Roxelana:Story of a Slave Concubine girl, Who Became Powerful Queen of Ottoman Sultan Suleyman.

Behind every strong man, there is a strong woman.

Crimean Tatars kidnapped her during one of their Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe. Roxelana was the daughter of a priest from Russia.

At age 17 she was captured and taken to Istanbul. There the girl was bought by the great vizier Ibrahim Pasha and delivered in the Sultan's harem. After some time, Roxelana became a concubine and favorite who ascended the throne of Suleiman I.

She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history and a prominent and controversial figure during the era known as the Sultanate of Women.

In Istanbul, Valida Hafsa Sultan selected Hurrem as a gift for her son, Suleiman (The Tenth Ottoman Sultan-1494-1566). Hurrem later managed to become the Haseki Sultan or "favourite concubine" of the Ottoman imperial harem.

In 1533 Suleiman married Hurrem in a magnificent formal ceremony, making him the first Ottoman Sultan to wed since Orhan Ghazi (reign 1326–1362), and violating a 200-year-old custom of the Ottoman imperial house according to which sultans were not to marry their concubines.

Never before was a former slave elevated to the status of the sultan's lawful spouse, much to the astonishment of observers in the palace and in the city. Hurrem also received the title Haseki Sultan and became the first consort to hold this title.

Really  a unique love story

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 and had six children with him, including the future Sultan Selim II. She was the grandmother of Murad III.

Roxelana acquired the kind of outsize influence no woman before her had ever enjoyed in the empire, leaving a lasting imprint on both Ottoman history and European imagination.

Rivalry in Sultan’s Harem

Roxelana 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. She soon became Suleiman's most prominent consort beside Mahidevran Sultan (also known as Gulbahar).

Roxelana Hurrem was allowed to give birth to more than one son which was a stark violation of the old imperial harem principle, "one concubine mother — one son," which was designed to prevent both the mother's influence over the sultan and the feuds of the blood brothers for the throne.

She was to bear the majority of Suleiman's children. Hurrem gave birth to her first son Mehmed in 1521 (who died in 1543) and then to four more sons, destroying Mahidevran's status as the mother of the sultan's only son.

Suleiman's mother, Hafsa Sultan, partially suppressed the rivalry between the two women.

Never before was a former slave elevated to the status of the sultan's lawful spouse, much to the astonishment of observers in the palace and in the city. Hurrem also received the title Haseki Sultan and became the first consort to hold this title.

Later, Hurrem became the first woman to remain in the Sultan's court for the duration of her life. In the Ottoman imperial family tradition, a sultan's consort was to remain in the harem only until her son came of age (around 16 or 17), after which he would be sent away from the capital to govern a faraway province, and his mother would follow him.

This tradition was called Sancak Beyliği. The consorts were never to return to Istanbul unless their sons succeeded to the throne. In defiance of this age-old custom, Hurrem stayed behind in the harem, even after her sons went to govern the empire's remote provinces.

Killing of Prince Mustafa, his 38-year-old first born son by his first wife.

Hurrem Sultan knew that according to the rules of the harem, if Mustafa became sultan he would have all of her sons killed to prevent them from trying to overthrow him.

During those times, the Ottoman sultans did not hesitate to sacrifice even their loved ones for the unity of the empire and the people – one of the reasons why the Ottoman Empire stood for centuries.

Suleyman had a son, Mustafa, by his first wife, Mahidevran. Mustafa resembled his grandfather Selim I because of his handsome face and bravery, and was expected to succeed Suleyman even though there was no formal succession system in the Ottoman Empire.

Suleyman suspicious about a possible plot against him, and when the sultan acquired evidence about the betrayal of his son, he executed Mustafa. It is said that Hurrem, who wanted her children to sit on the throne after Suleyman, encouraged the Sultan to kill his own son.

After the death of Mustafa, Mahidevran lost her status in the palace as the mother of the heir apparent and moved to Bursa. The new sultan after 1566 put her on a lavish salary. Her rehabilitation had been possible after the death of Hurrem in 1558.

Death Of Roxelana

She died on 15 April 1558 and was buried in a domed mausoleum (turbe) decorated in exquisite Iznik tiles depicting the garden of paradise, perhaps in homage to her smiling and joyful nature.[30] Her mausoleum is adjacent to Suleiman's, a separate and more somber domed structure, at the courtyard of the Suleymaniye Mosque.

The End

Note—This blog has been prepared with help of Wikipedia and various articles and photos available on net. With thanks to original writers.