Roxelana, Princess Hurrem, born Aleksandra Lisovska about 1515, died in the spring of 1558. She had chronic health conditions but it might have been malaria or another disease that swept through the Old Palace. Suleyman outlived her by about eight years and was near 90 years old when he died in Southern Hungary. He had managed to survive many military campaigns and the deaths of children, for a few years after she died, another son was executed. He was reportedly in great grief over his wife's death, for they had been a married couple since 1535 and their relationship had gone on for years before that.
Something I was struck by while reading Empress of the East was how gender roles were so restricted and, by my way of thinking, were extreme. This was a world in which for women mothering was the ultimate expectation for which a woman could derive glory, but usually only through her hyper masculine sons and their importance, and men sought to achieve power through battle and a competitiveness that meant that they would have their own son's executed if they tried to usurp them.
"So many slain princess led to rule of automatic succession of the oldest living dynast" and that continued until 1922. (Page 314)
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Empress of the East by Leslie Pierce is the reference for this post.
Because Roxelana managed to marry Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, against all odds, as Princess Hurrem she did well by her daughter as well, who was also now eligible to marry.
The rules for a Moslem woman who was not enslaved for marriage in the Islamic Caliphate were that if she was a virgin, and of course that was expected, she could refuse any proposal of marriage. She could also divorce. However, I do think there was pressure on these women to accept the matchmaking that was done on their behalf and to remain married, just as there is today. Mihrumah was married at seventeen to a man of Croatian origin, Rustem, who was a statesman in Istanbul. I find it interesting that this man also came from a culture that was mostly Christian, but do not know if he was Christian or Moslem. A little more research revealed that there were people of other religions such as Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire He was twice her age. (Page 207)
Roxelana as Princess Hurrem also rose to the responsibility and authority of matchmaking slave women. Interestingly, they were allowed to marry and a good Moslem was to free a slave after seven years of service. A newly freed woman was also allowed to have her own slaves. Not to defend slavery, but this seems a bit like 16th century internships!
Another surprise I found in Leslie Pierce's book was that eunuchs were allowed to marry and also could reproduce. I thought eunuchs were men who had been castrated and thus trusted to be around the harem without having sex with the women or interfering in this breeding program. However a little more research revealed that the term could simply mean that these were trusted slaves who protected the women in their bedchambers.
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Empress of the East by Leslie Pierce is the reference for this post.
Princess Hurrem decided to make a mark on the society in which she lived by starting a tradition that her female lineage would continue, and that was to do good things for the people, to be charitable and to have a duty towards the people. Though she was born into a Christian family as a Ruthenian, she was raised to be a devout Moslem and was a sincere believer. Her husband was blood-thirsty, a man known for slaughter, but she managed to create civilization within their Moslem world. She had mosques built, was behind schools for the children, a hospital, a soup kitchen, and even waterworks such as fountains. Thousands went to work on these projects.
A philanthropic tradition in her name began and it was not just in Istanbul but also in Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and other places of pilgrimage. She was behind hotels for those who traveled and made pilgrimages. In doing so, the women of her lineage had much to do besides being mothers. By doing what might have been considered impossible - rising up from harem slavery to being a married woman with more than one child - her daughters were not enslaved and could also marry.
She was exceptional.
When she traveled, her entourage of carriages and servants displayed her wealth and power so the people who saw her could gaze her way but she remained hidden and unseen.
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Empress of the East by Leslie Pierce is the reference for this post.
While her husband Suleyman the Magnificent was away at war, the once-slave Roxelana wrote him letters daily saying how much she and their children - missed him. She did not want him to forget them or forget that they waited on his return.
People could accept that Roxelana, who was called Princess Hurrem, might be a crafty woman, a seductive woman, who Suleyman had come to love, perhaps because she had excellent sexual skills. Or perhaps she had mastered the politics of the harem and was manipulative and conniving. No doubt this marriage ended the hopes and dreams of some other women. However, that the Sultan had actually married her led some to think it was more, that she was a witch who used magical spells to claim him for herself. (Page 146)
"Perhaps not surprisingly, similar tales of the rustic female witch existed in the Ruthenian land of Roxelana's birth, at least in the eyes of the inhabitant's Polish overlords." (Page 147)
There was no evidence of her guilt.
She had been captured at 13 and had entered the harem at 17. She had caught his eye. It was his choice. He was not a weak man.
She focused on being a good mother to her children.
She gave him a real, nuclear family.
She wrote him letters when he was in battle, so he did not forget her.
She used her station to do good works.
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Empress of the East by Leslie Pierce is the reference for this post.
In 1534, a Venetian envoy reported that there was a marriage between Roxelana and Suleyman that was not affirmed by the court in Istanbul, Turkey, the capital and headquarters of the empire. They reported only that the slave Roxelana's was Suleyman's favorite in the harem. I muse that a royal engagement or agreement to marry might take place long before an actual ceremony, that an engagement period was observed. The marriage was admitted to officially in 1535.
While he was on another campaign to brutalize the Hungarians, Roxelana had written him letters everyday emphasizing how much she missed him.
What is true is that she had given him more than one son. She had given him several children, one of whom was a daughter, so already he had gone against the notion that once a woman in the harem gave a Prince a son, he needed to move on to another woman in the harem. They were in fact a family, a nuclear family, which would be a far more Ruthenian Christian way to live, than a Moslem Turk way to live.
Roxelana had been captured at about 13 year old and she had been converted to the Moslem religion, she was beautiful and intelligent and shrewd, if not manipulative, and had clearly prevailed over other women with her ongoing relationship with the man, even as he spent so much time away on military campaigns. There is real evidence that he loved her. Suleyman wrote love poetry to Roxelana.
She wrote to him, "A single hair of your head is worth more to me than one hundred thousand florins." (Page 210)
A typical wedding for a person of such high station as Suleyman usually lasted three weeks and involved throwing a party for the public with entertainment as well as the display of riches and power. The Prince would only appear on the 14th day and just for one day, kind of like the appearance of a celebrity. (Page 102)
In 1535 the two lovers were married. It was totally surprising and controversial. Roxelana was considered to be a seductress. (Page146)
To give some perspective that we Westerners can relate to, at the time, England's King Henry VIII, the King who was also under pressure to have an heir and continue his line, and who had six wives, two whom he had killed, was a contemporary of Suleyman The Magnificent's.
Perhaps the goings on in the personal life of Suleyman was gossiped about or reported but the wedding as a public event confirmed that in fact, Suleyman was so Magnificent he could do whatever he wanted.
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Empress of the East by Leslie Pierce is the reference for this post.
