Söyembika of Kazan

Söyembikä (also spelled "Söyenbikä", "Sujumbike"; [pronounced ser-yerm-bee-KEH] [IPA|sœˌjœmbiˈkæ] ; Cyrillic: "Сөембикә") (1516 – after 1554) was a Tatar ruler, "xanbikä".

She was the regent of her son Kazan khan Ütämeşgäräy in (1549-51), the daughter of Nogay nobleman Yosıf bäk and the wife of Kazan khans Canğäli (1533-35), Safagäräy (1536-49) and Şahğäli (after 1553). In 1551, after the first partial conquest of the Khanate of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible she was forcibly moved to Moscow with her son [TES|Сөембикә] and later married to Şahğäli, Russia-imposed khan of Qasim and Kazan Tatars.

She is a national hero of the Tatar nation and one of the first female heads of state in the history of the Muslim world, although she was regent for a short time. Her name is associated first of all with Söyembikä Tower, that she is supposed to have built as a tomb for her husband Safagäräy. No information was recorded about her death, but a legend has it that she hurled herself from the tower she had built. She is the direct ancestress of Prince Felix Yussupov.

Oleg Lundstrem has a musical piece "Legend of Soyembika".

ee also

* List of Kazan khans

References