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Mihrişah Sultan (mother of Selim III)

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For the consort of Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III, and the mother of Mustafa III, see Mihrişah Kadin (mother of Mustafa III).

In this Ottoman Turkish style name, the given name is Mihrişah, the title is Sultan, and there is no family name.
Mihrişah Sultan
Mihrişah Sultan Fountain in Yeniköy
Valide sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Tenure7 April 1789 – 16 October 1805
PredecessorŞehsuvar Sultan
SuccessorSineperver Sultan
BornAgnes
c. 1745
Georgia
Died16 October 1805(1805-10-16) (aged 59–60)
Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
(now Istanbul, Turkey)
Burial
Mihrişah Sultan Complex, Eyüp, Istanbul
ConsortMustafa III
IssueHibetullah Sultan[1]
Selim III
Fatma Sultan
Full name
Turkish: Mihrişah Sultan
Ottoman Turkish: مھرشاہ سلطان
FatherGeorgian Orthodox priest
ReligionSunni Islam

Mihrişah Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: مهرشاہ سلطان; "sun/light of the Şah"; c. 1745 – 16 October 1805[2][3][4]), was a consort of Sultan Mustafa III and was the mother of Selim III of the Ottoman Empire. She was the Valide Sultan for 16 years from 1789 until her death in 1805.

Early life

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Mihrişah was of Georgian descent and was born in Georgia in 1745. However, there is also information that she came from Genoa.[5][6] Her real name was Agnes.[7][8] She was called the "Georgian Beauty" (Turkish: Gürcü güzeli) for her beauty.[9][10][11]

As imperial consort

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Around 1757, Mihrişah entered the harem of Mustafa III as a slave from the Black Sea. She later became one of his wives and a başkadın (first wife).[12] On 17 March 1759,[13] she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Hibetullah Sultan.[14][15][16] Hibetullah's birth was celebrated throughout Istanbul, because no child had been born to the royal family in the previous thirty years.[13]

On 24 December 1761, she gave birth to her second child, a son, Şehzade Selim (the future Sultan Selim III). His birth was celebrated for a whole week in Istanbul.[17][18] On 9 January 1770, she gave birth to her third child, a daughter, Fatma Sultan, but she died on 26 May 1772 at the age of two.[15][19] Among her concubines was Dilhayat Kalfa, a concubine of Ahmed III and tutor to Selim III. She was one of the greatest Turkish composers of the early modern period.[source?]

She was widowed in 1774, after which she went into exile in the Old Palace. A preserved document from the Topkapi Palace shows that Mustafa III borrowed money from her. However, he could no longer repay the debt because Mustafa III had died.[20][3]

Both Mihrişah and her son Selim were members of the Mevlevi order, which practiced the teachings of Sufi saints.

Valide Sultan

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Selim's accession and political influence

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The son of Mihrişah Valide, Sultan Selim III

During the fifteen-year reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid I, Prince Selim also resided in the Topkapi Palace, and Mihrisha was sent to live in the Old Palace.[clarification needed] After Abdul Hamid's death in 1789, Selim ascended the throne, and Mihrisha became the Valide Sultan.

She occasionally extended favors or clemency to her son in various matters.[20] When he instituted his Nizam-i Siddiq (New Order), Mihrisha and her ketuda (concubine), then Yusuf Aga, were both his strong supporters. To encourage her son's heart, Mihrisha built a mosque for the Humbarachihans (barracks for bombardiers) in Haskoy on the Asiatic coast, and established a medical school in Üsküdar.[21]

Yusuf Aga was the second Ketuda of Mihrisah, succeeding the first Ketuda, Mahmud Aga, who died while serving as Ketuda.[22] He was a close associate of Selim. In 1808, he failed to suppress the plot of Kabakci Mustafa to revolt against Selim. As a result, he was killed, after which his tax farm was given to Sultan Mustafa IV's mother, Sineperver Sultan.[23]

Patron of architecture

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Mihrişah Sultan Fountain in Yeniköy

In the 1790s, Mihrişah built several schools and mosques. She was very active in this work.

She built the barracks at Humbarahan in 1792, which are known as large-scale modern military buildings.[24]

The Mihrişah Sultan Complex, which Mihrişah built in 1792 and which was completed in 1796, is in the Eyüp neighborhood of Istanbul. It contains his tomb and a mausoleum (soup kitchen).[25][26] It is known as the last Ottoman imaret still in use.[27]

In 1793, Mihrişah built the Halicyoglu Mosque.[20]

Mihrişah built the Valide Dam on the eastern branch of the Arabaki Mandrai in Istanbul, which provided additional water to the Buyuk Bent.[28]

Mihrişah also built several fountains:

  • In 1791, she built a fountain in İhsaniye in Üsküdar in memory of her daughter Hibetullah Sultan.[28]
  • In 1792, she built a fountain in memory of his daughter Fatma Sultan.[29]
  • In 1794, she had the Silahtar Yusuf Pasha fountain repaired in Kağıthane.[20]
  • In 1796, she built a fountain in Eminüne and Balıkpazarı in honor of Çaşnigir Zeynep. The fountains later became known as Mihrişah Valide Fountains.[28]
  • Two fountains on either side of the Sebil and a fountain in Yüp were built in 1796.[28]
  • A fountain was built in Fındıklı Mollabayırı in 1797.[28]
  • A fountain was built in the Kılıçali district of Beşiktaş in 1797.[28]
  • A fountain in memory of her daughter Fatma Sultan (later called the Mihrişah Valide Sultan Fountain) was built in Yenikoy, Istanbul in 1805.[28]

The fountains built by Mihrişah met the water needs of the people around Beyoğlu, Galata and Boğaziçi.[30]

Death

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Tomb of Mihrişah Sultan, located within her charitable complex in Eyüpsultan, Istanbul

Mihrişah Sultan died of unknown causes on 16 October 1805. She was buried in her charity complex in Eyüp, Istanbul.[2][3][4]

Issue

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Mustafa III and Mihrişah had one son and two daughters:

  • Hibetullah Sultan (17 March 1759 – 7 June 1762, buried in the Mausoleum of Mustafa III, Laleli Mosque, Istanbul),[31] also known as Heybetullah or Heybetullah, was engaged to Mahir Hamza Pasha on 2 June 1759 but died before the wedding.
  • Selim III (Topkapı Palace, 24 December 1761 – 28 July 1808, buried in the Mausoleum of Mustafa III), was the 28th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
  • Fatma Sultan (9 January 1770 – 26 May 1772, buried in the Mausoleum of Mustafa III, Laleli Mosque, Istanbul).
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  • In the 1989 Swiss-American drama film The Favourite, Mihrişah is portrayed by French actress Andrea Parisy.[32]
  • In the 2012 Turkish miniseries Esir Sultan, the role of Mihrişah is played by Turkish actress Ipek Tenolke.[33]
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References

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  1. ↑ According to Oztüna, her mother was Aynülhayat Kadın instead, but this information was discredited
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Uluçay 2011, p. 151.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kazancıoğlu 2016, p. 96.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Akkurt 2018, p. 8.
  5. ↑ Gabor Agoston; Bruce Alan Masters (1 January 2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 514. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7.
  6. ↑ E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936. BRILL. 31 December 1987. p. 1117. ISBN 90-04-08265-4.
  7. ↑ H. Mirgül Eren Griffe (2005). Galip Ali Paşa Rızvanbegovic-Stocevic. Babil. p. 55. ISBN 9789756360415. Ortodoks bir Gürcü papazın kızı olan Mihrişah
  8. ↑ Y. İzzettin Barış (2002). Osmanlı padişahlarının yaşamlarından kesitler, hastalıkları ve ölüm sebepleri. Bilimsel Tıp Yayınevi. p. 184. ISBN 978-975-6986-17-2. Selim'in annesi olan Mihrişah, Gürcistan'dan kaçırılan bir papazın kızıydı
  9. ↑ Albert Hourani; Philip Shukry Khoury; Mary Christina Wilson (1 January 1993). The Modern Middle East: A Reader. University of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-520-08240-3. beautiful Georgian slave-girl named Mihr-i Şāh
  10. ↑ Osmanlı tarihi: cilt. Nizam-ı cedid ve Tanzimat devirleri, 1789-1856. Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi. 1961. pp. 13, 16. Gürcü güzeli Mihrişah
  11. ↑ Osman Horata (1998). Esrâr Dede: hayatı, şiir dünyası ve dı̂vânı. T.C. Kültür Bakanlığı. ISBN 978-975-17-1954-6. Selim'in Gürcü güzeli ... annesi Mihrişah
  12. ↑ Kal'a, Ahmet (1998). İstanbul külliyâtı: İstanbul tarım tarihi, 1 (1743-1757), 2 (1757-1763). İstanbul Araştırmaları Merkezi. p. 218.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Uluçay 2011, p. 151-2.
  14. ↑ According to Oztüna, her mother was Aynülhayat Kadın instead, but this information was discredited
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 İyianlar, Arzu (1992). Vâlide Sultanlar'ın İmar Faaliyetleri. İstanbul Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü. pp. 167–8, 170–71.
  16. ↑ Dominic, Paulina D.; Roszak, Stanisław (2017). The Istanbul Memories in Salomea Pilsztynowa's Diary "Echo of the Journey and Adventures of My Life" (1760). pp. 52 n. 41.
  17. ↑ Başaran, Betül (14 July 2014). Selim III, Social Control and Policing in Istanbul at the End of the Eighteenth Century: Between Crisis and Order. BRILL. p. 72. ISBN 978-9-004-27455-6.
  18. ↑ Kazancıoğlu 2016, p. 95-6.
  19. ↑ Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Uluçay 2011, p. 150.
  21. ↑ Davis 1986, p. 10-11.
  22. ↑ Davis 1986, p. 27 n. 77.
  23. ↑ Davis 1986, p. 9.
  24. ↑ "HUMBARAHANE KIŞLASI ve CAMİİ İstanbul'da Haliç kıyısında XVIII. yüzyılın sonlarına ait kışla ve cami". İslam Ansiklopedisi. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  25. ↑ Rüstem 2019, p. 254.
  26. ↑ Goodwin 1971, p. 410-411.
  27. ↑ AA, Daily Sabah with (1 February 2016). "Istanbul's historic public kitchen makes life easier for refugees and the homeless". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 28.6 Kazancıoğlu 2016, p. 98.
  29. ↑ Uluçay 2011, p. 169.
  30. ↑ Kazancıoğlu 2016, p. 101.
  31. ↑ According to Oztüna, her mother was Aynülhayat Kadın instead, but this information was discredited
  32. ↑ Full Cast & Crew: The Favorite (1989), retrieved 7 April 2020
  33. ↑ Full Cast & Crew: Esir Sultan (2012– ), retrieved 7 April 2020

Sources

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Other websites

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Ottoman royalty
Preceded by
Şehsuvar Sultan 		Valide Sultan
7 April 1789 – 16 October 1805 		Succeeded by
Sineperver Sultan
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