page_title: Suleiman the Magnificent
section_title: Relationship with Hurrem Sultan
hierarchical_section_title: Suleiman the Magnificent / Personal life / Relationship with Hurrem Sultan
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Roxelana (c. 1500-1558)
context_page_description: Suleiman I, commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver in his realm, was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 until his death in 1566. Under his administration, the Ottoman caliphate ruled over at least 25 million people.
  Suleiman succeeded his father as sultan in September 1520 and began his reign with campaigns against the Christian powers in central Europe and the Mediterranean. Belgrade fell to him in 1521 and Rhodes, long under the rule of the Knights of St. John, in 1522–23. At Mohács, in August 1526, Suleiman broke the military strength of Hungary, with the Hungarian king Louis II losing his life in the battle.
  Suleiman became a prominent monarch of 16th-century Europe, presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empire's economic, military and political power. Suleiman personally led Ottoman armies in conquering the Christian strongholds of Belgrade and Rhodes as well as most of Hungary before his conquests were checked at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. He annexed much of the Middle East in his conflict with the Safavids and large areas of North Africa as far west as Algeria.
context_section_description: Suleiman was infatuated with Hurrem Sultan, a harem girl from Ruthenia, then part of Poland. Western diplomats, taking notice of the palace gossip about her, called her "Russelazie" or "Roxelana", referring to her Ruthenian origins. The daughter of an Orthodox priest, she was captured by Tatars from Crimea, sold as a slave in Constantinople, and eventually rose through the ranks of the Harem to become Suleiman's favorite. Hurrem, a former concubine, became the legal wife of the Sultan, much to the astonishment of the observers in the palace and the city. He also allowed Hurrem Sultan to remain with him at court for the rest of her life, breaking another tradition—that when imperial heirs came of age, they would be sent along with the imperial concubine who bore them to govern remote provinces of the Empire, never to return unless their progeny succeeded to the throne.
  Under his pen name, Muhibbi, Sultan Suleiman composed this poem for Hurrem Sultan:
  Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.
  
  My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.
  
  The most beautiful among the beautiful ...
  
  My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf ...
  
  My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this room ...
  
  My Istanbul, my karaman, the earth of my Anatolia
  
  My Badakhshan, my Baghdad and Khorasan
  
  My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of misery ...
  
  I'll sing your praises always
  
  I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy.
caption: 16th-century oil painting of Hurrem Sultan
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