Shah Sultan is the sister of the Great Ruler of the Ottoman Empire. Shah Sultan: biography of the ruler's sister Why Shah Sultan divorced Lutfi Pasha

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Unusually modest in size Shah Sultan Mosque in Istanbul is located in the Eyup region, on the shores of the Golden Horn. The Shah Sultan Mosque was erected by the architect Mimar Sinan in 1556, shortly before the death of the Sultana.

Few facts of history about Shah Sultan

Shah Sultan - the daughter of Sultan Selim I and his wife Aishe Hafse Sultan was born in 1499. At the age of twenty-four, Shah Sultan was married to Lutfi Pasha, but scandalously divorced him after eighteen years. The reason for the divorce was the beatings and insults inflicted on his wife, Lutfi Pasha, at the time of a family dispute over a draft law on adultery, which would provide for severe "surgical punishment" for lascivious women. Shah Sultan lived until 1572, having outlived the famous Khyurrem Sultan, feuding with her, by as much as fourteen years.

According to various studies carried out in 2016, the graves of Shah Sultan and Aishe Hafse Sultan were found in a burial in the courtyard of the Yavuz Sultan Selim mosque.

About Shah Sultan Mosque

The small-sized structure of the Shah Sultan Mosque was erected fifty meters from the Golden Horn Bay. This territory was bought by the Shah Sultan, probably for laying not only a mosque, but also mausoleums for his family, however, time ordered otherwise.

The rectangular building of the mosque (16m * 13m) was built of natural stone tied with red baked clay tiles. Inside the mosque, the prayer department is almost square (11m * 10m).
After a series of earthquakes, of which the most destructive one happened in 1766, the mosque was repeatedly restored. In the twentieth century, renovations were done four times, and the last one in 2005. Therefore, most of the trim elements that were previously made of wood were replaced with marble or iron ones. Moreover, as part of the latest reconstruction of the mosque, the roof was completely replaced, replacing the wooden floors with reinforced concrete ones, and the tiles were re-piled. The only minaret of the mosque is low and devoid of any decorations.

Of course, the Shah Sultan Cami Mosque - such a mundane architecture, completely devoid of the flight of fantasy of the great master Sinan, somewhat surprises tourists. Apparently, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who ordered the construction, had some good reason. Visit Shah Sultan Mosque in Istanbul it is reasonable to combine with a walk to the romantic cafe Pierre Lotti, which is located very close.

The homeland of Shah Sultan is Manis. In this city, Shah Sultan was born and raised. In 1523 he married her. In a marriage with Lutfi Pasha, Shah Sultan had two daughters - Esmahan and Nazlishah. After the Great Vizier Ayaz died at the height of the epidemic in 1539, Sultan Seleiman I called Shah Sultan's husband to court.
On July 13, 1539, Lufty Pasha was officially appointed Grand Vizier. Pasha held this position until his divorce from Shah Sultan in 1541. Shah Sultan's husband was not distinguished by marital fidelity, as they said he even allowed himself to raise his hand against the daughter of the Ottomans. Ultimately, Shah Sultan decides to divorce her husband, in 1541 she becomes free from marriage obligations, and her husband loses the post of Grand Vizier. Lufty Pasha was exiled to Dimetoku.
Despite the difficult relations between the spouses Lutfi Pasha, they saved their lives, this was facilitated by his pilgrimage to the holy places of Mecca and Medina, when he returned, he began to lead a righteous life, which he devoted to charity. A former relative of Sultan Suleiman died a natural death in 1564.
Shah Sultan did not forgive her husband for betrayal, but did not remarry, she also devoted her life to good deeds, died in 1572. The Shah Sultan Mosque in Istanbul is named after her, built by the architect Mimar Sinan.

In 1556, under the leadership of the architect Mimar Sinan, a mosque was built in honor of Shah Sultan. In 1572, Shah Sultan died.
In the series, Shah Khuban Sultan plays the role.

Burial site of Shah Khuban Sultan was discovered

During the restoration of the tomb of Aishe Sultan, the burial place of Shah Sultan was discovered. This was stated by Assistant to the Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Arinc. The news of the discovery of the grave of Shah Sultan was made public at the celebrations held at the Yavuz mosque in honor of the anniversary of the death of Aishe Hafza Sultan. The Assistant to the Prime Minister assured that the discovered tomb of Shah Sultan will also be restored. Recall that Shah Sultan - the daughter of Yavuz Sultan Selim and Aishe Hafza Sultan and the sister of the great Qanuni Sultan Suleiman - died in 1572.

Selim the First Yavuz, also known as the Terrible, had four sons (one of them later took the throne) and several daughters. Suleiman the Magnificent or Just (Qanuni, the Lawyer) became famous for his campaigns of conquest and passionate love for his wife of Ukrainian descent Haseki Khyurrem. One of the sisters of this famous ruler was Shah Sultan, whose biography is increasingly interesting to the public. After all, the Turkish historical series, which tells about the events of that era and is very popular among the inhabitants of Eastern Europe, tells about almost all members of the Ottoman family who took part in politics, as well as in palace and harem intrigues. The sultan's sisters played an important role in this. And our heroine, apparently, is very successful in this.

So what do we know about Shah Sultan? The biography of this woman is known to us mainly from the chronicles of the Ottoman Empire. She was born in 1509. Her mother was the famous Aishe Hafsa, who herself belonged to the family of padishahs and was a born aristocrat. Since her mother almost constantly lived in the city of Manisa until her husband's death, the princess herself was born there. She spent her childhood in this province, and at the age of 14 she already became the wife of one of the pupils of the Sultan's harem close to the palace, who is known to us as Lutfi Pasha. Shah Sultan, whose biography during this period is not very well researched, lived in a marriage in the province. She had two daughters. Various sources call their names: Esmekhan Baharnaz and Nezlikhan Sultan. Her husband came to Istanbul and became a member of the Divan in 1539. Then Shah Sultan herself was able to move to the capital, which she very much desired. She did her best to help her husband make a career at court. Historians report that the princess tried to influence her brother and in this competed with his wife, Roksolana-Khyurrem. These attempts to interfere in politics are also interesting for her biography.

Shah Sultan, like her mother, as well as many women of that time, was not at all going to accept the role of an exemplary wife and educator of children. Women wanted to determine the fate of empires themselves, although they did not always succeed. An ambitious princess, inspired by the example of her mother, who was actually a co-ruler of Suleiman Qanuni for a long time, Shah Sultan expected her husband's help in implementing her plans. Thanks to her, in the same 1539, Lutfi Pasha became the Grand Vizier of the state, since his predecessor Ayaz, a protege of Haseki Khyurrem, died due to a plague epidemic. However, the reign of Lutfi Pasha did not last long, only two years. On the one hand, he is known for his adultery, and on the other, for his ostentatious Puritanism. One of the Turkish historians, Murat Barbacci, reports that Lutfi Pasha decided to fight prostitution in Istanbul and very cruelly, "so that others would not disdain", punished one priestess of love, ordering her genitals to be burned. The indignant Shah Sultan began to reproach her husband. He completely forgot that she was from the Ottoman family and slapped her in the face.

The biography of Shah Khuban Sultan allows us to see what happened between the spouses next. The enraged princess ordered her personal guard to beat her husband, and then went to complain about him to her brother. Suleiman immediately removed the Pasha, who thought about himself a lot, his wife divorced him, and he was exiled to the distant province of Dimetoku. Lutfi Pasha only saved his life because Shah Sultan did not want her daughters to grow up without a father (at least nominally). The princess, having remained free, took up charity work, as was customary at that time among the rich Turkish aristocrats. For example, in Istanbul you can still see the mosque that bears her name and the construction of which she financed. Its architect was the talented Sinan, the author She died in 1572, having outlived her mother by 28 years.

According to legend, the princess asked to be buried together with the Valide, but this tomb could not be found for a long time. But in April this year in Turkey, during a thorough examination of the mausoleum of Aishe Hafsa, the grave of Shah Sultan was discovered. Biography, cause of death and details of the princess's life, of course, not in everything can be carefully reconstructed from historical sources. However, we can say that this woman is one of the brightest personalities of the truly "Magnificent Age", when people tried to become masters of their own destiny.

Among the heirs of the great Sultan Selim I, the father of Suleiman the Magnificent, there were no sons who could compete with him. But he had beautiful daughters, each of whom has its own special story. Supposedly, Selim had 10 daughters, but since there is still no exact record of all the women of the dynasty, only five of them have been remembered to this day.

Hatice Sultan

Hatice was younger than Suleiman by several years and was longer than all other daughters of Selima was next to her brother at court. The first marriage of the sultana did not work out, since the husband of the young girl, the official Iskender Pasha, soon after the wedding left her a widow. After Suleiman's accession to the throne, together with her mother Aishe Hafsoy-Sultan from Manisa, Hatice moved to the capital.

Here the famous love story of the sovereign's sister and his beloved vizier Ibrahim Pasha began. However, historians argue that this marriage has not been documented. The sources do not mention that the sultana was married to the vizier, and Ibrahim is nowhere indicated as the son-in-law of the dynasty. Moreover, another woman is called the Pasha's wife - a certain Mukhsine, the daughter of the mistress of Ibrahim at the time when he was just brought from Greece by a slave.

But it is quite possible that this marriage was real, although it is not a fact that it was for love. It could be concluded for reasons of the benefit of both parties. Also inaccurate is the number of the sultana's children - three in common with Ibrahim or two daughters from another spouse. One of the daughters of Khanym-Sultan was buried next to the khaseki of Suleiman Khyurrem in his Suleymaniye mosque. The other - Fulane-Sultan - became the prototype of the heroine of the "Magnificent Century" series Khurijihan. The date of death of Hatice is indicated by different historians in different ways. 1536 (a few years after Ibrahim's execution) or 1582. The sultana was buried in her father's mosque.

Beykhan Sultan

According to some reports, Beikhan was the daughter of Selim's other concubine, so Suleiman was only a half-sister. In 1513, the sultana married the vizier Ferhat Pasha. Ferhat became famous for suppressing the famous Janberdi uprising, which arose during the reign of Selim. However, he was executed by order of Suleiman for abuse of power, cruelty and theft in the provinces that were entrusted to him.

Several times he was rescued by the mother of his brother and sister Aishe Hafs, but the official did not stop - they continued to complain about him. So Beihan was the first victim of her family. Her loyalty to her husband surpassed that of the dynasty, which was rare. Beyhan refused to remarry, was expelled from the capital and lived in exile in her palace in Skopje. The Sultana died in 1559. Her tomb is also in the turban of her father Selim I in the Yavuz Selim mosque.

Fatma Sultan

First, Fatma Sultan married Mustafa Pasha, the governor of Antalya; however, they divorced when it turned out that the pasha had a slightly different orientation, and he had no interest in his wife. The second consort of Fatma was Kara Ahmed Pasha, who was the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire between 1553 and 1555. They had two daughters.

The official became a victim of a conspiracy between Rustem Pasha and Khyurrem Sultan, accused of bribery and executed. In fact, all this was necessary to return Rustem to his post. After the death of her husband, the sultana either moved to live in Bursa, but returned to the palace after the death of Suleiman, or, according to other sources, was forcibly married to Khadim Ibrahim Pasha, presumably as a punishment for her intrigues. Fatma died in 1573 and was buried in the tomb of Kara Ahmed Pasha.

Shah Sultan

Shah Sultan (Shahi Sultan, Devletshahi or Shehzadeshahi) grew up in Manisa and married in 1523 to the future Grand Vizier Lutfi Pasha. Her husband took over this position in 1539 and received great power in Istanbul. The couple had two daughters named Esmekhan Baharnaz Sultan and Neslihan Sultan. In 1541, the sultana divorced her husband, who was also removed from office. The divorce took place on her initiative, allegedly due to the punishment of a woman's husband for adultery.

Pasha ordered to cut off the hands and feet of the adulteress, and this led to a quarrel with the Shah Sultan. In the course of the curses, the atmosphere heated up, and the unrestrained spouse hit the sultana as well. After the incident, the sultana reminded her husband that he was actually her servant, complained to her brother and divorced. This led to the complete overthrow of Lutfi Pasha from the post of Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. After Shah-Sultan took up charity work and her spiritual world. With the permission of the spiritual mentor of Suleiman dervish Merkez-effendi, the sultana began to improve the abode of the dervishes of Mevlevihane.