Hurrem sultan biography
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Hurrem Sultan: Who Was the Ottoman Concubine Who Became Queen?
The story of Hurrem Sultan is a unique facet of the Ottoman Empire’s rich history. Hurrem, also known as Roxelana, lived a life that shocked her contemporaries and still inspires fascination in modern-day audiences. Hurrem Sultan was a trailblazer of gender politics, and her story is all the more intriguing due to her mysterious and humble beginnings. What personal qualities did Hurrem Sultan possess that elevated her position from that of a foreign harem slave to the chosen Queen of Suleiman the Magnificent, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire?
Hurrem Sultan: The Maid From Ruthenia
Much of Hurrem Sultan’s early life is speculative or simply unknown. Her name may have been Anastasia or Alexandra Lisowski or Lisowska, and she may have been the daughter of an Orthodox Christian priest. It is generally accepted that she was born between and
What is more definite is where she came from. Hurrem was believed t
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History of Hurrem Sultan
Hurrem Sultan, also known as Roxelana, was Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent's chief consort and wife. She rose to become one of Ottoman history's most important and influential women, as well as a popular and divisive figure during the Sultanate of Women.
Hurrem Sultan was born in Ruthenia, which was then part of the Polish Crown. She was born in the Ruthenian Voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, in what is now Ukraine, specifically in the town of Rohatyn. Hurrem was apparently born to a man named Lisovsky, who was an Orthodox priest of Ruthenian descent, according to late 16th-century and early 17th-century sources. Ruthenian was her first language.
Hurrem was kidnapped by Crimean Tatars during a slave raid and taken to Istanbul, the Ottoman capital. Valide Hafsa Sultan chose Hurrem as a gift for her son, Suleiman, in Istanbul. Hurrem rose through the Ottoman harem's ranks to become the Haseki Sultan, which means “the favorite”. Like h
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From Bangladesh to Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan to Nigeria, Senegal to Turkey, it is not particularly rare in our own times for women in Muslim-majority countries to be appointed and elected to high offices—including heads of state. Nor has it ever been.
Stretching back more than 14 centuries to the advent of Islam, women have held positions among many ruling elites, from malikas, or queens, to powerful advisors. Some ascended to rule in their own right; others rose as regents for incapacitated husbands or male successors yet too young for a throne. Some proved insightful administrators, courageous military commanders or both; others differed little from equally flawed male potentates who sowed the seeds of their own downfalls.
This six-part series presents some of the most notable historical female leaders
of Muslim dynasties, empires and caliphates.
Our fourth story comes from the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople.
The reign of Ottoman Sultan Sule