Mahfiruz Hatun

Origins

Her first given name can be written either as Mahfiruz, Mâhfirûz, Mâhirûze, Mâhfirûze, Mâh-Firûze, Mâh-i Feyrûz. She had a second given name too, Hatice (written also as Hadice).^[2] Her name was first recorded by historian Mustafa Naima who wrote his history of the Ottoman Empiree several decades after her life,^[3] and quoted Mahfiruz as a "noble and august" lady.^[4]

Her origins are described as unknown,^[5][6] While in the past she was often described as Greek, this hypothesis has been disproven as eventually based on an 18th century novel.^[7][3][8]

Early life in the harem

Mahfiruz became Ahmed I's first and principal concubine^[9] - before being elevated to the title of Haseki Sultan - and on 3 November 1604 she gave birth to his firstborn son, the future Osman II, making Ahmed I the youngest Ottoman sultan to have fathered a child.^[10] According to Ahmet Refik Altınay^[11], 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;^{[12][13][14][15]} foreign ambassadors report a daughter who reached adulthood and got married,^{[16][non-primary source needed]} identified as Gevherhan Sultan^[17] and born between 1605 and 1608. These children may contradict the theory of a premature death.

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^[18][19]

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".^{[20][page needed][21]}

For Peirce

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.^[22] But as per ibrahim pecevi she was alive and died 1620.

Baki Tezcan

According to historian Baki Tezcan, Mahfiruz died in 1610, if not earlier, his theory is supported by contemporary ambassadorial reports throughout Ahmed I’s reign, extending up to the accession of Osman II in 1618, such as George Sandys who most probably reported in 1610, that the mother of firstborn prince (Osman) had died, approximately two years later Venetian bailo, Simon Contarini writes that Osman went on the carriage rides with the "queen" (Kösem Sultan), furthermore Pietro Della Valle states that the mother of firsborn prince (Osman) had already died, Cristoforo Valier between 1612 and 1615 states that Ahmed had two sons, two from dead sultana and two from sultana who was alive, 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, Achille de Harlay, baron de Sancy, the French ambassador to Constantinople, identifies Osman II in his letter to Louis XIII, the King of France, as "not the son of the living sultana, but the eldest named Osman, orphaned of his mother for ten years", dated on February 26, 1618, the day of Osman's enthronement.^[5] He argues that the document (dated 28 october 1620) cited by Uluçay as evidence for the year of her death does not in fact suggest that she died this same year.^[23] 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".^[24]