if you could meet one woman of the sultanate of women, which one would you choose? ✨
For me, it’s Kösem because she’s currently my fave and I honestly think she has the biggest number of stories to tell… she lived through reigns of so many different sultans, transformational changes, so many significant events, during such turbulent times.. and was so long in power at the same time, was so close to what was happening, often was an active participant. She witnessed reigns of two mad sultans, so many depositions, including two first regicides in Ottoman history, the reign of “perhaps the most feared and most terrible of all the Ottoman sultans” (J.P. Cooper, The New Cambridge Modern History), changes in succession law… And she was truly the first officially recognised female regent and thus an actual ruler of the Ottoman Empire. How much she had to be esteemed by some to be asked by statesmen to become ruler again because they trusted her to stabilise the country after Ibrahim’s disastrous reign. Bah, they created a special title of “Great Valide” for her for this purpose. Same about her charity works, since she was so involved in it and seemed to often come in direct contact with people and their stories… like freeing her slaves and finding young girls suitable spouses (including providing dowry for them); she even visited people in prison and paid non-murderers’ debts… so I’d also ask her about stories of people representing lower classes during that period, those that are so often forgotten.
Plus, I’d love to ask her more about some mysteries.. especially concerning Murad’s harem and love life because it seems such a hot topic, it’d be great to possess such knowledge that so many yearn to have lol. And yeah I’d record the conversation and bring you all tangible final evidence of no princesses in Murad’s harem ;) Same about all the details concerning her rivalry with Turhan.. why it truly came to such an awful clash in the end because there are so many question marks over this, and of course it depends on who wrote a particular account (whose supporter that person was,) since it was such a highly complex matter historically…
Turhan would be second pick, but instead of asking her questions concerning her rule, I’d ask her about her early years.. I’m always curious about what was truly happening in Ibrahim’s harem - so many women, so many hasekis, mothers of his children,a mentally disturbed father of a big family, plus his very powerful mother, then mysterious and rather odd individuals looming over it all, like Cinci Hoca (called Turkish Raspustin pretty aptly) or Şekerpare - I was always fascinated by dynamics that could have been there, and MYK didn’t even offer proper, comprehensive imagined version of it because so little time was allotted to Ibrahim’s reign due to the show coming to an end. Plus, I’m curious about early Turhan/Kösem relations: Did they get along initially? Did Turhan treat Kösem as a role model? Did Kösem prepare her to be her successor, like MYK showed us? When did the rivalry between them truly start? I know I could ask Kösem the same questions, but I’d prefer to hear here a point of view of Ibrahim’s concubine and mother of his eldest son, who obviously expected to become Valide one day due to new rules of succession based on seniority. After all, she was so young when she became Valide and thus was also seen as inexperienced, yet she slowly gained supporters as junior Valide…
My first choice would be Kösem, as well. For one she is one of my favorites on an emotional level, and for another she was the first Valide to be an official regent. She was initiator and witness of so many changes and events—of course I’d love to ask her many questions about the events that took place during her lifetime, but at the same time I’d just want to take this woman, who managed to be in undivided power for so long, in. What did she look like? How did she speak? How did she move? So many mysteries!
My second choice, I think, would be Safiye. I never had much of a personal interest but the sheer fact that she lived through the reign of seven sultans seems like she’d make for a good source of information.
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