Gülşah Hatun

Gülşah Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: کل شاہ خاتون, lit. 'Şah of roses', died c. 1487) was a concubine of Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire.^[1]

Gülşah Hatun
The sarcophagus of Gülşah Hatun is located in Muradiye Complex in Bursa.
Died	c. 1487 Bursa, Ottoman Empire
Burial	Muradiye Complex, Bursa
Consort of	Mehmed II
Issue	Şehzade Mustafa

Early years

Her origin is unknown, but the consorts of the Ottoman sultans were by custom normally concubines of Christian origin, who came to the Ottoman Imperial harem via the Ottoman slave trade, and converted to Islam and given a slave name after their arrival.^[2]

She entered in Mehmed's harem in 1449, when he was still a prince and the governor of Manisa. In 1450, just before Sultan Murad II's death and Mehmed's ascension,^[3][4] she gave birth to her only son, Şehzade Mustafa, who would become his father's favourite son.^[5][4] According to Ottoman tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors as a part of their training. Mustafa was sent to govern Konya and later Kayseri, and Gülşah accompanied him.^[6][7]

Mustafa's death

Mustafa died on 25 December 1474.^[8] It was rumored that Mustafa had made Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha's wife, Selçuk Hatun, his lover, and that Mahmud retaliated by poisoning Mustafa.^[9][4] There are speculations that Gülşah Hatun may have been a party to the illicit relations between the prince and Selçuk Hatun, wife of Mahmud Pasha. Selçuk Hatun was sister of Hatice Hatun, one of Mehmed II's consorts.^[10] Giovanni Maria Angiolello, a Venetian traveler, author of an important historical report on the Aq Qoyunlu and early Safavid Persia, who was in the service of Mustafa, and who with the rest of Mustafa's household accompanied the prince's cortege from his post his Kayseri to Bursa, where he was buried, denied any role for Mahmud Pasha in Mustafa's death;^[9][11][4] nevertheless, Mehmed II had the man executed shortly thereafter.^[12]

Gülşah Hatun had not been informed of her son's death, and when the wagon carrying his body stopped outside the palace, she and the women of her train began to wail. Babinger wrote that Mustafa's daughter, Nergiszade Ferahşad Hatun, shared her grandmother's grief, and the lamentations went on endlessly.^[8] Mehmed sent word that she should remain in Bursa with those maidens whom she required. Mehmed also had a good provision made for her, where she might live there honorably. He ordered that Mustafa's daughter and her mother and rest of the ladies, together with all others belonging to the court of his deceased son, should come to Istanbul. All the women were lodged in the palace where women of Mehmed's harem stayed, and after several days the maidens were married to courtiers.^[11] Nergiszade Ferahşad married her cousin Şehzade Abdullah, eldest son of Şehzade Bayezid (future Bayezid II) in 1480.^[13]

Last years and death

In 1479, Gülşah Hatun was granted the village of Sığırcalu in Dimetoka,^[14] its revenues were converted into mülk so that Gülşah could turn it into an endowment for the eventual upkeep of her tomb in Bursa.^[15] Gülşah Hatun died in 1487, and was buried in Bursa in the tomb she had built for herself near that of Mustafa.^[11][5][7] The tomb of Gülşah Hatun has an entrance with elegant jogged voussoirs, and marble cenotaphs inside, newly made from old pieces.^[16]

Issue

By Mehmed II, Gülşah had a son:

• Şehzade Mustafa (1450 - 25 December 1474, died in controversial circumstances following a sex scandal). Sanjakbey of Konya, he had at least a son and two daughters:
  • Şehzade Hali;
  • Hani Hatun;
  • Nergiszade Ferahşad Hatun, also called Nergisşah Ferahşah. In 1480 she married her cousin Şehzade Abdullah (son of Bayezid II) and had a son and two daughters:
    • Şehzade Fülan (1481-1489).
    • Aynışah Sultan (1482 - 1540), she married Ahmed Pasha. Buried in the Şirin Hatun's mausoleum, Bursa, with her mother.
    • Şahnisa Sultan (1484 - 1540), she married firstly her cousin Şehzade Mehmed Şah (died in 1512, son of Şehzade Şehinşah, son of Bayezid II); secondly Mirza Mehmed Pasha (died in 1517) and had a son, Sultanzade Şemsi Ahmed Pasha; eventually she married Nuri Bey.

Popular culture

• In the Turkish historical fiction series Mehmed: Fetihler Sultanı, Gülşah Hatun is portrayed by Turkish actress Sena Çakır. In the series, she is shown to be Karamanoğlu Ibrahim Bey's daughter.^[17]