Biography of Mahidevran Gülbahar Baş Hatun

Mahidevran Hatun died on this day, February 3, 1581. Considering the statistics of the time, it is incredible that she lived 81/83 years, and her life story was not uneventful: she was the most popular female figure of her time, who was considered the most beautiful Ottoman woman, but her life was characterized by struggles and then a fall after a short rise. With this post, I would like to present Mahidevran's biography on the occasion of the 443rd anniversary of her death.

Early years, her arrival in the harem

Mahidevran may have been born between 1498 and 1500 in today's Albania or Montenegro. Her original name and family, as can be said for the other concubines, are unknown. The fictions that Mahidevran was a member of a Circassian ruling family are not true. The sources clearly state that she came from a Christian family and came to the Ottoman harem as a slave like anyone else. Although many people raise the possibility that she is of Circassian origin, this is the least likely theory, and the princess theory is simply fiction. A woman named Melike Chimay claims to be a descendant of Mahidevran and has unfortunately convinced a lot of people with fake documents. Mahidevran's descendants after her granddaughter are not known, like the families of most executed princes, Mahidevran's are also lost in history. So let's not believe these claims, this theory of origin is a fiction that has been completely rejected by historians.

She may have arrived in the harem of Prince Süleyman in Manisa in the 1510s. It is known that girls were taken to the harem between the ages of 6 and 13, as well as the fact that Mahidevran first appears in the harem books of Manisa, she could not have been a member of Süleyman's harem before (for example in Caffa, the prince's former province). Every girl in the harem was given a new Muslim name, most of them were of Persian origin and all had some meaning (the concubines were given their new names based on their external or internal features). She was named Mah-i-Devran of Persian origin, which means "eternal beauty", "whose beauty never fades", "Moon of fortune". Several sources refer to her as Gülbahar, which means "spring rose". According to several sources, Prince Süleyman's mother, Hafsa Hatun personally chose Mahidevran for her son because of her beauty and nature, who soon gave birth to her first and only child, Prince Mustafa, in 1515. She certainly did not have more children, this is also confirmed by the sources. A document has been preserved from the harem of Manisa, which details all the harem ladies, kalfas and servants who lived in the harem. Four of them, Yasemin, Server, Hubeh and Mahidevran, were Süleyman's concubines. Mahidevran, unlike the other women, did not receive the pay due to mothers before 1515, which suggests that she did not give birth until 1515. Raziye sultana, who was born around 1513, often attributed to Mahidevran, and although she could be Mahidevran's child according to the "one-concubine-one-son" law, but based on the known information about salaries, this is excluded, and the harem books do not refer to Mahidevran next to Raziye either. In addition, according to several sources, Raziye was the full-sister of Prince Murat, who was born in 1518, who could not have been Mahidevran's son according to the "one concubine-one son" law. The reality is that Mahidevran had only one child, so Mustafa was all her hopes for the future.

Her quick rise

Prince Süleyman's first son was Prince Mahmud, who was born in 1512, so his mother could wear the Baş Hatun title, means "main woman". Mahidevran, on the other hand, lived a relatively carefree life in Manisa. Everything changed when Süleyman became sultan in 1520. The harem only arrived at the end of 1520 or the beginning of 1521 in the capital, to the Old Palace (Eski Saray), where the sultan's harem lived. Only then they saw that the sultan already had a new favorite, a Ruthenian concubine, Hürrem, who was already pregnant. This might not have shocked Mahidevran, since she was not the first woman until now, Süleyman always had other partners and had children. In 1521, the plague broke out, which reached the Old Palace by autumn and all of Süleyman's children died, except Mustafa and Hürrem's newborn son, Mehmet. According to a legend, when the plague reached the harem, Mahidevran and her son prayed so loudly in their room that the whole harem heard it. Thanks to the tragedy, Mustafa became the oldest heir of the throne, so Mahidevran could rise to the Baş Hatun rank, so she became the Sultan's highest-ranking concubine, the mother of the heir. However soon, Süleyman broke the "one concubine - one son" law, called Hürrem again, so Hürrem could give birth to 5 sons and one daughter by 1532, while the sultan completely neglected Mahidevran and their child, he spent all his time with Hürrem and their children. Of course, this hurt Mahidevran a lot, she felt herself humiliated and felt sorry for her son. After that, Mustafa's upbringing was completely taken over by Mahidevran, she did not ask for help from the nannies, Mustafa received all the attention, love and care from her. Valide Hafsa sultana also supported her in this, perhaps because she experienced the same thing with her own son. Her relationship with Hürrem was not good, but there was never a physical conflict between them. There must have been examples of collusion, but the overdramatized events of the series, such as the fight, the poisoning, the serial attacks on Hürrem, and Mahidevran's miscarriage (she never got pregnant after Mustafa) are all just fictions. Not to mention that if such a thing had happened, Mahidevran would have been immediately expelled from the harem, especially if she beat a pregnant concubine and endangered the ruler's child, so she could have been executed. Since Mahidevran was never Süleyman's love, she would hardly have pardoned her, yet no such thing is recorded in any source.

"Fateful years"

Mahidevran was finally relieved by the fact that Mustafa became a sanjak-bey. In 1533, her son became the sanjak-bey of Manisa, according to custom, Mahidevran went with him to form and lead her son's harem. A year later, the news reached them here that Süleyman had created a completely new rank, the Haseki title for Hürrem and married her. The news obviously devastated Mahidevran, as she knew what it all meant: Süleyman publicly showed who he considered his family and wanted to see his sons with Hürem on the throne. After that, she urgently tried to find supporters for Mustafa, which was not difficult, because he was extremely popular even in his childhood, and he was especially loved by the people during his rule in Manisa. Mustafa's strongest supporter was the sultan's confidential friend and grand vizier, İbrahim pasha, who referred to Mustafa as his friend in his letters. In addition, Mahidevran maintained a close friendship with a member of the royal family, Hatice sultana, Süleyman's eldest sister, whom she met in Manisa. She corresponded regularly with the sultana, in which she wrote of the "sisterhood" and "true, sincere, kind friendship and sympathy" between them. Moreover, statesmen and janissaries all supported Mustafa, even foreign ambassadors reported on his days in Manisa. The Venetian ambassador remembered Mahidevran in one of his reports: "Mustafa's mother is always by his side, helps him, gives him advice on how to endear himself to the people, Mustaf's popularity is due to his mother's abilities in addition to his talent. Mahidevran Hatun takes special care to protect her son from poisoning, we received information that she herself prepares Mustafa's meals, but at least she is present during their preparation and supervises the processes, often tasting them herself". This account was followed by many legends about Mahidevran's maternal role. For example, the story of the "poisoned şerbet" is known, according to which, when a servant served Mustafa a şerbet, Mahidevran, relying on a bad intuition, grabbed the drink from Mustafa's hand and forced the servant to drink it, who collapsed dead. These stories are not proven, they are just legends, but it is clear that they want to draw attention to Mahidevran's talent as a mother, which is historically verified.

During their stay in Manisa, Mahidevran took on a new role: in 1536, she became a grandmother, her first and dearest grandchild, Nergis-Şah sultana was born. In 1542, a turning point occurred in their lives, as Süleyman relieved Mustafa of the governorship of Manisa and placed him in Amasya. This did not cause them sadness, on the contrary. Manisa was the province of novice princes, it was easy to govern, there was no real challenge. In the past, Amasya was the most desired province, because it was located along the eastern border, it had a relatively large army, it was here that a prince could really show his abilities as a governor, Mustafa and his mother must have been happy that the sultan finally appreciated Mustafa's work. Her other two grandsons, Prince Mehmet and Şah sultana, were already born in Amasya. Unfortunately, their life became increasingly difficult, as İbrahim pasha was executed in 1536, and Hürrem allied with his daughter's husband, Rüstem pasha, to remove Mustafa.

Downfall

At first, Hürrem and Rüstem reported all the mistakes of Mustafa to the sultan, which are mostly made by all princes while gaining experience, later they also created lies about him, took advantage of the soldiers' love for Mustafa, and began to spread the word that Mustafa wanted to take over the power. This was precisely Süleyman's weak point, as he saw how his own father, Yavuz Selim, defeated his brothers with the help of the janissaries, and pushed his father, Bayezid II. from his throne, whom he later killed. Süleyman's fear was understandable, but he should not have based it on rumours, since he did not want to know his son all his life, he always neglected him. Finally, in 1553, Rüstem pasha received a letter from Venice in which they sent positive feedback that Mustafa had previously asked them for help in seizing the throne. This was reason enough for Süleyman to execute Mustafa. Neither the authenticity nor the falsity of the letter has been proven since then, nor has the guilt or innocence of Mustafa. Several factors suggest that Mustafa was the victim of a conspiracy, as Mustafa's alleged emissary interestingly took the reply letter directly to Rüstem Pasha, and not to Mustafa. However, the letter sent to Venice does have Mustafa's seal, so many believe that the messenger was Rüstem's man, who stole the prince's seal and wrote a fake letter. Others believed that the prince was indeed guilty of enjoying too much the adoration of the janissaries. Mustafa's biggest mistake was probably not taking Süleyman's biggest fear about the janissaries seriously enough, but he can't be blamed for that either, since Süleyman didn't spend enough time with Mustafa, so the prince could not know his father.

Süleyman was on a campaign when he ordered Mustafa to come to the camp of the Ottoman army at Ereğli. Mahidevran begged him not to travel there, but Mustafa wanted to prove his innocence to his father. The Austrian ambassador gave the most accurate description of the prince's dilemma: "Mustafa vacillated between two options: if he went to his father and found him angry, he would risk his life, but if he did not go, he would openly admit to inciting a rebellion against the Sultan. In the end, he chose the braver, but riskier way, so he left Amasya to go to his father's camp not too far away. Either he trusted in his innocence or in the support of the army, he believed that nothing bad could happen to him in the presence of the army." 

Later, Mahidevran received information from the camp that the sultan had brought deaf-mute executioners there. Mahidevran immediately sent a letter to Mustafa to escape from there, but he could not believe that his father would execute him without listening to his explanation, as he wrote, "he must follow the path that fate calls him". Mustafa, trusting his father, entered his tent on October 6, 1553, where he wanted to kiss his hand, but the sultan shouted at him: "Ah, you dog! Do you still dare to greet me?". Then the executioners came forward and immediately attacked him. Mustafa resisted fiercely and started running out of the mud. If he had reached the entrance of the tent, the soldiers would certainly have joined him, but at the last moment Zal Mahmud ağa managed to strangle the prince.

Hearing the news, Mahidevran was completely devastated. After that, according to custom, she marched to Bursa and buried her son there. Mustafa was the last executed prince, who according to tradition was buried in Bursa. Later, Süleyman suspected her of inciting Mustafa to rebel, confiscated all her property, withdrew her allowance and separated her grandchildren from her, and also executed Mustafa's young son, Mehmet. Mahidevran was left completely alone, became penniless, according to the records, her loyal servants often stole food for her, but what perhaps hurt her the most: she could not even finish Mustafa's tomb. Her granddaughter, Nergis-Şah sultana was married off, and her younger granddaughter, Şah sultana was forced to live in the Old Palace next to those who caused the loss of her father. In the end, Nergis-Şah arbitrarily left her husband and retired to Bursa to her grandmother.

Peace was brought to her by the compassion of Prince Selim. During his father's lifetime, the prince defied the decree against Mahidevran, he bought a house for her in Bursa, which reportedly also had a huge flower garden. He fixed a regular monthly payment for her and allowed her granddaughter to stay with her. But what was perhaps most important for Mahidevran: Selim completed Mustafa's tomb too. Although Mustafa's death brought Selim's rise, Selim's actions towards Mahidevran and the memory of his deceased brother, in addition to his kind nature, may indicate that he also believed in Mustafa's innocence.

Thanks to Selim, Mahidevran was able to spend the last 15 years of her life in prosperity. Before her death, she freed all her servants, and on February 3, 1581, she closed her eyes forever. Mahidevran reached an incredible age, she died at the age of 81-83, outliving all members of the family. She was buried with great respect in the tomb of Prince Mustafa, her grave can still be visited today. She is also referred to as Süleyman's unlucky woman, but thanks to people's love and respect, there are many legends and lovely stories about her. Mahidevran's whole life was full of worries, humiliations and forced fights, but thanks to her outstanding maternal talent, beauty and charity, she is now called as "the woman of Ottoman hearts".

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