HAREM in the Ottoman Empire
The image of a harem conjures visions of opulent surroundings
filled with beautiful, sensuous women whose sole
duty was to entertain an aging yet still lustful sheik
or Sultan. This image may have been based on the imperial harems of the
16th and 17th centuries of the Ottoman
Empire. In this period of history, harems played an important role
in the governing of the Ottoman Empire. This
most renown period was known as the Reign of Women,
the Kadinlar Sultanati. The involvement of the harem women,
and more specifically, the Valide Sultan (Sultan's Mother or Queen
Mother) and the Sultan's favorites (favored harem women),
in state politics, diminished the power and
position of the Sultan. As the
Sultan was the head of the government (or
Divan),
this interference proved to be detrimental to the Ottoman
state.
Historical Background
The harem was defined to be the women's
quarter in a Muslim household. The Imperial
harem (also known as the Seraglio harem) contained the combined households
of the Valide Sultan (Queen Mother), the Sultan's
favorites (hasekis),
and the rest of his concubines (women whose main
function was to entertain the Sultan in the bedchamber). It also contained
all the Sultanas' (daughters of the Sultan) households. Many of the harem
women
would never see the Sultan and became the servants necessary for the daily
functioning of the harem.
The reasons for harem existence can be seen from Ottoman
cultural history. Ottoman tradition relied on
slave concubinage along with legal marriage
for reproduction. Slave concubinage was the taking of slave women
for sexual reproduction. It served to emphasize the patriarchal nature
of power (power being "hereditary" through sons only). Slave concubines,
unlike wives, had no recognized lineage. Wives were feared to have vested
interests in their own family's affairs, which would interfere with their
loyalty to their husband, hence, concubines were preferred, if one could
afford them. This led to the evolution of slave concubinage as an equal
form of reproduction that did not carry the risks of marriage,
mainly that of the potential betrayal of a wife. The powers of the harem
women
were exercised through their roles within the family. Although they had
no legitimate claim to power, as their favor grew with the
Sultan, they
acquired titles such as "Sultan Kadin" which solidified their notion
of political power and legitimacy within the royal
family was reflected with titles including "Sultan".
During the 16th century, both male and female members
of the imperial family used the title of "Sultan". As the role of the royal
favorite concubine (title: Sultan) eroded during the
17th century,
the title designation also changed to "kadin" or "haseki,"
which were names originally reserved for less prominent members of the
royal family. Henceforth, only the mother of the reigning
Sultan was addressed
as a Sultan: the Valide Sultan. The retention of the title of
Sultan
for the mother indicated the power of the Valide Sultan. After all,
men could take as many concubines and odalisques as they desired, but they
only had one mother.
Many of the concubines and odalisques of the Imperial
harem were reputed to be among the most beautiful of women
in the Ottoman Empire. Young girls of extraordinary
beauty were sent to the Sultan's court, often as gifts from the governors.
Numerous harem women were Circassians, Georgians,
and Abkhasians. They were usually bought from slave markets after being
kidnapped or else sold by impoverished parents. Many Georgian and Circassian
families encouraged their daughters to enter concubinage through slavery,
as that promised to be a life of luxury and comfort. All slaves that entered
the harem were termed odalisques or "women
of the court" - general servants in the harem.
Odalisques were not
usually presented to the Sultan. Those that were of extraordinary beauty
and talent, were seen as potential concubines, and trained accordingly.
They learned to dance, recite poetry, play musical
instruments, and master the erotic arts. Only
the most gifted
odalisques were presented to the Sultan as his personal
gedikli
(maids-in-waiting). Generally,
odalisques would be assigned as servants
to the
oda (or court) of a harem mistress. For example, the Mistress
of the Robes, or the Keeper of Baths, or the Keeper of Jewels, etc. It
was possible for these odalisques to rise through the ranks of the
harem hierarchy and enjoy security through their power and position.
The most powerful women in the
harem were the Valide Sultan and the Kadins. The Valide
Sultan was responsible for the maintenance of order and peace inside
the harem. Being a female elder in the Imperial family, the Valide
was expected to serve as a guide and teacher to her son by educating him
about the intricacies of state politics. Often,
she was asked to intervene upon the Sultan's decisions when the Mufti
(head of the Muslim religion), or the
Viziers
(ministers) felt that the Sultan may have made an erroneous decision.
Kadin's were the
Sultan's favorite women.
Tradition allowed only four principal
Kadins but unlimited number
of concubines.
Kadins were equivalent in rank to that of a legal
wife, and were given apartments, slaves, and eunuchs. For example, during
the reign of Selim II (the Sot), his favorite,
the bas kadin Nurbanu had an entourage of one hundred and fifty
ladies-in-waiting. The amount of properties, clothing, jewelry, and allowances
given, was all-proportional to the affection the Sultan held for them.
Odalisques were at the bottom of the harem hierarchy.
They were considered to be general servants in the harem. They were not
usually seen to be beautiful enough to become presented to the
Sultan.
Odalisques
that were seen as potential candidates for concubinage were trained
to become talented entertainers. The greatest honor a
Sultan could bestow
upon a male guest was to present him with an odalisque from his
court who had not yet become his concubine. These women
were greatly coveted as they were beautiful and talented, and what is more
important, had links into the harem hierarchy. Concubines could be considered
an equivalent to the modern version of a "one night stand". They were odalisques
that were presented to the Sultan and after that one night, they might
never see the Sultan again unless the girl became pregnant with a male
child. If she was successful in birthing a male child, then she would become
an ikbal (favorite) to the Sultan. The female hierarchy followed
the pattern of odalisques (virgins), concubines ("one night stands"), ikbals
(favorites), and kadins (favorites "wives").
Harem women formed only half of
the harem hierarchy. Eunuchs were the integral other half of the harem.
Eunuchs were considered to be less than men and thus unable to be "tempted"
by the harem women and would remain solely loyal
to the Sultan. Eunuchs were castrated men and hence possessed no threat
to the sanctity of the harem.
According to Muslim tradition,
no man could lay his eyes on another man's harem, thus someone less than
a man was required for the role of watchful guardianship over the harem
women.
Eunuchs tended to be male prisoners of war or slaves, castrated before
puberty and condemned to a life of servitude.
White eunuchs were first provided from the conquered Christian
areas of Circassia, Georgia, and Armenia. They were also culled from Hungarian,
Slavonian, and German prisoners of war. These white eunuchs were captured
during the conflicts that arouse between the Ottoman
Empire and the Balkan countries. Black eunuchs were captured from Egypt,
Abyssinia and the Sudan. Black slaves were captured from the upper Nile
and transported to markets on the Mediterranean Sea -
Mecca, Medina, Beirut,
Izmir
and Istanbul. All eunuchs were castrated en route
to the markets by Egyptian Christians or Jews,
as Islam prohibited the practice of castration
but not the usage of castrated slaves.
There were several different varieties of eunuchs:
Sandali, or clean-shaven: The parts are swept off by
a single cut of a razor, a tube (tin or wooden) is set in the urethra,
the wound is cauterized with boiling oil, and the patient is planted in
a fresh dung-hill. His diet is milk, and if under puberty he often survives.
The eunuch whose penis is removed:
He retains all the
power of copulation and procreation without the wherewithal; and this,
since the discovery of caoutchouc, has often been supplied.
The eunuch, or classical thlibias and semivir, who
has been rendered sexless by the removing of the testicles..., or by their
being bruised..., twisted, seared or bandaged.
Black eunuchs tended to be of the first category: Sandali,
while white eunuchs were of the second or third categories, thus have part
or their entire penis intact. Because of their lack of parts, black eunuchs
served in the harem, while white eunuchs served in the government
(and away from the women). At the height of the
Ottoman
Empire, as many as six to eight hundred eunuchs served within the Seraglio
(palace). Most eunuchs arrived as gifts from governors of different provinces.
At the end of their training as young eunuch pages, eunuchs were assigned
to service. White eunuchs were placed under the patronage of various
government
officials or even into the service of the Sultan himself (like in Topkapi
Palace). If they were black eunuchs, they were placed into the service
of a harem personage, such as a Kadin, or a daughter or sister of
the Sultan. They could also serve under the Kizlar Agha (master of the
girls), the Chief Black Eunuch.
.
The Chief Black Eunuch (Kizlar Agha)
The Kizlar Agha was the third highest-ranking officer
of the empire, after the Sultan and the
Grand Vizier (Chief Minister).
He was the commander of the baltaci corps (or halberdiers - part
of the imperial army). His position was a pasha (general) of three tails
(tails referring to peacock tails, and the most number of tails permitted
being four and worn by the Sultan). He could approach the
Sultan at any
time, and functioned as the private messenger between the
Sultan and the
Grand Vizier. He was the most important link between the
Sultan and the
Valide Sultan (mother of the Sultan).
The Kizlar Agha led the new
odalisque to
the Sultan's bedchamber, and was the only "man" who could enter the harem
should there have been any nocturnal emergencies. His duties were to protect
the women, to provide and purchase the necessary
odalisques
for the harem, to oversee the promotion of the women
(usually after the death of a higher-ranking
kadin) and eunuchs.
He acted as a witness for the Sultan's marriage,
birth ceremonies, and arranged all the royal ceremonial events, such as
circumcision parties, weddings, and fêtes. He also delivered sentence
to harem women accused of crimes, taking the guilty
women
to the executioner to be placed into sacks and drowned in the Bosphorus
which lay outside the Topkapi Palace.
The Chief White Eunuch (Kapi Agha)
The Chief White Eunuch was the head of the Inner Service
(which is the palace bureaucracy) and the head of the Palace School (school
for white eunuchs). He was also Gatekeeper-in-Chief, head of the infirmary,
and master of ceremonies of the Seraglio. The Kapi Agha controlled
all messages, petitions, and State documents addressed to the
Sultan, and
was allowed to speak to the Sultan in person. In 1591, Murad III transferred
the powers from the white to the black eunuchs as there were too many embezzlements
and various other nefarious crimes being attributed to the white eunuchs,
among them being purported intimacy with the harem women.
The Kapi Agha's loss of powers was seen through the decreasing of
his ceremonial duties (which had various stipends entailed) and the decrease
in his overall income. Originally, the Kapi Agha was the only eunuch
allowed to speak to the Sultan alone, but as his importance decreased,
the Valide Sultan and the Kizlar Agha were able to request
private audience with the Sultan also. Because of their possible disloyalty,
white eunuchs were assigned positions that did not bring them into contact
with the harem women as many of them had incomplete
castrations (still possessing of their penis). The total number of white
eunuchs in the Seraglio at any given time was between 300 and 900.
In the late sixteen hundreds, the power of the black eunuchs
grew. During the Kadinlar Sultanati, the eunuchs increased their
political leverage by taking advantage of child Sultans or mentally incompetent
ones. It was during this period of enthronement of child
Sultans that caused
political instability. The young teenage Sultans were "guided" by regencies
formed by the Valide Sultan, the Grand Vizier and the Valides other
supporters. The Kizlar Agha was the Valide Sultan's and the
Kadin's
intimate and value accomplice.
.
Sultans
and
Valide Sultans
of the 16th and 17th Centuries
SELIM I
Sultan, with
dates of reign
Nurbanu Valide Sultan,
with dates of office
====
Tie of concubinage
====m Tie of
concubinage followed by marriage
SELIM I ======= Hafsa
1512-1520 | 1520-1534
|
|
Gülbehar (or Mahidevran) ======= SÜLEYMAN
I ========= m Hürrem
| 1520-1566
| |
|-----------------------/ |
|
|-----|-------|------|--------|
|
| | |
| |
Mustafa Mehmed
Mihrimah
| Bayezid Cihangir
|
|
|
Nurbanu ======= m SELIM II
1574-1583 | (?) 1566-1574
|
|
|
|-----------|-----------|---------|------------|
|
|
| |
|
Safiye ======= MURAD III Ismihan
Sah Gevherhan Fatma
1595-1603 |
1574-1595
|
|
|--------|--------|---------------------------|
|
| |
|
Ayse Fatma Mahmud
? ======= Mehmed III ======= Handan
1617-1618 | 1595-1603 |
1603-1605
| |
|---------------------------|
|
|
|
Mustafa I
Kösem ======= AHMED I ======= Mahfiruz
1617-1618
1623-1651 | 1603-1617 |
1622-1623
|
|
|
|
|--------|-------|------|-------|---------|
|
| |
| |
| |
|
MURAD IV
Ayse Fatma Handan Kasim
| OSMAN
II
1623-1640
| 1618-1622
|
|--------------|
|
Türkhan ======= IBRAHIM I ======= Dilasub ======= Muazzez
1651-1683 |
1640-1648 |
1687-1689 |
|
|
|
Gülnüs ======= MEHMED IV
SÜLEYMAN II AHMED II
1695-1715 |
1648-1687
1687-1691
1691-1695
|
|-------|-------|
|
|
MUSTAFA
II AHMED III
1695-1703 1703-1730
.
The Effect of the Kadinlar Sultanati
The Reign of Women (Kadinlar
Sultanati) began during the reign of Süleyman
the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566) and ended with the death of
Valide
Sultan Türkhan in 1687. The concubine Hürrem (Roxellana)
managed to gather all of Süleyman's affections
for herself and became his wife.
Süleyman (1520-1566)
Gülbehar (or Mahidevran) ======= SÜLEYMAN I ========= m Hürrem
| 1520-1566
| |
|-----------------------/ |
| |-----|-------|------|--------|
| | | | | |
Mustafa Mehmed Mihrimah | Bayezid Cihangir
|
|
Nurbanu ======= m SELIM II
1574-1583 (?) 1566-1574
Hürrem (1526-1558) was the first concubine to legally
marry a Sultan, move into the Seraglio (palace) harem with her entourage,
and later strongly influence Süleyman.
The Grand Vizier Ibrahim first gave her to Süleyman,
after being bought at the slave markets. Hürrem bore Süleyman
four sons: Mehmed, Cihangir, Beyazid, and Selim,
the last was a drunkard, and would later become known as Selim
the Sot, and an intelligent daughter Mihrimah, whom Süleyman
would consult with on important issues.
Hürrem firmly established herself as the most influential
of Süleyman's favorites. She managed to
displace the bas Kadin Gülbehar by having Gülbehar and
her son, the heir Mustafa sent away to the governorship of Manisa.
Hürrem later persuaded Süleyman to
move the imperial harem from the Old Palace to the Topkapi
Palace (Seraglio) harem in 1541 after a fire in the Old Palace.
Hürrem
moved into the Seraglio with her servants: an entourage of one hundred
ladies-in-waiting, a guard of eunuchs, and domestic slaves in proportionate
numbers. She also had her dressmaker and purveyor, the latter being "very
richly dressed, coming and going out of the palace whenever he liked, and
being always accompanied by thirty slaves". This move put the harem women
closer to the Second Court or Divan (the Chancery of State), where
the governing of the Ottoman Empire took place.
By playing on Süleyman's
fears and neurosis, Hürrem conspired to have Mustafa removed as the
heir by creating the illusion that Mustafa was plotting with the Janissaries
(the imperial army) to overthrow Süleyman
and become Sultan. Süleyman eventually
ordered Mustafa's death but even with his death, Hürrem would not
live to become Valide Sultan.
Süleyman was the last
Sultan to personally take part in the governing
of the Empire on a daily basis. Even during his reign, Süleyman
had already delegated many of his duties and powers to his
Grand Vizier
and boyhood friend, Ibrahim, and gradually withdrew from the actual governing
of the Empire. After Süleyman's
death, succeeding Sultans no longer led their armies into battle, retiring
instead to their harems. Sultan's
Selim II and
Murad III spent more time in the harem than ever, the former drinking to
his heart's content, and the latter, bedding concubines to his content.
The Sultan's seclusion away from their governments greatly diminished their
influence in the government. In varying degrees, the Valide Sultan
and the Kadins began to influence the governing of the
Ottoman
State by having bribery and political patronage supplant promotion
on the basis of merit.
Murad III (1574-1595)
Safiye ======= MURAD III
1595-1603 | 1574-1595
/
/
|--------|--------|---------------------------|
| | | |
Ayse Fatma Mahmud ? ======= Mehmed III ===== Handan
1617-1618 1595-1603 1603-1605
The influence of the Valide Sultan and the Kadin's
led to the turning of the Sultan's attention and time from the actual governing
to the pleasures offered by the harem. Beginning with Murad III, the Valide
Sultan Nurbanu introduced a string of virgins to him in hopes of begetting
more than one male heir. Murad ended up fathering some twenty sons and
twenty-seven daughters during his reign. Although she may have begun with
good intentions, that of having more than one surviving heir. However,
Murad would become less attentive to political matters and increasingly
dependent on his mother Nurbanu for political advice. Murad's Bas Kadin
Safiye maintained her dignity and status by not displaying any bitterness
or jealousy over her replacements in Murad's bed. Later on, Safiye would
even present beautiful virgins to Murad, a gesture that would earn her
his gratitude, and allow her to manipulate him according to her desires.
When Murad no longer occupied himself with his other concubines, he again
turned to Safiye for companionship.
Mehmed III (1595-1603)
? ======= Mehmed III ======= Handan
1617-1618 | 1595-1603 | 1603-1605
| |
|-------| |
| |
Mustafa I Kösem ======= AHMED I ======= Mahfiruz
1617-1618 1623-1651 1603-1617
1622-1623
After Murad III's death in 1595, the ascension of Mehmed
III and the five reigns that followed him marked several important turning
points of the Ottoman Empire. Among these were
the lapse of the Princely Governate, the seclusion of male heirs into the
Kafes,
and the marked increase in harem women populations.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the population of the Seraglio
harem ranged from a hundred to over a thousand women.
The size fluctuated frequently since when the Sultan's sons left the harem
at the ages of fourteen to sixteen, they were given their servants from
the harem to accompany them to the provinces in which they were given governship.
The princes received their harem of virgins who were either selected from
the Sultan's harem or purchased at the slave markets. These downward fluctuations
were present until 1566.
The Golden Gate (Kafes)
In 1566, Selim II reversed the
decree of Mehmed the Conqueror (r. 1451-1481)
that had sanctioned the killing of a Sultan's male relatives and brothers
upon ascension to secure his throne for his offspring. Selim allowed the
imperial princes to survive but they were to be secluded in the Kafes.
The Kafes were apartments that adjoined the harem but were separated
by a doorway, the
Cin's Kapi (Genie's Gate). It consisted of a two-storied
building without windows and intended to isolate the Princes and their
harems of some two dozen sterile women. In the
instances where the princes lived to become Sultan, they were often unprepared
to rule the Empire.
After the ascension of Mehmed III, the princes were no
longer given provincial governships and were instead secluded into the
Kafes
to prevent insurrection against the Sultan and hence, sparing their lives.
The seclusion of princes in the Kafes also meant that the harems
that formerly accompanied the princes to their provincial capitals remained
inside the Topkapi Palace harem and caused
the overall harem population to continually increase. Rebellion was always
possible once a prince was formally recognized as an adult, this being
due to the fact that he was to assume governance over a province. Young
princes in previous times had assumed popular roles with the Janissaries
and the idea of a warrior prince or Sultan appealed to the Janissaries,
so much insofar as Murad III seldom left the Palace
for fear of being replaced by his more popular son Mehmed III.
The Valide Sultan Nurbanu and her daughter-in-law
Safiye took active part in the governance of the empire. Although they
were not allowed to "publicly" dabble in state politics,
Nurbanu was an important advisor to her son Murad III, as was Safiye to
both Murad III and her son Mehmed III. Safiye knew that "with the authority
she enjoys as mother of the prince, she intervenes on occasion in affairs
of state, although she is much respected in this, and is listened to by
His Majesty, who considers her sensible and wise". Safiye also attempted
to influence important matters directly. On one noted occasion, Safiye
was seated behind a curtain. During a discussion between the
Sultan and
the mufti Sunullah Efendi in 1600, Safiye hastened to defend her
son Mehmed.
It became apparent that the
Valide Sultan was listening. She
hastened to support [the
Sultan's words] and said, "affairs of state have
become excessively disordered, taxes imposed through harmful invention
on the peasants of the empire have multiplied beyond bounds, and the whole
world is becoming increasingly obsessed with pennies and pounds and taking
bribes. All is being corrupted because ignorant and base persons have taken
control. A remedy must be applied to these ills".