Mahfiruz Hatun

Hatice Mahfiruz Sultan^[1] (Ottoman Turkish: ماه فروز خاتون, "glorious moon" or "daytime moon" or "turquoise moon"; also called Mahfiruze Sultan; c. 1590 – between 1610 and 1628) was firstly a concubine, and then the first Haseki Sultan of Ottoman sultan Ahmed I and mother and maybe Valide Sultan to his firstborn son, Osman II.

Her first given name can be written either as Mahfiruz, Mâhfirûz, Mâhirûze, Mâhfirûze, Mâh-Firûze, Mâh-i Feyrûz. She had a second given name too, Hatice (written also as Hadice).^[2] Her name was first recorded by historian Mustafa Naima who wrote his history of the Ottoman Empiree several decades after her life,^[3] and quoted Mâhfirûz as a "noble and august" lady.^[4]

Her origins, often described as unknown,^[5][6] are most likely Caucasians.^[7] While in the past she was often described as Greek, this hypothesis has been disproven as eventually based on an 18th century novel.^[8][3][9]

Mahfiruz was presented by Servazad Hatun to Handan Sultan, mother of Sultan Ahmed I, who personally chose her for her son.^[10]

Mahfiruz became Ahmed I's first and principal concubine^[11] - before being elevated to the title of Haseki Sultan - and on 3 November 1604 she gave birth to his firstborn son, the future Osman II, making Ahmed I the youngest Ottoman sultan to have fathered a child.^[12] According to Ahmet Refik Altınay^[13], in the following years, she bore the Sultan other children, including Şehzade Bayezid in 1612, Şehzade Hüseyn in 1613, Şehzade Süleyman in 1615, an information reproduced by several authors;^{[14][15][16][17]} foreign ambassadors report a daughter who reached adulthood and got married,^[18] identified as Gevherhan Sultan^[19] and born between 1605 and 1608. These children may contradict the theory of a premature death.

According to some historians, she held the title of Haseki Sultan^[20][21][22] from January 1604,^[23] an information confirmed also by the French historian and politician Alphonse de Lamartine.^[24] The fact that Mahfiruz was the first one to be entitled as Baş Haseki (First and Chief Haseki) is also underlined and explained by Tektaş, who writes that Kösem wouldn't have allowed another woman to hold the title after herself.^[25] She was described as a "Sultan", or "Haseki Sultan" as well by other historians while not referred to as Valide Sultan, which does mean she held the title of elevated consort - thus, Sultan, and in works, she is separated from the sections dedicated to simple Hatuns of the Sultans.^{[26][27][28][29][30][31]}

Conflicting records show that she died shortly before her son's reign, while others state that she lived on well into the reign of Murad IV.

In 1617, Sultan Ahmed I died: subsequently, Mahfiruz and other consorts or concubines of the late Sultan were sent - as per tradition - to Eski Saray (The "Old Palace"). The fact that Osman wasn't proclaimed Sultan can be seen as the consequence of the fact that his accession to the throne could have led to the killing of his half-brothers, thus the sons of Kösem,^[32] as according to the law. The woman, who feared that Mahfiruze could have convinced her son to kill his half-siblings, may have acted so to avoid Osman's succession and the execution of her sons^[33] by putting Şehzade Mustafa, the only surviving mental ill half-brother of Ahmed I, on the throne.^[34]

Şehzade Mustafa was, as a result of this, proclaimed Sultan after Ahmed I's death in 1617, thus skipping Mahfiruz's son Osman.^[35] His mother, Halime Sultan, acted as de facto ruler during the two reigns of her son who - because of his mental state - wasn't able to reign on his own. Hovewer, he was deposed shortly after, in the early months of 1618.

As Osman ascended the throne in February 1618, she was taken from the Old Palace to Topkapı Palace again.^[36]

Regarding Osman's accession, she attended and partecipated in the February 1618 crowning procession. This can be seen, as the Austrian Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Hans Mollard von Reinek - invited to attend the ceremony with his entourage composed also of a painter - wanted the moment to be depicted in a portrait; this painting, titled "The rise of the young Osman" was later auctioned at Sotheby's and sold to the Turkish Ministry of Culture in 2016 and since then exposed at Topkapı Palace.^[37][38][39]

During her alleged tenure as Valide Sultan, she and Kösem Sultan were not on bad terms, according to historian Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall,^[40][41] and this can be seen as Sultan Osman visited the Old Palace in April 1619 where he stayed for some days, on the occasion of celebrations held for him by Kösem;^[42][43] Kösem wanted probably to have a good relationship with Mahfiruze at the time.^[44][45] Mahfiruz is largely remembered in Eyüp because of her charity work which is reported by the city itself during anniversaries or events: she had a cüzhane (Quran reading room) built in Eyüp Cemetery^[46][47][48] between 1618 and 1622,^[49] completed in the same year as recorded from one of Eyüp cemetery's guides. She ordered Quran to be read every day; she also staffed her Cüzhane and provided equipment for the same.^[50] She is remembered as a fervent muslim woman.^[51]

Her other contributions to the city of Eyüp are widely reported: she provided Quran copies to her cüzhane, and also rendered religious services at the tomb of Sultan Ahmed I. A devotee of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, because of her charitable works she got nicknamed as "Sâhibe-i Hayrât".^[52][53] She had a bond with Eyüp and as often as she could and had the opportunity, she visited it.^[54]

According to historian Leslie P. Peirce, Mahfiruz did not became Valide Sultan and instead died in exile in 1620, as evidenced by the absence of a Valide Sultan in the Privy purse during Osman's reign and the high stipend of the Daye Hatun (wet nurse of the sultan) from middle 1620 onwards, an indication that she served as de facto Valide Sultan.^[55]

According to historian Baki Tezcan, Mahfiruz died in 1610, if not earlier quoting ambassadorial reports during throughout Ahmed I's reign, such as George Sandys who most probably reported in 1610, that the mother of firstborn prince (Osman) had died, approximately two years later Venetian bailo, Simon Contarini writes that Osman went on the carriage rides with the "queen" (Kösem Sultan), furthermore Pietro Della Valle states that the mother of firsborn prince (Osman) had already died, Cristoforo Valier between 1612 and 1615 states that Ahmed had two sons, two from dead sultana and two from sultana who was alive, That Mahfiruz is dead is also stated in a relation on the life and death of Nasuh Pasha, written sometime after Nasuh's execution in 1614, Achille de Harlay, baron de Sancy, the French ambassador to Constantinople, identifies Osman II in his letter to Louis XIII, the King of France, as "not the son of the living sultana, but the eldest named Osman, orphaned of his mother for ten years", dated on February 26, 1618, the day of Osman's enthronement.^[5] He argues that the document (dated 28 october 1620) cited by Uluçay as evidence for the year of her death does not in fact suggest that she died this same year.^[56] Günhan Börekçi quoted Tezcan's theory in his "A Queen-Mother at Work: On Handan Sultan and Her Regency During the Early Reign of Ahmed I".^[57]

According to modern accounts, Mahfiruz lived to become Valide Sultan,^{[58][59][60][61][62][63][64]} and as such, died on 26 or 28 October 1620.^[65][66][61]

According to the official website of Eyüp Cemetery, Mahfiruz died in 1628, thus witnessing the deposition and execution of her son in May of 1622 and her exile to the Old Palace upon Murad IV's accession in 1623.^[67]

When she died, Mahfiruz Sultan was buried in Eyüp Cemetery^[55], an unusual place for a former consort of a sultan. According to some authors she decided to be buried there on her own wishes^[68] while others consider this as a sign of disfavor^[55]. The chronogram on her mausoleum suggests it was built by Osman in 1618.^[69]

A poet, Kesbî, wrote on the occasion of her death: "Mahfiruz Valide Sultan, who was very devout, had the Qur'an recitation hall built next to the "Great Gate" in the Mausoleum of Eyüp Sultan. Her burial in this area is probably due to this; otherwise, she could have been buried in the mausoleum of her husband, Ahmed I. She is known as "Sahibei Hayrat" (The Benefactor) because of this Quran recitation hall. This hall still exists today, located in the courtyard of the fountain, between the Tomb of Beşir Ağa and the exit of the Eyüp Sultan Mausoleum. She must have donated copies of the Qur'an and other works to this room".^[70]

Mahfiruz and Ahmed I had at least three sons:^{[71][72][16][17]}

• Osman II (3 November 1604 – 20 May 1622; buried in the Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque).^[73][61] His father's firstborn and 16th sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He was killed during a janissary revolt, becoming the first Ottoman sultan to be executed.
• Şehzade Bayezid (November 1612 – 27 July 1635), executed upon the order of his elder half-brother Murad IV in 1635^[16][17]
• Şehzade Hüseyin (14 November 1614 – 1617; buried in the Mehmed III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia)^[16][17]

She was also probably, but not certainly, the mother of:

• Gevherhan Sultan^[74] (c. 1605/06 or late 1608, Constantinople – 18 April 1631,^[75] Constantinople; buried in the Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque).
• Şehzade Süleyman (c. 1613/1615 – 27 July 1635), executed upon the order of his elder half-brother Murad IV in 1635^[16][17]

• In the 1962 film Genç Osman ve Sultan Murat Han, Mâhfirûz Valide Sultan is played by Turkish actress Rengin Arda.
• Mâhfirûz Sultan is one of the characters in the 2001 historical novel "La sultana: Giacometta Beccarino da Manfredonia" [The sultana: Giacometta Beccarino from Manfredonia] by Italian essayist Vito Salierno.
• In the 2010 film Mahpeyker: Kösem Sultan, Mâhfirûz is played by Turkish actress Öykü Çelik.
• In the 2015 Turkish TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, (Raşah) Mâhfirûze Sultan is played by Turkish actress Dilara Aksüyek, mother of Osman II.^[76]

• List of mothers of the Ottoman sultans
• List of Ottoman imperial consorts

• Peirce, Leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 233–. ISBN 978-0-19-508677-5.
• Tezcan, Baki (2007). "The Debut of Kösem Sultan's Political Career". Turcica. 39–40. Éditions Klincksieck.
• Nazım Tektaş (2004). Harem'den taşanlar. Çatı. pp. 183–185. ISBN 978-975-8845-02-6.
• Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (2011). Padışahların Kadınları ve Kızları. Ötüken, Ankara. ISBN 978-9-754-37840-5.