Sultan Suleiman I

Template:CharacterSultan Suleiman I was ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

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## Biography

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## Behind the scenes

If there's anything you'd like to say that's not derived from episodes, but maybe comes from interviews that actors or crew gave, use this section.Suleiman succeeded his father, Selim I, as sultan on 30 September 1520. Breaking with Ottoman tradition, Suleiman married Hürrem Sultan, a woman from his harem, an Orthodox Christian of Ruthenian origin who converted to Islam, and who became famous in the West by the name Roxelana, due to her red hair. Their son, Selim II, succeeded Suleiman following his death in 1566 after 46 years of rule. Suleiman's other potential heirs, Mehmed and Mustafa, had died; Mehmed had died in 1543 from smallpox, and Mustafa had been strangled to death in 1553 at the sultan's order. His other son Bayezid was executed in 1561 on Suleiman's orders, along with Bayezid's four sons, after a rebellion. As a young man, he befriended Pargalı Ibrahim, a Greek slave who later became one of his most trusted advisers (but who was later executed on Suleiman's orders).

Wives and concubines

Suleiman had two known consorts, though in total there were 17 women in his harem when he was a Şehzade. The mothers of Mahmud, Murad and Raziye are unknown.

* Mahidevran Hatun, a Circassian or Albanian concubine.
* Hürrem Sultan (also known as Roxelana) (m. 1533 or 1534), Suleiman's concubine and later legal wife and first Haseki Sultan, possibly a daughter of a Ruthenian Orthodox priest.

#### Sons

Suleiman I had eight sons:

* Şehzade Mahmud (1512, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 29 October 1520, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque);
* Şehzade Mustafa (1515, Manisa Palace, Manisa – executed, by the order of his father, on 6 October 1553, Konya, buried in Muradiye Complex, Bursa), son with Mahidevran;
* Şehzade Murad (1519, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 19 October 1520, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque);
* Şehzade Mehmed (1521, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 6 November 1543, Manisa Palace, Manisa, buried in Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul), son with Hürrem;
* Sultan Selim II (30 May 1524, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 12/15 December 1574, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Selim II Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque), son with Hürrem;
* Şehzade Abdullah (c.1525, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – c.1528, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque), son with Hürrem
* Şehzade Bayezid (1527, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – executed by agents of his father on 25 September 1561, Qazvin, Safavid Empire, buried in Melik-i Acem Türbe, Sivas), son with Hürrem;
* Şehzade Cihangir (9 December 1531, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 27 November 1553, Konya, buried in Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul), son with Hürrem

#### Daughters

* Raziye Sultan (c.1517 - 1520, buried in Yahya Efendi Türbe), daughter with unknown woman
* Mihrimah Sultan (1522, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 25 January 1578, buried in Suleiman I Mausoleum, Süleymaniye Mosque), daughter with Hürrem. She married Damat Rüstem Pasha in 1539, and had one daughter and one son.
	+ Ayşe Hümaşah Sultan (1542 Istanbul – died 1595, buried in Mihrimah Sultan Mosque Edirnekapı), married in 1560 to Damad Şemsi Ahmed Pasha
	+ Sultanzade Osman Bey (born 1545 and died 1575, Istanbul, buried in Mihrimah Sultan Mosque Üskudar)

### Relationship with Hurrem Sultan

16th-century oil painting of Hurrem Sultan

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.