Gülbahar Hatun (mother of Selim I)

This article is about the eighth wife of Bayezid II. For the first wife of Mehmed II, see Gülbahar Hatun (wife of Mehmed II).

For other uses, see Gülbahar.

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

Gülbahar Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: کل بهار خاتون, lit. 'flower of spring' or 'blooming spring';^[6] c. 1453 – c. 1505),^[4] also known as Ayşe Hatun^[5][7] was a consort of Sultan Bayezid II and the mother of Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire and the grandmother of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.^[8]

Gülbahar Hatun
The tomb of "Gülbahar Hatun" is located inside "Gülbahar Hatun Mosque" in Trabzon
Born	Ayşe^[1]^[2] or Gül-Bahar bint-i Abdû's-Samad^[3] c. 1453 Elbistan, Dulkadir Principality
Died	c. 1505 (aged 51–52)^[4] Trabzon, Ottoman Empire
Burial	Gülbahar Hatun Camii, Trabzon
Spouse	Bayezid II
Issue	Selim I
Names Turkish: Ayşe Gülbahar Hatun Ottoman Turkish: عائشه کل بھار خاتون
Father	Alaüddevle Bozkurd Bey^[2]^[5] or Abdû's-Samad^[3]
Religion	Sunni Islam

Names

One of the oldest references Cenabî History gives her name as Ayşe Hatun. According to Sicill-i Osmanî her name is Gülbahar Hatun, while Alderson gives her name as Ayşe Hatun, as well.^[4]

Origins

Gülbahar Hatun and Ayşe Hatun were never different women. The theory of Gülbahar Hatun's origins make her a different woman from Ayşe Hatun as both women had same maiden name, Ayşe in both the origins and were also married in the same year. The theories of her background are:

• The Ottoman inscription (vakfiye) describes her as Hātun binti Abd-us-Samed (Daughter of Abd-us-Samed),^[3] which supports the view that she was a non Muslim who later converted to Islam. Abd-us-Samed, meaning Servant of God, was the anonym that was applied to many Balkan and Anatolian Christians who converted to Islam in the classical Ottoman period.^{[citation needed][9][10]}

 

The court of the historical Gül-Bahar Khâtûn Mosque in Trabzon-Turkey, where the grave of the daughter of Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey of Dulkadirids Ayşe Khâtûn^[11] is located at.

This origin is also described for Emine Gülbahar Hatun, wife of Mehmed the Conqueror, mother of Sultan Bayezid II and the grandmother of Sultan Selim I.

• According to another view, she was the daughter of Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey, the eleventh ruler of the Dulkadirids centered around Elbistan in Kahramanmaraş. Her real name was Ayşe^[2] and was renamed Gülbahar after her marriage.^{[12][13][verification needed]}

• A third view is that she was a Pontic Greek from the village of Vayvara (south of Sumela Monastery),^[14][15] in the district of Maçka. Şakir Şevket, chronicler of Trabzon, writes that the income from Vakfikebir and Vakfısagir taxes were donated to the Hatuniye Külliyesi, and that the revenues collected from the thirty-two plateaus of Maçka were distributed among the staff and kitchen of this kulliye. Şakir Şevket explains the aforementioned as: "The aforesaid girl is originally Greek, and that is why she is described as a Greek princess on her mausoleum. It is told that she has been taken by Fatih and wedded to Sultan Bayezid, she was the daughter of a Christian man in the village of Vayvara.". Necdet Sakaoğlu states based on this: "We understand from this explanation that she was captured during the conquest of Trabzon and given to Bayezid.". Halil Edhem Bey in the "Vâlide-i Sultan Selim-i Evvel Gülbahâr Hâtun Mausoleum, year 911" section of his article, "Ottoman Epigraphs in Trabzon", quotes the inscription on her tomb, which is told to be written by her son, Sultan Selim I: "May Bânû-yi Rûm, who has turned her face from the world towards eternity, sit on the throne of Heaven and may God bless her.". The year of death written on the last lines is 911 AH (1505 AD). Necdet Sakaoğlu writes: "There are no Islamic wishes or prayers on this epigraph of six verses, written in Persian rather than Arabic. It is mentioned that the person lying in the mausoleum is a Greek princess (Banû-yi Rum).".^[16]

Life

Bayezid married her in 1469 at Amasya. When Bayezid was still a şehzade ("Ottoman prince") and the governor of Amasya sanjak when she gave birth to Selim I in 1470.^{[citation needed]} When Mehmed the Conqueror died in 1481, Bayezid moved to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, along with his family to ascend the throne.^{[citation needed]}

According to Turkish tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors (Sanjak-bey) as a part of their training.^[17] Mothers of princes were responsible for the proper behaviour of their sons in their provincial posts.^[17] In 1495 was sent to Trabzon sanjak and then in 1511 to Samandıra, and Gülbahar accompanied him.^{[citation needed]}

However, she herself never became recognized as a Valide Hatun because she died in 1505 before Selim's accession to the throne.^{[citation needed]} Her tomb is located in Gülbahar Hatun Mosque, Trabzon.^[17] It was built in 1514 in honour of his mother and was restored in 1885.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Ottoman Empire
• Ottoman family tree
• Ottoman dynasty
• Line of succession to the Ottoman throne
• Ottoman Emperors family tree (simplified)

References

1. Diyanet İslâm Ansiklopedisi: I. Selim, vol: 36, pages: 407.
2. Necdet Sakaoğlu (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak publications. p. 136. ISBN 978-975-329-623-6. (The name of the real biological mother of Yavuz Sultan Selim is given as Âişe Hâtun of the Beylik of Dulkadir in İ. H. Danişmend's İzahlı Osmanlı Tarihi Kronolojisi).
3. Necdet Sakaoğlu (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak publications. p. 136. ISBN 978-975-329-623-6. (Gülbahar binti Abdüssamed was the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II's eighth wife who had been sent to join his son Selim I, the governor of Trebizond Eyalet).
4. Necdet Sakaoğlu (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak publications. p. 135. ISBN 978-975-329-623-6.
5. Diyanet İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol: 36, pages: 407–414, 2009 (Âişe Hâtun was the daughter of Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey)
6. Rásonyi, László; Baski, Imre (2007). Onomasticon Turcicum: Turkic Personal Names. Vol. 1. Bloomington, Indiana: Denis Sinor Institute for Inner Asian Studies. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-933070-56-1.
7. Bahadıroğlu, Yavuz, Resimli Osmanlı Tarihi, Nesil Yayınları (Ottoman History with Illustrations, Nesil Publications), 15th Ed., 2009, page 157, ISBN 978-975-269-299-2
8. Ahmed Akgündüz, Said Öztürk (2011). Ottoman History: Misperceptions and Truths. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-90-90-26108-9.
9. "Consorts Of Ottoman Sultans (in Turkish)". Ottoman Web Page.
10. Anthony Dolphin Alderson (1956). The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty. Clarendon Press.
11. Diyanet İslâm Ansiklopedisi: I. Selim, vol: 36, page: 407. (pdf)
12. *. Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Archived from the original on 2011-04-17. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
    • . Osmanlı Araştırmaları Vakfı (Ottoman Research Foundation). Archived from the original on 2010-12-08.
    • Osmanlıdan Cumhuriyete Trabzonlu simalar ve Trabzon'un köklü aileleri. Mehmet Akif Bal. 2005. ISBN 978-975-00451-0-3.
    • Yakın Çağda Kahramanmaraş. Ukde. 2009. ISBN 978-605-5602-05-5.
13. • Zamanın İskenderi şarkın Fatihi: Yavuz Sultan Selim. Yitik Hazine Yayınları. 2010. ISBN 978-9944-766-24-1.
    • VII-XVI. asırlarda Maraş emirleri: emir, melik, bey, senyör, beylerbeyi, sancakbeyi. Ukde. 2008. ISBN 978-605-89971-0-3.
    • Amasya. Amasya Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası. 1997.
    • Dijkema, F.TH (1977), The Ottoman Historical Monumental Inscriptions in Edirne, BRILL, p. 32, ISBN 90-04-05062-0
14. "Manastırlar". www.macka.gov.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-06-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
15. Bahadıroğlu, Yavuz (2007). Resimli Osmanlı tarihi ([10.baskı : Eylül 2007] ed.). İstanbul: Nesil yayınları. p. 157. ISBN 978-975-269-299-2. OCLC 235010971.
16. Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2007). Famous Ottoman Women. Avea. p. 71. ISBN 978-975-7104-77-3.
17. Leslie P. Peirce (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-0-19-508677-5.