Hüma Hatun

Hüma Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: هما خاتون; c. 1410 – September 1449) was a concubine of Ottoman Sultan Murad II and the mother of his successor, Mehmed II.

TenureAugust 1444 – September 1446

PredecessorEmine Hatun

SuccessorEmine Hatun or Gülbahar Hatun

Bornc. 1410

Quick facts Valide Hatun of the Ottoman Sultanate, Tenure ...

Hüma Hatun
Dürretü tâcü’n-nisâ fi’l-âlemîn Gurretü cebheti’l-İslâm ve’l-müslimîn Meliketü’l-melikât Müsdiletü siyâbi’l-hasenât ve’l-meberrât Es-sittü’l-celîle^[1]
Valide Hatun of the Ottoman Sultanate
Tenure	August 1444 – September 1446
Predecessor	Emine Hatun
Successor	Emine Hatun or Gülbahar Hatun

Born	c. 1410
Died	September 1449(1449-09-00) (aged 38–39) Bursa, Ottoman Sultanate
Burial	Muradiye Complex, Bursa
Consort of	Murad II
Issue	Mehmed II
Religion	Sunni Islam

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Life

Her exact place of birth, family background and origin is unknown. However an Ottoman inscription (waqf document) refers to her as “Hâtun binti Abdullah,” which, given that converts to Islam at the time were often given the name Abdullah, indicates a non-Muslim background. Hüma Hatun was most likely a concubine.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] The origins of Hüma are controversial. According to traditional accounts, the mother of Mehmed II was Hatice Halime Hatun, granddaughter of İsfendiyar Bey of the Candaroğulları dynasty.^[7] According to other accounts, she was an Italian and/or Jewish girl named Stella or Esther.^[8] Serbian,^[9] Greek,^[10] Macedonian,^[9] Montenegrin, Hungarian, or French^[11] origins have also been attributed to her. However, none of these claims have been proven.^[3] Her name, hüma, means "bird of paradise/phoenix", after the Persian legend.

Hüma Hatun gave birth to her only son, the future Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, in 1432. In 1438, Mehmed was circumcised along with his elder half-brother, Şehzade Alaeddin. When Mehmed was 11 years old, he was sent to Manisa as a prince governor. Hüma followed her son to Manisa. Her children's wet nurses were Hundi Hatun (d. 14 February 1486): usually styled Daye Hatun (lady governess), who became very wealthy and influential enough during the reign of Mehmed II, enough to fund several charitable foundations and commission prayers for her soul, and Gülbahar Hatun, called also Ebe Hatun (lady midwife), buried in her own türbe in the Muradiye Complex, Bursa.

In 1444, after the death of Mehmed's elder half-brother, Şehzade Alaeddin, who died in 1443, Mehmed was the only heir left to the throne. In that same year, Murad II abdicated the throne due to depression over the death of his son, Şehzade Alaeddin Ali Çelebi, and retreated to Manisa.^[12]

Her son Şehzade Mehmed succeeded the throne as Mehmed II. She held the Vâlide Hatun position for two years. In 1446, Murad took over the throne again, and Hüma and her son returned to Bursa. However, Mehmed succeeded the throne in 1451, after the death of his father, but she never became a Valide Hatun as she died before the accession.

Death

She died in September 1449 in Bursa, two years before her son's second accession to the throne. Her tomb is located at the site known as "Hatuniye Kümbedi" (Hatuniye Tomb) to the east of Muradiye Complex, which was built by her son Mehmed. The quarter where her tomb lies has been known thus far as Hüma Hatun Quarter.^[13]

In the tugra commissioned by Mehmed the Conqueror for this tomb, Hüma Hatun is referred to as:

"Dürretü tâcü'n-nisâ fi'l-âlemîn, Gurretü cebheti'l-İslâm ve'l-müslimîn, Meliketü'l-melikât, Müsdiletü siyâbi'l-hasenât ve'l-meberrât, Es-sittü'l-celîle."

Meaning:

"The pearl of the crown of women in the world, the radiance of the forehead of Islam and the Muslims, the queen of queens, one adorned with garments of goodness and charity, the noble and exalted lady."

Issue

Mehmed II (1432–1481). Sultan of the Ottoman Empire after his father and conqueror of Constantinople in 1453.

In popular culture

Hüma Hatun was portrayed by Leyla Feray in the docuseries Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020).
Zeynep Köse portrayed Hüma Hatun in Kızılelma: Bir Fetih Öyküsü
Açelya Akkoyun portrayed Hüma Hatun in Mehmed: Fetihler Sultanı (2024).

References

[1]
Necdet Sakaoğlu (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. oğlak yayınları. p. 128. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
[2]
Doukas (1 January 1975). Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks. Wayne State University Press. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-8143-1540-8.
[3]
Hollmann, Joshua (2017). The religious concordance : Nicholas of Cusa and Christian-Muslim dialogue. Leiden. p. 116. ISBN 978-90-04-32677-4. OCLC 965535039. Mehmed's maternal ancestry is shrouded in mystery. Franz Babinger notes that his mother was a 'slave', which ensures that she was not of Turkish origin, and that she probably was of Greek descent (Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and his Time, edited by William C. Hickman and translated by Ralph Manheim, Bollingen Series xcvi (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), 12).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
[4]
Freely, John (28 February 2009). The Grand Turk: Sultan Mehmet II - Conqueror of Constantinople, Master of an Empire and Lord of Two Seas. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-85773-022-0. Nothing is known of Hüma Hatun's origins, other than the testimony of contemporary sources that she was a slave girl, which means that she would not have been Turkish, for by law Muslims could not be enslaved.
[5]
Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2007). Famous Ottoman Women. Avea. p. 49. ISBN 978-975-7104-77-3. The fact that Hüma's origins cannot be traced is a proof in itself that she was definitely not of Turkish origin but was a slave.
[6]
Franz Babinger (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-691-01078-6.
[7]
Danişmend, İ. H. "Tarihi Hakikatler". Google Books.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
[8]
Franz Babinger (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-0-691-01078-6.
[9]
Itzkowitz, Norman (1994). Turks and Greeks: Neighbours in Conflict. Eothen Press. p. 39. ISBN 9780906719251.
[10]
Lowry, Heath W. (2003). The nature of the early Ottoman state. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 153. ISBN 1-4175-2407-3. OCLC 55896257.
[11]
Nazire Karaçay Türkal, Silahdar Fındıklılı Mehmed Ağa Zeyl-i Fezleke (Unpublished PhD dissertation, Marmara Üniversitesi, 2012), p. 1191.
[12]
"Hüma Hatun Biografi". somuncubaba.net. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
[13]
Ahmed Akgündüz; Said Öztürk (2011). Ottoman History: Misperceptions and Truths. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-9-090-26108-9.

Life

Death

Issue

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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