Rabia Sultan

Rabia Sultan
Sarcophagus of Rabia Sultan, Suleimaniye Mosque
Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
(Imperial Consort)
Tenure11 November 1692 – 6 February 1695
PredecessorEmetullah Rabia Gülnuş Sultan
Successortitle abolished
Died14 January 1712
Old Palace, Beyazıt Square, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Burial
Suleiman the Magnificent Mausoleum, Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul
Consort ofAhmed II
Issue
  • Şehzade Ibrahim
  • Şehzade Selim
  • Asiye Sultan
Names
Turkish: Rabia Sultan
Ottoman Turkish: رابعہ سلطان
HouseHouse of Osman
ReligionSunni Islam (converted)

Rabia Sultan (Turkish pronunciation: [ɾabiˀa suɫtʰan]; Ottoman Turkish: رابعه سلطان, "spring"; died 14 January 1712) was the Haseki Sultan of Sultan Ahmed II of the Ottoman Empire. She was the last woman to have the Haseki title. [1]

As imperial consort

Her origin is unknown, but the consorts of the Ottoman sultans were by custom normally concubines who came to the Ottoman imperial harem via the Ottoman slave trade.[2]

Since Muazzez Sultan, the mother of Sultan Ahmed, had died in 1687[3] before his accession to the throne in 1691, when Rabia became Ahmed's favorite she assumed the position of the highest-ranking female member of the royal family,[4] with the title of "Senior Consort".[5]

On 6 October 1692, she gave birth to twin sons, Şehzade Ibrahim and Şehzade Selim, in the Edirne Palace.[6][7] Following their birth, Ahmed presented her the mansion of Bayburtlu Kara Ibrahim Pasha located in Kuzguncuk.[1] Şehzade Selim died in May 1693.[8]

On 11 November 1692, she was given the title of "Haseki Sultan". Rabia was the last woman in history to have this title: after Ahmed II's death, the main consorts of subsequent sultans were titled Kadın, a nonexclusive and less prestigious title.[9] Kara Mustafa Pasha, who had been executed in 1683, had left a large amount of assets that had been placed in the imperial treasury. In December 1692, diamond froggings from these assets ended up on Rabia's fur coat. She also received a diamond crown from the same assets.[10]

In January 1694, Rabia attended the wedding of Ümmügülsüm Sultan, daughter of Mehmed IV, and Silahdar Çerkes Osman Pasha.[11] On 23 October 1694, she gave birth to her third child and only daughter, Asiye Sultan.[12] Following her birth, Ahmed granted her lands in Aleppo.[12][13]

Gevherhan Sultan, daughter of Sultan Ibrahim, and Rabia's sister-in-law, is understood to have been in great debt, according to Topkapı Palace archives dating 28 November 1694, a substantial amount of which was owed to Rabia.[14]

Some of the debts mentioned were covered by the allocation of Gevherhan's grants from her hass, that is revenue-producing estates to Asiye Sultan, the infant daughter of Ahmed and Rabia,[15][16] as shown in archives dating 1 December 1694.[14]

Widowhood and death

Rabia was widowed following Ahmed's death in February 1695. On 7 March, her son Şehzade Ibrahim, was put in the care of Valide Sultan Gülnuş, whereas she and her daughter Asiye were sent to the Old Palace in Istanbul,[17] where Asiye died in December 1695.[12][18]

Rabia Sultan died on 14 January 1712 in the Old Palace, and was buried beside Ahmed II in the mausoleum of Suleiman the Magnificent, Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul.[12][19][20]

Her son, Şehzade Ibrahim, who became heir apparent in 1703, after Sultan Ahmed III's accession to the throne, outlived her by two years, dying in 1714.[21]

Issue

Sarcophagus of Asiye Sultan, Rabia and Ahmed II's daughter

Together with Ahmed, Rabia had three children, two twins sons and a daughter:

  • Şehzade Ibrahim (Edirne Palace, Edirne, 6 October 1692 – Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, 4 May 1714, buried in Mustafa I Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia), twin of Selim, became Crown Prince on 22 August 1703;
  • Şehzade Selim (Edirne Palace, Edirne, 6 October 1692 – Edirne Palace, Edirne, 15 May 1693, buried in Sultan Mustafa Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia), twin of Ibrahim;
  • Asiye Sultan (Edirne Palace, Edirne, 24 August 1694 – Old Palace, Costantinople, 9 December 1695, buried with her parents in Suleiman I Mausoleum, Süleymaniye Mosque);[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Uluçay 2011, p. 114.
  2. ^ Peirce, Leslie (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508677-5.
  3. ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 97.
  4. ^ Earthly Delights. BRILL. June 14, 2018. p. 60. ISBN 978-9-004-36754-8.
  5. ^ Publications de la Société d'histoire turque: VIII. sér. Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevı. 1945. p. 152.
  6. ^ Agha 2012, p. 1466.
  7. ^ Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 390.
  8. ^ Agha 2012, p. 1483.
  9. ^ Agha 2012, p. 1470.
  10. ^ Akçetin, Elif; Faroqhi, Suraiya (October 20, 2017). Living the Good Life: Consumption in the Qing and Ottoman Empires of the Eighteenth Century. BRILL. pp. 410–411. ISBN 978-9-004-35345-9.
  11. ^ Agha 2012, p. 1527-28.
  12. ^ a b c d e Uluçay 2011, p. 115.
  13. ^ Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 391.
  14. ^ a b Osmanlıoğlu 2018, p. 55.
  15. ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 103.
  16. ^ Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 260.
  17. ^ Majer, Hans Georg (1992). Osmanlı Araştırmaları XII (The Journal of Ottoman Studies XII): The harem of Mustafa II (1695-1703). p. 432.
  18. ^ Agha 2001, p. 114.
  19. ^ Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 390-1.
  20. ^ Agha 2001, p. 763.
  21. ^ Oztüna, Yılmaz (1990). Büyük Türk mûsikîsi ansiklopedisi, Volume 1. Kültür Bakanlığı. p. 30. ISBN 978-9-751-70666-9.

Sources

Ottoman royalty
Preceded by Haseki Sultan
11 November 1692 – 6 February 1695 		None