Hanzade Sultan

Hanzâde Sultan (1609 – 1650) was an Ottoman princess. She was the daughter of sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603–1617) and Mahfiruz Hatice Sultan, sister of Osman II (r. 1618–1622) and half-sister of both Murad IV and Ibrahim (r. 1640–1648), and the paternal aunt of Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). She is known for her marriage with Bayram Pasha (died 26 August 1638) was an Ottoman grand vizier from 1637 to 1638 and the Ottoman governor of Egypt from 1626 to 1628, then she married Nakkaş Mustafa Pasha.

Biography

She was the only daughter of Sultan Ahmed I and his first consort Valide Mahfiruz Hatice Sultan, although some say that she was also the daughter of Kösem Sultan, however she is only confused with Handan Sultan (b.1607) who was another daughter of Kösem. She had four full brothers : Osman II (died 1622), Şehzade Hüseyin (d.1617), Şehzade Bayezid and Şehzade Suleiman (both executed 27 July 1635 by Murad IV). She had also some half brothers, including Ottoman Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire.

After the death of Ahmed I, he was succeeded by his brother Mustafa I instead of Hanzade's full brother Osman II. This made Hanzade, along with Kösem Sultan and her half-sisters exiled in the Old Palace until 1618, when Osman II ascended the Ottoman Throne and their mother Mahfiruz became Valide Sultan. Then, she was married to Bayram Pasha on 1623, Osman reserved a luxurious palace for the newly wed couple.

This marriage was an exceptional case because Bayram was not a Pasha (high ranking officer) before his wedding, at this point Hanzade was different from her sisters which are well-known for their multiple political marriages, as the Ottoman princesses were normally married away, to influential Ottoman officials, by their mothers or paternal grandmothers, who had the right to arrange their marriages and arranged matches which could be of political use. They had privileges in marriage which separated them from other Muslim females: such as the right to be the only wife of their spouse, to refuse to consummate their marriage until they were ready and to contract a divorce when they pleased. Due to many of them marrying as children and being widowed and divorced several times, often for political reasons, remarriages were very common. Her sisters Fatma Sultan and Ayşe Sultan, are extreme examples of this: they were married at least seven and six times, and entered into their last engagement at the ages of 61 and 50, respectively, while Gevherhan Sultan held the record among her siblings by her betrothal to three grand viziers: Öküz Mehmed Pasha, Topal Recep Pasha, and Siyavuș Pasha.

The main reason for this wedding was Bayram's fate as a very handsome man. After Osman II's death, his concubines were took in charge by Hanzade. After Bayram's death (1638), she married Nakkaş Mustafa Pasha. Late in her brother Ibrahim's reign,she fell,for reasons unknown,in disgrace and was submitted, alongside her sisters Ayşe and Fatma and niece Kaya Sultan, to the indignity of subordination of his concubines. He took away their lands and wealth, and made them serve his newest haseki,Hüma Şah, by standing at attention like servants while she ate and by fetching and holding the soap, basin and the pitcher of water with which she washed her hands.[1]

She died the 21st September 1650, and was buried in her brother Ibrahim's tomb in Haghia Sophia.

External links

   The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Leslie P. Peirce

   Evliya Çelebi: The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman, Melek Ahmed Pasha (1588-1662)

References

Leslie P. Peirce (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-195-08677-5.