r/sultanateofwomen

Murphey mentions the limit of a vizier’s power and coercion during the Ottoman campaigns of the 16th and 17th centuries that witnessed a series of struggles between influential viziers, and their factions.
There were a number of cases with deliberate withholding of strategic supplies and financial support by a jealous deputy Grand Vizier (deputy: kaymakam) in Istanbul. This could seriously compromise the preparations of commanders at the battlefront. The struggle to increase their personal influence and the ambition to obtain higher office amongst the statesmen was the obvious ulterior motive. (Source: Murphey, 1999)

According to English Ambassador Henry Lello who served at the court of Mehmed III the behind the scenes political wrangling over who gets promoted to Grand Vizierate may take precedence over the reporting of tactical progress of Ottoman forces at the front. In other words, Viziers may prioritize their own personal interests over the interests of the Empire and government, weakening the state. One of the main reasons of these struggles was the desire to be a Grand Vizier someday and these rivalries caused a lot of tension amongst the Ottoman forces at the battlefield.

Besides the Viziers, the Janissaries, the sipahis and also the religious scholars—ulema were competing in this hierarchical construction.

Historian Gunhan Börekçi explains that high ranking members of the religious scholars (ulema) and the palace soldiers were deeply involved in factional court politics and amongst them there were people who formed alliances with the viziers. Baki Tezcan explains that from 1578 to 1606, the court gained centrality within the Ottoman bureaucracy.

According to Fatih Yeşil, Divan-ı Hümayun, the Imperial Council losing its function was a critical moment in court politics.

Divan-ı Hümayun, the Imperial Council originally acted as a liaison between the Sultan and the Grand Vizier of the Empire. During Murad III’s reign, the telhis (petition) system (also known as the “arz” system) gained popularity. Gunhan Börekçi explains that the favourites took full advantage of the new mode of communication with the sultan, which was a means of direct contact with the sultan, even surpassing the authority of Grand Vizier. They not only had the privilege of submitting their own petitions to the sultan, but also controlled the order in which the sultan saw them. This inevitably led to corruption.

For instance, Kapiagasi Gazanfer made a great fortune during the reign of Murad III and Mehmed III, and had the opportunity to intervene in the decision making of Sultan Mehmed III through these Arz letters.

The new arz/telhis policy resulted in a huge number
of petitions. Şemsi Pasha was commonly villainized as the person who suggested Murad III that the arz system shall be put into effect. His motivation was to loosen Sokollu’s firm grip over the Imperial Council as they were part of opposite factions.
The practice resulted not only in diminishing the
authority and independence of the Imperial Council but also increasing the power of palace eunuchs and stewards. These eunuchs and stewards were able to control appointments due to their proximity to the sultan and they were able to sell them to whoever would pay the highest price, opening the doors to corruption.
Valide Nurbanu Sultan appointing two palace cooks, Ferhad and Çiğalazade Yusuf as head of the eastern campaign and Beylerbey of Revan, respectively, followed by their elevation to the rank of vizier, was depicted by Mustafa Âli as acts of corruption. (Source: Pinar Kayaalp)

On the other hand, proximity to female members of the dynasty was another way of gaining power and influence for viziers. 1600 relazione from Mehmed III’s reign, criticized Sultan Süleyman for allowing statesmen gaining access into the dynasty by marrying sultanas. These types of marriages relatively increased during the reign of Sultan Süleyman, although statesmen marrying sultanas was nothing new.

“One can understand the most notable harm was caused by Sultan Süleyman when he gave his daughter [Mihrimah] in marriage to Rustem Pasha, contrary to the long-established practices of his predecessors. His predecessors knew how important it was for good governance that it should not be tainted by the authority of women: they married their daughters to men of modest standing and assigned them to sanjaks so far away that they kept them at such a distance they could have
no way of influencing any part of the government.”

However marriage of a pasha to a sultana wasn’t necessarily a new idea that appeared in Suleyman’s reign.

“Stjepan, youngest son of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, accepted Islam and was named Ahmed. Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha quickly advanced during the reigns of as many as three sultans. He started as a mîr-i alem (standard bearer), then assumed the duty of sancakbey, beylerbey and kapudan pasha. He was grand vizier as many as five times, and sultan’s confidant and counsellor. In 1481 or 1484 he married Hundi Sultan, daughter of Bayezid II.” from V. Miović, Per favore della Soltana: Powerful Ottoman Women and Ragusan Diplomats

The SoW Ladies have been framed as having corrupt, self-serving, or underhanded "ulterior motives" that allegedly caused the decline of the empire. However, as illustrated above, the rival male bureaucrats and the male members of various factions aren’t completely innocent in this game of political authority either.

This is a slightly insane what if nobody's really brought up, so hear me out:

Hürrem Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was the legal wife of Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent. She held enormous influence at Süleiman's court and completely changed the conventions of the Ottoman imperial harem.

By the time Anne Boleyn's rapid decline in power began around 1536, Hürrem was already Haseki Sultan and one of the most influential women at the Ottoman court.

Meanwhile, geopolitically, the Franco-Ottoman relationship was already developing. Francis I was in conflict with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and increasingly needed Süleiman as a counterweight to Habsburg power. Anne also already had extensive connections to France and had spent part of her youth at the French court. It's therefore not entirely implausible to imagine her fleeing there if she realized what was happening quickly enough and somehow managed to escape England.

So here is my actual what-if: what if Hürrem learned that Anne's position was rapidly becoming dangerous and quietly encouraged the French court to receive Anne and Elizabeth if they fled England? I don't mean Süleiman threatening Henry VIII or Ottoman ships showing up to rescue Anne. I'm imagining something much subtler: Hürrem, who historically did engage in diplomatic correspondence with foreign monarchs, could quietly make it known to Francis's court that the Haseki Sultan had taken an interest in Anne's situation and would look favorably upon France receiving her and her daughter. Considering how important Ottoman friendship was becoming to Francis, I strongly think the French court would at least take that message seriously.

You might ask why the wife of Suleyman would bother? I can think of several reasons:

1.) There are some genuinely fascinating similarities between these women. Both became the legal wives of enormously powerful monarchs under highly unusual and controversial circumstances, both disrupted existing conventions surrounding royal marriage, and both had enormous stakes in the futures of their children. Obviously, I'm not suggesting Hürrem would suddenly develop sixteenth-century feminist solidarity with a woman she'd never met, but I don't think some degree of personal sympathy or fascination is impossible either. More importantly, though, Anne Boleyn being alive is geopolitically useful.

2.) Catherine of Aragon was Charles V's aunt. Charles was Sultan Süleiman's great Habsburg rival, while Anne's marriage to Henry was at the center of England's rupture with Rome. If Hürrem has an opportunity to keep this incredibly inconvenient woman alive at essentially zero cost to the Ottoman Empire, why wouldn't she consider it?

3.) Anne doesn't even have to become an Ottoman ally or actively do anything for them. Her continued existence is the problem. Hürrem's calculation could honestly be very simple: all she has to do is quietly make sure France knows that if Anne Boleyn shows up at their door, Constantinople would very much prefer that they don't send her back.

Instead of Henry executing Anne, there is now a former crowned Queen of England living under French protection, maintaining that she was Henry's lawful wife and that the charges against her were false. More importantly, Elizabeth is living beside her. Anne's mere existence becomes a permanent diplomatic nuisance for Henry.

So let's say Anne realizes what's happening slightly earlier than she did historically, somehow manages to flee England with Elizabeth, and reaches France. Francis receives her and refuses Henry's demands to return her. Henry eventually discovers that the French court had actually been prepared to receive Anne because Hürrem Sultan had quietly encouraged them to do so.

Thoughts?

Haseki Gülnuş Sultan was in her thirties and the most senior woman of Mehmed IV, when she decided to build a hospital and a soup kitchen in Mecca, the holiest city of Islam. At the time, the empire was relatively stable, Ottomans were at a far better place than what the Empire’s future would look like after the freefall from onwards 1683: with the conquest of Crete in 1669, and of Kamianets-Podilskyi (Kamanice) in 1672, there was stability under the Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazil Ahmed Pasha.

Gülnuş had been given the income generating villages in Egypt that financially secured her pious foundations in Mecca.

Securing the Haremeyn (Mecca and Medina, the holiest cities of Islam) was a source of prestige; helping the poor people of these cities and meeting the needs of pilgrims undertaking the Hajj would be the most memorable pious act.

Indeed, building charitable foundations in the holy lands of Islam was not that common for Sultanas. The only other female patron to endow waqf buildings in Mecca, as well as in Medina and Jerusalem, was Haseki Hürrem Sultan. Haseki Gülnus Sultan and Haseki Hürrem Sultan would be the two “Haseki”s from Sultanate of Women to achieve this goal.

Around 1678, Haseki Gülnuş Sultan picked Mecca, to built her soup kitchen to feed the poor and a hospital to cure the ill.

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Ironically, there is some Venetian tea ☕️ provided by the ambassadors around this time.

Giovanni Morosini reported in 1680, that Gülnus started to attract the jealousy of Valide Turhan Sultan, who is “now 60 years old, and having governed the empire with absolute power during her son's youth, bitterly resents seeing the [Haseki Sultan] being favored”. Morosini described Haseki Gülnus Sultan as someone who appears “completely adverse to any [political] affair on surface but in reality with her arts, deceptions, she bends [Sultan Mehmed IV’s] will.

Pietro Civano, reported in 1682:

"With great pride, [Haseki Gülnuş Sultan] shows respect, deference and devotion to the [Valide Turhan Sultan] and pretends to be adverse to any [political] affair. At the same time, she employs all manners of arts, intellect and flatteries, not only to have a share in deliberations but to keep herself alone in command with [Sultan Mehmed IV]."

Pietro Civano continues to describe the “fierce jealousy” between Valide Turhan Sultan and Haseki Gülnus Sultan because both of them wanted to control Mehmed IV: “Until now the mother has always had her son's respect, however for the past two years [Haseki Gülnus Sultan’s] arts have prevailed”.

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During the move from Istanbul to Edirne in 1681, Valide Turhan Sultan received 4000 gold coins and 68 keses of akçe, Haseki Gülnus Sultan received 4000 gold coins and 67 keses of akçe. Same amount was given to both sultanas a couple of years prior. Haseki Sultan’s and Valide Sultan’s “harcirah” or travel expenses are almost the same with a symbolic 1 kese different for the Valide Sultan. It seems while Mehmed IV respected and honored his mother’s Valide Sultan status by allowing her to symbolically surpass his Haseki on paper, the ambassador reports show us Valide Turhan Sultan was getting uncomfortable with the rise of Gülnuş.—reinforced with Gülnus’s charitable foundations in the holy lands.

Small edit: Venetian bailo Giovanbattista Donado (1680-1684) reported that Haseki Gülnus Sultan was wishing to strengthen her daughter Hatice Sultan’s position, and she had asked her son in law Musahip Mustafa Pasha a total of three times to accept the Grand Vizierate position, but Musahip Mustafa Pasha had rejected this offer. Musahip apologized by presenting gifts, and by this gesture he had kept his mother in law’s favor, thereby continuing to be loved and respected for some time longer. So Gulnus was politically active during this time.

Source:
The Women Who Built the Ottoman World: Female Patronage and the Architectural Legacy of Gülnuş Sultan