manisa – 22 November 1617, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque);
  • Şehzade Osman (1597, Istanbul - 1601, Istanbul), is said by Agostino Nani to have been full brother to Ahmed. However, Nani often confuses Ahmed with Mahmud, Halime's son and Ahmed's half-brother. Therefore, there is a possibility that Osman could be the son of the latter. It must be said, however, that Ahmed gave the name of each of his blood brothers to one of his sons, but none of his half-brothers, and that his firstborn was called Osman.

As Valide Sultan

Ahmed's accession

When Ahmed ascended the throne following Mehmed III's death on 22 December 1603, Handan became Valide Sultan. As the mother of the new Sultan, she received 1,000 aspers a day.[12] On Friday 9 January, the former Valide Sultan Safiye Sultan, along with Şehzade Mustafa (future Mustafa I), were sent to live in the Eski (old) Palace located at the Beyazıt Square.[13] Soon after his succession, Ahmed wanted to express his gratitude to Mehmed Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan for the role they had played in bringing his parents together. By then, however, Cerrah Mehmed Pasha was old and ailing, and died on 9 January 1604. Ahmed, therefore, honored the late pasha's wife. He also named one of his daughters after her.[14]

As co-regent

As a co-regent, she immediately began building up her network of clients, and was actively involved in the running of dynastic and imperial affairs together with Ahmed's tutor Mustafa Efendi (died 1607 or 1608).[15][16] Ahmed several times announced his eagerness to go to war. It seems that Handan Sultan and Mustafa Efendi advised him to behave in this manner in order to give the public the impression that he was capable of ruling the state.[17] He also began to spend a great deal of time outside the palace, notably hunting or conducting incognito inspections, regardless of the weather. Handan Sultan quickly realized that her son could easily put himself in danger and thus needed to be closely watched.[18]

She favored her fellow Bosnians at her son's court.[15][19] She convinced Ahmed to appoint Yavuz Ali Pasha as grand vizier,[20] and maintained a close relationship with him, especially during the first critical months of Ahmed's reign.[21] In spring of 1604, she and Mustafa Efendi ordered Ali Pasha to take command in Hungary.[22] In August 1604, Ahmed ordered the execution of deputy grand vizier Kasim Pasha, and in January 1605 of his successor Sarıkçı Mustafa Pasha, and in both cases his decision was approved and encouraged by Handan Sultan and Mustafa Efendi, who were trying to rid the court of clients of Safiye Sultan.[23]

Because of Handan Sultan's influence on her son, Dervish Mehmed Agha replaced Bayran Agha as chief gardener in summer of 1604. Whenever Handan, Ahmed, and Derviş gathered in the palace gardens, she made Ahmed promise that he will not do anything contrary to Derviş's words and thoughts.[24][25] Thanks to Handan's continuous support, he managed to become the first royal favorite of Ahmed.[16]

Handan Sultan also acted as an intermediary between her son and other government officials. Any vizier who wanted to communicate with Ahmed had to submit his petition first to her.[26] The contemporary historian Ibrahim Peçevi questioned her wisdom, but legitimized her authority over her son by an old and popular saying "a mother's right is God's right".[27]

Charities

Handan Sultan made an endowment for the maintenance of her husband Mehmed III's tomb and the salaries of its employees.[28] She also made endowments in Kütahya, Menemen and Kilizman.[29][30]

Illness

Sinanpaşaoğlu Mehmed Pasha, who had been married to Piyale Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan's daughter Hatice Hanımsultan in November 1598,[31] was sent to quell the Jelali rebellions in Anatolia. However, he proved to be ineffective, and conducted himself so inappropriately as to arouse suspicions that he had turned a rebel himself. With Handan's intervention, he was forgiven by the sultan. He returned to Istanbul, and took up his duties as vezir. However, he was executed on 20 August 1605.[32][33][34] Handan, who was already ill at that time, was so shocked by the turn of events that her condition reportedly worsened.[35]

Death and aftermath

Handan Sultan died at the Topkapı Palace on Wednesday, 9 November 1605 after a long illness.[36][37] At her funeral, large amounts of food and alms were distributed for the sake of her soul.[38] She was buried next to her consort in his mausoleum in Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul.[39][29] Ahmed despite appeals of the viziers for the customary mourning for seven days, didn't postpone his departure from Istanbul on campaign against the Jelali revolts.[32] After Handan's death, Kosem Sultan took control of the harem throughout Ahmed's reign, and became the highest authority in the harem.[40][41]

In the 2015 TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, Handan Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Tülin Özen.[42]

See also

References
  1. Iyigun, Murat (2015). War, Peace & Prosperity in the Name of God: The Ottoman Role in Europe's Socioeconomic Evolution. University of Chicago Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-226-23228-7. Handan Sultan... Greek...
  2. İnal, Günseli (2005). Semiramis festival through a Sultan's eyes (in English and Turkish). Yapı Kredi Yayınları. p. 27. ISBN 978-975-08-0928-6. Ahmet'in annesi Yunan Helen yani Handan Sultan [...] Ahmet I's mother the Greek Helen or Handan Sultan
  3. Meram, Ali Kemal (1977). "Padişah anaları : resimli belgesel tarih romanı | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. p. 244. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  4. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 219.
  5. Börekçi 2010, p. 93.
  6. Börekçi 2009, p. 80.
  7. Tezcan 2001, p. 329 n. 25.
  8. Börekçi 2010, p. 69 n. 107.
  9. "Turkey5". www.4dw.net. Archived from the original on 2 May 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  10. Börekçi 2010, p. 85 n. 17.
  11. Börekçi 2009, p. 81 n. 75.
  12. Peirce 1993, p. 127.
  13. Shaw & Shaw 1976, p. 186.
  14. Börekçi 2010, p. 94.
  15. Börekçi 2010, p. 130.
  16. Ágoston & Masters 2010, p. 23.
  17. Börekçi 2010, p. 108.
  18. Börekçi 2010, p. 207.
  19. Graf 2017, p. 153.
  20. Börekçi 2010, p. 131.
  21. Börekçi 2010, p. 136.
  22. Börekçi 2010, p. 216, n. 35.
  23. Börekçi 2010, p. 121, n. 104.
  24. Börekçi 2010, p. 205.
  25. Peirce 1993, p. 237.
  26. Börekçi 2010, p. 137.
  27. Peirce 1993, p. 237-8.
  28. Peirce 1993, p. 210.
  29. Uluçay 2011, p. 77.
  30. Peirce 1993, p. 215.
  31. Ipşırlı 1976, p. 211.
  32. Peirce 1993, p. 243.
  33. Börekçi 2010, p. 120.
  34. Haskan 2001, p. 337.
  35. Börekçi 2010, p. 120-1.
  36. Tezcan 2008, p. 351.
  37. Börekçi 2010, p. 124.
  38. Peirce 1993, p. 196.
  39. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 301.
  40. Börekçi 2010, p. 21.
  41. Ágoston & Masters 2010, p. 153.
  42. Muhtesem Yüzyil: Kösem (TV Series 2015– ), retrieved 20 October 2017

Sources
  • Ágoston, Gábor; Masters, Bruce Alan (21 May 2010). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-438-11025-7.
  • Börekçi, Günhan (2010). Factions And Favorites At The Courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predecessors.
  • Börekçi, Günhan (2009). İnkırâzın Eşiğinde Bir Hanedan: III. Mehmed, I. Ahmed, I. Mustafa ve 17. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Siyasî Krizi – A Dynasty at the Threshold of Extinction: Mehmed III, Ahmed I, Mustafa I and the 17th-Century Ottoman Political Crisis.
  • Graf, Tobias P. (23 February 2017). The Sultan's Renegades: Christian-European Converts to Islam and the Making of the Ottoman Elite, 1575-1610. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-198-79143-0.
  • Haskan, Mehmed Nermi (2001). Yüzyıllar Boyunca Üsküdar, Volume 1. Üsküdar Belediyesi. ISBN 978-9-759-76063-2.
  • Ipşırlı, Mehmet (June 1976). Mustafa Selaniki's history of the Ottomans.
  • Peirce, Leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-195-08677-5.
  • Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları: Vâlide Sultanlar, Hâtunlar, Hasekiler, Kandınefendiler, Sultanefendiler (in Turkish). Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-6-051-71079-2.
  • Shaw, Stanford J.; Shaw, Ezel Kural (29 October 1976). History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume 1, Empire of the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1280-1808. Cambridge University Press. pp. 186. ISBN 978-0-521-29163-7.
  • Tezcan, Baki (2001). Searching For Osman: A Reassessment of The Deposition of Ottoman Sultan Osman II (1618-1622). (unpublished PhD thesis)
  • Tezcan, Baki (2008). "The Debut of Kösem Sultan's Political Career". Turcica. 40 (40): 347–359. doi:10.2143/TURC.40.0.2037143.
  • Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara, Ötüken.
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