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http://www2.humnet.ucla.edu/mellon/images/stories/monthlyseminars/reorienting the renaissance.pdf
Hurrem Sultan, the haseki (or favorite slave concubine) of the powerful Ottoman emperor Suleyman I (r.1520--66), was well known in Europe by her Christian name, Rosa or Roxolana.
Although by this time Ottoman rulers did not marry, Suleyman made Hurrem his legal wife when, after being manumitted by him, she refused to share his bed on the grounds that it was sinful for a free woman to cohabit outside wedlock. Hurrem became an important advisor to Suleyman, and her intimate letters to her husband included political advice as well as
declarations of love.
European as well as Ottoman commentators, both
contemporary and of later times, regarded her as inaugurating a manipulative
“sultanate of women,” which ultimately brought about the downfall of the Turkish
empire.
In his influential Generall History of the Turkes, Richard Knolles follows the
famous Ottoman historian Mustafa Ali in holding Roxolana responsible for poisoning
her husband’s mind and having his eldest son killed so that her own could inherit the
throne (...)
_________________________________________
That killed son was Mustafa, who was regarded as a Warrior type of man.
The Army and the Janissaries backed him for his braveness.
Instead, Hürrem or Roxelana gave the Empire Selim the Drunkard, who died by slipping in the Bath whilst being drunk.
It was also this drunkard who let it happen, that women definitely took over the Empire.
Hurrem Sultan, the haseki (or favorite slave concubine) of the powerful Ottoman emperor Suleyman I (r.1520--66), was well known in Europe by her Christian name, Rosa or Roxolana.
Although by this time Ottoman rulers did not marry, Suleyman made Hurrem his legal wife when, after being manumitted by him, she refused to share his bed on the grounds that it was sinful for a free woman to cohabit outside wedlock. Hurrem became an important advisor to Suleyman, and her intimate letters to her husband included political advice as well as
declarations of love.
European as well as Ottoman commentators, both
contemporary and of later times, regarded her as inaugurating a manipulative
“sultanate of women,” which ultimately brought about the downfall of the Turkish
empire.
In his influential Generall History of the Turkes, Richard Knolles follows the
famous Ottoman historian Mustafa Ali in holding Roxolana responsible for poisoning
her husband’s mind and having his eldest son killed so that her own could inherit the
throne (...)
_________________________________________
That killed son was Mustafa, who was regarded as a Warrior type of man.
The Army and the Janissaries backed him for his braveness.
Instead, Hürrem or Roxelana gave the Empire Selim the Drunkard, who died by slipping in the Bath whilst being drunk.
It was also this drunkard who let it happen, that women definitely took over the Empire.
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