According to legend:
Roksolana failed to achieve the abolition of the law adopted in 1478 "On fratricide." She fought this law all her life. However, in this matter, Suleiman the Magnificent, despite his boundless love for her, remained adamant. The ban on this law would allow Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska to consolidate her power in the palace, and she could actually be Valide Sultan all her life, retaining power over the Empire in her hands. Suleiman in this matter, one of the few, did not agree with Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. As a result, Roksolana was unable to carry out all her plans, in many respects this was also prevented by the early death of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. However, it was with Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan that the most destructive period for the empire in history began, which ultimately led to the collapse of the state - the Women's Sultanate. The women who appeared in the court of the Sultan after the death of Roksolana were able to achieve a ban on the “Fatih law”. This ban is the only positive moment in this historical period. In itself, the Women's Sultanate for the Ottoman Empire became a great evil, which destroyed the Empire.

Historical evidence:
There are many fictional stories and legends associated with the Fatih Law and the Women's Sultanate, these two historical concepts are so closely intertwined with each other that it is very difficult to understand them. Even more difficult than with the causes of the premature death of shehzade, who died in 1553. To determine the truth, let's turn to the prehistory of the appearance of these two phenomena and consider each of them separately.

In 1478, he introduced the law "On Succession to the Throne", the second more common name - the law "On fratricide" is not official, but more accurately conveys the meaning of this law, which reads:
« Any person who dares to encroach on the Sultan's throne must be immediately executed. Even if my brother wishes to take the throne».
Mehmed II introduced his law at the end of his reign. It was supposed to serve as a reliable protection for the heirs of Mehmed II from pretenders to the throne, opponents dissatisfied with the power, primarily from the relatives and half-brothers of the ruling sultan, who could openly oppose the padishah and revolt. To prevent such unrest, the brothers were to be executed immediately after the accession of the new sultan to the throne, regardless of whether they encroached on the throne or not. This was very easy to do, since it was impossible to deny that at least once in their lives, legitimate shehzade did not think about the throne.

The theory that Roksolana was making efforts to repeal this law appeared after the release in the late 1990s. on the screens of the popular Ukrainian television project "Roksolana", in which many events were fictional and not based on real historical facts, only the names of historical characters were accurately preserved. Of course, the position of the sons of Roksolana was very precarious, but scientists have not found any evidence that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan opposed this law and wanted to get it banned.

The "Women's Sultanate" or "Sultanate of Women", on the contrary, is a very real historical period in the life of the Ottoman Empire. Many researchers do not quite correctly when they connect the activities of women of this period to abolish the "Fatih Law" with Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, who allegedly also fought against this law. As a result, only on the basis of this assumption, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan is ranked among the representatives of the period of the “Women's Sultanate”, which, according to all the same researchers, should prove the detrimental influence of Haseki Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska on the fate of the Ottoman Empire. As for the "Women's Sultanate" itself, most historians consider this period destructive for the Empire and characterize it as a negative phenomenon.

These conclusions are extremely doubtful, since there are many real facts that prove that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska could not have become the first of the representatives of the “Women's Sultanate”, who, rather, embodied the ban on the Fatih law, than engaged in its formal abolition. So let's look at these facts:

Female Sultanate- the historical period of the life of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted a little over a century. It is characterized by the transfer of actual power into the hands of the four mothers of the sultans, whose sons, the ruling padishahs, obeyed them unconditionally, making decisions on domestic and foreign policy, national issues.

Historians still do not have a common opinion about what date is considered the time of the beginning of the Women's Sultanate. Some researchers who want to make the first woman from the Women's Sultanate give the date of its formation as 1541. True, it is not clear what guides these researchers, naming this particular date. Indeed, according to their theory, it was possible to name, for example, 1521, in which Hürrem was awarded the title of Haseki, or 1534, in which Aishe Hafsa Sultan died and power over the harem completely passed to Hürrem, or 1553, in which Mustafa was executed. It is not possible to understand such researchers.

But the writer Danishmend Ismail Khani speaks about the Women's Sultanate:
« The stagnation (collapse) of the Ottoman Empire was caused by reasons that manifested themselves in the days of its greatest prosperity. Once again, therefore, let me remind you that the Women's Sultanate is not the cause of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, but its consequence.».
This statement by Danishmand is quoted by many Internet and print publications. However, even if we do not take into account that this writer often expresses ideas of a nationalistic nature and claims that only the native Turks were able to make positive changes in the development of the Ottoman Empire, and the exaltation of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska is only the only exception to this rule, Danishmend's statement about the nature of the Female Sultanate can be considered erroneous and even meaningless, since it contains several obvious inaccuracies at once.

First of all, "stagnation" and "collapse" cannot be synonyms, since they denote different phenomena in the life of the state. Almost a century and a half passed between collapse and stagnation in the Ottoman Empire. Stagnation began in the empire after the end of the period of the Women's Sultanate, when the territorial and economic development of the country stopped. In addition, it is important to remember that all the representatives of the Women's Sultanate ruled for a very short time, they are also united by the fact that they all bore the title of "Valide Sultan". Naturally, Danishmend does not dispute these obvious conclusions, although none of them can be used to characterize Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan. She did not have time to become Valide, as she died 8 years earlier. It is simply impossible to call the reign of Suleiman I the collapse of the Empire, if indeed the Women's Sultanate is called the result of the collapse of the empire.

If we also allow the put forward theories of the beginning of the Women's Sultanate in 1541, then this will also include an 8-year term when she ruled the harem, performing in 1558-1566. duties of Valide. However, none of the researchers of this period of history dares to call her time the Women's Sultanate.

This suggests the conclusion that the correct date for the beginning of the Women's Sultanate should be considered 1574, when Valide Sultan became. And it is Nurban Sultan who should be considered the first representative of the historical period of the Ottoman Empire called the Women's Sultanate. Nurbanu began leading the harem in 1566, but there is not a single evidence that during this period she influenced the decision-making of the ruling sultan, her husband. Nurban managed to seize real power only during the reign of her son.
In the year of accession to the throne, Murad III, which sends us to the original topic of our article, “Fatih law”, succumbing to the influence of Nurbanu’s mother and Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha Sokollu, who was an obedient executor of Nurbanu’s will, gave the order to execute all his stepbrothers. Up to this point, the Fatih law had not been used for 62 years. Murad III, explaining his decision, mentioned this particular law of 1478.

After 21 years, the son of Murad III, Mehmed III, again uses this law and again this will be done at the insistence of the mother of the Sultan, already. Mehmed III executed 19 of his half-brothers in 1595. This year will go down in history as the bloodiest year of the application of the Fatih law.

After Mehmed III, he will ascend the throne, whose concubine will be the famous Kösem, in the future the domineering and cunning Valide Sultan. Ahmed I will introduce the practice of imprisoning the brothers of the ruling sultans in one of the palace pavilions, in "Cafes" (translated as a cage), which, however, was not a repeal of the Fatih law.

Yes, and Kösem Sultan did not make any effort to introduce this practice, since she was able to interfere in the decision of the sultans much later. By the way, most of the negative features that are attributed to Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan were taken from the image of Kösem. We will only mention that the ruling Sultan Murad IV, the son of Kösem, left without heirs in 1640, will try to reintroduce the Fatih law, ordering the murder of his brother, another son of Kösem, Ibrahim. However, Kösem, who at that time had enormous power, would prevent this, because otherwise the rule of the Ottoman dynasty would have ceased, and the Ottomans ruled the Empire for 341 years.

In fairness, we note that the Fatih law was never officially repealed, it was valid until the beginning of the twentieth century, until the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. It was last used in 1808, 121 years after the end of the period called the Women's Sultanate (it ended in 1687, 4 years after the death of the last influential Valide Turhan Sultan). In 1808, Sultan Mahmud II, who took the throne, would kill his brother, Sultan Mustafa IV.

Regarding the influence of the Women's Sultanate on the development of the history of the Ottoman Empire, the following can be said: the representatives of the Women's Sultanate really, albeit indirectly, contributed to the beginning of stagnation in the Ottoman Empire. Although most of all, the actions of the last of them, Turhan Sultan and Mehmed IV, her son, who lost the Battle of Vienna in 1683 on September 11, led to this. However, it is impossible to call the Women's Sultanate the main reason for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The common phrase "Ukrainian began, and ended in Ukrainian", directly hinting at Roksolana Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, as the first representative of this period, is clearly inaccurate, erroneous.

Later, at the beginning of the 18th century. heirs began to take the throne at a fairly mature age. Therefore, many of their mothers died before their sons became ruling sultans, or were so old that they could no longer fight for power and interfere in solving state issues. Therefore, by the middle of the 18th century, the Valides did not have much power at the court and did not influence the ruling sultans; they no longer interfered in the solution of any issues of the country.

As for other shifts that began precisely during the period of the Women's Sultanate and continued to operate after its completion, the most important of them is the use of the practice of imprisoning the sultan's brothers in Kafes instead of the Fatih law. Although this solution was more humane, it was not very useful for the empire. Heirs were no longer appointed to the post of governors of the provinces, as a result of which many mediocre and cowardly governors, insolvent rulers, appeared in the empire. In addition, during the period of the Women's Sultanate, Turhan Sultan contributed to the fact that her son appointed Mehmed Koprulu as the Grand Vizier. This marked the beginning of a new period in the history of the Ottoman state, but this fact deserves a separate article.

Actually, with this haseki of the grandson of Roksolana, Sultan Murad III (1546-1595), the reign of unlimited (since their overlords were just a shadow of their prominent ancestors) imperious bitches, who are at enmity with each other for their influence on their husbands (for lack of better term) and sons. “Almighty” in the series Roksolana looks like a gentle violet and an innocent forget-me-not against their general background.

MELIKI SAFIE-SULTAN (SOFIA BAFFO) (c.1550-1618/1619).
There are two versions about the origin of the main haseka (she never became the legal wife of the Sultan) Murad III, as well as about the origin of her mother-in-law Nurbanu Sultan.
The first, generally accepted - she was the daughter of Leonardo Baffo, the Venetian governor of the island of Corfu (and, therefore, a relative of Nurban, nee Cecilia Baffo).
Another version, and in Turkey itself, it is she who is preferred - Safiye was from the Albanian village of Rezi, located on the Dukaga Highlands. In this case, she was a countrywoman, or, quite possibly, even a relative of the poet Tashlydzhaly Yahya Bey (1498-no later than 1582), a friend of Mustafa's shehzade executed by Suleiman I, the serial "admirer" Mihrimah Sultan, who was also an Albanian by origin.

In any case, Sophia Baffo was captured around 1562, at the age of 12, by Muslim pirates, and bought by the sister of the then ruling Turkish padishah Selim II, Mihrimah Sultan. In accordance with Ottoman traditions, the daughter of Roksolana left the girl in her service for a year. Since Mihrimah, both under her father, Sultan Suleiman, and later, during the reign of her brother Selima, ruled the main harem of Turkey, most likely, Sofia from the first days of her stay in the Ottoman Empire found herself immediately in Bab-us-Saad (the name of the Sultan's harem, literally - “The Gates of Bliss”), where, by the way, Nurbana, before she became a valid Sultan, to put it mildly, was not favored. In any case, such hardening at the very beginning of the career path of the young concubine was very useful to her in the future, including in the fight against her mother-in-law, when Murad became a sultan. After a year of teaching the girl everything that an odalisque needed to know, Mihrimah Sultan gave her to her nephew, shehzade Murad. It happened in 1563. Murad was then 19 years old, Safiye (most likely, the name Mihrimah gave her, in Turkish it means “clean”) - about 13.
Apparently, in Akshehir, where Suleiman I appointed Selim's son as a sanjak-bey in 1558, Safiye did not succeed immediately.
She gave birth to her first son (and first-born Murad), shehzade Mehmed, only three years later, on May 26, 1566. Thus, Sultan Suleiman, who was then living the last year of his life, managed to find out about the birth of his great-grandson (there is no information that he personally saw the newborn) 3.5 months before his own death on September 7, 1566.

As in the case of Nurbanu Sultan and Sehzade Selim, before Murad's accession to the throne, only Safiye gave birth to children. However, what her position was fundamentally different from the position of her mother-in-law as a haseka of the heir to the throne was the fact that all this time (almost 20 years) she remained the only sexual partner of Murad (if he had, as befits a shehzade, a large harem ). The fact is that the son of Nurbanu Sultan had some intimate psychological problems in his sexual life, which he could only overcome with Safiye, and therefore had sex exclusively with her (with legal polygamy among the Ottomans, which is especially offensive). Haseki Murada bore him many children (their exact number is unknown), but only four of them survived early childhood - the sons Mehmed (born 1566) and Mahmud, and the daughters Aishe-Sultan (born 1570) and Fatma-Sultan (born 1580). The second son Safiye died in 1581 - by that time his father Murad III had been the sultan for 7 years, and thus, she, like Nurbanu, had her only son (and he was the only heir of the Ottomans in the male line).

Murad's selective impotence, which allowed him to have children only from Safiye, worried his mother Nurbanu Sultan very much only after she became a valid, and even then not immediately, but when it became clear to her that to give her all power without a fight her daughter-in-law is not going to - not so much because of his health, but because of the huge influence that the hated Safiye had on her son for this reason (and between the mother and the Haseki of Murad, who had just ascended the throne, a war had just begun for influence on him) .

Nurban is quite understandable - if Roksolana was presented to Sultan Suleiman, most likely by his mother, Aisha Hafsa-Sultan, and Nurban herself was chosen for Selim by his mother Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, then Safiye was the choice of Mihrimah-Sultan, and, accordingly, she did not owe anything to her mother-in-law (who, by the way, categorically refused to recognize her relationship with her).

One way or another, in 1583, Valide Sultan Nurbanu accused Safiye of witchcraft, which made Murad impotent, unable to have sex with other women. Several servants of Safiye were seized and tortured, but they could not prove her guilt (of what?).
In the chronicles of that time, they write that Murad's sister, Esmehan Sultan, presented her brother with two beautiful slaves in 1584, "whom he accepted and made his concubines." The fact that before that Sultan Murad met (at the insistence of his mother) in a secluded place with a foreign doctor is mentioned in passing in the same chronicles.

However, Nurbanu, nevertheless, achieved her goal - having received the freedom to choose sexual partners at the age of 38, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, literally, became obsessed with his libido. In fact, he devoted the rest of his life exclusively to harem pleasures. He bought beautiful slave girls practically in bulk and for any money, wherever he could. Viziers and sanjak-beys, instead of managing the state, looked for young charmers for him in their provinces and abroad. During the reign of Sultan Murad, the number of his harem, according to various estimates, ranged from two hundred to five hundred concubines - he was forced to significantly increase and rebuild the premises of Bab-us-Saade. As a result, in just the last 10 years of his life, he managed to become the father of 19-22 (according to various estimates) sons and about 30 daughters. Given the very high early childhood mortality at that time, we can safely assume that his harem gave birth to him during this time, at least, about 100 children.

The triumph of the valid Sultan Nurbanu, however, was short-lived - she somehow believed that with one blow (naive) she knocked out her most powerful weapon from the hands of the hated daughter-in-law. However, she still could not defeat Safiye in this way. The smart woman, having accepted the inevitable, never once showed her annoyance or discontent, moreover, she herself began to buy beautiful slaves for Murad's harem, which earned him gratitude and trust, no longer as a concubine, but as a wise adviser in state matters, and after her death (in 1583), Safiye easily and naturally took her place not only in the state hierarchy of the Ottoman Empire, but also in the eyes of Murad III. Having taken into their own hands along the way all the influence and connections of the mother-in-law in the Venetian merchant circles, which brought Nurban a lot of income, as a lobbyist for their interests in the Divan.

The fact that Valide Murad III switched all her son's vital interests to the pleasures of the flesh, in the end, benefited both herself and her daughter-in-law - they were able to completely take control of the now completely uninteresting power for Murad.

By the way, it was during the reign of the sexually preoccupied Murad III that representatives of the ruling European dynasties reappeared in the main harem of the Brilliant Porte after a very long break (almost two centuries). However, now they were content with the position not of the wives, but of the sultan's concubines, at best, their haseks. The political situation in Europe has changed a lot over these 200 years, the rulers of the states that fell under the Ottoman protectorate, and those who tried to maintain their independence from Istanbul, themselves offered their daughters and sisters to the harem of the Turkish padishah. So, for example, one of Murad's favorites was Fulane-khatun (real name is unknown) - the daughter of the Wallachian ruler Mircea III Draculeshtu, the great-granddaughter of that same Vlad III Tepes Dracula (1429 / 1431-1476). Her brothers, as vassals of the Ottoman Empire, participated with their troops in the campaign of the Turkish army against Moldova. And his nephew, Mikhna II Turk (Tarkitul) (1564-1601), was born and raised in Istanbul, in Topkapi. He was converted to Islam with the name Mehmed Bey. In September 1577, after the death of his father, the Wallachian ruler Alexander Mircea, Mikhne Turok was proclaimed by the Porte the new ruler of Wallachia.

Another haseki of Murad III, the Greek Elena, belonged to the Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Great Komnenos. She was a descendant of the rulers of the Trebizond Empire (the territory on the northern coast of modern Turkey, right up to the Caucasus), captured by the Ottomans back in 1461. The biography of her son Yahya (Alexander) (1585-1648) - an outstanding adventurer or politician, but, of course, an excellent warrior and commander who devoted his whole life to organizing military anti-Turkish coalitions (with the participation of Zaporozhye Cossacks, Moscow , Hungary, the Don Cossacks, the states of Northern Italy and the Balkan countries) with the aim of capturing the Ottoman Empire and creating a new Greek state, deserves a separate story. I will only say that this daring man, both on the side of his father and on the side of his mother, was a descendant of the Galician Rurikovichs. And, of course, he had all the rights to the throne of Byzantium, if his escapade was a success. But now the conversation is not about him.

As a ruler, Sultan Murad was as weak as his father Selim. But if the reign of Selim II was quite successful thanks to his chief vizier and son-in-law, Mehmed Pasha Sokoll, an outstanding statesman and military figure of his time, then Murad after the death of Sokoll (he was his uncle, because he was married to his own aunt - his father's sister) five years after the beginning of his own sultanate, no such grand vizier could be found. The heads of the Divan replaced each other several times a year during his reign - not least due to the fault of the sultanas - Nurban and Safiye, each of whom wanted to see their own person in this position. However, even after the death of Nurbanu, the leapfrog with the Grand Viziers did not end. When Safiye was a valid sultan, 12 chief viziers were replaced.

However, the military forces and material resources accumulated by the ancestors of Sultan Murad still gave, by inertia, the opportunity for their mediocre descendant to continue the work of conquest they had begun. In 1578 (during the lifetime of the outstanding Grand Vizier Sokollu, and his works), the Ottoman Empire began another war with Iran. According to legend, Murad III asked his entourage which of all the wars that took place during the reign of Suleiman I was the most difficult. Upon learning that it was an Iranian campaign, Murad decided to surpass his great grandfather at least in some way. Having a significant numerical and technical superiority over the enemy, the Ottoman army achieved a number of successes: in 1579, the territories of modern Georgia and Azerbaijan were occupied, and in 1580, the southern and western coasts of the Caspian Sea. In 1585, the main forces of the Iranian army were defeated. According to the Constantinople peace treaty with Iran, concluded in 1590, most of Azerbaijan passed to the Ottoman Empire, including Tabriz, all of Transcaucasia, Kurdistan, Luristan and Khuzestan. Despite such significant territorial gains, the war led to the weakening of the Ottoman army, which suffered heavy losses, and undermined finances. In addition, the protectionist administration of the state, first by Nurbanu Sultan, and after her death by Safiye Sultan, led to a strong increase in bribery and nepotism in the country's supreme power, which, of course, also did not benefit the Brilliant Porte.

By the end of his life, Murad III (and he lived only 48 years) turned into a huge, fat, clumsy carcass suffering from urolithiasis (which, in the end, brought him to the grave). In addition to the illness, Murad was also tormented by suspicions about his eldest son and official heir, shehzade Mehmed, who was then about 25 years old and who was very popular with the Janissaries - Roksolana's grandson feared that he would try to take power from him. During this difficult period, Safiye Sultan made great efforts to save his son from the danger of poisoning or murder by his father.

By the way, despite the huge influence that she again acquired on Sultan Murad after the death of his mother Nurbanu, she failed to force him to make nikah with her. The mother-in-law, before her death, managed to convince her son that the marriage with Safiye would bring his own end closer, as happened with his father, Selim II - he died three years after nikah with Nurbanu herself. However, such a precaution did not save Murad - he lived 48 years without any nikah, two years less than Sultan Selim, who made nikah.

Murad III began to get seriously ill in the autumn of 1594, and died on January 15, 1595.
His death, like the death of his father, Sultan Selim 20 years ago, was kept in deep secrecy, wrapping the body of the deceased with ice, moreover, in the same closet where Selim's corpse had previously lay, until shehzade Mehmed arrived from the throne of Manisa on January 28 . He was met, already as a valid, by his mother, Safie Sultan. Here it should be noted that the father appointed Mehmed as the sanjak-bey of Manisa back in 1583, when he was about 16 years old. All these 12 years mother and son have never seen each other. This is a word about the maternal feelings of Safie Sultan.

The 28-year-old Mehmed III began his reign with the greatest fratricide in the history of the Ottoman Empire (with the full support and approval of his valid). On one day, on his orders, 19 (or 22, according to other sources) of his younger brothers were strangled, the eldest of whom was 11 years old. But even this, to ensure the safety of his reign, was not enough for his son Safiye, and the next day all the pregnant concubines of his father were drowned in the Bosphorus. What was an innovation even for those cruel times - in such cases, they waited for the woman's permission from the burden, and only male babies were killed. The concubines themselves (including the mothers of boys) and their daughters were usually left to live.

Looking ahead, it was “thanks” to the paranoidly suspicious Sultan Mehmed that the Ottoman ruling dynasty developed a pernicious custom - not to give shehzade the opportunity to take even the slightest part in the management of the empire (as was done before). The sons of Mehmed were kept locked up in a harem in a pavilion, which was called: “Cage” (Kafes). They lived there, albeit in luxury, but in complete isolation, drawing information about the world around them only from books. It was forbidden to inform shehzade about current events in the Ottoman Empire under pain of death. In order to avoid the birth of “extra” carriers of the sacred blood of the Ottomans (and, therefore, competitors to the throne of the Brilliant Porte), shekhzade had no right not only to their harem, but also to sexual life. Now only the ruling sultan had the right to have children.

Immediately after Mehmed came to power, the Janissaries rebelled and demanded higher salaries and other privileges. Mehmed satisfied their claims, but after that riots broke out among the population of Istanbul, which took on such a wide scale that the Grand Vizier Ferhad Pasha (of course, by order of the Sultan) used artillery against the rebels in the city for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire. It was only after this that the rebellion was put down.

At the insistence of the Grand Vizier and Sheikh ul-Islam, Mehmed III moved with an army to Hungary in 1596 (where, in the last years of Murad's reign, the Austrians began to gradually regain the territories conquered from them earlier), won the battle of Kerestets, but failed to use it. The English ambassador Edward Barton, who, at the invitation of the Sultan, participated in this military campaign, left interesting records of the behavior of Mehmed in a military situation. On October 12, 1596, the Ottoman army captured the Erlau fortress in northern Hungary, and two weeks later it met with the main forces of the Habsburg armies, which took up well-fortified positions on the Mezokövesd plain. At this point, Mehmed lost his nerve, and he was ready to abandon his troops and return to Istanbul, but the vizier Sinan Pasha persuaded him to stay. When the next day, October 26, both armies met in a decisive battle, Mehmed was frightened and was about to flee from the battlefield, but Sededdin Khoja dressed the Sultan in the sacred ilash of the Prophet Muhammad and literally forced him to join the fighting troops. The result of the battle was an unexpected victory for the Turks, and Mehmed earned himself the nickname Ghazi (defender of the faith).

After his triumphant return, Mehmed III never again led Ottoman troops on a campaign. The Venetian ambassador Girolamo Capello wrote: "Doctors declared that the Sultan could not go to war because of his poor health, caused by excesses in food and drink."

However, the doctors in this case did not sin so much against the truth - the Sultan's health, despite his youth, was rapidly deteriorating: he weakened, lost consciousness several times and fell into oblivion. Sometimes it seemed that he was on the verge of death. One of such cases is mentioned by the same Venetian ambassador Capello in his message dated July 29, 1600: "Great Sovereign retired to Scutari, and it is rumored that there he fell into dementia, which had already happened to him several times before, and this attack lasted three days, during which there were brief periods of clearing of the mind ”. Like his father Sultan Murad at the end of his life, Mehmed turned into a huge fat carcass that no horse could withstand. So there was no question of any military campaigns.

Such a state of the son, who, even before his illness, was not very interested in state affairs, made the power of Sophia the Sultan truly unlimited. Having become a valid, Safiye received enormous power and a large income: in the second half of the reign of Mehmed III, she received only 3,000 akçe per day as a salary; in addition, profit was brought by lands given from state property for the needs of the valid sultans. When Mehmed III went on a campaign against Hungary in 1596, he gave his mother the right to manage the treasury. Until the death of Mehmed III in 1603, the country's policy was determined by the party, which was headed by Safiye together with Gazanfer Agha, the head of the white eunuchs of the main harem of the Ottoman Empire (eunuchs were a huge political force that, without attracting outside attention, participated in government and even, later - in the enthronement of sultans).
In the eyes of foreign diplomats, Valide Sultan Safie played a role comparable to that of queens in European states, and was even considered by Europeans as a queen.

Safiye, like her predecessor Nurbanu, followed a largely pro-Venetian policy and interceded regularly on behalf of the Venetian ambassadors. The Sultana also maintained good relations with England. Safiye was in personal correspondence with Queen Elizabeth I and exchanged gifts with her: for example, she received a portrait of the Queen of England in exchange for “two robes of silver fabric, one belt of silver fabric and two handkerchiefs with gold edging.” In addition, Elizabeth presented the Valide Sultan with a chic European carriage, in which Safiye traveled all over Istanbul and its environs, causing dissatisfaction with the ulema - they believed that such luxury was indecent for her. The Janissaries were unhappy with the influence that the Valide Sultan had on the ruler. English diplomat Henry Lello wrote about this in his report: She [Safiye] was always in favor and completely subjugated her son; despite this, muftis and military leaders often complain about her to their monarch, pointing out that she misleads him and dominates him.
However, the direct cause of the rebellion of the sipahis (a type of Turkish heavy cavalry of the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire, “brothers” of the Janissaries) that broke out in Istanbul in 1600 against the mother of the Sultan was a woman named Esperanza Malkhi. She was a kira and Safie Sultan's mistress. Kirami were usually women of a non-Islamic faith (usually Jewish) who acted as a business agent, secretary and intermediary between the women of the harem and the outside world. Safiye, who was in love with a Jewish woman, allowed her kira to cash in on the entire harem and even run her hand into the treasury; in the end, Malchi, together with her son (they “heated up” the Ottoman Empire for more than 50 million akce), was brutally killed by the sipahis. Mehmed III ordered the execution of the leaders of the rebels, since the son of the qira was Safiye's adviser and, thus, the servant of the Sultan himself.
Diplomats also left a mention of the sultana's passion for the young secretary of the English embassy, ​​Paul Pindar - however, which remained without consequences. “The Sultana really liked Mr. Pinder and she sent for him for a personal meeting, but their date was cut short”. Apparently, the young Englishman was then rushed back to England.

It was Safiye-Sultan who for the first time in the history of the Ottoman Empire began (informally) to be called the “great valide” - and for the reason that she (the first among the sultanas) concentrated in her hands the control of the entire Brilliant Porte; and because, due to the early death of her son, new valides appeared in the state - the mother of her grandchildren, the sultans, while she was then only 53 years old.

Uncontrollably power-hungry and greedy, Safiye, even more than Mehmed III himself, was afraid of the possibility of a coup by one of her grandsons. That is why she played a major role in the execution of Mehmed's eldest son, 16-year-old shehzade Mahmud (1587-1603). Safiye Sultan intercepted a letter from a certain religious seer sent to Mahmud's mother, Halime Sultan, in which he predicted that Mehmed III would die within six months and be succeeded by his eldest son. According to the notes of the British ambassador, Mahmoud himself was upset that “that his father is under the rule of the old sultana, his grandmother, and the state is collapsing, since she respects nothing more than her own desire to receive money, which his mother [Halime Sultan] often laments”, who was “not to the liking of the queen -mothers". Safiye immediately informed (under the necessary “sauce”) about everything to her son. As a result, the sultan began to suspect Mahmud of a conspiracy and became jealous of the popularity of shehzade among the Janissaries. All this, as expected, ended with the execution (suffocation) of his elder shehzade on June 1 (or 7), 1503. However, the first part of the seer's prediction still came true - two weeks late. Sultan Mehmed III died in his Istanbul Topkapı Palace on December 21, 1503, at the age of only 37, from a heart attack - an absolute wreck. Apart from his mother, no one regretted his death.

A cruel and ruthless man, he apparently was not capable of passion and passionate feelings. Historians know five of his concubines who bore him children, but none of them ever bore the title of haseki, not to mention the possibility of a nikyakh padishah with any of them. Mehmed, as for the Sultan of the Sublime Porte, also had few children - historians know six of his sons (two died as teenagers during the life of his father, he executed one) and the names of four daughters (in fact, there were more of them, but how many and how called - covered in the darkness of the unknown).

This time there was no need to hide the death of the Sultan - all his sons were in Topkapi, in the harem "Cage" for shehzade. The choice was obvious - the 13-year-old eldest son of Mehmed, Ahmed I, ascended the throne of the Ottomans. By the way, at the same time, he saved the life of his younger brother (he was only a year younger than him), shehzade Mustafa. Firstly, because he was (before Ahmed had his own children) his only heir, and secondly (when Ahmed had his own children) because of his mental illness.

Well, Safiye Sultan was not in vain afraid of her grandchildren coming to power - one of the first decisions of Sultan Ahmed was to remove her from power and exile to the Old Palace, where all the concubines of the late sultans lived out their days. However, at the same time, Safiye, as the eldest, “great” Valide, continued to receive her fantastic salary of 3,000 Akçe per day.

Granny Sultana, although she lived, in general, not such a long (especially by the standards of our time) life - she died at about 68-69 years old, while outliving her grandson Sultan Ahmed (he died in November 1617 ), and found the beginning of the reign of his son, her great-grandson Osman II (1604-1622), who became sultan in February 1618, at the age of 14, after the overthrow of his uncle, the mentally disabled Sultan Mustafa I by the Janissaries. By the way, after the overthrow of Mustafa in the Old Palace was exiled by his mother, Halime Sultan. One must think that she arranged the “fun” last days of the life of her mother-in-law Safiye, through whose fault Mehmed III executed her eldest son, Mahmud, in 1603.

The exact date of the death of the great valid Safie Sultan is unknown to historians. She died at the end of 1618 - beginning of 1619, and was buried in the Aya Sofya mosque in the turba (mausoleum) of her master, Murad III. There was no one to pay for it.

The appearance of the Turkic tribes Se (Sakha) in the west of Altau occurred in the year 200 BC. Then they were oppressed by the Tibetan tribe and they had to move further west. Another Chinese traveler Zhang Tsang mentioned the Western Turks, who were called Kanly. It was in 130 BC. At that time, small khanates were subordinate to the Kanlams. They ruled Bukhara, Khiva, Kerman, Samarkand and Tashkent. They were also called Scythians or Saks.
In 1219, Genghis Khan acted very aggressively and the Kanls had to retreat to the lands of Rum. They were headed by Khan Kabi in those days. The Kanls in the foreign land had to wait until the incessant wars had passed, and then they were about to return to their native land. Then they were headed by the son of Kabi Khan, Suleiman. But these plans were not destined to be fulfilled, when Suleiman and his people crossed the Frat River, they drowned. So his son begins to rule - the brave and courageous Torgul. Part of the people remained at Arz-Rum to protect the lands of Konya, which at that time were under the rule of King Allaidden. And the raids on them are made by the son of Genghis Khan, Chagatai. Allaidden was very grateful to Torgul for accomplishing feats, and gives him the post of commander-in-chief of the army and bestows the lands of Eskud, Karashatau and Tomanshi. The son of Torgul, Osman, also differs in military leadership. He also becomes commander-in-chief of the army of Konya. After Torgul died in 1272, Osman becomes commander-in-chief in his place. The territory of the kingdom was greatly expanded during that period due to the lands that were captured. Ten years later, Osman was appointed by Allaidden to independently rule one of the territories that had been captured - Karashi Khasar. During the reign of Khan Osman, the country grew larger and more prosperous, and in the end it became the greatest empire. The formation of the empire took place in 1300, then the local Turks began to be called the Ottoman Turks, and Khan Osman - the Turkish Sultan, the first in a row. In total, there were thirty-six sultans in the history of the Ottoman Empire, and the fate of the state changed under each of them.

Sultans of the Ottoman Empire Four representatives of the Sultan's harem can be attributed to the number of indisputable figures of the period of the female sultanate.

Afife Nurbanu Sultan (tur. Afife Nûr-Banû Sultan, Ottoman نور بانو سلطان‎; c. 1525 - December 7, 1583) - concubine, then the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Selim II (she bore the title of Haseki), mother of Murad III; the first valid sultan of the period of the sultanate of women. The full-fledged founder of the female sultanate can be considered Nurbanu Sultan (representative of a noble Venetian family), the wife of Sultan Selim II (1566-1574) and the mother (that is, the valid sultan) of Sultan Murad III. period of special female influence to the reign of Selim II is impossible - under him, Nurbanu was just the wife of the Sultan, albeit the main one. Her influence increased after the accession of her son Murad III, who, although he ascended the throne at the age of 28, showed no interest in governing the country, spending time in entertainment and enjoyment in the harem. Nurbanu Sultan can generally be called the shadow manager of the empire until her death in 1583.

Safiye Sultan (tour. Safiye Sultan; c. 1550-1618 / 1619) - the concubine of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III and the mother of Mehmed III. During the reign of Mehmed, she bore the title of valid Sultan (mother of the Sultan) and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire. After Nurbanu Sultan, the role of "guardian" under Murad III was taken over by his main concubine, who never received the status of official wife Safiye Sultan. She was also a Venetian, moreover, came from the same family as her mother-in-law. She did not prevent the Sultan from spending time in entertainment, largely deciding state affairs for him. Her influence increased even more after the death of her husband in 1595 and the ascension to the throne of her son, Mehmed III. The new sultan immediately executed 19 of his brothers and even all of his father's pregnant concubines and further showed himself to be a bloody and incompetent ruler. However, Safiye Sultan under him was very close to being a real ruler. She died in 1604, Mehmed III outlived her by a couple of months.

Kösem Sultan, also known as Mahpeyker Sultan (tur. Mâh-Peyker Kösem; c. 1590 - September 2, 1651) - the second or third wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (she bore the title of Haseki) and the mother of Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I. during the reign of her sons, she bore the title of Valide Sultan (mother of the Sultan) and was one of the most influential women in the Ottoman Empire. Then, for some time, there was a break in the women's sultanate and women lost their influence - but only to be replaced by the real " sultana", Kösem Sultan, wife of Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617). With her husband, however, Kösem had no influence. She received it already in the status of a valid sultan, when in 1523, at the age of 11, her son Murad IV became the ruler. In 1540, he died and was replaced by his brother, another son of Kösem, Ibrahim I, who went down in history under the nickname Mad. With her sons, Kösem Sultan was almost the full ruler of Porta. After the assassination of Ibrahim I in 1648, he was succeeded by his son Mehmed IV. Initially, Kösem maintained a good relationship with her grandson, but quickly quarreled with him and was killed in 1651.

Turhan Hatice Sultan (tur. Turhan Hatice Sultan; c. 1628 - July 5, 1683) - the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim I with the title of Haseki, the mother of Sultan Mehmed IV, the valid Sultan and regent of the Ottoman Empire in the early years of his reign; the last representative of the period of the Sultanate of Women. The death of Kösem Sultan is often attributed to the last representative of the female sultanate, the wife of Ibrahim I and the mother of Mehmed IV, known as Turhan Sultan. She was Ukrainian by origin, her name was Nadezhda, and as a child she was kidnapped by the Crimean Tatars. At the age of 12, she became Ibrahim's concubine, she was presented to him by Kösem Sultan herself. At the age of 15, Turhan had already given birth to an heir, the future Mehmed IV. After her son came to power, Turhan now received the title of Valide Sultan and did not want to put up with an ambitious mother-in-law, whom, according to assumptions, she eliminated. Mehmed IV was not very attentive to state duties, preferring to spend most of his time hunting and sports on fresh air. In the period from 1648 to 1656, it was Turhan Sultan who was the regent for her young son. However, when he was 14 years old, the Valide Sultan appointed Mehmed Köprül as Grand Vizier, who became the founder of the dynasty of Grand Viziers, who concentrated real power in their hands for almost 60 years. Thus, the era of the female sultanate ended, and Turhan Sultan died in the summer of 1683, two months before the fatal defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the battle of Vienna.

Nurbanu Sultan

Nurbanu Sultan (representative of a noble Venetian family), the wife of Sultan Selim II (1566-1574) and the mother (that is, Valide Sultan) of Sultan Murad III can be considered the full-fledged founder of the female sultanate.

It is characteristic that it is impossible to attribute the beginning of the period of special female influence to the reign of Selim II - under him, Nurbanu was simply the wife of the Sultan, albeit the main one. Her influence increased after the accession of her son Murad III, who, although he ascended the throne at the age of 28, showed no interest in governing the country, spending time in entertainment and enjoyment in the harem. Nurbanu Sultan can generally be called the shadow manager of the empire until her death in 1583.

Safiye Sultan

After Nurbanu Sultan, the role of "guardian" under Murad III was taken over by his main concubine, who never received the status of an official wife, Safiye Sultan. She was also a Venetian, moreover, came from the same family as her mother-in-law. She did not prevent the Sultan from spending time in entertainment, largely deciding state affairs for him. Her influence increased even more after the death of her husband in 1595 and the ascension to the throne of her son, Mehmed III.

The new sultan immediately executed 19 of his brothers and even all of his father's pregnant concubines and further showed himself to be a bloody and incompetent ruler. However, Safiye Sultan under him was very close to being a real ruler. She died in 1604, Mehmed III outlived her by a couple of months.

Kösem Sultan

Then for some time there was a break in the women's sultanate and women lost their influence - but only to be replaced by the real "sultana", Kösem Sultan, the wife of Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617). With her husband, however, Kösem had no influence. She received it already in the status of a valid sultan, when in 1523, at the age of 11, her son Murad IV became the ruler. In 1540, he died and was replaced by his brother, another son of Kösem, Ibrahim I, who went down in history under the nickname Mad.

With her sons, Kösem Sultan was almost the full ruler of the Porte. After the assassination of Ibrahim I in 1648, he was succeeded by his son Mehmed IV. Initially, Kösem maintained a good relationship with her grandson, but quickly quarreled with him and was killed in 1651.

Turhan Sultan

The death of Kösem Sultan is often attributed to the last representative of the female sultanate, the wife of Ibrahim I and the mother of Mehmed IV, known as Turhan Sultan. She was Ukrainian by origin, her name was Nadezhda, and as a child she was kidnapped by the Crimean Tatars. At the age of 12, she became Ibrahim's concubine, she was presented to him by Kösem Sultan herself. At the age of 15, Turhan had already given birth to an heir, the future Mehmed IV. After her son came to power, Turhan now received the title of valid sultan and did not want to put up with an ambitious mother-in-law, whom, according to assumptions, she eliminated.

Mehmed IV was not very attentive to state duties, preferring to spend most of his time in hunting and outdoor sports. In the period from 1648 to 1656, it was Turhan Sultan who was the regent for her young son. However, when he was 14 years old, the Valide Sultan appointed Mehmed Köprül as Grand Vizier, who became the founder of the dynasty of Grand Viziers, who concentrated real power in their hands for almost 60 years. Thus, the era of the female sultanate ended, and Turhan Sultan died in the summer of 1683, two months before the fatal defeat of the Ottoman Empire. in the battle of Vienna.

Alexander Babitsky