She married Mehmed in 1449, when he was still a prince and the governor of Manisa. Just before Sultan Murad II's death,[1][2] she gave birth to her only son, Şehzade Mustafa, who was to be his father's favourite.[3][2] According to Turkish tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors as a part of their training. Mustafa was sent to govern Konya and later Kayseri, and Gülşah accompanied him.[4][5]
Mustafa died in December 25, 1474.[6] It was rumored that Mustafa had made Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha's wife, Selçuk Hatun, his lover, and that Mahmud retaliated by poisoning Mustafa.[7][2] There are speculations that Gülşah Hatun may have been a party to the illicit relations between the prince and Selçuk Hatun, wife of Mahmud Pasha. Selçuk Hatun was sister of Hatice Hatun, the last consort of Mehmed II (father of Mustafa).[8]Giovanni Maria Angiolello, a Venetian traveler, author of an important historical report on the Aq Qoyunlu and early Safavid Persia, who was in the service of Mustafa, and who with the rest of Mustafa's household accompanied the prince's cortege from his post his Kayseri to Bursa, where he was buried, denied any role for Mahmud Pasha in Mustafa's death;[7][9][2] nevertheless, Mehmed II had the man executed shortly thereafter.[10]
Gülşah Hatun had not been informed of her son's death, and when the wagon carrying his body stopped outside the palace, she and the women of her train began to wail. Babinger wrote that Mustafa's daughter, Nergiszade Ferahşad Hatun, shared her grandmother's grief, and the lamentations went on endlessly.[6] Mehmed sent word that she should remain in Bursa with those maidens whom she required. Mehmed also had a good provision made for her, where she might live there honorably. He ordered that Mustafa's daughter and her mother and rest of the ladies, together with all others belonging to the court of his deceased son, should come to Istanbul. All the women were lodged in the palace where women of Mehmed's harem stayed, and after several days the maidens were married to courtiers.[9] Nergiszade Ferahşad married her cousin Şehzade Abdullah, eldest son of Şehzade Bayezid (future Bayezid II) in 1480.[11]
Şehzade Mustafa (1450 - 25 December 1474, died in controversial circumstances following a sex scandal). Sanjakbey of Konya, he had at least a son and two daughters:
Şehzade Hali;
Hani Hatun;
Nergiszade Ferahşad Hatun, also called Nergisşah. She married her cousin Şehzade Abdullah (son of Bayezid II) and had a son and two daughters:
Şehzade Fülan (1481-1489).
Aynışah Sultan (1482 - 1540), she married Ahmed Pasha.
Şahnisa Sultan (1484 - 1540), she married firstly her cousin Şehzade Mehmed Şah (died in 1512! son of Şehzade Şehinşah, son of Bayezid II); secondly Mirza Mehmed Pasha (died in 1517) and had a son, Sultanzade Şemsi Ahmed Pasha; eventually she married Nuri Bey.
In 1479, Gülşah Hatun was granted the village of Sığırcalu in Dimetoka,[12] its revenues were converted into mülk so that Gülşah could turn it into an endowment for the eventual upkeep of her tomb in Bursa.[13] Gülşah Hatun died in 1487, and was buried in Bursa in the tomb she had built for herself near that of Mustafa.[9][3][5] The tomb of Gülşah Hatun has an entrance with elegant jogged voussoirs, and marble cenotaphs inside, newly made from old pieces.[14]
^Al-Tikriti, Nabil Sirri (2004). Şehzade Korkud (ca. 1468-1513) and the Articulation of Early 16th Century Ottoman Religious Identity – Volume 1 and 2. pp. 95, 312 n. 76.
Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN978-9-753-29623-6.
Stavrides, Théoharis (2001). The Sultan of Vezirs: The Life and Times of the Ottoman Grand Vezir Mahmud Pasha Angelović (1453-1474). BRILL. ISBN978-9-004-12106-5.
Uluçay, M. Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Türk Tarih Kurumu.
Zachariadou, Elisavet A. (1996). The Via Egnatia under Ottoman rule (1380-1699): Halcyon Days in Crete II : a symposium held in Rethymnon 9-11 January 1994. Crete University Press.
