Mihrimah Sultan (daughter of Murad III)

Mihrimah Sultan
Bornc. 1578/1579[1]
Topkapi Palace, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
DiedConstantinople, Ottoman Empire
Burial
Spouse
Elvendzade Ali Pasha
(m. 1594; died 1599)
Mirahur Ahmed Pasha
(m. 1600; died 1618)
Çerkes Mehmed Pasha
(m. 1618; died 1625)
DynastyOttoman
FatherMurad III
MotherSafiye Sultan
(disputed)
ReligionSunni Islam

Mihrimah Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: مهرماه سلطان; born c. 1578/1579) was an Ottoman princess. She was the daughter of Sultan Murad III (who ruled from 1574 to 1595), and possibly of Safiye Sultan. She was also the sister of Sultan Mehmed III (who ruled from 1595 to 1603).

Birth

In the Ottoman Register from 1595 (the year her father died), Mihrimah was listed as one of his eldest daughters.[2] That means she was probably born around 1578 or 1579. She might have been named after Mihrimah Sultan (daughter of Suleiman I), who died shortly before that time. If Safiye Sultan was her mother, she had at least: 3 full brothers – Mehmed III, Şehzade Selim, Şehzade Mahmud and 3 full sisters – Hümaşah Sultan, Ayşe Sultan, Fatma Sultan[3]

Marriages

Mihrimah Sultan married three times. In 1594, she married Elvendzade Ali Pasha, governor of Baghdad. He died in battle in 1599. In 1600, she married Mirahur Ahmed Pasha. After their marriage, Sultan Mehmed III made him the governor of Mosul.[4] During the reign of Sultan Ahmed I, he also served as governor of Rumelia until 1614, and later became governor of Damascus.[5][6]

After Ahmed Pasha died in 1618, Mihrimah married Çerkes Mehmed Ali Pasha.[7] He became governor of Damascus in the same year, which suggests they married in 1618.

In 1621, they came to Istanbul when he became the fourth vizier. Later, during the rule of Murad IV, he was promoted to Grand Vizier in 1624. He died in Tokat on January 28, 1625.

It is not known if Mihrimah had any children.

Death

Mihrimah Sultan’s later life is not well documented. It is not clear if she married again after 1625.[8] She likely died during the reign of Sultan Murad IV and was buried in the Mausoleum of her father Murad III in the courtyard of the Hagia Sophia.

References

  1. Sakaoğlu 2015, p. 289.
  2. Sakaoğlu 2015, p. 218.
  3. Süreyya, Volume 1 1996, p. 26.
  4. Uçtum, Nejat R. Hürrem ve Mihrümah Sultanların Polonya Kralı II. Zigsmund'a Yazdıkları Mektuplar. p. 707.
  5. Mustafa Naima Efendi (1968). Naîmâ Târihi - Cilt 2. Zuhuri Danişman Yayinevi. p. 650.
  6. Uçtum, Nejat R. (October 20, 1980). "Hürrem ve Mihrümah Sultanların Polonya Kıralı II. Zigsmund'a Yazdıkları Mektuplar". Belleten. 44 (176). Türk Tarih Kurumu: 697–716. doi:10.37879/belleten.1980.697. ISSN 0041-4255.
  7. Tezcan, Baki (2001). Searching For Osman: A Reassessment Of The Deposition Of Ottoman Sultan Osman II (1618–1622). pp. 328 n. 18.
  8. Mandel, 1992, p. 214.

Bibliography

  • Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2015). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler (in Turkish). Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
  • Süreyya Mehmed Bey (1996). Nuri Akbayar (ed.). Sicill-i Osmani. Vol. 1. Istanbul: Tarih Vakfi Yurt Yayınlar. p. 469.