Hürrem Sultan, Ottoman Empress

queens of the world kurim saltan of the ottoman empire [Music] hurim sultan used her allure cunning and love of poetry to orchestrate a meteoric rise from enslaved concubine to sultan's favorite suleiman the magnificent was so devoted to her that he married her and made her his empress once in power she did what she had to do including prompting murder to protect her sons and make sure that one of them would succeed their father to become sultan of the ottoman empire at birth she may have been named anastasia or alexandra lisowski she was the daughter of a priest and was born between 1502 and 1506 in the territory of ruthenia in what was then the kingdom of poland but what is now ukraine in her childhood she was kidnapped by crimean tartar slave traders during a raid on her village she was probably first taken to the slave markets in kapha on the crimean peninsula but the slavers realized that they could get a much higher price for the beautiful young girl by taking her to the capital of the ottoman empire constantinople there she became a servant in the household of the sultan's granddaughter anastasia or alexandra was given the persian name horem which means the cheerful one around the time she was 15 she was purchased by hafsa sultan as a gift for her son suleiman who had recently become sultan of the ottoman empire horim became one of the hundreds of enslaved women in the sultan's harem the ottoman harem or forbidden place was the home of the sultan's concubines and female servants but it was also the home of his mother aunts sisters daughters and sons until they reached the age of 12. this gilded cage was set in the center of the royal court and only accessed by a secret entrance inside the women lived in the lap of opulence and luxury it was called the abode of felicity because other than their liberty the women wanted for nothing the harem was a tranquil and stunningly beautiful building tiled in green blue and gold the women could lounge on sumptuous furniture and rugs and bathe in the placid pool in the middle of the complex they were given the finest food drink and clothing and musicians performed for their enjoyment the women of the harem were highly educated and had access to an impressive library of books and scrolls many of which contained drawings of the human form frowned upon by strict muslims they spent their days doing embroidery practicing skills of dancing singing and playing instruments and being educated by the older women in the harem the outside world of poverty and hunger was completely shut off from them and through their windows they could only catch an occasional glimpse of the sea it was forbidden for women of the harem or others to record details or even speak of their lives or emotions so we have little idea of what they actually thought of their prison of pleasures and the reason for the harem was the production of future sultans the sultan was considered outside and above the rest of society therefore marrying a muslim woman or foreign princess and fathering an heir by her would have tied the sultans both politically and by blood to mere mortals to maintain their elevated separation the sultans reproduced via their harem this gave them many more opportunities to father future sultans and enslaved women had few rights over their children as the quran forbid the enslavement of muslims the majority of these women were taken from christian parts of eastern europe russia greece and north africa to ensure that only the sultan was fathering children with his concubines the harem was guarded by eunuchs men who had been castrated some of these men were clean shaven meaning that all of their reproductive organs were removed they carried silver quills which they used to urinate in other cases their testes were twisted and crushed these men might over time regain some sexual function and there are multiple accounts of eunuchs having secret relationships with women of the harem to ensure that the sultan would not be cuckolded all of the eunuchs were dark-skinned africans so it would be clear if a concubine gave birth to the child of a eunuch contrary to the western fantasies of orgies and the sultan throwing a handkerchief at the woman he wanted that night the emperor's bedmates were selected by his mother she was the queen bee of the harem and she held the power to make or break the women in it the potential mothers of future sultans were chosen not only for their beauty and health but also for their intelligence as they would be the ones to advise their royal prodigy in the future those women that the current mother deemed worthy would be instructed to bathe in a pool below her son's apartment then he would have the opportunity to observe the women and make his selection hurim's striking beauty and unusual red hair caught the attention of suleiman the magnificent once chosen she was taken to the bathhouse and given face and beauty treatments her hands and belly painted with henna all of her body hair was coated in arsenic paste and scraped off with a muscle shell once cleansed the older women of the harem congratulated the lucky concubine and gave her tips for pleasing the sultan while dressing her in fine clothes and jewels the women and musicians would lead her to the door of the sultan's chamber a eunuch announced her arrival and once the sultan commanded her to enter she bowed before him and crawled from the foot of the bed to reach him while he was with her the musicians continued to play outside the door the practice was for the sultan to enjoy a concubine for a handful of nights but then move on once he grew bored of her or she became pregnant but harim charmed suleiman in some unknown way and he requested her again and again to the exclusion of all others in addition to her unusual ginger beauty harim had many other attributes which might have kept the sultan's attention after his lust was stated she had a pleasant cheerful personality and was brightly intelligent open-hearted and candid she was a lover of poetry and could recite a great many ballads this might have been what impressed the sultan who was also a great admirer of verse before long harim was firmly placed as his favorite this naturally evoked jealousy among the other residents of the harem particularly with mahira ron the sultan's old favorite and the mother of his eldest son mahirevran insulted khrem called her soiled meat hit her and scratched her face the next time the sultan called for harim she replied that she was unworthy of his attention as she was soiled meat intrigued suleiman called her again and this time she appeared scratches and all and recounted the attack by getting her side of the story to solomon first hurim further secured her own position and pushed mahidevron further out of his affection bahurim's greatest triumph was the birth of a son shezad or prince mehmed the harem had a strict convention one mother one son mothers were their son's most trusted advisors and each mother-son pair were partners in a deadly struggle for power when a sultan died the throne did not automatically go to his eldest son as it did in most european countries instead all of his sons had equal right to inherit they would race to gain power and support and the one who came out on top and was acclaimed the next sultan would eliminate his rival brothers by having them strangled once hurim gave birth to a son the sultan was expected to move on to other concubines but he remained captivated by hurrem over five years she gave birth to six children five sons mahmed abdul salem and chihangesh and a daughter mirima her youngest child chihangish was born with the disability of a malformed spine but by the time of his birth khurim had secured suleiman's dynasty and her own place within it destroying her rival mahi levron's position but the ottomans were unused to a sultan being devoted to one woman and rumors went about that hurim was using witchcraft to seduce solomon a pair of russian women with red hair were brought into the harem to try and tempt him from the path of fidelity hurim wept before solomon and he gave the new women away other eligible concubines were also given away as brides to top advisors sultan sulaiman composed this poem for his beloved throne of my lonely niche my wealth my love my moonlight my most serene friend my confidant my very existence my sultan my one and only love the most beautiful among the beautiful my springtime my merry-faced love the one only who does not distress me in this world my woman of the beautiful hair my love of the slanted brow my love of eyes full of mischief i'll sing your praises always i am happy fourteen years after their first night together suleiman did the unthinkable he freed hurim and married her in a magnificent ceremony he named her hatseke sultan and elevated her to the level of empress consort she was given an allowance of 2 000 aspers a day making her at the wealthiest woman in his empire both ottomans and foreigners were stunned that the sultan had raised a lowly enslaved woman to be his queen now called horem sultan she moved out of the harem and into grand apartments next to her husbands this flew in the face of the decree made a hundred years earlier by sultan mehmed the conqueror that no woman would be allowed to reside in the same building where government affairs were conducted horem sultan now had great influence on politics outside of the closed circle of the harem she built up her own diplomatic relationships particularly with king zigismund ii of poland ruler of her homeland hurum was instrumental in securing the polish ottoman alliance and peace between the two great powers she was known as roxalana by europeans probably in reference to her ruthenian origins huram secured the love of the people by commissioning a great many building works in service of the public she built several mosques schools fountains bath houses a woman's hospital near the slave market and soup kitchens which fed thousands of poor people each day under hurim's example other women throughout ottoman society were able to achieve greater influence while hurim was doing good suleiman was away conquering new lands and expanding his empire he sacked belgrade and buddha destroying the hungarian ruling class in the process then he held vienna under siege for a month but was forced to retreat all the while they were apart suleiman and harim sent love letters and poems to each other she wrote if the seas were to become ink and the trees pens when could they write an account of this parting there is no limit to the burning anguish of separation let my soul gain at least some comfort from a letter your sons and daughter weep from missing you horem also revealed in her letters her fear for the safety of her sons with the sultan away on the battlefield and his children growing into men the day when the rival heirs would face off for the crown was growing ever closer suleiman's eldest son mustafa the child of horem's old rival mahidevron was favored by both the army and the grand vizier ibrahim pasha ibrahim himself had been enslaved as a child but his wisdom and cunning soon saw him promoted to the position of vizier and the sultan's right-hand man the men worked and dined together and had a very close relationship suleiman gave his sister in marriage to ibrahim much to the annoyance of harem she made her dislike of the vazir plain to her husband but ibrahim made the mistake of growing arrogant he became wealthy incredibly quickly and it was harim who let her husband know of his corruption and acceptance of bribery the vizier bragged though i am the sultan's slave i could make a prince out of a stable boy and give kingdoms to whomever i choose and my lord will say nothing against it the sultan invited vizier ibrahim to supper in his chambers they talked late into the night and fell asleep out of love for his longtime friend he had him garrotted with a bowstring the style of execution reserved for princes so there would be no spilling of royal blood the next morning ibrahim's body was found outside the palace suleiman's sister came to him and blamed him for her husband's death and sulaiman ran to harim's arms for comfort without ibrahim favoring mustapha who rem's own eldest son mahmed stood a better chance of becoming sultan after his father but mahmed was struck down by smallpox at the age of 21. another of her sons abdul also died of the disease prince mustapha in his 30s was tall handsome and brave he was a warrior and a hero to the army and he looked the ideal candidate to rule the empire horim was terrified of mustafa taking the throne because that would mean certain death for her three living sons she made an alliance with a new grand vizier rue stem and married her daughter mirima to him rustem was in the ideal position to whisper slander against mustapha in the sultan's ear he told his master that his eldest son was plotting to overthrow him when mustapha heard these allegations he was horrified and rushed to iran where his father was camping with the army while on campaign he came into suleiman's tent but before he had a chance to defend himself guards seized him and strangled him while his father cheered them on hurrem was widely blamed for the murder of the popular prince now nothing stood in the way of one of harem's sons becoming the next sultan but which one her youngest son chihangish died of grief following his half-brother's murder this left two brothers selem and baisit as rivals for the throne horem knew that for one of her precious children the future would hold power majesty and the throne of one of the greatest empires in history and for the other death at the end of a bowstring perhaps then it was fortunate that harem did not live to see her son's fight to the death over the crown in her 50s she fell seriously ill her husband of 38 years kept vigil at her bedside until she died on april 15 1558 following her death baezid took up arms against his father and brother and the sultan had him executed as a traitor suleiman became devoutly religious morbid and deeply depressed the emperor who had once dined on golden platters and changed his silk garments multiple times a day took to eating from an earthenware bowl and wearing clothes of plain linen after pining for his lost love for eight years suleiman the magnificent joined her in death and was buried with her in suleimoniae mosque their son became sultan selem ii though she had dedicated much of her life to making sure one of her sons became the next sultan horem inadvertently ushered in a new era of the rule of sultanas for the next century the sultanate of women made up of the wives and mothers of successive sultans exercised more political and social influence and power than women ever had before or since in the ottoman empire most of these women like harim arrived in constantinople as enslaved concubines horem sultan was vilified in her own time much like her contemporaries queen elizabeth the first catherine de medici and mary queen of scots for being a woman who dared to claim power but she is still regarded as a role model of strength cunning and motherly devotion by women in turkey and throughout the world a special thank you goes to my patrons arya and kumiko yamazaki if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe comment your thoughts and check out my other royal history videos if you really want to help please consider supporting me on patreon a link is in the description thank you for watching

Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

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Keywords: history, game of thrones, documentary, royal family, royalty, queen, Feminism, Feminist, queens of the world, womens history, women in history, badass women in history, Hürrem saltan, hurrem saltan, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Queen of the Ottoman Empire, empress of the ottoman empire, Suleiman the Magnificent, concubine, harem, life in the harem, ottoman harem, eunuch, ottoman sultan, Muhteşem Yüzyıl, Magnificent Century, ottoman empire, ottoman history, 16th century, harem women

Id: VN29HpyO8-8

Length: 20min 39sec (1239 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 20 2021