Hafsa Sultan was the wife of Selim I and the first valide sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother ofSuleiman the Magnificent. During the period between her son's enthronement in 1520 and her death in 1534, she was one of the most influential persons in the Ottoman Empire.
Origins
The traditional view holding that Hafsa Sultan was the daughter of Meñli I Giray, the khan of the Crimean Tatars for much of the period between 1466 and 1515, resting on seventeenth century western authors accounts, has been challenged in favor of a Christian slave origin based on Ottoman documentary evidence. Several historians still follow the traditional view though, including Brian Glyn Williams. Reşat Kasaba mentions the marriage between Selim I and Hafsa Sultan as the "last marriage between an Ottoman sultan and a member of a neighboring Muslim royal family". Esin Atıl, however, states that whilst some historians state that she was the daughter of Giray, others have mentioned that the Crimean princess named "Ayse" was another one of Selim I's wives and that "Hafsa" may have been of slave origin. Ilya Zaytsev claims that "Ayshe " first married Şehzade Mehmed, the governor of Kefe, and that she later married his brother Selim I; consequently, her marriage into the Ottoman dynasty was one of two noted instances of wedlock between the Girays and the Ottomans. Alan W. Fisher, Leslie Peirce, and Feridun Emecen all see Hafsa as of slave origin and not the daughter of the Crimean Khan.
Life
Having resided in the city ofManisa in western Turkey with her son, Suleiman, who administered the surrounding region between 1513 and 1520, Hafsa Sultan initiated the Manisa's "Mesir Festival", a local tradition continued today. She also had a large complex built in the cityconsisting of a mosque known as the SultanMosque, a primary school, a college, and a hospice. She was also the first Ottoman imperial women who held title "sultan" after her given name, replacing title "hatun". This usage reflected the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as "family prerogative". Consequently, the title valide hatun also turned into valide sultan, making Hafsa the first valide sultan. Her era signalled the shifting status of the sultan's mother and her increased share in power. She was also the first harem woman confirmed to have a kira - Strongilah.
Death
Hafsa Sultan died in March 1534 and was buried near her husband in a mausoleum behind the qiblah wall of Yavuz Selim Mosque, in Fatih, Istanbul. The mausoleum was largely destroyed in an earthquake in 1884, a reconstruction effort started in the 1900s having been left discontinued, and her tomb today is much simpler than it was built originally.
