Hürrem Sultan - biography of the Slavic wife of a Muslim ruler

Hürrem Sultan, whose biography is known to many people in Europe and even more popular in the Slavic world, was born in Western Ukraine. This happened in a small settlement Rogatin in the very beginning of the XVI century. The discerning reader probably already guessed that the article will deal with the famous Roksolana. Exactly! Life of Hurrem Sultan - biography of Roksolana. As it was known in the East and the West, respectively.

Khurem Sultan. Biography: the story of a slave

Up to now, there has been quite a few testimonies about the early period of this woman's life. According to the records of available sources, which somehow illuminate this issue, it is known that the future wife of the Sultan was born in the family of an Orthodox priest. Actually, this is practically all that is known about her childhood. It is interesting that different sources do not even agree on what its real name was, calling it Alexandra or Anastasia. The future Hürrem Sultan, whose biography, as we already see, is full of dark spots, was abducted during one of the regular Tatar raids. Soon she was presented as a concubine to the Turkish prince Suleiman, who was then the sultan's governor in Manisa. Obviously, this happened a couple of years before the accession of Suleiman, which happened in 1520.

Khurem Sultan. Biography: the monarch's wife

Quickly concubine freshly baptized sultan was able to become a beloved wife, and in 1521 she gave birth to his son, Mehmet. Slavyanka achieved significant success in her own education, in fact becoming, as the sources say, the main adviser to Suleiman in state affairs. Roksolana's favoritism has caused jealousy on the part of another Sultan's wife, Mahidevran, and their brutal rivalry over the years. Repeatedly written sources mention literally the fights between these women, with scratched faces and ripped dresses. At the same time, not only jealousy was the cause of cruel intrigues in the palace. The ambition of the Slavs also played a significant role here. The fact is that her son, Shekhzadeh Mehmet (and especially the second son - Selim), was not the first-born of the Sultan and did not have a formal right to inheritance. The son of the same Mahidevan, Mustafa, born in 1515, was considered the eldest son and future sultan.

Roksolana, a woman raised in milder Slavic conditions, was less submissive and more intelligent and educated than her rival, which ultimately allowed her to have her son become the heir to the imperial throne. Long-standing enmity and mutual slander led to the fact that Mustafa became governor of the Sultan in Manisa, where his mother Mahidevran went with him. In fact, this meant the reference of one of the Sultan's wives. A few years later, rumors began to spread in the empire that Mustafa was preparing a military coup against his father. Accused of the plot, he was executed in 1553. This finally opened the way to power one of the Slavic children. Mehmet never became a sultan, he died as far back as 1543, but the next ruler was Selim.

Khurem Sultan. Biography: the cause of death

For more than forty years Roksolana was the wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She managed to gain the glory of the most wise and educated woman in the Muslim world, as well as the dangerous and cruel wife of the ruler. The last years of her life she spent in the palace, died a natural death in the spring of 1558 (some sources say about 1662).