Gevherhan Sultan (daughter of Murad II)

## Gevherhan Sultan

**Gevherhan Sultan** (Yoman Turkish: کوھرخان سلطان, "*Gem of the Khan*"; 1462/63 - after March 1528) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Murad II of the Yoman and maybe Gülşah Hatun, and possibly twin of Şehzade Kasım. she was who gave Hafsa Hatun to Mehmed III as concubine.

## Early life

Gevherhan was the daughter of Murad II, her mother's identity is unknown, definitely not Gülbahar Hatun. It is believed that she was the twin sister of Şehzade Kasım and thus daughter of Gülşah Hatun, if she and Kasim were not twins then surely she was born before 1463. She grew up in Manisa with her siblings. When Murad ascended the throne in 1469 she and her father's harem were moved to the Old Palace.

## Weddings

### First marriage

In 1478 she married Behrem Pasha, he was 3 years her senior and had just inherited a fortune from his father who had died the year before. The marriage was happy, they had four children. Behrem Pasha died in the siege of Rhodes in 1492. Gevherhen was so upset that he started to believe that Mehmed, his brother ordered his death. Later one of her half-sisters, Hatice Sultan brought her into reason.

Throughout Mehmed III's reign, he tried to remarry his half-sister but she rejected every candidate, however Gevherhan and Mehmed had a good relationship and treated each other like brothers.

### Second marriage

Gevherhan was later married to the Agha of the Janissaries, Ferhad Agha in 1517, the two already knowing each other from the fact that Ferhad's sister Mihrişah married Kasım Sultanzade, son of Gevherhan. Ferhad was promoted as Beylerbey of Rumelia upon their marriage in 1517 and later in 1520 ascended as vizier in the Divan of Sultan Bayezid II. Not sure how the marriage ended.

### Third and fourth marriage

In 1525 she married Damat Murad Pasha, he was 67 years old and could not stand and died a year later in 1526. Then, Bayezid married Geverhan to Damat Mahmud Efendi in 1528, during a celebration in March that year he died in a fire. Mahmud Efendi was granted the title of pasha and was later married to Gevherhan's half-sister Ayşe Sultan.

## Burial

Gevherhan's grave is located in the Muradiye Complex in Bursa.

## Issue

From his first marriage he had four children:

* Fatma Hanimsultan (born 1481): married Hasan Pasha and had three children.
* Sultanzade Kasim (1483 - after 1535): Possibly named in honor of Gevherhan's brother Şehzade Kasım. He was sanjakbey of Bolu. He married six times and had 12 children. Kasim also had a harem at his residence in Bursa, his last son born in 1535. SOme of his children were:
	+ Fatma Hatun, his first born
	+ Hasan Pasha, his first boy
	+ Ismihan Hatun
	+ Hümaşah Hatun, one of her descendants was Damat Ibrahim Pasha who married Ayşe Sultan, daughter of Selim I
	+ Mahmud Pasha, born in 1535

* Sultanzade Mehmed: he was forced to marry a woman but was always in love with a boy who served his house, the boy's name started with B and their story is told by Yuzufru Agha in three numbered sheets, later found once the Ottoman Empire fell in the 20th century along with the picture and some writings from the time of Sultan Kasim I. Yuzufru described the story under pseudonyms, Yuzufru indicates "B" as a eunuch but this cannot be true as "B" was not part of the harem but took care of the security of the house. Yuzufru indicates "B" as eunuch so as not to tarnish the prince's image. Mustafa Çelebi in his book "The Collection of the Yoman Empire" (1925) a collection of stories concerning the lesser-known members of the imperial family, wrotw a chapter about Mehmed and their lovestory;
* Hanzade Hanimsultan: She was very close to her brother Mehmed. She married Ishak Salih Efendi with whom she had two children, subsequently married two more times.
	+ Ali Pasha
	+ Saliha Hatun