Ayşe Sultan (Haseki of Murad IV)

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Ayşe Sultan
Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
(Imperial Consort)
Tenurec. 1628 – 8 February 1640
PredecessorAyşe Sultan
SuccessorTurhan Sultan
Saliha Dilaşub Sultan
Muazzez Sultan
Ayşe Sultan
Mahienver Sultan
Saçbağlı Sultan
Şivekar Sultan
Hümaşah Sultan
Diedc. 1680 (1681)
Old Palace, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Consort ofMurad IV
IssueUnknown
Names
Turkish: Ayşe Sultan
Ottoman Turkish: عایشه سلطان
ReligionSunni Islam

Ayşe Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: عایشه سلطان; "the living one" or "womanly"; died c. 1680) was a Haseki sultan of Sultan Murad IV of the Ottoman Empire.[1]

Life[edit]

Ayşe’s real name is unknown, although Venetians ambassadors wrote she was Greek. As per custom she was brought to the harem via the Ottoman slave trade, where she most likely appeared at around 1627 and soon became the sultan’s favorite concubine. At some point, she became Murad's Haseki Sultan. She certainly bore children to the sultan, but it is not known how many and which of Murad IV's children were born by her. She was described as "beautiful on the outside but not on the inside" and was on bad terms with Murad's mother, Kösem Sultan.

Privy Purse registers the presence of Ayşe as Murad's only Haseki until the very end of Murad's seventeen-year reign, when a second concubine, with the very high salary of 2.751 coin a day (but reduced to 2,000 after seven months), appeared. According to historian Leslie Peirce, this woman would have been Murad's second Haseki. However, other historians disagree that this second concubine officially held the title of Haseki.[2][3][4][5]

In 1633 Murad raised Ayşe's stipend to 2,000 aspers a day, where it remained throughout his reign. The increase was most likely linked to a general increase in stipends throughout the palace during Murad's reign, described by Koçi Bey, and was accompanied by a marked growth in the size of the harem. These changes were probably an aspect of Murad's dramatic assertion of personal control of government after nine years of his mother's regency.[1]

After Murad IV’s death, Ayşe, like his other concubines, was sent out of the Topkapı Palace. The last mentioning of her receiving the stipend was in 1679/1680 and it is very probable that she died around that time.

In popular culture[edit]

In the TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, Ayşe is portrayed by Turkish actress Leyla Feray. In the series, she is the mother of Şehzade Ahmed, Hanzade Sultan and Kaya Sultan. Her death is different from reality: she commits suicide with her children except Kaya years before Murad's death.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Leslie P. Peirce (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 107 and 312. ISBN 978-0-195-08677-5.
  2. ^ Leslie P. Peirce (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 107–108. ISBN 978-0-19-508677-5.
  3. ^ Yılmaz Öztuna - Sultan Genç Osman ve Sultan IV. Murad
  4. ^ Necdet Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları
  5. ^ M. Çağatay Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları
Ottoman royalty
Preceded by Haseki Sultan
May 1630 – 8 February 1640
Succeeded by
Turhan Sultan
(among others)