Ayşe Hafsa Sultan

Ayşe Hafsa Sultan (1479-1534) was Ottoman sultan Selim I's wife and his successor Süleyman the Magnificent's mother. Especially during the period between her son's enthronement (1520) until her death, she was one of the most influential persons in the Empire, coming second only to the sovereign, a point remarked also by the ambassadors of European powers at the Ottoman court [ Pietro Bragadin, Venetian Republic's ambassador in the early years of Süleyman's reign notes "a very beautiful woman of 48, for whom the sultan bears great reverence and love..." cite book | title = The Imperial Harem : Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire p. 62 ISBN 0195086775|author= Leslie Peirce|publisher=Oxford University Press|year= 1993 | language=English] .

Although her year of birth is known, different theories have been put forth regarding her origins.

Having resided in the city of Manisa in western Turkey with her son, who administered the surrounding region between 1513 to 1520, the town being one of the traditional residences for Ottoman crown princes (shahzade) in apprenticeship for future power, Hafsa Sultan is the initiator of the Manisa's "Mesir Festival", a local tradition still continued today. She also had a large complex consisting of a mosque, a primary school, a college and a hospice built in the city.

Ayşe Hafsa Sultan was also the first imperial spouse to be called by the title usually rendered in English language as "Sultana" ("full title in Turkish; "Valide Sultan", literally "the mother sultan") and her period signalled the shifting status of the sultan's mother and her increased share in power [cite book | title = Constructing Ottoman beneficence: An imperial soup kitchen in Jerusalem p. 90 ISBN 0791453510|author= Amy Singer|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=2002|language=English] .

After Süleyman, to whom she had given birth on 6 November 1494 in Trabzon, Hafsa Sultan also had three daughters from her husband: Hatice, Fatma and Hafsa [ Hafsa the daughter later married Dukaginoğlu Ahmed Pasha, grand vizier for ten months in 1414-1415 and, after his execution, a vizier and soldier of note, Choban Mustafa Pasha. There were half a dozen notable female figures in Ottoman history who were named "Hafsa". Among these, it is Ayşe Hafsa Sultan who is referred to as "Hafsa Sultan" in short, "Sultan" in this case standing for "Sultana". A namesake also of primary historical prominence and who had preceded Ayşe Hafsa Sultan by about two centuries was the wife of the sultan Bayezid I and the daughter of İsa Bey, the last Bey of Aydınoğlu, and she is generally referred to as Hafsa Hatun. It is this earlier Hafsa who is at the origin of the final form the name of a town depending Edirne, Havsa, has taken. ] .

Ayşe Hafsa Sultan died in March 1534 and was buried near her husband in a mausoleum behind the qiblah wall of Selim I Mosque, in Fatih, Istanbul. The mausoleum was largely destroyed in an earthquake in 1884 and the tomb today is simpler than it was built originally.

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