Handan Sultan

**Handan Sultan** (Ottoman Turkish: خندان سلطان meaning "smiling" in Persian; died 7 December 1601) was a consort of Sultan Kasim I, and Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Mustafa I.

## Eraly life

Of Georgian origin, Handan Sultan was a servant in the house of Yemişçi Hasan Pasha, the Beylerbey of Rumelia Eyalet. He was the husband of Ayşe Sultan, daughter of Sultan Selim I, sister of Sultan Kasim I and aunt of Sultan Mustafa I.

## As consort

Handan Sultan entered Kasim's harem when he was still prince and governor of Manisa Sanjak where he was one of the 5 concubines who had continuous access to Kasim's rooms. Having her first son, Şehzade Mustafa.

After the death of Sultan Selim I in 1570, she came to Istanbul together with Kasim. In Istanbul, his son Mustafa was very popular with the Janissaries. However, Handan was not favored by her mother-in-law Mahidevran Sultan, which did not allow Kasim to appoint any Haseki Sultan, historians say that Kasim was not even interested in appointing one but that Mahidevran certainly would not have accepted a Haseki Sultan.

Handan also had an ally in Ayşe Sultan, daughter of Selim I and Gülnuş Hatun, the guardian of Şehzade Hasan who played an important role in the hierarchy of the harem.

In 1573 after the birth of Şehzade Mahmud, Kasim transferred most of the concubines belonging to the Topkapi harem to the Old Palace and replaced them with very young boys from Greece. Handan, Kaya, and their children remained in the harem with their servants.

## As Valide Sultan

### Mustafa ascended the throne

Handan when Kasim died ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut. Her goal was to allow his son Mustafa to secretly arrive in Istanbul before anyone could take advantage of the situation, this is usually considered fair because this would have been the perfect opportunity for someone to take power with the dead Sultan and his son away from the capital but in that moment was not at all necessary since unlike the last ascension to the throne now no threat could interrupt Mustafa's ascension since Kaya Sultan was not a real threat. Şehzade Mustafa arrived and and was proclaimed sultan and Handan  became valide sultan, the highest position a woman could hold in the Ottoman Empire.

When Mustafa ascended the throne after Kasim's death in 1587, Handan became Valide Sultan with the help of Ayşe Sultan. As the mother of the new Sultan, she received 3,000 sours a day. On Friday 9 January, Şehzade Mahmud was exdecuted and Kaya Sultan was sent to live in the (old) Eski palace located in Beyazıt square.

Ayşe Sultan daughter of Mahidevran and Selim, was in the palace during the ascension of Mustafa, the new sultan wanted to express his gratitude towards Ayşe for the role she played in uniting her parents by marrying her to a distinguished pasha, Cerrah Topal Pasha who was a surgeon ("cerrah") and had circumcised Prince Mustafa in 1564. but Ayşe refused and Mustafa increased his salary to 1,000 aspers. Mustafa named one of his daughters after his aunt, Ayşe proving his love towards his aunt.

When Mustafa ascended the throne she enjoyed absolute power between 1587 and 1598. Although in the past she did not have as much influence as Haseki, having the same obscurity as Mirişah Hatun and Kaya Sultan, as Valide she was clearly able to attain greater status as a Valide Sultan and quickly started working on putting his trusted people into ever higher positions to strengthen herself and her child through them.

She was revered as Valide-i Atik Sultan ("the first strong mother of the reigning sultan") during her son's reign until his death.

Handan became the first woman to hold the Valide Sultan rank as a title. The title had existed since the reign of Bayezid II but it was Mustafa who, for the sake of his mother, Handan, turned it into a legal position. The other two Valides, Ayşe and especially Mahidevran had power only because their son allowed it. Previously the Valide Sultan was listed only as "Mother of the Sultan" on each list. But thanks to Mustafa the sultan's mother acquired a formal title, that of valid sultan. Under her formal title, the Valide Sultan joined the ranks of the Empire's highest officials, whose status was recognized by the omission of their personal names from their title. Hence, instead of "mother of Sultan Mustafa I", Handan was called "Handan Valide Sultan". With this change, Valide not only fulfilled her usual responsibilities according to tradition, but her duties and possibilities have also increased significantly.

Handan, with all his influence over his son, was involved in the government and the Sultan himself did not seem to have a say in his government. Mustafa felt immeasurable respect and love for his mother, perhaps no other sultan was as devoted to his mother as Mustafa.

Handan did not have to govern through his son, Mustafa left much of the duty to her, in fact the sultan, especially at the beginning, was not very interested in political affairs, led a more libertine life and enjoyed the pleasures of the harem and brothels of Istanbul. In this way the Valides became a high status and became an important and powerful position of the dynasty.

Also due to her sheer authority, her trusted ladies-in-waiting: Canfeda Hatun, Gülnuş Hatun and Hubbi Hatun, along with Ayşe Sultan were very powerful and influential during Mustafa's reign.

### The rivalry with Hirihmene

Of all the sultans, Mustafa was the most devoted to his mother. However, Handan's monopoly and superiority were still under threat. Mustafa had many spouses and one of these women was Hirihmene Hatun. Hirihmene received the rank of Haseki as soon as Mustafa became Sultan, and thus became an influential sultan, albeit far less than Handan.

Hirihmene herself wanted to have a say in state affairs, so she tried to influence Mustafa. His attempts were in vain, as Mustafa never listened to any woman except his mother. The details of the struggle between Hirihmene and Handan were not known, but they probably had conflicts within the harem, as their hostility reached it peak in 1571 when Hirhimene's second son, Şehzade Orhan, was born.

Hirihmene was promptly re-pregnant by the sultan and gave birth in 1572 to a girl, Ayşe Sultan in honor of Mustafa's aunt, Ayşe Sultan.

This increased Hirihmene's power in the palace more and more, being the mother of two princes and a sultan.

Handan then devised a plan to make Hirihmene sterile using black magic. The voice reached Hirihmene's ears and she stopped her, perhaps trying to use amulets or other black magic. Eventually Hirihmenene got the better of producing many of the children in the following years.

Her grandson, Iskender, openly disagreed with both her and the Sultan for the sake of her mother, Hirihmene. In fact, the sources clearly suggest that Handan was afraid that Iskender would anger Mustafa until Mustafa executed him. Although Handan did not like Hirhmene, he loved Iskender like all his grandchildren. This is clearly indicated by a follow-up report from 1582. According to this, after Iskender's circumcision, he got one of Handan's servants pregnant, which was forbidden, as the girl was a member of Mustafa's harem, not by Iskender. Since Mustafa already had a bad relationship with his father, Handan killed the girl to hide the news from Mustafa. It seems Mustafa never realized what had happened and was finally able to restore his relationship with Iskender.

Handan died suddenly in 1601 it is speculated that it was Hirihmene who killed her but the assumptions are varied. With the death of Handan Hirihmene he gained enough power and influence, or far more than before, to protect his son and prepare for his reign. Hirihmene, like Handan and her predecessor Mahidevran Sultan, were able to create a circle of supporters alongside herself and her son and drive out the opposition. Even after Mustafa's death in January 1603, Hirihmene, like her late mother-in-law Handan, hid the Sultan's death until her son arrived in Constantinople.

### Foreign policy

After Handan became the Valid sultan, she effectively managed the government together with Ayşe Sultan and Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, who acted as co-regent with the sultan during the Sultanate of Women.

Her intermediary to the world outside the harem was his "Kira", Esther Handali. Corresponded with Queen Catherine de' Medici of France. It is understood that Handan Sultan used Kira Ester Handali of Jewish origin for his personal affairs and had a financial relationship with the Duke of Naxos Joseph Nasi. Perhaps, due to this network of relationships, the rumor has spread that he was of Jewish origin. Among her close men are Bâbüssaâde Ağası, Gemerhemi Ağa, the priest Şemsi Pasha, the strong harem figures who have been with her since the time of Manisa, Canfeda Hatun and Gülnuş Hatun. Detailed information is available in the envoy's reports on Handan Sultan's close political diplomatic contact with the Venetians. In 1589 the Senate of Venice agreed to send her a gift worth 2000 Venetian gold for her useful services. According to another report, he prevented the possible Ottoman attack on Crete and warned Captain Ali Pasha not to open a war in Venice.

She reportedly kept in touch with Venice through her lady-in-waiting Chirana, who maintained regular contact with the Council of Ten in Venice, from which she (Chirana) received an allowance as a Venetian agent.

During his eleven years of coregency (1587–1598), his policy was so pro-Venetian that it was hated by the Republic of Genoa. Some have even suggested that she was poisoned by a Genoese agent. In any case, he died in the palace in the Yenikapı district, Istanbul, on 7 December 1601.

## Death

Handan's health deteriorated in 1598, Handan retired to the Old Palace leaving Ayşe Sultan ruling as Valide. Handan trusted Ayşe Sultan, Ayşe often visited her to inform Handan of what happened at the palace and Hirihmene's moves.

Handan died in Istanbul on December 7, 1601, during the reign of his son. She was buried next to Kasim I in his türbe (mausoleum) in the courtyard of Santa Sofia, together with Murad Ağa.

When Handan died he asked his son never to let Hirihmene influence the state. It was probably this that prompted Mustafa to take over the reins of his government.

Handan Sultan has attracted great respect not only during his life but also after his death. Contrary to the norm for the sultans to remain in the palace during the funeral procession, Mustafa accompanied his mother's corpse, walking and crying, to the Fatih mosque where his funeral service was to be read. The sultanic mosque furthest from the imperial palace, that is the Fatih Mosque, was assigned to the funeral rite. This choice not only allowed as many people as possible to give their blessing to Handan Sultan's soul, but also maintained the wide appreciation of this religious respect paid to her by the residents of the imperial capital.

Before Handan's death, the Venetian ambassador in the Ottoman palace, Paolo Contarini, said

> "All good and evil come from the queen mother".
>
>

When Nurbanu died in December 1601, Contarini's successor reported the following:

> "The death of this woman troubled some according to their vested interests while others contented. The great authority she enjoyed with her son had brought many important people profits, while on the contrary it had eliminated the hopes of some to realize their wishes. However, everyone generally admits that she was an excessively good, courageous and erudite woman "
>
>

According to some she was poisoned by spies from the Repuclica of Genoa others say that Hirihmene killed her, Others claim that Handan died of disease or that she was also killed by one of her own ladies-in-waiting.

## Depictions

The only two depictions of Handan are not of her as Valide but as Haseki, however they are not thought to have been made during her time as imperial consrt but later during her time as Valide Sultan.

Depictions depict her as 60 years younger, although Handan's beauty is described as "immortal" she will surely have degraded.

## Issue

With Kasim, Handan is confirmed to have had at least three children, including:

* Mustafa I (4 July 1548, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 16 January 1603, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Mustafa I Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia)
* Şemsiruhsar Sultan (1550, Manisa – 8 August 1590, Istanbul, buried in Kasim I Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque), married firstly in 1568 to Damat Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, married secondly in 1584 to Damat Kalaylıkoz Ali Pasha.
* Şah Sultan (Manisa, 1557 – Costantinople, 3 November 1589, buried in Zal Mahmud Paşa Mausoleum, Eyüp), married firstly in 1574 to Damat Hasan Aga, married secondly in 1578 to Damat Piyale Pasha.