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Handan Sultan

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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
Bornc. 1565/1568[citation needed]
Sanjak of Bosnia, Rumelia, Ottoman Empire
Died(1605-11-09)9 November 1605
(aged 37-40)
Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Burial
Mehmed III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul
ConsortMehmed III
IssueFatma Sultan
Şehzade Selim
Şehzade Süleyman
Ayşe Sultan
Ahmed I
ReligionSunni Islam (converted)

Handan Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: خندان سلطان, "smiling"; c. 1565/1568 - 9 November 1605) was a consort of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III, and mother and Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Ahmed I. She acted as de facto regent during her tenure from 1603 to 1605. Handan Sultan was one of the prominent women during the era known as the Sultanate of Women and lived during the reign of three ottoman Sultans: Murad III, Mehmed III and Ahmet I.

Early life

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According to the Venetian bailo Francesco Contarini, Handan was of Bosnian origin.[1]

She was an enslaved servant in the household of Cerrah Mehmed Pasha, the Beylerbey of the Rumelia Eyalet, and his wife 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 Şehzade Mehmed in 1582.[2][3]

In 1583, Prince Mehmed (later Sultan Mehmed III), was appointed the sancak-bey of Saruhan, and as a parting gift, Mehmed Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan, decided to gift Handan, on account of her beauty, into his harem as concubine, in an effort to solidify their political alliance. Handan became one of Mehmed's esteemed concubines in Manisa having possibly given birth to two sons, other than Ahmed I, Prince Selim and Prince Süleyman, and two daughters.[2][3][4] Handan had an ally in Raziye Hatun, a harem staff member who had helped her to became Mehmed's favorite.

When Mehmed ascended the throne after his father's death in 1595, Handan, as well as the rest of the harem, came with him. An epidemic ravaged the capital between 1597 and 1598, killing Handan's eldest son, Prince Selim. Then another illness killed her second son, Prince Süleyman, in 1602. In addition to mourning, Handan also had to deal with the fact that it was no longer her son the eldest (and so the heir) Prince, but the son of her rival Halime, Şehzade Mahmud. Handan would do anything to keep her only remained son, Şehzade Ahmed, alive, so she allied herself with Safiye Sultan, even if she and Safiye didn't really like each other.[5] Within the final years of Mehmed's sultanate, the rivalry between Safiye and Handan, against Halime, continued to increase into a fierce competition.[6]

In the end, Mehmed, under pressure from Safiye Sultan, executed Prince Mahmud, in 1603, making Şehzade Ahmed the heir and Handan his Baş Hatun.[5] According to Bailo Contarini, Handan Sultan supported Safiye's efforts to have Prince Mahmud killed.[7]

As Valide Sultan

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Ahmed's accession

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When Ahmed ascended the throne following Mehmed III's death on 22 December 1603, Handan became the Valide Sultan. As the mother of the new sultan, she received 1,000 aspers a day.[8] On Friday 9 January 1604, 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.[9] 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.[10]

As de facto co-regent

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Unlike other Valide Sultans, Handan Sultan gathered her family members in the Imperial palace and the capital. She took her sisters into the harem and her brother, Geysudar Mustafa, entered the dervish lodge of Mahmud Hüdayi.[5][page needed][11]

Handan Sultan acted as the de facto co-regent of her son from 1603 till her death in 1605, along with Mustafa Efendi, the royal tutor:[12] she was the first Valide to act as such (even if unofficially), although it has always been mistakenly reported that the first Valide to act as a ruler was Kösem Sultan.[13][5][verification needed] The administrative level formed by Handan Sultan carried out an effective policy in the first years of her son's reign.[4][page needed] She was the most influential person in the first two years of Ahmed I's reign[14][failed verification] and she always attended meetings of government and personally met with her trustees to discuss and decide on the state, and as Venetian bailo Bon reported in late 1604, her influence over the Sultan, the power and the protection she had over him increased as she made decisions on his behalf.[15]

As the Valide Sultan, Handan protected the life of Şehzade Mustafa (second son of her ancient rival Halime), who was mentally ill, and the decision whether or not to kill him because of the law of fratricide was continually postponed by Handan: in November 1604, Şehzade Osman, first son of Ahmed I, was born, definitively dropping out his possible killing.[16][17][full citation needed] In any case, Handan may have insisted on her son to spare Mustafa's life.[18] According to Godfrey Goodwin - who based himself on a report by Venetian representative in Instabul Ottavio Bon - the Valide Sultan brought down the law of fratricide during her son's reign.[19] As a sign of Handan's presence for Mustafa is the fact that he was seen with her in 1604 at least one time, spending time together.[20]

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).[21][22] 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.[23] 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,[24] and consequently, she ordered his servants to control and supervise him when she couldn't.[25]

She favored her fellow Bosnians at her son's court.[21][26] She convinced Ahmed to appoint Yavuz Ali Pasha as grand vizier,[27] and maintained a close relationship with him, especially during the first critical months of Ahmed's reign.[28] In spring of 1604, she and Mustafa Efendi ordered Ali Pasha to take command in Hungary.[29] 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.[30]

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.[31][32] Thanks to Handan's continuous support, he managed to become the first royal favorite of Ahmed.[22]

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.[33] 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".[34]

Charities and public works

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Handan Sultan made an endowment for the maintenance of her husband Mehmed III's tomb and the salaries of its employees.[35] She also made endowments in Kütahya, Menemen and Kilizman.[36][37] Between 1606 and 1607, after her death, most of the income of the foundation she founded continued to be transferred regularly.[38][page needed]

At the Imperial Palace, Handan had rooms built for the dwarf court servants, to whom she was attached. Also for them, she had houses and a real village built just for them, to ensure their well-being.[39]

Illness

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Sinanpaşaoğlu Mehmed Pasha, who had been married to Piyale Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan's daughter Hatice Hanımsultan in November 1598,[40] 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.[41][42][43] Handan, who was already ill at that time, was so shocked by the turn of events that her condition reportedly worsened.[44]

Death and aftermath

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Handan Sultan died at the Topkapı Palace on Wednesday, 9 November 1605 after a long illness, possibly a stomach disease.[45][46][47] Other sources declare that she was instead poisoned[48] (it is not known if by the sultan himself) or killed as a result of intrigue:[49] in support of this hypothesis, in a writing she is declared as executed,[50] but the true cause of Handan's death remains unknown.

At her funeral, large amounts of food and alms were distributed for the sake of her soul.[51] She was buried next to her consort in his mausoleum in Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul.[52][36] 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.[41] After Handan's death, Kösem Sultan, Ahmed’s favorite concubine and Haseki, took control of the harem for the rest of his reign, and became the highest authority in the harem.[53][54]

Issue

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According to the Venetian ambassador Leonardo Donà, Mehmed had five children with Handan, three sons and two daughters:[55][56]

  • 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 – 20 April 1597, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque);[57]
  • Şehzade Süleyman (1586, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 1597, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque);
  • Ayşe Sultan (c. 1587 – after 1614), married to Destari Mustafa Pasha, with whom she had a son and two daughters who died young. Some sources also suggest that she remarried Gazi Hüsrev Pasha. She was buried in Destari's türbe (Şehzade Mosque) with their children.[58]
  • Ahmed I (18 April 1590,[59][60] Manisa Palace, Manisa – 22 November 1617, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque);
[edit]

In the 2015 TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, Handan Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Tülin Özen.[61]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Günhan Börekçi (2020). A Queen-Mother at Work: On Handan Sultan and Her Regency During the Early Reign of Ahmed I. p. 53-54. La presente regina è di nazione Bossinese...
  2. ^ a b Börekçi 2010b, p. 93.
  3. ^ a b Börekçi 2009, p. 80.
  4. ^ a b Börekçi 2020, p. ?.
  5. ^ a b c d Börekçi 2009, p. ?.
  6. ^ Börekçi, Günhan (2010b); The Ohio State University (2010). Factions And Favorites At The Courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predecessors. p. 75. the rivalry between the party of Safiye Sultan and Handan Sultan, and that of Halime Sultan, spun out of control, resulting in the execution of the eldest prince of the dynastic family in mid-June 1603{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Börekçi, Günhan (2010b); The Ohio State University (2010). Factions And Favorites At The Courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predecessors. p. 74. According to Contarini, the Queen Mother had the open support of Handan Sultan in this scheme{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Peirce 1993, p. 127.
  9. ^ Shaw & Shaw 1976, p. 186.
  10. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 94.
  11. ^ Reşad Ekrem Koçu (2024). Aşık Ve Şair Padişahlar (in Turkish). Doğan Yayınları. ISBN 978-625-6210-90-5. Üsküdarlı Şeyh Aziz Mahmud Hüdaî Hazretleri'nin dervişlerinden Geysudar Mustafa padişahımız Sultan Ahmed Han Hazretleri'nin dayısıdır. Yani valide-i muazzama Handan Sultan Hazretleri'nin biraderi olur ki...
  12. ^ Börekçi, Günhan (2010b); The Ohio State University (2010). Factions And Favorites At The Courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predecessors. p. 14. Although there was no institutionalized tradition of regency at the Ottoman court, his mother, Handan Sultan, and the royal tutor, Mustafa Efendi, acted as de facto regents{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "Faal Bir Valide Sultan: Handan Sultan ve I. Ahmed'in Hükümdarlığının Başlarındaki Naibeliği Üzerine" (PDF) (in Turkish). Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  14. ^ Günhan Börekçil. İnkırâzın Eşiğinde Bir Hanedan: III. Mehmed, I. Ahmed, I. Mustafa ve 17. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Siyasî Krizi (in Turkish). p. 81. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018.
  15. ^ Börekçi, Günhan (2010b); The Ohio State University (2010). Factions And Favorites At The Courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predecessors. p. 137. Handan Sultan had significantly increased her authority over her son as well as her power at court. According to Bailo Bon words (late 1604): «The Queen mother is growing in authority with the Sultan every day, for hich one often sees of being with His Majesty, and the Pashas and other grandees who refer to her in all the things that they want from the Sultan. But she became aware and was instructed of the evil of the Former Queen [mother] that she went embracing the favor little by little in order to establish herself greatly and did not hear well of being new in this concept, because of the tender age of the Sultan, but one believes that one could be successful as any, and perhaps superior to the other».
    [Original document: «La Regina madre ogni dì va crescendo di auttorità con il Re per che si vede spesso esser con la Maestà Sua, et li Bassà et altri grandi fanno capo con lei in tutte le cose che vogliono dal Re, ma lei accorta, et instrutta dal male della Regina Vecchia va abbracciando il favore a poco a poco per maggiormente stabilirsi et non sente bene di esser adesso in questo concetto per la tenera età del Re, ma si crede che possi reusire al pari, et forsi superiore alle altre».]    {{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Enver Behnan Şapolyo (1961). Osmanlı Sultanları Tarihi (in Turkish).
  17. ^ ASVe, SDC, filza 59, fol. 69v (27 Mart 1604 tarihli rapor)
  18. ^ Alderson 1956, p. 10.
  19. ^ Ottaviano Bon (1996). The Sultan's Seraglio. Saqi Books. p. 12. ISBN 978-0863562150. ...it is possible that it was Ahmet's mother, Handan Valide, who ended the Ottoman law of fratricide that had been introduced in the fifteenth century by Fatih (the Conqueror) Mehmet Il in order to avoid a struggle for the accession on a sultan's death...
  20. ^ Börekçi, Günhan (2009); Ohio State University (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 (in Turkish). p. 73-74. Kuvvet-le muhtemel saraydaki muhbirlerinden aldığı bilgiyi aynen akta-ran Contarini, böylece Mustafa'nın doğum tarihinin tam üç ya-şını doldurduğu ve dört yaşına girdiğini varsayarsak- 1601 senesi civarında olması gerektiğini ifade etmektedir. Fakat bizim için daha önemlisi, Contarini'nin dokuz ay sonra bir tesadüf eseri Mustafa'yı şahsen görmüş olmasıdır. 18 Eylül 1604 tarihli rapo-runda yazdığına göre, bir gün Topkapı Sarayı'ndan evine döner-ken, Handan Vâlide Sultan'ın alayına denk gelmiş ve vâlide sulta-nın yanında olan Mustafa'ya bakma şansı olmuştu. Balyosa göre, Mustafa çok güzel bir çocuktu ve "bir küçük, masum koyun gibi büyütülüyordu, fakat yakında kasaba gitmek zorunda kalacaktı. "60 Contarini'nin bu tanıklığı, öncelikle bu vakitlerde şehzadenin hâ-lâ çok küçük yaşta olduğunu açıkça gösterir. Ayrıca, yakında ağa-beyi tarafından idam edileceğine dair ortalıkta bir beklenti oldu-ğunu göstermesi açısından da bu ifadeler önemlidir.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ a b Börekçi 2010b, p. 130.
  22. ^ a b Börekçi 2010a, p. 23.
  23. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 108.
  24. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 207.
  25. ^ Börekçi, Günhan (2010b); The Ohio State University (2010). Factions And Favorites At The Courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predecessors. p. 143. ...they arranged for Ahmed's intimate servants to keep an eye on him while he was out of their sight...{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Graf 2017, p. 153.
  27. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 131.
  28. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 136.
  29. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 216, n. 35.
  30. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 121, n. 104.
  31. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 205.
  32. ^ Peirce 1993, p. 237.
  33. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 137.
  34. ^ Peirce 1993, p. 237-8.
  35. ^ Peirce 1993, p. 210.
  36. ^ a b Uluçay 2011, p. 77.
  37. ^ Peirce 1993, p. 215.
  38. ^ Leslie P. Pierce. The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire.
  39. ^ Godfrey Goodwin (2014). Saqi Books (ed.). The Private World of Ottoman Women. p. ?. ISBN 978-0863567452. In the manner of the Renaissance, there were dwarfs at the saray. Handan built them a village and their own ship because she had an affection for them...
  40. ^ Ipşırlı 1976, p. 211.
  41. ^ a b Peirce 1993, p. 243.
  42. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 120.
  43. ^ Haskan 2001, p. 337.
  44. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 120-1.
  45. ^ "Joseph von Hammer, Büyük Osmanlı Tarihi, 8. Cilt, Sayfa: 74" (PDF) (PDF).
  46. ^ Tezcan 2008, p. 351.
  47. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 124.
  48. ^ Godfrey Goodwin (2014). Saqi Books (ed.). The Private World of Ottoman Women. p. ?. ISBN 978-0863567452. She was disliked by her son who was, probably unfairly, accused of being responsible for her death by poison...It is more likely that she was poisoned due to Harem intrigue...
  49. ^ John Freely (1998). Istanbul: The Imperial City. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-0140244618. Handan did not enjoy her power for long...[...]...she was killed in the Inner Palace, probably in some Harem intrigue, though one source has it that she was poisoned by Sultan Ahmet.
  50. ^ Godfrey Goodwin (2014). Saqi Books (ed.). The Private World of Ottoman Women. p. 5 (family tree). ISBN 978-0863567452. ...Handan (exec. 1605)...
  51. ^ Peirce 1993, p. 196.
  52. ^ Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 301.
  53. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 21.
  54. ^ Ágoston & Masters 2010, p. 153.
  55. ^ Tezcan 2001, p. 329 n. 25.
  56. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 69 n. 107.
  57. ^ Table XXXIII. MEHMED III (page 206). A.D.Alderson "The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty". Oxford 1956
  58. ^ "Turkey5". www.4dw.net. Archived from the original on 2 May 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  59. ^ Börekçi 2010b, p. 85 n. 17.
  60. ^ Börekçi 2009, p. 81 n. 75.
  61. ^ Muhtesem Yüzyil: Kösem (TV Series 2015– ), retrieved 20 October 2017

Sources

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Ottoman royalty
Preceded by Valide Sultan
22 December 1603 – 26 November 1605 		Succeeded by
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