Mahfiruz Hatun

Her origins are unknown,^[3][4] although she has been described as being Greek, and that she taught Osman Greek. This hypothesis was eventually disproven by Turkish historian Baki Tezcan as based on the novel: Histoire d'Osman premier du nom, XIXe empereur des turcs, et de l'impératrice Aphendina Ashada by Madeleine-Angélique de Gomez published in 1743.^[5][6][7]

Early life in the harem

Mahfiruz was presented by Servazad Hatun to Handan Sultan, mother of Sultan Ahmed I, who personally chose her for her son.^[10]

On 3 November 1604 Mahfiruz gave birth to his firstborn son, the future Osman II, making Ahmed I the youngest Ottoman sultan to have fathered a child.^[13] According to Ahmet Refik Altınay^[14], in the following years, she bore the Sultan other children, including Şehzade Bayezid in 1612, Şehzade Hüseyn in 1613, Şehzade Süleyman in 1615, an information reproduced by several authors;^{[15][16][17][18]} foreign ambassadors report a daughter who reached adulthood and got married,^{[19][non-primary source needed]} identified as Gevherhan Sultan^[20] and born between 1605 and 1608. These children may contradict the theory of a premature death.

As Valide Sultan (?)

As Osman ascended the throne in February 1618, she was taken from the Old Palace to Topkapı Palace again.^[27]

Regarding Osman's accession, she attended and partecipated in the February 1618 crowning procession. This can be seen, as the Austrian Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Hans Mollard von Reinek - invited to attend the ceremony with his entourage composed also of a painter - wanted the moment to be depicted in a portrait; this painting, titled "The rise of the young Osman" was later auctioned at Sotheby's and sold to the Turkish Ministry of Culture in 2016 and since then exposed at Topkapı Palace.^[28][29][30]

During her alleged tenure as Valide Sultan, she and Kösem Sultan were not on bad terms, according to historian Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall,^[31][32] and this can be seen as Sultan Osman visited the Old Palace in April 1619 where he stayed for some days, on the occasion of celebrations held for him by Kösem;^[33][34] Kösem wanted probably to have a good relationship with Mahfiruze at the time.^[35][36] Mahfiruz is largely remembered in Eyüp because of her charity work which is reported by the city itself during anniversaries or events: she had a cüzhane (Quran reading room) built in Eyüp Cemetery^[37][38][39] between 1618 and 1622,^{[40][full citation needed]} completed in the same year as recorded from one of Eyüp cemetery's guides. She ordered Quran to be read every day; she also staffed her Cüzhane and provided equipment for the same.^[41] She is remembered as a fervent muslim woman.^[42]

Her other contributions to the city of Eyüp are widely reported: she provided Quran copies to her cüzhane, and also rendered religious services at the tomb of Sultan Ahmed I. A devotee of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, because of her charitable works she got nicknamed as "Sâhibe-i Hayrât".^{[43][page needed][44]} She had a bond with Eyüp and as often as she could and had the opportunity, she visited it.^[45]

The Turkish historian Baki Tezcan says that Mahfiruz died in 1610, if not earlier. His theory is supported by contemporary ambassadorial accounts throughout Ahmed I's reign, extending up to the accession of Osman II in 1618, such as the English ambassador George Sandys, who reported in 1610, or around this time: "this also hath married his concubine, the mother of his yonger sonne, (she being dead by whom he had the eldest) who with all the practices of a politicke stepdame endevours to settle the succession on her owne...”; the Venetian ambassador Cristoforo Valier reported between 1612 and 1615 (when he died) that Ahmed had four sons: "two from the sultana who died and two from the one alive"; the Italian author Pietro della Valle also said that Osman's mother had died when he wrote about Osman II's accession to the throne: "Osman, Sultan Ahmed's firstborn son, but not son of the living sultana Kösem". That Mahfiruz is dead is also stated in a relation on the life and death of Nasuh Pasha, written sometime after Nasuh’s execution in 1614 and sent by the French ambassador Achille de Harlay on March 5, 1616, he also reported in his letter to Louis XIII: "not the son of the living sultana but the eldest named Osman, who has been motherless for ten years"; the letter is dated on 26 February 1618, the day of Osman's enthronement.^[46] Tezcan argues that the document (dated 28 October 1620) cited by Uluçay as evidence for the year of Mahfiruz's death does not in fact suggest that she died that year.^[47] Günhan Börekçi quoted Tezcan's theory in his "A Queen-Mother at Work: On Handan Sultan and Her Regency During the Early Reign of Ahmed I".^[48]

According to historian Leslie P. Peirce, Mahfiruz did not became Valide Sultan and instead died in exile in 1620, as evidenced by the absence of a Valide Sultan in the Privy purse during Osman's reign and the high stipend of the Daye Hatun (wet nurse of the sultan) from middle 1620 onwards, an indication that she served as de facto Valide Sultan.^[49] But as per ibrahim pecevi she was alive and died 1620.

When she died, Mahfiruz was buried in Eyüp Cemetery,^[49] an unusual place for a former consort of a sultan. According to some authors she decided to be buried there on her own wishes,^[61] while others consider this as a sign of disfavor.^[49] The chronogram on her mausoleum suggests it was built by Osman in 1618.^[62]

Mahfiruz had at least three or four sons:^{[63][64][17][18]}

• Osman II^[65][53] (3 November 1604, Constantinople, Topkapı Palace – 20 May 1622, Constantinople; buried in the Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque)^[66][53] — his father's firstborn and the 16th sultan of the Ottoman Empire; he was killed during a janissary revolt, becoming the first Ottoman sultan to be executed.
• Şehzade Bayezid (November 1612 – 27 July 1635), executed upon the order of his elder half-brother Murad IV in 1635^[17][18]
• Şehzade Hüseyin (14 November 1614 – 1617; buried in the Mehmed III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia)^[17][18]

She was also probably, but not certainly, the mother of:

• Gevherhan Sultan^[67] (c. 1605/06 or late 1608, Constantinople – 18 April 1631,^[68] Constantinople; buried in the Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque).
• Şehzade Süleyman (c. 1613/1615 – 27 July 1635), executed upon the order of his elder half-brother Murad IV in 1635^[17][18]

• Mahfiruz is one of the characters in the 1743 historical novel "Histoire d'Osman premier du nom, XIXe empereur des turcs, et de l'impératrice Aphendina Ashada" by French authoress Madeleine-Angélique de Gomez.
• Mahfiruz is one of the characters in the 2001 historical novel "La sultana: Giacometta Beccarino da Manfredonia" [The sultana: Giacometta Beccarino from Manfredonia] by Italian essayist Vito Salierno.
• In the 2010 film Mahpeyker: Kösem Sultan, Mahfiruz is played by Turkish actress Öykü Çelik.
• In the 2015 Turkish TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, (Raşah) Mahfiruz is played by Turkish actress Dilara Aksüyek, mother of Osman II.^[69]

• List of mothers of the Ottoman sultans
• List of Ottoman imperial consorts