# Handan Sultan

Handan Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: خندان سلطان, "smiling"; c. 1565/1568 - 9 November 1605) was a consort of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III, and mother and Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Ahmed I. She acted as de facto ruler during her tenure from 1603 to 1605. Handan Sultan was one of the prominent women during the era known as the Sultanate of Women and lived during the reign of three ottoman Sultans: Murad III, Mehmed III and Ahmet I.

## Early Life

According to the Venetian bailo Francesco Contarini, Handan was of Bosnian origin. She was an enslaved servant in the household of Cerrah Mehmed Pasha, the Beylerbey of the Rumelia Eyalet, and his wife Gevherhan Sultan, daughter of Sultan Selim II, sister of Sultan Murad III, and aunt of Sultan Mehmed III. Mehmed Pasha was a surgeon ("cerrah") and had circumcised Şehzade Mehmed in 1582.
In 1583, Prince Mehmed (later Sultan Mehmed III), was appointed the sancak-bey of Saruhan, and as a parting gift, Mehmed Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan, decided to gift Handan, on account of her beauty, into his harem as concubine, in an effort to solidify their political alliance. Handan became one of Mehmed's esteemed concubines in Manisa having possibly given birth to two sons, other than Ahmed I, Prince Selim and Prince Süleyman, and two daughters. Handan had an ally in Raziye Hatun, a harem staff member who had helped her to became Mehmed's favorite.
When Mehmed ascended the throne after his father's death in 1595, Handan, as well as the rest of the harem, came with him. An epidemic ravaged the capital between 1597 and 1598, killing Handan's eldest son, Prince Selim. Then another illness killed her second son, Prince Süleyman, in 1602. In addition to mourning, Handan also had to deal with the fact that it was no longer her son the eldest (and so the heir) Prince, but the son of her rival Halime, Şehzade Mahmud. Handan would do anything to keep her only remained son, Şehzade Ahmed, alive, so she allied herself with Safiye Sultan, even if she and Safiye didn't really like each other. Within the final years of Mehmed's sultanate, the rivalry of Halime and Handan continued to increase into a fierce competition.
In the end, Mehmed, under pressure from Safiye Sultan, executed Prince Mahmud, in 1603, making Şehzade Ahmed the heir and Handan his Bas Hatun.

## As Valide Sultan
### Ahmed's accession

When Ahmed ascended the throne following Mehmed III's death on 22 December 1603, Handan became the Valide Sultan. As the mother of the new Sultan, she received 1,000 aspers a day. On Friday 9 January 1604, the former Valide Sultan Safiye Sultan, along with Şehzade Mustafa (future Mustafa I), were sent to live in the Eski (old) Palace located at the Beyazıt Square. Soon after his succession, Ahmed wanted to express his gratitude to Mehmed Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan for the role they had played in bringing his parents together. By then, however, Cerrah Mehmed Pasha was old and ailing, and died on 9 January 1604. Ahmed, therefore, honored the late pasha's wife. He also named one of his daughters after her.
Unlike other Valide Sultans, Handan Sultan gathered her family members in the Imperial palace and the capital. She took her sisters into the harem and her brother, Geysudar Mustafa, entered the dervish lodge of Mahmud Hüdayi.

### As de facto ruler

Handan Sultan personally ruled the state on behalf of her son from 1603 till her death in 1605, acting as the de facto ruler: she was the first Valide to act as a regent, although it has always been mistakenly reported that the first Valide to act as a ruler was Kösem Sultan. The administrative level formed by Handan Sultan carried out an effective policy in the first years of her son's reign. She was the most influential person in the first two years of Ahmed I's reign.
As the Valide Sultan, Handan protected the life of Şehzade Mustafa (second son of her ancient rival Halime), who was mentally ill, and the decision whether or not to kill him because of the law of fratricide was continually postponed by Handan: in November 1604, Şehzade Osman, first son of Ahmed I, was born, definitively dropping out his possible killing. In any case, Handan may have insisted on her son to spare Mustafa's life. The Valide Sultan brought down the law of fratricide during her son's reign.
As a co-regent, she immediately began building up her network of clients, and was actively involved in the running of dynastic and imperial affairs together with Ahmed's tutor Mustafa Efendi (died 1607 or 1608). Ahmed several times announced his eagerness to go to war. It seems that Handan Sultan and Mustafa Efendi advised him to behave in this manner in order to give the public the impression that he was capable of ruling the state. He also began to spend a great deal of time outside the palace, notably hunting or conducting incognito inspections, regardless of the weather. Handan Sultan quickly realized that her son could easily put himself in danger and thus needed to be closely watched.
She favored her fellow Bosnians at her son's court. She convinced Ahmed to appoint Yavuz Ali Pasha as grand vizier, and maintained a close relationship with him, especially during the first critical months of Ahmed's reign. In spring of 1604, she and Mustafa Efendi ordered Ali Pasha to take command in Hungary. In August 1604, Ahmed ordered the execution of deputy grand vizier Kasim Pasha, and in January 1605 of his successor Sarıkçı Mustafa Pasha, and in both cases his decision was approved and encouraged by Handan Sultan and Mustafa Efendi, who were trying to rid the court of clients of Safiye Sultan.
Because of Handan Sultan's influence on her son, Dervish Mehmed Agha replaced Bayran Agha as chief gardener in summer of 1604. Whenever Handan, Ahmed, and Derviş gathered in the palace gardens, she made Ahmed promise that he will not do anything contrary to Derviş's words and thoughts. Thanks to Handan's continuous support, he managed to become the first royal favorite of Ahmed.
Handan Sultan also acted as an intermediary between her son and other government officials. Any vizier who wanted to communicate with Ahmed had to submit his petition first to her. The contemporary historian Ibrahim Peçevi questioned her wisdom, but legitimized her authority over her son by an old and popular saying "a mother's right is God's right".

### Charities and public works

Handan Sultan made an endowment for the maintenance of her husband Mehmed III's tomb and the salaries of its employees. She also made endowments in Kütahya, Menemen and Kilizman. Between 1606 and 1607, after her death, most of the income of the foundation she founded continued to be transferred regularly.
At the Imperial Palace, Handan had rooms built for the dwarf court servants, to whom she was attached. Also for them, she had houses and a real village built just for them, to ensure their well-being.

### Illness

Sinanpaşaoğlu Mehmed Pasha, who had been married to Piyale Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan's daughter Hatice Hanımsultan in November 1598, was sent to quell the Jelali rebellions in Anatolia. However, he proved to be ineffective, and conducted himself so inappropriately as to arouse suspicions that he had turned a rebel himself. With Handan's intervention, he was forgiven by the sultan. He returned to Istanbul, and took up his duties as vezir. However, he was executed on 20 August 1605. Handan, who was already ill at that time, was so shocked by the turn of events that her condition reportedly worsened.

## Death and aftermath

Handan Sultan died at the Topkapı Palace on Wednesday, 9 November 1605 after a long illness, possibly a stomach disease. Other sources declare that she was instead poisoned (it is not known if by the Sultan himself) or killed as a result of intrigue: in support of this hypothesis, in a writing she is declared as executed, but the true cause of Handan's death remains unknown.
At her funeral, large amounts of food and alms were distributed for the sake of her soul. She was buried next to her consort in his mausoleum in Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul. Ahmed despite appeals of the viziers for the customary mourning for seven days, didn't postpone his departure from Istanbul on campaign against the Jelali revolts. After Handan's death, Kösem Sultan, Ahmed’s favorite concubine and Haseki, took control of the harem for the rest of his reign, and became the highest authority in the harem.

## Issue

According to the Venetian ambassador Leonardo Donà, Mehmed had five children with Handan, three sons and two daughters:
* Fatma Sultan (c. 1584, Manisa Palace, Manisa - ?). She married the governor of Cairo, Mahmud Pasha, in the early 1600s. She married Tiryaki Hasan Pasha in 1604 and had a son and two daughters. When Hasan died in 1611, she married Güzelce Ali Pasha in 1616, until his death in 1621.
* Şehzade Selim (1585, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 20 April 1597, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque);
* Şehzade Süleyman (1586, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 1597, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque);
* Ayşe Sultan (c. 1587 – after 1614), married to Destari Mustafa Pasha, with whom she had a son and two daughters who died young. Some sources also suggest that she remarried Gazi Hüsrev Pasha. She was buried in Destari's türbe (Şehzade Mosque) with their children.
* Ahmed I (18 April 1590, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 22 November 1617, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque);

## In popular culture

In the 2015 TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, Handan Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Tülin Özen.