THE KHAN'S WIFE

INTRODUCTION

Happiness, smile, joy. These are all things that everyone associated with that day, December 19, 1601, when the youngest child of the then Sultan Mahmud was born in the Imperial Dynasty. His beloved Hibetullah gave birth to a baby girl, the only female member of the dynasty from birth. Although he was already the father of six sons, Sultan Mahmud could not hide his happiness when he learned that he had become the father of a girl. Maybe because he always wished to have a daughter, and maybe because he knew that she was the only one who would truly love him because she would never aim for his throne. On that winter day, he named his daughter Neslihan.

Sultan Mahmud was only 25 years old at the time, and had only recently come to power, after the death of his father Ibrahim. Mahmud's mother died early, so Mahmud, in order to replace his attention, always had concubines by his side who surrounded him with love.

The first of them was a woman from Circassia, whom he called Ismihan. She was his first love, and when he saw her he never wanted to have another woman besides her. Ismihan gave birth to his first child, son Suleiman. At that time he was still a prince, and by law he was not allowed to have children yet, but his father went over all the rules and allowed Mahmud to have his own harem, which quickly met the wrath of Mahmud's younger brother Korkut. In order to calm the tensions that were happening in the palace, Mahmud also allowed his brother Korkut to have children. He soon had a son, Orhan. At that time, the rule that the eldest prince inherited the throne was still valid, and Korkut knew that one day after the death of his brother Mahmud, he would inherit the throne. After him, the throne will be inherited by Mahmud's son Suleiman, and then by his son Orhan. Because that was the rule.

But let's return to the story of Mahmud's family. His love for Ismihan was great, and she quickly became pregnant again, but both she and her child died during childbirth, which devastated Mahmud.

In order to comfort him, his grandmother sent him the most beautiful Russian concubines, it was not known which one was more beautiful.

His next favorite was the Russian woman Efsun, who gave birth to his twins, Selim and Ahmed.

After Efsun, he sought happiness with Gulbeyaz, who gave birth to a son Kasim. Mahmud fell truly in love again, with Gulbeyaz. He favored her and exalted her above all his concubines, and she soon became pregnant again. But pregnancy complications occurred and Gulbeyaz died.

Again in grief, Mahmud sought happiness with Mihrunisa. She gave birth to twins, who were again a great happiness in the family, named Davut and Mustafa.

Very soon after the birth of the twins, Mahmud sat on the Ottoman throne. Then, as a gift for coming to power, he received several Venetian slave girls as a gift from the Venetian ambassadors. Although he didn't show much interest at first, he quickly fell in love with one, whom he later named Hibetullah. And it was Hibetullah who was the reason for his happiness, who gave birth to his only daughter, Neslihan.

But that happiness was quickly cut short. An epidemic appeared in the palace, which claimed victims very quickly. The first victims were the Sultan's wives. All his wives, except Hibetullah, died of the epidemic. The reason for this was that Mahmud sent Hibetullah to the Pearl Palace to live with the newborn.

When Mahmud thought the epidemic was over, the worst happened. All his sons, except Kasim and Davut, died. There was immense grief for the princes throughout the empire. Within a few weeks, the Sultan lost four sons, some of whom were not even five years old.

Then Mahmud decided that he would not have any more children. He could no longer bear the pain of losing his children. His children became like orphans, without a mother, so Hibetullah made sure that she would be like a mother to them and delay them.