Sultanate of Women
130-year period during the 16th and 17th centuries when the women (mothers or wives of the Sultan) of the Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Empire had great political influence over the state
Wikidata facts
Show 3 more facts
- native label
- Kadınlar Saltanatı
- start time
- 1520-00-00
- end time
- 1648-00-00
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Article
The Sultanate of Women (Ottoman Turkish: قادينلر سلطنتى, romanized: Kadınlar Saltanatı) was a period when some concubines, mothers, sisters and grandmothers of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire exerted political influence.
This phenomenon took place from roughly 1534 to 1715, beginning in the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent with the rise of Hürrem Sultan and ending with the death of Gülnuş Sultan. These women were either the concubines of the sultan, referred to as haseki sultans, or the mothers of the sultan, known as valide sultans. All of them were of slave origin, as was expected during the sultanate, since the traditional idea of marriage was considered inappropriate for the sultan, who was not expected to have any personal allegiances beyond his governmental role; however, Hürrem Sultan managed to become the legal wife of Suleiman, and Nurbanu Sultan, Safiye Sultan, and Kösem Sultan might have also married their respective sultans.