Feminine rule
Women's rule ( Ottoman قادینلر سلطنتی kadınlar saltanatı ) describes a period of Ottoman history (the late 16th and the first half of the 17th century) when women, mostly the mothers of the sultans , the Valide Sultan , had a significant influence on the politics of the Ottoman Empire . The term was coined by the Turkish historian Ahmed Refik (1881-1937) and is mostly used to explain the internal and external decline of the Ottoman Empire since the 16th century.
The first politically powerful resident of the harem is Roxelane (approx. 1506–1558), Suleyman's favorite wife the Magnificent . She secured the dynastic succession of her son, the alcoholic Selim , with sometimes ruthless methods - she had about two of Selim's half-brothers killed and prevented him from being entrusted with the administration of a sanjak for training purposes . In order to make her son-in-law Rustem Pascha Grand Vizier, she arranged for the execution of the extremely successful Grand Vizier İbrahim Pascha in 1536 and for that of Kara Ahmed Pascha in 1555 .
Another prominent example is Kösem Mahpeyker (approx. 1589–1651), who, as the mother of Murad IV. And İbrahim and as the grandmother of Mehmed IV , led de facto Ottoman politics. Other powerful residents of the harem were Roxelane's daughter-in-law Nurbanu (1525–1583) and Safiye (1550–1618).
In particular , they exercised their influence in filling important political offices such as the Grand Vizier or the Agas of the Janissaries . Because the residents of the harem - legally without exception slaves whose training had prepared them purely for a servant existence - were in no way trained for political decisions, political or personal wrong decisions as well as nepotism became more and more frequent . When choosing their protégés, the women in the harem did not allow themselves to be guided by the principle of achievement or the interests of the empire, but rather by ethnic loyalty. Since the sultans preferred women from the Caucasus in the 16th century, the proportion of Caucasians among the dignitaries in high and highest offices of the Ottoman Empire increased disproportionately. Another symptom is the frequent change of grand viziers , whose time in office in the first half of the seventeenth century averaged little more than a year. Discontinuities and sometimes chaotic conditions in the administration of the empire were the result. On the other hand, the power of the leading women of the harem made it possible for the state constitution of the empire to continue to exist, which was based solely on the patrilineal consanguinity of the sultans. The personal shortcomings and incompetence of weak or incompetent sultans like Mustafa I , Murad IV or İbrahim the Crazy could be partially compensated for by their strong wives or mothers. Because the monopoly of the sultan's power waned with the rule of women, his arbitrary acts were now replaced by more cooperative and bureaucratic forms of rule .
The harem's influence on politics and staffing of dignitaries of the Ottoman Empire was ended after 1656 by the Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pascha .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Josef Matuz: The Ottoman Empire. Baseline of its history. 5th edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2008, pp. 136 and 169ff.
- ^ Daniel Goffman: The Ottoman empire and early modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2004, pp. 63f.
literature
- İlhan Akşit: The Mystery of the Ottoman Harem. Akşit Kültür Turizm Yayınları, ISBN 975-7039-26-8
- Elçin Kürsat: Harem women and rule in the Ottoman Empire in its heyday. In: politik lesson current. Issue 1–2 / 2001, pp. 49–53 ( online ).
- Josef Matuz : The Ottoman Empire. Baseline of its history. 5th edition. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-534-20020-7 .
- Leslie P. Peirce: The Imperial Harem. Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 978-0-19-508677-5 .