Valide Sultan

Valide Sultan (or Sultan valide) (literally Sultan's parent) was the title held by the mother of a ruling sultan in the Ottoman Empire. The title can also be translated as Queen Mother. The Turkish pronunciation of the word "valide", rendered in , is IPA| [valiˈde] .

The position was arguably the most important position in the Ottoman Empire, after the Sultan himself. As the mother to the Sultan, by the Islamic tradition ("A mother's right is God's right"), the Valide Sultan would have a significant influence on the affairs of the Empire. In particular, during the seventeenth century, in a period known as the "Sultanate of women", a series of incompetent or child sultans raised the role of the valide sultan to new heights. [Peirce, Leslie P., "The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire", Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-19-508677-5 (paperback)]

List of Valide Sultans

*Nilüfer (Valide Sultan) (wife of Orhan I, mother of Murad I, )
*Hüma (wife of Murad II, mother of Mehmed II, )
*Amina Gul-Bahar (wife of Mehmed II, mother of Bayezid II, ) (1481-1492)
*Aishe Hafsa (wife of Selim I, mother of Suleiman I, ) (1520-1534)
*Hürrem (wife of Suleiman I, mother of Selim II, )
*Nur Banu (wife of Selim II, mother of Murad III, )
*Safiye Sultan(wife of Murad III, mother of Mehmed III, )
*Handan (wife of Mehmed III, mother of Ahmed I, )
*Mahfiruz Hadice (wife of Ahmed I, mother of Osman II, )
*Kösem (Mahpeyker, another wife of Ahmed I, mother of Murad IV and Ibrahim I, )
*Turhan Hadice (wife of Ibrahim I, mother of Mehmed IV, )
*Saliha Dilashub (Saliha Dilaşub, another wife of Ibrahim I, mother of Suleiman II, )
*Mah-Para Ummatullah Rabia Gül-Nush (wife of Mehmed IV, mother of Mustafa II and Ahmed III, )
*Saliha Sabkati (wife of Mustafa II, mother of Mahmud I, )
*Shehsuvar (another wife of Mustafa II, mother of Osman III, )
*Mihr-i shah (wife of Mustafa III, mother of Selim III, )
*Ayse Seniyeperver (Aisha Sina Parvar, Ayse Sine-perver, wife of ‘Abdu’l-Hamid I, mother of Mustafa IV, )
*Naksh-i-Dil (another wife of ‘Abdu’l-Hamid I, mother of Mahmud II, ) [There have been speculations that she was a cousin of Napoleon's wife Josephine [Christine Isom-Verhaaren, "Royal French Women in the Ottoman Sultans' Harem: The Political Uses of Fabricated Accounts from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century", "Journal of World History", vol. 17, No. 2, 2006 ] . See Aimée du Buc de Rivéry]
*Bezmiâlem (Bazim-i Alam, first wife of Mahmud II, mother of Abd-ul-Mejid I, )
*Pertevniyal (wife of Mahmud II, original name Bezime, mother of Abd-ul-Aziz, )
*Shevkefza (wife of Abd-ul-Mejid I, original name Vilma, mother of Murad V 1876-1876 (Circassian), )
*Tirimüjgan (wife of Abd-ul-Mejid I, original name Virjin (Armenian), the biological mother of Abd-ul-Hamid II)
*Rahime Perestu (wife of Abd-ul-Mejid I, adoptive mother of Abd-ul-Hamid II, )
*Gülcemal ( wife of Abd-ul-Mejid I, original name Sofiya (Circassian), mother of Mehmed V, )
*Gülüstü (wife of Abd-ul-Mejid I, original name Henriet (Circassian), mother of Mehmed VI, )

References