Esma Sultan, also called Büyük Esma Sultan, "Esma Sultan "The Elder" was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Ahmed III and his consort Hanife Kadın. She was the half-sister of Sultans Mustafa III and Abdul Hamid I.
Life
Birth
Esma Sultan was born on 14 March 1726 in the Topkapı Palace. Her father was Sultan Ahmed III, and her mother was Hanife Kadın. She was the thirty-ninth child born to her father.
Marriages
In 1743, her cousin Sultan Mahmud I, arranged her marriage to Yakub Pasha. The marriage took place in February 1743 in the Kadırga Palace. Yakub Pasha died the same year. After his death, she married the governor of Adana, Yusuf Pasha. After his death, she married Muhsinzade Mehmed Pasha, a vizier on 24 June 1758 in the Kadırga Palace. Her served as the Grand Vizier between 1765 and 1768, and later again between 1771 until his death in 1774. She is said to be curious about the west. She received the wife and mother-in-law of the Baron de Tott, the Hungarian nobleman who served as military adviser to the Turkish government for many years. She discussed with them the liberty of European women, and expressed the dissatisfaction that married her at a young age to an old man who treated her like a child. The pasha having died, she then married a younger man more to her liking, but the practice of sending the princesses husband to distant governorships kept them apart.
Properties
Esma Sultan had her crown states turned into mâlikane contracts, which were divided among her protégés, and managed by agents and subcontractors. The name of one of her male associates appeared as contractor in his own right. Esma also complained that her late husband, Mehmed Pasha, had promised her the income from Vâsıf's prebend from Anatolia. She accused him of stealing the grant, confiscated it, and transferred it to her own client. Because she was so close to the Sultan, and because Vâsıf lacked influential patrons, he couldn't find anyone to intercede on his behalf, and was left without a job and income. Esma Sultan was allocated the mansion of Princess Hançerli Sultan in Eyüp Bahariye, which became famous with her own name. She also owned a waterfront palace in Ortaköy, and a farm in Terkos.
Charities
In 1779, Esma Sultan commissioned a fountain for the soul of her late husband, Mehmed Pasha, in her name near the namazgah in Kadırga Square. She also commissioned another fountain in her name in the same place in 1781.
Death
Esma Sultan died on 13 August 1788 in the Kadırga Palace, and was buried in the mausoleum of Muhsinzade Mehmed Pasha in Eyüp.
