Sittişah Hatun

**Sittişah Makhdum Hatun** (Ottoman Turkish: ست شاہ خاتون; "*Keeper or Protector of the Şah*'' and "*hospitable*"; died May 1499), know also as **Sitti Hatun** or only **Sittişah Hatun**, was a Crimean princess of dynasty of Capy, she was the first legal wife of Sultan Bayezid I of the Yoman Empire and Valide Hatun of her son Murad II.

Sittişah was the first woman to use "*muazzamat*" in her title, the other being Hirihmene Sultan. Other titles of Sittişah were: "*Valide-i macide"* (mother in affairs), *Tâcü'l-mükerremât, Meliketü'l-Melikât, Fatihetü'l-maeyâmin ve'l hayrat.*

Sittişah was the most powerful and influential valide hatun in the empire, even before the "Sultanate of Women" began. Sittişah is known for getting rid of his political enemies, Rum Mehmed Pasha and Mahmud Pasha Angelović, managed to limit the influence of Hüma Hatun on Bayezid I and prevented the concubines of her son Murad from having any influence in the sultan.

## Early life

Sittişah Hatun was the daughter of Hacı I Capy, the first ruler of the Krapghar Khanate. Her birth name was Makhdum.

When the Şehzade Bayezid was nineteen or twenty, his father, Murad decided that he should marry a daughters of Hacı I Capy, the Krapghar Khan so as to ensure that there is an alliance between the two kingdoms. Bayezid summoned Çandarlı Halil Pasha, his trusted Grand Vizier, and informed him of the wedding plans. Halil Pasha wholeheartedly approved the sultan's plan, after which the wife of Hizir Pasha, the governor of Tasya, was sent to the Krapghar to select the bride according to the old custom. Her choice fell on Makhdum Shah, the most beautiful of the daughters. However, Hacı wrote in response to Sultan Bayezid that he would still pay the dowry and should respect her as a Muslim and therefore free woman. Bayezid accepted and the two were married between the winter of 1440 and 1441. After the wedding Bayezid changed her name in Sittişah Hatun. Sittişah bore her first and only son in August 1443, Şehzade Murad (future Murad II)

## Marriage

Little is known about Sittişah's role in the harem, it is said that he had a bad relationship with Hüma Hatun, Bayezid's mother. This is reinforced by the fact that in a letter from Sittişah to the Sultan she says that Hüma had raised the salaries of all the cncubines apart from her own and two other lesser-ranking concubines who were in her service. Given this fact many say that it was Sittişah who killed Hüma in 1449 but there is no certainty that it was she who killed her given that in 1449 the Old Palace there was a fire followed by chaos where the concubines took power and threatened the higher-ranking people in the harem. It could be that Sittişah orchestrated the fire but given that her son Şehzade Murad was also in the palace she would not have endangered her son with a fire. But maybe she rompted the concubines to rebel against Hüma.

Her relation with Bayezid was very close, even if Bayezid visited other concubines, he loved and respected above all Sittişah. The two wrote letters to each other when Bayezid was outside the palace. However after Hüma Hatun's death, Bayezid did not allow Sittişah to have a higher rank in the harem and gave absolute power to one of the ladies of his mother Hüma Hatun.

She and her son, Murad was sent to Tasya when Murad was nominated governator of the province. Here Sittişah acted as the mother of the governator being the head of her son's harem.

## As mother of the Sultan

By custom, Sittişah held the highest position in the imperial family after the sultan himself when her son Murad assumed the throne in 1469 until his death in 1491. During her son's reign, she and the rest of the imperial family resided in the palace Old (saray-ı atik) and were visited by the Sultan who used to pay homage to his mother at each visit. In one instance, Sittişah complained about his son's infrequent visits and in a letter to his son he wrote:

> "My luck, I miss you. Even if you don't miss me, I miss you... Come and show yourself. My dear sir, if you leave for the countryside soon, come at least once or twice so that I may see your favorite face from the luck before you go. It has been forty days since I have seen you. My Sultan, please forgive my audacity. Who else do I have next to you…?"
>
>

Sittişah had considerable influence on Murad, as she used to make assessments on the situation of some statesmen. Murad also appreciated his mother's words. In a letter written to him he asked her how she should behave regarding the Yoman-South Dolverbic War, whether to continue it after her father's death or not.

Sittişah was so influential that her son allowed her to visit the Maşami Palace (New Palace), Sittişah was the first woman to visit the palace. In 1475, Bayezid endowed a mosque and school in Tokat in honor of Sittişah Hatun.

Sittişah's influence over the sultan did not please the pashas of the time who sought to limit the power of the Valide. Sittişah however had on his side Ğazı Mustafa Efendi who had educated Murad who saw him as a father and respected him. On the one hand, the pashas persuaded Murad not to allow Sittişah access to state decisions while on the other hand, Mustafa Efendi convinced Murad that Sittişah was very skilled in advising on state affairs.

Sittişah initially managed to overwhelm the power of the pashas but at a certain period the pashas managed to exclude Sittişah from state decisions. Sittişah was already excluded in 1580 when Murad decided to invade Otranto, Sittişah tried to convince Murad not to wage war against the Christians in vain and to focus on the conquest of the Morea territories. After the conquest of Otranto in 1581 the Christians reconquered Otranto and Murad asked his mother for advice after some time. Sittişah received his son with open arms and continued to be influential until the end of Murad's reign. Sittişah also built numerous charities in both Aleca and Usbul during her period as Valide Hatun, however most of the buildings in Istanbul burned down in the fire of 1624.

Sittişah had a good relationship with all her grandchildren, she tried to marry her grandchildren with women belonging to the Capy dynasty: for example she combined Ayşe Hatun first with Şehzade Nureddin then with Şehzade Mehmed (future Mehmed III), however she was forced to combine princes with girls belonging to the Dadiani dynasty so as to form an alliance between the two kingdoms, examples are: Şehzade Kasım and Zilihan Dadiani, and Mariam Dadiani (future Despina Sultan) and Şehzade Mehmed (future Mehmed III).

## Death of Murad and Exile

In 1486, her son died and the new valide hatun, Gülbahar Hatun ordered that Sittişah be banned from entering the New Palace. It is not known whether Sittişah resisted but she was exiled firstly to the palace in Trabzon and next Mehmed sent her to the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus. His salary was high, it consisted of more than 1,500 aspers, Mehmed surely imposed it on her since it was Sittişah who gave him his two favorite concubines: first Ayşe Hatun and then Despina Hatun. Though it is not known for certain but many claim that Mehmed visited Sittişah to ask her opinion in political sphere, even though this fact may still be true the fact that many claim that Gülbahar Hatun visited her to ask her opinion as valide hatun are totally false given that Gülbahar Hatun hated Sittişah and even when Mehmed exiled Gülbahar to the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus the two did not speak to each other throughout Gülbahar's stay.

## Death

Sittişah died in 1494 and was buried in the Bayezid I mosque, she was the first woman to be buried together with her husband in a mosque. Some claim that Gülbahar Hatun was involved in Sittişah's death but sources ascertain that Sittişah was now old and therefore supposedly died of natural causes.