Hüma Hatun


Hüma Hatun was the fourth wife of Ottoman Sultan Murad II and mother of Mehmed II.

Life

She was a slave girl. Nothing is known of her family background, apart from the fact that an Ottoman inscription describes her as Hātun binti Abdullah ; at that time, people who converted to Islam were given the name Abdullah meaning Servant of God, which is evidence of her non-Muslim origin. Her name, hüma, means "bird of paradise", after the Persian legend. There are two traditions or theories on her origin: that she was an Italian woman named Stella, perhaps of a Jewish origin; or that she was of Serbian Christian origin. Turkish historian and professor, Ilber Ortayli, supports that she was of Slavic descent.
Hüma Hatun married Murad II. On 30 March 1432, she gave birth to her only son Mehmed the Conqueror. In 1438, Mehmed was circumcised along with his elder half-brother Şehzade Alaeddin. When Mehmed was 11 years old, he was sent to Manisa as a prince governor, Hüma followed her son to Manisa. In 1444, after the death of Mehmed's elder half-brother Şehzade Alaeddin, Mehmed was the only heir left to the throne. The same year, Murad II deposed from the throne because the death of his son and depressed events he retreated to Manisa.
Her son Şehzade Mehmed succeeded the throne as Mehmed II, she held the Vâlide Hatun position for two years, in 1446 Murad took over the throne again and Hüma and her son again returned to Bursa. However, Mehmed succeeded the throne in 1451, again after the death of his father, but she was never a Valide Hatun again as she died before the accession. She was not alive to see the conquest of Constantinople, by her son which later renamed Istanbul, which became the capital of Ottoman Empire for nearly five centuries, before the Empire was abolished in 1922, and Turkey was officially declared as a republic.

Death

She died in September 1449 in Bursa, two years before her sons second accession to the throne. Her tomb is located at the site known as "Hatuniye Kümbedi" to the east of Muradiye Complex, which was built by her son Mehmed. The quarter where her tomb lies has been known thus far as Hüma Hatun Quarter.