Death of Roxelana/Hurrem Sultan ~ Concubine & Queen
Married to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Hurrem Sultan also known as Roxelana, became one of the most powerful women in the world.
Before she rose to prominence from the sultan’s harem, she was born as Aleksandra Lisowska in Poland, far from the Ottoman lands.
Aleksandra Lisowska was born in 1505 in the town of Rohatyn, near Lviv.
A teenage Aleksandra was captured during a slave raid by Crimean Tatars, and sold to the Ottoman Empire.
Young and attractive female slaves had the highest value at the slave market, and they would have been treated quite well in order to preserve their appeal and value.
Known for her beauty, and often depicted with red hair, she may have been considered an exotic commodity.
Aleksandra received two new names, “Roxelana”, meaning “maid from Ruthenia”, and Hurrem, the cheerful one.
She converted to Islam, and entered the imperial harem in 1520.
The smart, charming, and alluring Roxelana quickly rose through the ranks.
One story about Roxelana indicates that her first role was that of a laundress.
In this romantic version of events, it was said that Suleiman walked past the part of the palace where Roxelana was working, and he was charmed by her lovely voice as she sang an old folk song.
He stopped to talk with her and was struck by her beauty, her happy-go-lucky nature, and her ability to talk candidly with him.
In other stories, it was Suleiman’s mother Hafsa Sultan, who selected Hurrem to spend a night pleasuring her son.
There were hundreds of women in the Sultan’s harem, and the likelihood of these women ever meeting the Sultan in person was slim.
In preparation for this meeting, Hurrem would have been bathed, shaved, anointed with fragrant oils, and dressed in fine clothing in order to please ‘her master’.
Suleiman the Magnificent became Sultan in 1520, which was around the same time that Hurrem became his concubine.
In 1533, Suleiman freed Hurrem from her concubinage in order to marry her.
Islamic law forbade a Sultan to marry a slave, so in order to make Hurrem his queen, he had to free her.
Hurrem went on to have six of his children, five sons and one daughter ~ including his successor Selim II.
Despite the fact that Islamic law allowed the Sultan to take up to four wives, and keep as many concubines as he pleased, Suleiman the Magnificent remained true to Hurrem and spent time with no other women.
Now a very powerful woman, Hurrem Sultan took an active role in internal politics and international relations.
Due to the level of trust between Hurrem and Suleiman, she earned herself the freedom to preside over building works in the city.
She involved herself in the creation of public drinking and bathing facilities, charitable projects such as the establishment of soup kitchens for the poor, and the building of mosques and hostels for pilgrims.
Hurrem died on 18th April 1588, and was laid to rest in a mausoleum in the Suleymaniye Mosque.
Her wish to be right next to her Sultan was granted not only in life, but also in death ~ the Sultan himself was buried in an adjacent mausoleum eight years later.
🌹 Hurrem Sultan c.1550
This painting is attributed as a probable copy of an earlier portrait painted by Titian.
