| Gülbahar Hatun | |
|---|---|
| Valide-i macide Meliketü'l-Melikât Tâcü'l-mükerremât Fahrü'l-muazzamat Fatihetü'l-maeyâmin ve'l hayrat[1] | |
Ideal portrait of Gülbahar Hatun, Italian school; 1480
| |
| Valide Hatun of the Ottoman Empire | |
| Tenure | 3 May 1481 – 1492 |
| Predecessor | Mara Hatun |
| Successor | Hafsa Sultan (as Valide Sultan) |
| |
| Born | GreeceorAlbania |
| Died | c. 1492 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (present day Istanbul, Turkey) |
| Burial | |
| Consort of | Mehmed II |
| Issue | Gevherhan Hatun Bayezid II |
| Religion | Sunni Islam (converted) |
Emine Gülbahar Mükrime Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: گل بھار مکرمه خاتون; "benign", "spring rose" and "hospitable"; died c. 1492)[2] was consort of Sultan Mehmed II, and mother of Sultan Bayezid II.[3][4][5][6]
The Ottoman inscription (vakfiye) describes her as Hātun binti Abdullah (Daughter of Abdullah), which means that she was a Christian slave converted to Islam. She was either of Greek[7][8][9][10]orAlbanian[8][11][12][13] origin.
Gülbahar entered in Mehmed's harem in 1446, when he was still a prince and the governor of Amasya. She had two children, a son, Şehzade Bayezid (future Bayezid II) born in 1447 in Demotika, and a daughter, Gevherhan Hatun,[14] born in 1446, who married Ughurlu Muhammad, a son of Aq Qoyunlu Sultan Uzun Hasan in 1474.[15]
In 1451, after Mehmed's accession to the throne, she followed him to Edirne. According to Turkish tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors as a part of their training. In 1455 or 1456, Bayezid was appointed the governor of Amasya, and Gülbahar accompanied him, where the two remained until 1481, except for in 1457, when she came to Constantinople, and attended her son's circumcision ceremony.[14]
Gülbahar was apparently quite concerned about the future of her son, and related to that, her own properties. In order to secure her properties, she endowed the incomes of certain villages and fields to the Enderun mosque in 1474. Among the endowed properties was the village of Ağılcık, which was turned back into a Timariot village in 1479 during the land reform.[16]
In 1468, Mehmed gave the village of Bağluca to Gülbahar. After six years, in 1473, she sold the village to Taceddin Bey, son of Hamza Bali (died 1486), the book keeper of Bayezid's court. In 1478, the village's exemption was abolished and granted back to her probably as a result of the land reform. This order was reissued a year later at the request of Mevlana Şemseddin Ahmed according to which the village was not reverted to her, and she had likely become subject to a legal dispute.[17]
Per custom, Gülbahar got the highest position in the imperial family after the sultan himself when her son, Bayezid ascended the throne in 1481[18] until her death in 1492. During her son's reign, she and the rest of the Imperial Family resided at the Old Palace (saray-ı atik) and were visited by the Sultan who on each visit used to pay his respect to his mother. In one case, Gülbahar complained of her son's rare visits and in a letter to her son wrote:
"My fortune, I miss you. Even if you don't miss me, I miss you ... Come and let me see you. My dear lord, if you are going on campaign soon, come once or twice at least so that I may see your fortune-favored face before you go. It's been forty days since I last saw you. My sultan, please forgive my boldness. Who else do I have beside you ... ?"[19]
Gülbahar had a considerable influence over Bayezid, for she used to make evaluations about the situation of some statesmen. Bayezid also valued his mother's words. In a letter written to him, she advises him against Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha, but favours his tutor Ayas Pasha and Hizirbeyoğlu Mehmed Pasha.[14]
In 1485, Bayezid endowed a mosque, and a school in Tokat in the memory of Gülbahar Hatun.[20]
Gülbahar Hatun died in 1492, and was buried in Fatih Mosque, Istanbul.[14] The tomb was damaged in the 1766 Istanbul earthquake, and was rebuilt in 1767–1768.[14]
ByMehmed II, Gülbahar Hatun had at least a daughter and a son:
Mehmed's eldest son was Bayezid or Beyazid II, whose mother, Gülbahar, was probably a Greek concubine.
Gülbehar (15th century) Mother of Bayezid II, the famous Ottoman ruler. A slave girl of either Albanian or Greek heritage, she was a Christian and became the mistress of Mehmed II the Conqueror around 1450.
Mother of Bayezid II was Gülbahar Hatun (a Pontic Greek from the village of Douvera in Trabzon)
Mehmet had become a father for the first time in January 1448, when his concubine Gülbahar gave birth to a son, the future Beyazit II. Little is known of Gülbahar's origins, but she was probably Greek, since the concubines in the imperial harem were almost always Christians...
Beyazit II... Gülbahar Hatun... Albanian...
An Albanian by birth, legend also has it that Gulbahar Hatun was a French princess kidnapped for the sultan's harem.
Gülbahar bint Abdullah, whom Turkish legend subsequently transformed into a "daughter of the king of France," was a Christian slave of Albanian origin.
Media related to Gülbahar Hatun at Wikimedia Commons
| Ottoman royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Valide sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1481 – 1492 |
Succeeded by |
