Lori Davis, Guest Blogger: "Hürrem Sultan: From Slave to Queen"

Guest Blogger: Lori Davis

Lori Davis is the creator and host of Her Half of History podcast, a thoroughly researched and thematic approach to women's history show. I left Her Half History podcast a 5 ⭐ review on Apple Podcasts and I invite you to give her a listen. 

After bingeing a few episodes of Her Half of History I reached out to Lori and asked if she'd be interested in guest authoring a blogpost on the Ottoman Empire. Lori was gracious enough and turned her finely honed historian's craft upon a topic dear to many a Ottoman history aficionado.. the slave, later concubine, and finally wife of Sultan Süleymān the Magnificent, the enigmatic Hürrem Sultan. Known to most of us as Roxelana. 

Her rags to riches story has intrigued many a Western reader and history buff. In so many ways Roxelana represents a microcosm of the inner workings of the Ottoman governing machine during Süleymān's reign. I was delighted when I opened Lori's work and found myself immersed into a world of political intrigue, fear, and the social and religious traditions of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. 

I hope you find Lori's article as interesting as I did, and furthermore hope you'll spend some time and give Her Half of History a try! 

-Frank 

Lori's website can be found here:➡️ Her Half of History⬅️

Her Half of History also has a Patreon where you an support Lori:➡️ Her Half of History Patreon⬅️

Drop "Her Half History" Podcast a Follow and Review on Spotify: ➡️Her Half of History on Spotify⬅️

And a 5 ⭐ Review on Apple Podcasts here:➡️ Apple Podcasts⬅️

You can connect with Lori on X (Twitter) @her_half 

Hürrem Sultan: From Slave to Queen

by, Lori Davis: Creator & Host of Her Half of History Podcast

The Ottoman Empire followed a strategy designed to make sure no sultan was ever at a loss for an heir. The sultans had many concubines, and all of their sons were equally eligible to inherit the throne. Their European counterparts often struggled to produce a legitimate heir and a spare, but Ottoman sultans had the opposite problem: an overabundance of impatient and ambitious sons.

So when Suleiman the Magnificent took the throne in 1520, he already had a harem full of slave women, all of them beautiful, well dressed, well educated, and eager to catch his eye. One of these was a girl called Roxelana and also Hürrem, though neither of those are her original name. She had been born in what is now Ukraine, but she was captured and brought to a world that was far more luxurious than she could have dreamed of at home, though it was still slavery.

(Roxelana, her given Ottoman name, Hürrem Sultan: Source Wiki Commons LINK)

We know no details of her youth, but when Suleiman chose her in about 1520, it was the launch of what could be a glittering career. The most fortunate concubines gave birth to a son, which meant an automatic rise in status. And the most fortunate of those concubines went on to see their son take the throne himself, and to be mother of the sultan was as high as a woman could go in the Ottoman court.

In 1521, Roxelana gave birth to a son, Mehmed. That was the moment at which Suleiman was supposed to set her aside (with a substantial pension). There were rules, and the most important rule was that if a concubine gave birth to a son, she was no longer eligible for the sultan’s attention. The idea was that any young prince was going to need the full and undivided attention of his mother, if he was going to survive the political infighting (and possibly murderous intrigues) of his many brothers. It would never work to have a mother's guidance and affection divided between two potential heirs to the throne. Which one would she support?

Suleiman wasn't interested in the rules. He scandalized his country by keeping Roxelana around. He even married her eventually (another scandal). She would ultimately bear him five sons and one daughter. No other concubine gave birth for the rest of his reign (though he did have children from previous relationships). By all appearances, Suleiman the Magnificent was monogamous, though neither his religion, nor his office, nor his vows required him to be. Or wanted him to be. Even the Christian foreign observers were baffled, though they were theoretically monogamous themselves.

Predictably, Roxelana was accused of witchcraft. It's a historically common way to discredit a woman. Since it made no sense for Suleiman to have chosen her of his own free will, a love potion was the only remaining possibility, people said.

(Letter of Roxelana to King Sigismond in which she congratulated him for his accession in 1549: Source: Wiki Commons LINK) 

Up until this point, there are no sources from Roxelana herself. Historians are entirely dependent on brief mentions about her from writers who were mainly interested in other things. But years of intense training meant she was more than capable of writing letters to Suleiman when he was away on military campaigns, and some of those letters survive. A substantial amount of space was devoted to how much she missed him. "Day and night I burn in the fire of grief over separation from you," she wrote. On another occasion she wrote that she was drowning in the sea of longing, no longer able to tell day from night, and that she was capable of nothing but suffering in his absence.

It's all faintly nauseating to a modern perspective, but it’s important to remember two things. First, expressions of love are culture-specific. It doesn’t appear that Suleiman thought any of those statements were suspiciously over-the-top. Second, Roxelana’s position was far more precarious than your ordinary Western queen. Since Suleiman had flouted the laws to marry her in the first place, presumably it wouldn’t have been that hard for him to get rid of her either. Such a power imbalance naturally invites a certain amount of obsequiousness.

Fortunately for us, there is plenty of evidence that, contrary to her own words, Roxelana was doing more than just suffering in his absence. For one thing, he wasn’t her only correspondent. She also wrote to the women of the Polish court, the Habsburg court, and the Safavid Iranian court. These women formed an important avenue of diplomacy, strengthening alliances. She also poured her energy into public works. She built a mosque, a primary school, a college, a soup kitchen, and a hospital. To this day, this area of Istanbul is known as Haseki, which means the royal favorite. It was named for her. She also built hostels for pilgrims in Mecca and Medina. She was head of the women’s court after her mother-in-law died. It was, in many ways, a bureaucratic nightmare, particularly after women’s palace burned down in 1541. 

As Roxelana’s children grew older, the dangers of flouting tradition became fully apparent. Typically, young princes were sent to govern an outer province. This had the dual purpose of giving them political experience, while simultaneously keeping them out of reach from any fratricidal brothers. The prince’s mother always went with him to provide guidance. 

When Roxelana’s oldest two sons left to become governors, they each went alone. Roxelana stayed home with the younger children. Her sons would be at a significant disadvantage compared to their older half-brother, Mustafa, who had his mother’s undivided attention.

When Roxelana’s oldest son died after a brief illness, Suleiman’s grief was recorded in great detail: hours of weeping, days of refusing to bury his son, over ten times the ordinary number of days of prayers for the dead. Predictably, no one mentions Roxelana's grief. We know only that she was the driver behind the memorial mosque that was built in his honor.

As Suleiman grew older, the empire was restless with the uncertainty of not knowing how this unusual situation would play out. Many soldiers hoped Mustafa would seize the throne himself. Strong kings do not remain strong by allowing threats like that to continue, so Suleiman ordered the death of his own son. It wasn’t particularly unusual. People whispered that it was really Roxelana’s idea. She was a witch, after all. It was only to be expected. We have no evidence either way.

That still left three remaining sons, all of them Roxelana’s. Neither Roxelana nor Suleiman ever said they had a favorite son or chose an heir. By tradition, Roxelana would have the privilege of watching her children kill each other. That was what was supposed to happen. It’s just that usually it was half-brothers fighting it out, instead of full brothers.

The youngest died of natural causes. The remaining two seemed to have restrained themselves for a while. An uneasy truce prevailed until Roxelana’s own health began to fail. She died in 1558, which was apparently the moment to lose all restraint. 

Within months, one of her sons began raising an army to make a play for the throne. Suleiman had him executed too. The last son laid low, and patience was the key to success. He survived to become Selim II, when his father died eight years later.

The quote (and much of the information) comes from Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became
Queen of the Ottoman Empire by Leslie Peirce. The quotes from her letters are on pages 142, 209, and 282.