Ayşe Gülbahar Hatun

Gülbahar (Kül-Bahār) Hatun[2] (Ottoman Turkish: گل بهار خاتون; c. ? – c. 1510[3]), also known as A'ishā (Ayşe) Khātun was the Eighth wife of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II and the mother of Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire.[4]

Origins

The theories of her background are:

• According to the first theory sopported by some reliable sources, she was the daughter of an Albanian turned Turk.[5] The Ottoman inscription (vakfiye) describes her as Hātun binti Abd-us-Samed (Daughter of Abd-us-Samed), Abdu's-Samad[1] which supports the widespread view that her father was an Albanian who had "turned Turk", that is converted to Islam and joined the Turkish Millet. Abd-us-Samed,Abdu's-Samad[1] meaning Servant of God, was the anonym that was applied to many Balkan and Anatolian Christians who converted to Islam in the classical Ottoman period.[3][6][7]
• According to the second theory (most sources have claimed that) she was the daughter of Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey, the eleventh ruler of the Dulkadirids centered around Elbistan in Kahramanmaraş. Her real name was Ayşe and was renamed Gül-Bahar after her marriage.[8][9][10][11]

Life

Bayezid married her in 1469 at Amasya. When Bayezid was still a şehzade ("Ottoman prince") and the governor of Amasya sanjak when she gave birth to Selim I in 1470.[3] When Mehmed the Conqueror died in 1481, Bayezid moved to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, along with his family to ascend the throne.[3]

According to Turkish tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors (Sanjak-bey) as a part of their training.[10] Mothers of princes were responsible for the proper behaviour of their sons in their provincial posts.[10] In 1495 was sent to Trabzon sanjak and Gülbahar accompanied him.[3]

However, she herself never became recognized as a Valide Sultan because she died in 1505 before Selim's accession to the sultanate.[12] Her tomb is located in Gülbahar Hatun Camii, Trabzon.[10] It was built in 1514 in honour of his mother and was restored in 1885.[13]