Turhan Sultan

Turhan Hatice Sultan (, "merciful" or "noble"; 1627 – 4 August 1683) was the first Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim (reign 1640–48) and Valide sultan as the mother of Mehmed IV (reign 1648–87). Turhan was prominent for the regency of her young son and her building patronage. She and Kösem Sultan are the only two women in Ottoman history to be regarded as official regents and had supreme control over the Ottoman Empire. As a result, Turhan became one of the prominent figures during the era known as Sultanate of Women. As imperial consort Of Rus' origin, Turhan Hatice Sultan was born around 1627 and her original name was Nadya or Nadiya. She was captured in one of the raids of the Tatars and sold into slavery. She was sent to the Imperial Harem at the Topkapı Palace from the Khan of Crimea. She was presented to the palace, as a gift of Kör Süleyman Pasha to Kösem Sultan. She was trained by Atike Sultan, daughter of Sultan Ahmed I, and groomed by Kösem, who presented her to her son, Ibrahim. She had one brother, Yunus Agha (died 1689), living in Istanbul. According to Sakaoğlu, she was tall, delicate, had blue eyes and was white skinned. Turhan gave birth to one child, Şehzade Mehmed (future Sultan Mehmed IV) born on 2 January 1642. Mehmed's birth caused great rejoicing both within and outside the palace. Although she bore the sultan his first son, she was largely ignored by him. Her daily stipend as the haseki consisted of 1000 aspers. At one point, Ibrahim took a great liking to the infant son of a slave woman, to the extent of preferring the unrelated child to his son Mehmed. Turhan grew extremely jealous and vented her anger to Ibrahim, who flew into a rage and grabbed Mehmed from Turhan's arms and threw him into a pool. Mehmed would have drowned if a servant had not rescued him. He was left with a permanent scar on his forehead.