The reign of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I ("the Magnificent"), from 1520 to 1566, was the empire's golden age. Equally impressive was the century and a half that followed, the Kadinlar Saltanati, or the "Sultanate of Women." During this era, a succession of politically savvy royal women directed much of the government's affairs, often as regents for underage male sultans. First among them was a woman who came to the palace as a slave and eventually played a role in foreign and domestic affairs and served as an intimate political advisor to the sultan.
Europeans knew her as Roxolana, meaning "a girl from Roxolania," the medieval Latin name for Ukraine. Her Ottoman name was Haseki Hürrem Sultan, from haseki (favored wife or royal consort) and hürrem, meaning "joyful" or "laughing one." According to legend, she was born Anastasia (or Aleksandra) Lisowska, around 1505 in western Ukraine. Abducted by Crimean slavers at age 15, she arrived in Constantinople (today's Istanbul) where she was supposedly purchased by Ibrahim Pasha as a gift for his boyhood friend and soon-to-be-sultan Suleiman.
Others say Roxolana was assigned first to the royal laundry, where her skills as an embroiderer were matched only by her musicianship. As the story goes, Suleiman was passing by the laundry when he overheard her singing and playing Ukranian songs. Stumblingly conversant in Slavic, the sultan "stopped to talk with her in her outlandish speech," and was immediately smitten, as his 1951 biographer Harold Lamb recounted.
While smacking of fairly tale, the story suggests it was Roxolana's wit and intelligence that made her stand out. Indeed, Venetian ambassador Pietro Bragadin described Roxolana as "young but not beautiful, although graceful and petite."
Once Suleiman officially noticed Roxolana (laying a handkerchief across her shoulder was the court custom), she became the third most powerful woman in the palace after Suleiman's mother, Hafsa, the valide sultan, or "queen mother," and his qadin sultan, or first lady, Mahidevran, mother of Suleiman's eldest son, Mustafa.
Clashes with mahidevran were swift in coming. By 1526 the Venetian ambassadors-meticulous observers of court politics and intrigues-had noted that Suleiman favored Roxolana. Envoy Bernardo Navagero wrote that Mahidevran confronted her, shouting, "Traitor, sold meat [i.e., "bought in the bazaar"]. You want to compete with me?" as she clawed Roxolana with her nails. Later summoned, Roxolana sent word to Suleiman that she was not presentable. Baffled, he demanded to see her. She "related to him what had happened ... showing her face, which still bore the scratches." Mahidevran confessed, adding brassily that "she had done less to [Roxolana] than she deserved." This "inflamed the sultan even more," and "all his love was given to the other"—Roxolana.
She started by defying the harem's century-old "one mother-one son" policy, preventing a royal consort from bearing more than one heir. Between 1521 and 1531, she had a son, Mehmed; a daughter, Mihrimah; and then four more sons: Abdullah, Selim, Bayezid and Cihangir. In 1541 she defied another royal tradition by remaining in Constantinople rather than accompanying Mehmed to his first administrative post in the provinces. (Normally, only upon the sultan's death would the mother of the eldest male heir be permitted to return to the capital, where she would then assume the role of valide sultan.) She shattered another, far greater tradition by becoming the sultan's wife.
"This week there has occurred in this city a most extraordinary event, one absolutely unprecedented in the history of the Sultans," remarked one Genoese ambassador in an undated letter. "The Grand Signior Suleiman has taken to himself as his Empress a slave-woman from Russia, called Roxolana [sic], and there has been great feasting."
The wedding, in 1533 or 1534, was Suleiman's most public declaration that he was "deeply devoted" to Roxolana, wrote historian Leslie Pierce. As the Venetian Navagero observed: "There has never been a woman in the Ottoman palace who had more power than she."
The royal couple's correspondence highlights their passion.
Nevertheless, Roxolana eliminated potential rivals by persuading Suleiman to marry off the prettiest of the young women in the harem. She also (happily, no doubt) waved goodbye to Mahidevran in 1533, when the qadin followed Mustafa to his first official, provincial appointment. A year later, Hafsa died, leaving Roxolana mistress of the harem, at least pro tempore, as Mahidevran remained rightfully next in line to become valide sultan.
But another rival remained: Ibrahim, now grand vizier. Though one of Suleiman’s closest confidants, Ibrahim developed his own aspirations to the throne. After a decade or so of honors, wealth and ever-increasing authority, Ibrahim grew arrogant and “was much hated,” ambassador Bragadin wrote. Ibrahim ran his own military campaigns and even referred to himself as “sultan” in negotiations. His fall was swift: On March 15, 1536, servants found him with his throat cut.
While Suleiman ordered the execution, Roxolana was rumored as its architect. To historians, this remains “a matter of conjecture,” wrote Galina Yermolenko, author of Roxolana in European Literature, History and Culture, and yet Roxolana “might have exploited the rumors against Ibrahim and influenced Suleiman’s decision.” As early as 1526, Pierce noted, Roxolana informed Suleiman of tensions with Ibrahim and lost little time securing the newly vacant post for Rustem, husband of her daughter, Mihrimah.
In 1541 a fire in the Old Palace inched her closer to the pinnacle of power. Located in the center of the city, the Old Palace was the official residence for both the sultan and the harem. The newer Topkapı Palace, on a promontory over-looking the Bosporus, served as seat of the court. After the fire, Roxolana convinced Suleiman to relocate the harem to Topkapı. The move permitted her to be at Suleiman’s side constantly, where she could advise him more closely on political matters. Writing to him while he was away, she informed him of plagues infesting the city and warned him of potential unrest. She also corresponded with the king of Poland regarding the suppression of the Crimean slave trade—a subject of doubtless personal interest.
Highest among Roxolana’s priorities, however, was the welfare of her sons. The Ottoman law of imperial succession mandated fratricide to prevent princely inheritance squabbles. If Mustafa succeeded Suleiman, her four surviving sons were doomed. (Abdullah had died as a child.)
Art direction for the “Malika” series is by Ana Carreño Leyva. Calligraphy is by Soraya Syed. The logo graphics are produced by Mukhtar Sanders (www.inspiraldesign.com).