Reftarıdil Kadın

In this Ottoman Turkish style name, the given name is Reftarıdil, the title is Kadın, and there is no family name.

Reftarıdil Kadın
Born	c. 1838 Circassia, North Caucasus, Russian Empire
Died	3 March 1936(1936-03-03) (aged 97–98) Ortaköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Spouse	Murad V ​ ​ (m. 1859; died 1904)​
Issue	Şehzade Mehmed Selaheddin
Names Turkish: Reftaridil Kadın Ottoman Turkish: رفتاردل قادین
House	Ottoman (by marriage)
Religion	Sunni Islam

Reftarıdil Kadın (Ottoman Turkish: رفتاردل قادین, "resurrection"; 1838 – 3 March 1936) was the second consort of Sultan Murad V of the Ottoman Empire.

Early life

Reftarıdil Kadın was born in about 1838.[1] She was a noble Circassian-Abkhazian from Hatko family and had two sisters, Terandil Hanım and Ceylanyar Hanım.[2][3] Ceylanyar was given to Dr. Mehmed Emin Pasha. She then married Hacı Nazıf Bey, and was renamed Melek. She had two children, a daughter,[4] and a son named Rüşdü Bey.[1] Terandil, while stayed with Reftaridil, and then married Nuri Bey, and went to live in Aksaray.[5]

Marriage

Reftarıdil married Murad, during the reign of Sultan Abdulmejid I, when he was still a prince, on 4 February 1859 in the Dolmabahçe Palace. She was twenty, while he was eighteen. She was his second consort after Mevhibe Kadın.[6][7] After Abdulmejid's death in 1861, and the accession of his brother Sultan Abdulaziz, Murad became the crown prince. Reftarıdil, who was pregnant at the time, gave birth to her only child, a son, Şehzade Mehmed Selaheddin, on 5 August 1861 in the apartments of the crown prince in located in the Dolmabahçe Palace. It was still technically forbidden for Ottoman princes to have children before becoming sultans, but Abdulaziz, who had himself had a son before ascending the throne, made an exception for Murad's child.[8]

Murad and his consorts lived in a mansion in Kurbağalıdere, which was allocated to him by Abdulaziz. They used to spend their winters in the crown prince's apartments located in the Dolmabahçe Palace and the Nisbetiye Mansion.[9] She was a lovely lady with a pink skin, large blue eyes, straight nose, and a round face. She was also honest and goodhearted. She loved music and reading and was highly educated and always well informed on current affairs. She always smiled.[10]

Murad ascended the throne on 30 May 1876, after the deposition of his uncle Sultan Abdulaziz,[11] Reftarıdil was given the title of "Second Kadın".[12] After reigning for three months, Murad was deposed on 30 August 1876,[13] due to mental instability and was imprisoned in the Çırağan Palace. Refarıdil also followed Murad into confinement.[14] She was widowed at Murad's death in 1904, after which her ordeal in the Çırağan Palace came to an end.[15]

Last years and death

After Murad's death she lived first with his son and, after the dynasty was exiled, in a house in Ortaköy, where she also hosted Şayan Kadın, Murad's third consort. She was allowed to stay in Istanbul as she was only a widowed consort and not a blood member of the dynasty. Although she lived in precarious times and was in a tight financial situation, she was always cheerful and smiling. After the passing of the Surname Law, she took the name Reftarıdil Hatgil.[1]

She died on 3 March 1936.[1]

Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Şehzade Mehmed Selaheddin	5 August 1861[8][16]	29 April 1915[8][16]	married seven times, and had issue, eight sons and eight daughters

In literature

• Reftarıdil is a character in Ayşe Osmanoğlu's historical novel The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus (2020).[17]

See also

• Kadın (title)
• Ottoman Imperial Harem
• List of consorts of the Ottoman sultans

References

1. Vâsıb, Ali; Osmanoğlu, Osman Selaheddin (2004). Bir şehzadenin hâtırâtı: vatan ve menfâda gördüklerim ve işittiklerim. YKY. pp. 28, 95. ISBN 978-9-750-80878-4.
2. Uluçay 2011, p. 239.
3. Argit, Betül Ipsirli (October 29, 2020). Life after the Harem: Female Palace Slaves, Patronage and the Imperial Ottoman Court. Cambridge University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-108-48836-5.
4. Türk Tarih Kurumu (1944). Belleten. Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi. p. 340.
5. Süleyman Kâni İrtem; Osman S. Kocahanoğlu (2003). Sultan Murad ve Ali Suavi olayı: Sarıklı ihtilâlcinin Çırağan baskını. Temel. p. 185. ISBN 978-975-410-050-1.
6. Adra, Jamil (2005). Genealogy of the Imperial Ottoman Family 2005. p. 19.
7. Brookes 2010, p. 288.
8. Uluçay 2011, p. 238.
9. Satı, İbrahim (2020). Sultan V.Murad'ın Hayatı ve Kısa Saltanatı (1840-1904) (Master Thesis). Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University Institute of Social Sciences. p. 17.
10. Brookes 2010, p. 38.
11. Roudometof, Victor (2001). Nationalism, Globalization, and Orthodoxy: The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-0-313-31949-5.
12. Açba, Harun (2007). Kadın efendiler: 1839-1924. Profil. p. 101. ISBN 978-9-759-96109-1.
13. Williams, Augustus Warner; Gabriel, Mgrditch Simbad (1896). Bleeding Armedia: Its History and Horrors Under the Curse of Islam. Publishers union. p. 214.
14. Brookes 2010, p. 64.
15. Brookes 2010, p. 17.
16. Brookes 2010, p. 289.
17. Osmanoğlu, Ayşe (May 30, 2020). The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus: The Ottomans: The Story of a Family. Ayşe Osmanoğlu. ISBN 978-1-9163614-1-6.

Sources

• Brookes, Douglas Scott (2010). The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78335-5.
• Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara: Ötüken. ISBN 978-9-754-37840-5.