The Ottomans have always been a source of fascination, even for citizens of the Turkish Republic, whose knowledge of its more than 600 years of history is still a work in progress. While everyone who has attended school in Turkey would have a rudimentary knowledge of the names and some standard accomplishments of the Ottoman Sultans, the imperial women and their accomplishments are either ignored or mentioned within a negative context. A whole nation, for generations, still does not seem to have been able to get over the fact that Suleyman the Magnificent, legally married Hurrem, forsaking all others, when he was the most powerful man on earth (God's shadow on earth) The concubines in the Harem would rise up to become Haseki Sultan's when they bore a son but were never granted the privilege of becoming the Sultan's wife. While the daughters of the Sultans had a special place within the palace hierarchy and extreme power over their husbands, they are still remembered only in relation to their fathers or husbands - the details of their lives all too often escaping our notice completely. There were few exceptions, one in particular I just had to mention here today...
Mihrimah Sultan, the only daughter of Suleyman the Magnificent and his beloved wife, Hurrem Sultan, was one of the most influential and powerful women in 16th century Ottoman Empire. Almost a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth the Ist of England, born in 1522, Mihrimah died on January 25, 1578, leaving behind a substantial legacy of pious foundations and architectural commissions. She is best known for her two mosque complexes in Uskudar and Edirnekapi districts of Istanbul, both the work of the great architect Sinan. Her letters to her father as well as the one she wrote to King Sigismund II of Poland upon his accession to the throne congratulating him is thought to attest to her superior education and involvement in diplomacy. [1]
