𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲- [Magnificent Century]

CHAPTER 1



MERA SULTAN barely remembered her family, she was kidnapped by Tatars when she was around thirteen years old, and taken over to the slave market, she was sold to the Topkapi palace and chosen to serve as a concubine instead of a servant because of her beauty, then she w sent to Manisa's palace, where she had met the only remaining son of the sultan, shehzade Suleiman.

She hadn't wanted to shed any light on herself, preferring to remain an unknown concubine, praying that she'd be freed someday and go home. With time, she realised that there was seldom a way out, if not by marrying some jannissary who shared her same faith when he was younger, Mera could have married one, got out of her cage and widowed herself to be able to seek whatever remains from her family far away, yet she hadn't stayed as a naive girl for long, she learnt that the harem was a place full of intrigues and betrayals, and of course, ambition and power hunger came in the way.

Suleiman was a dutiful prince with an artist's eye when it came to poesy and jewellery, but loyalty was not one of his traits, especially not when it came to his lovers' bed. Mera knew that life as a royal consort, and possibly Valide should be better than any life she could hope for outside the harem walls, her family were likely dead, they would not have escaped the barbaroosa pirate and his crew and her sibling were young children, who would serve them no use. Mera could remember that she was from a Jewish family, her parents always thought her about their traditions and beliefs, her mother more so than her father who was a jeweller, and the David star was the only thing Mera had left of the home she was forced to leave behind, and the only peace of jewellery she was allowed to keep, even now that she converted to Islam, which was a very comparative religion to Judaism, with a similar diet and prayers, she could not make herself part with the star, after all, she would always remain a Jewish woman, and so are her kids.

Mahidevran Sultan the mother of the oldest prince of Suleiman, and her only child was a beautiful woman, and Mera herself envied her beauty sometimes, not that she was lacking, but what drove Suleiman away was her possessiveness of him and her jealousy. The relationship between Mera and Mahidevran wasn't a good one to say the least, and they've always fought, although Mera was always apprehensive to get caught, she had tried her best not to let their feud be inherited by their children, but Alas, shehzade Mustafa was a miniature walking around of his mother, he disliked his brothers Osman and Murad the most, and barely tolerated his sister Mihrisah when the valide sultan or their father wasn't around.

Mera had worked hard to achieve what she had done, she had seduced the prince and went to his bed, sired two princes and a sultana by him, making her the most important consort after Hafsah Sultan herself, but likely not for long, as sultan selim was a sickly old man lately. She had secured allies in the palace, Daye hatun who
was the harem treasurer and the valide's closest ally was her friend more than Mahidevran, the valide herself was neutral when it came to her son's favourites, but likely not for long, she had always preferred Mahidevran, as she was Crimean, like the sultana herself, Mera came from a Mediterranean village not the north of the black sea.

Suleiman's falconer, Pargali Ibrahim as he was currently known, was her closest ally out of the men who had her lover's ear, he was her friend, and they often discussed in Italian, the man's native language, he was a catholic by birth, and Mera came from a mixed village where both Catholics and orthodox resided in peace, the Jewish were, of course, a silent community, unlike here, where the jews were most known for their jewellery and their banking services, Hafsa sultan takes debt from a Jewish woman, who gave Mera her first Torah, a book that she and her loyal maids hid secretly and opened when she was alone in her chambers with no one for company besides God's guidance. The sultan knew it o be a dangerous prospect, but even if she got caught, she was sure Suleiman would do nothing to the mother of his three children, mahidevran did worse and is still walking around, and Mera was a practising faithful Muslim woman, and ib the Islamic faith, there is nothing wrong with reading other holy books.

Mera herself traded with Jewish merchants for clothes and jewels, not only they had good quality and prices, but they were also her family, the children of Israel, her brothers and sisters, the family she had lost, and often helped them to have jobs and income, once when she was pregnant with Murad, she had taken the opportunity of Suleiman's happiness to make a Jewish man the royal cook, he was a Turkish man by birth, and the brother of the silk trader woman she worked with, and the royal family enjoyed his meals, and he took special care to give Mera sultan Kosher meals, as he was told that the sultana often avoided any meat, and Mera had to make sure that he would join the family in Topkapi palace when Suleiman ascends the throne.

Hatice Sultan and Beyhan Sultan were the only sisters of Suleiman that she had met, and she liked both of them, hatice had just been widowed from her old husband, and she was living in the harem for months now, though her mother was thinking of a new husband for her she would probably announce it when Selim the Grim died or got better, must be why the sultana had joined her mother.

Gulfem hatun was the first favourite of Suleiman and she even gave birth to a son Mahmud, who unfortunately died young, presumably by sickness, though Mera was suspicious to Mahidevran's hands in the matter, after all, she had tried to poison Mera and her kids plenty of times, now she was just walking around the harem and following hatice sultan, who was her friend, Mera was cordial with her but overall close.

Her maids Emine and Fulane, who are her closest friends and spies, entered the room, Fulane took care of the kids who were playing in the adjacent room while Emine came to her side with a letter in hand. "My sultana, the sultan still hasn't come back from his hunt." she announced with a bow, seeing the sultan sigh with worry at the late hour, she continued."This letter came from the capital."

Mera took the letter and opened it, it was sealed by the ottoman one, and once she read the colour started draining from her face. The sultana knew change was near, she knew this day would come, and she was looking forward to it, but she was still worried, Topkapi palace was no Manisa, and being the consort of a shehzade was not the same as being the consort of a sultan, the head of an empire.

"Emine, sultan selim is dead long live sultan Suleiman, announce it to the harem and make sure Mahidevran hears of it, we will be leaving for Istanbul tomorrow." She said solemnly, the maid bowed and left and the sultan wet over to her young children to announce their grandfather's death

If you guys haven't watched nuhtesem yuzyil, then I highly recommend it. It's one of the best turkish shows I watched and it's a few of the historical ones that I liked.

Plus it shows how strong women can be even in such difficult positions.

So as feminists, you will love the rise of power hurrem does! There aren't much finished stories on them on wattpad, so I wanted to make my own, so don't blame me.

This was a sort of an introduction to this book and a backstory chapter to our main character Mera Sultan, I want to say that I am not a Slavic woman nor am I a Christian, so I tried not to be precise about where she came from exactly, and since there are so little representations of Jewish women out here, I had to make one! while I'm not a practising Jewish woman, I am ethnically one from my mother's side, which makes me a Maghrebi jew, I don't have much knowledge of Ashkenazi traditions, so if you're one reading this, please tell me any info you'd like me to add on this book!

Next chapter Mera will be at Topkapi peace, where the rest of the story takes place and where the game of thrones begins, yes of course a certain Alexandra will be joining us!

Do you guys like this chapter? How is the story going for you?