Mahfiruz Hatun

Hatice Mahfiruz Hatun^[1] or Mahfiruze Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: ماه فروز خاتون, "glorious moon" or "daytime moon" or "turquoise moon"; c. 1590 – disputed) was a concubine of Ottoman sultan Ahmed I and mother of his firstborn son, Osman II.

Mahfiruz Hatun
Born	c. 1590 Circassia
Died	Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Burial	Eyüp Cemetery, Istanbul, Turkey
Consort of	Ahmed I
Issue	Osman II Şehzade Bayezid Şehzade Hüseyn Şehzade Süleyman (?)
Names Turkish: Hatice Mahfiruz Hatun Ottoman Turkish: ماہ فروز خاتون
Religion	Sunni Islam

Biography

Due to the preeminence of Kösem Sultan during Ahmed I's reign, there are not many records about her life, but she may have been of Circassian origin.^{[citation needed]} According to academic historiography, the only things definitively known about her is that her name was probably Mahfiruz and that she died in 1610, if not earlier.^[2] Her name was first recorded by Naima who wrote his history several decades after her life.^[3] While in the past it was thought she could be Greek, this hypothesis has been debunked when it was proven that it was based on an 18th century novel.^[4][5][6] She was Ahmed I's first concubine, and on 3 November 1604 she gave birth to his firstborn, the future Osman II, making Ahmed I the youngest Ottoman sultan to have fathered a child.^[7]

Despite this, she was not given the title of haseki sultan, which instead was given to Kösem, the most beloved concubine of Ahmed and mother of the majority of his children, which deprived Mahfiruz of all power. However, she received the title of baş hatun (mother of the sultan's eldest living son).

She disappears from the harem records shortly after Osman's birth. While it was initially believed that she was disgraced and exiled, it is now believed that she died between 1608 and 1613, and therefore was never valide sultan.^[7]

Indeed, records indicate that during Osman's reign she was not in any of the imperial palaces, and that the duties and allowance of the valide sultan were instead attributed to Osman's wet nurse.^[7][8]

Mahfiruz was buried in Eyüp Cemetery;^[9] the chronogram on her mausoleum suggests it was built by Osman in 1618.

• 
  Ahmed I
• 
  Osman II

Issue

Mahfiruz and Ahmed I had at least four sons:^{[10][11][12][13]}

• Osman II (3 November 1604 – 20 May 1622; buried in the Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque).^[14][15] His father's firstborn and 16th sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He was killed during a janissary revolt, becoming the first Ottoman sultan to be executed.
• Şehzade Bayezid (November 1612 – 27 July 1635), executed upon the order of his elder half-brother Murad IV in 1635^[12][13]
• Şehzade Süleyman (c. 1613/1615 – 27 July 1635), executed upon the order of his elder half-brother Murad IV in 1635^[12][13]
• Şehzade Hüseyin (14 November 1614 – 1617; buried in the Mehmed III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia)^[12][13]

In popular culture

• In the 2015 Turkish TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, Mahfiruz is split into two different characters: Mahfiruz, played by Ceyda Olguner, who is expelled from the harem after clashing with Kösem; and Raşah Mahfiruze, played by Dilara Aksüyek, mother of Osman II.^[8]

See also

• List of mothers of the Ottoman sultans
• List of Ottoman imperial consorts

Annotations

1. ^
   Her name is also spelt Mahfiruz and Mâh-ı Feyrûz.^[16]
2. ^
   There was an earlier theory of her being Greek named Eudoxia,^[17] but this has been refuted, as it was based on an imaginative 18th-century French novel.^[5][18]