Ferahşad Hatun

Ferahşad Hatun (c. 1460 - c. 1530,[1] other names Muhterem) was the seventh wife of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II and the mother of Şehzade Mehmed of the Ottoman Empire.[2]

Biography

Ferahşad Hatun was born in 1460 to a Sanjak-bey, Mehmed Bey.[1][3][4] When Bayezid was still a şehzade ("Ottoman prince") and the governor of Amasya sanjak when she gave birth to her only son Şehzade Mehmed in 1476.[1]

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.[1] According to Turkish tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors (Sanjak-bey) as a part of their training.[5]

Mehmed, was sent to Kefe sanjak and Ferahşad accompanied him. He was the only of Bayezid's sons who was sent to Kefe.[5] Mothers of princes were responsible for the proper behaviour of their sons in their provincial posts.[5]

In 1504 her husband, Bayezid II solicited the hand of Ayesha Begum, the daughter of Meñli I Giray, for their son Mehmed. Soon after her first husband's death, in 1511, the Crimean princess entered the harem of her husband's brother, the future Sultan Selim I, when he was the governor of Amasya, thus securing for him, in the person of her powerful father, a valuable ally in the prince's struggle for the throne.[6][7]

After the death of Şehzade Mehmed in 1507, Ferahşad came to Istanbul along wither her sisters and daughters where she loved until her death in 1530. She is known to have made endowments in Silivri, Istanbul[5]