Hurrem Sultan | Wife of Suleyman The Magnificent
Roxelana, also called Hürrem Sultan, original name (Aleksandra Lisovska), (born c. 1505, Rohatyn, Poland— died April 1558, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire),was the chief consort and wife of the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history .
Suleiman became a prominent monarch of 16th-century Europe, presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empire’s economic, military and political power.Suleiman personally led Ottoman armies in conquering the Christian strongholds of Belgrade and Rhodes as well as most of Hungary before his conquests were checked at the siege of Vienna in 1529. He annexed much of the Middle East in his conflict with the Safavids and large areas of North Africa as far west as Algeria. Under his rule, the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and through the Persian Gulf.
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.sultans had previously married only foreign free noble ladies. She was the first imperial consort to receive the title Haseki Sultan. Hurrem remained in the sultan’s court for the rest of her life, having six children with him,(Şehzade Mehmed, Mihrimah Sultan, Şehzade Abdullah, Sultan Selim II and Şehzade Bayezid,Şehzade Cihangir)and Selim II was the future sultan .Hurrem eventually achieved power, influencing the politics of the Ottoman Empire.She bore her first son, Mehmed, in 1521 and supplanted Gülbahar (also called Mahidevran) as the haseki, or royal favourite. By Ottoman imperial custom a concubine was allowed to have only one son.Süleyman legally married Roxelana, an even more extraordinary occurrence.
Hurrem’s unprecedented rise from harem slave to Suleiman’s legal wife and “queen of the Ottoman Empire” attracted jealousy and disfavor not only from her rivals in the harem, but also from the general populace.Her joyful spirit and playful temperament earned her a new name, Hurrem, from Persian Khorram, “the cheerful one”.After the death of Suleiman’s mother Hafsa Sultan in 1534, Hurrem’s influence in the palace increased, and she took over the ruling of the Harem.Hurrem became the only partner of the ruler and received the title of Haseki, which means the favorite. When Suleiman freed and married her, she became the Haseki Sultan.
Roxelana and Süleyman had a close relationship. During his frequent absences on military campaigns, they wrote poetry to each other.Suleiman married Hurrem in a magnificent formal ceremony. Never before had a former slave been elevated to the status of the sultan’s lawful spouse, a development which astonished observers in the palace and in the city. It was only possible for Hurrem to marry Suleiman after the death of Hafsa Sultan. It was not because Hafsa Sultan was firmly against this unification, but because it was not allowed for a concubine to rise above the status of the Valide Sultan(Queen Mother).
After the death of Suleiman’s mother, Hafsa Sultan, in 1534, Hurrem became the most trusted news source of Suleiman. In one of her letters to Suleiman, she informs him about the situation of the plague in the capital. She wrote, “My dearest Sultan! If you ask about Istanbul, the city still suffers from the plague; however, it is not like the previous one. God willing, it will go away as soon as you return to the city. Our ancestors said that the plague goes away once the trees shed their leaves in autumn.” . Hurrem became the first woman to remain in the sultan’s court for the duration of her life.