Traditions and laws in the Ottoman harem

It was not by chance that the Ottoman imperial harem was considered such a mysterious place: it was full of laws and customs that could not be observed anywhere else. Many traditions were formed over the centuries, others were introduced by sultans, but they all had a great influence on the lives of the women living in the harem, and even on the lives of the rulers and their families. In this post, I present the most important harem customs.

The "one concubine - one son" law

This was one of the most ancient and important customs in the Ottoman imperial harem. Although many people are confused by this law, it will soon become clear why it was necessary. But let's not rush ahead, what is this law anyway?

As the name suggests, a concubine could only have one son from a prince/sultan. She may have had more daughters than sons, because daughters were not as important politically and from the point of view of the empire as sons. However, as soon as she gave birth to a son, her partnership with the child's father was immediately severed. Why was this so? Well, there are several reasons for this. As we know, harems often housed several dozen or even hundreds of women, and the observance of this custom was partly necessary for the utilization of the harem, so that as many children as possible could be born from as many concubines as possible, thereby ensuring the survival of the dynasty. On the other hand - and this is more important - every prince, as soon as he grew up, was given his own sanjak, that is, a province, which he controlled. This is how they gained leadership and military experience so that when they ascend the throne, they will be adequately prepared. The prince who received the sanjak was always accompanied by his mother, who founded and managed her son's princely harem, as well as providing her child with advice. If a concubine could have had several sons, she would not have been able to accompany them all to their sanjaks, which is why observing this custom was very important in the long run. Only Süleyman I. violated this with his favorite, Hürrem, who, as the mother of 5 boys and the leader of the sultan's harem, could not accompany any of her sons to their province. After Hürrem, the sultans for the most part no longer followed this custom.

The management of the harem

The control of the harem was basically in the hands of one person: it was owned by the Valide Sultan, which was the title of the Sultan's mother. Traditionally, the most important role of the Valide was managing the harem, overseeing its finances, enforcing its rules, and helping the sultan's family (women, children). This role was performed by the Valide from the creation of the institution of the harem until the end of the Ottoman Empire, so it was a "scope of work" spanning almost the entire history of the empire. But what if the sultan's mother dies before her son ascends the throne, or if she passes away during her son's reign?

The post of leader of the harem could not be held by anyone instead of the Valide: the basic custom was that in the event of the death of the Valide, the widow sister of the sultan could take over the task. It is very important that only a widowed sultana could be the head of the harem, because a married sultana could not have moved into the imperial harem. An example of this can be the case of Selim II.: Hürrem sultana could not live her son's rule, so Selim asked his sister, Mihrimah to manage the harem of the Old Palace (Eski Saray).

The other possibility was that the sultan asked his nanny for the post. Basically, children were brought up by nannies rather than mothers (with the exception of Mahidevran Hatun, who did not allow anyone to raise her son). It is not surprising that princes often developed a much closer relationship with their nannies than with their mothers. Selim II. also loved and respected his nanny immensely, while he entrusted the management of the Old Palace to his sister, he gave the leadership of the New Palace (Topkapı Saray) to his nanny (in which Selim's favorite, Nurbanu, also played a major role). But another example can be cited: Osman II. ascended the throne when his mother, Mahfiruze was no longer alive. The harem books clearly recorded that the harem was led by Osman's nanny instead of his settled mother.

It was one of the rare cases when a high-ranking female servant of the harem could take over the position of leader of the harem. On her deathbed, Nurbanu sultana asked her son Murat III. to swore that he entrust the leadership of the harem not to his favorite, Safiye (with whom Nurbanu  had a famously bad relationship), but to his loyal servant, Canfeda Hatun. Murat kept his promise, Canfeda managed the sultan's harem for 12 years. It is very important to point out that no woman became the Valide sultana by being given the position of head of the harem. Valide sultana was exclusively the title of the Sultan's mother, never held by anyone else. There was only one case when the sultan bestowed the title on his foster mother, Rahime Perestu sultana thus became the last Valide sultana of the Ottoman Empire.

The marriage ban of the sultans

As many of you probably know, the first sultans still entered into political marriages, mainly with the Byzantine Empire and the Serbian ruling family. These were still useful in the early days, but after the Ottoman interregnum they largely lost their importance. Moreover, as the empire grew, its leaders increasingly thought that it was not worth depending on other countries through marriages, so political marriages became a burden. In addition, the raids and the transportation of captured girls to the harem were increasingly dynamic, and the sultans used the harem more and more. That is why Sultan Mehmet II. formulated the marriage ban for sultans in law: a sultan could not marry either a harem lady, nor a free Muslim woman, nor a member of another ruling house. It could only have been a harem, which was used to the fullest extent according to the "one concubine - one son" law. 

Of course, just as the "one concubine - one son" law was broken, so was the marriage ban, namely by the same ruler: Süleyman I. It was not by chance that Hürrem sultana became such a divisive personality and became so famous, since the Sultan broke countless laws and customs for her sake. Süleyman established the Haseki title for her in 1534, with which he elevated Hürrem to sultana and entrusted her with the leadership of the harem after the death of her mother, Ayşe Hafsa Valide sultana. He then legally married her, presumably the same year, which made a worldwide consternation. Apart from Hürrem, only four other women (three concubines and one free Muslim woman) could claim to be the legal wife of the Sultan since Mehmet's laws: Afife Nurbanu sultana (1571), Safiye sultana (1586), Akile Hatun (1622) and Telli Hümaşah sultana (1647). As we can see, marriage still did not become a habit, but the opportunity was given.

The concubines who were married out

Just as a girls could get into a harem in seconds, they could just as easily get out of it under Ottoman law. A concubine was expelled from the harem not only if his behavior did not conform to the rules there, but in most cases this took place when the partner of that concubine (a prince) was executed. In the Ottoman Empire, the execution of a prince or sibling battles for the throne were not surprising, most of the time this sealed the life of their entire family. According to tradition, the executed princes were always buried in Bursa (right up to Prince Mustafa), any sons of the prince were also executed, and their women and daughters were married off according to order, who thus lived on completely forgotten and stigmatized. If a sultan died, his women and daughters moved to the harem of the Old Palace (at least since 1534, since the immediate family of the sultans only lived in the New Palace, next to the sultan, from then on). The former concubines of a sultan could never be those of the next sultan, just as girls could not be chosen for a prince's harem from his father's harem, this was forbidden. So everything in the harem worked according to a strictly defined order.

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