The word valide (والده) literally means 'mother' in Ottoman Turkish, from Arabic wālida.
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Map showing the ethnic origins of the mothers of the Ottoman sultans. The ethnic origins of most of them are uncertain. There are many female sultans who have more than one claim about their ethnic origins. In addition, not all of the women whose names are written below could become valide sultans. Some died before they couldn't see their sons ascend to the throne like Hurrem Sultan, Muazzez Sultan, Mihrişah Kadın, Şermi Kadın, Tirimüjgan Kadın, Gülcemal Kadın, and Gülüstü Hanım. In special cases, there were grandmothers, stepmothers, and sisters of the reigning sultans who assumed the role, if not the title, of valide sultan, like Kösem Sultan, Mihrimah Sultan and Perestu Kadın.
Map showing the ethnic origins of the mothers of the Ottoman sultans. The ethnic origins of most of them are uncertain. There are many female sultans who have more than one claim about their ethnic origins. In addition, not all of the women whose names are written below could become valide sultans. Some died before they couldn't see their sons ascend to the throne like Hurrem Sultan, Muazzez Sultan, Mihrişah Kadın, Şermi Kadın, Tirimüjgan Kadın, Gülcemal Kadın, and Gülüstü Hanım. In special cases, there were grandmothers, stepmothers, and sisters of the reigning sultans who assumed the role, if not the title, of valide sultan, like Kösem Sultan, Mihrimah Sultan and Perestu Kadın.
Mavi Boncuk |
Female Sultans' name - Sons' name - Nationality
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[2]Hatice Muazzez The Second Haseki Sultan (Devletlu İsmetlu Hatice (Khadija) Mu’azzez İkinci Haseki Sultânā Aliyyetü'ş-Şân Hazretleri, née Eva,
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[3] Gülüstü Hanım کلستو خانم; born Princess Fatma Chachba; died c. 1865) was the nineteenth wife of Sultan Abdulmejid I, and the mother of Sultan Mehmed VI, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Halime Hatun[1] - Osman I - Turk
Malhun Hatun - Orhan Gazi - Turk
Nilüfer Hatun - Murad I - Greek
Gülçiçek Hatun - Bayezid I - Greek
Devlet Hatun - Mehmed I - Turk/Greek/Serb/Bulgar
Emine Hatun - Murad II - Turk
Hüma Hatun - Mehmed II - Serb/French Jew
Gülbahar Hatun I or Sitti Mükrime Hatun - Bayezid II - Turk/Albanian/Greek/Serb
Gülbahar Hatun II or Ayşe Hatun I - Selim I - Turk/Greek
Ayşe Hafsa Sultan - Süleyman I - Turk/Tatar/Circassian
Hürrem Sultan - Selim II - Ukrainian
Nurbanu Sultan - Murad III - Venetian/Jew/Greek
Safiye Sultan - Mehmed III - Albanian/Bosnian/Serb
Handan Sultan - Ahmed I - Bosnian
Halime Sultan - Mustafa I - Abkhazian/Georgian
Mahfiruz Hatice Sultan - Osman II - Greek/Serb/Georgian
Mahpeyker Kösem Sultan - Murad IV/İbrahim I - Greek
Hatice Turhan Sultan - Mehmed IV - Ukrainian/Circassian/Russian
Saliha Dilaşub Sultan - Süleyman II - Serb
Hatice Muazzez Sultan[1] - Ahmed II - Polish Jew
Emetullah Rabia Gülnuş Sultan - Mustafa II/Ahmed III - Greek/Venetian
Saliha Şefkat Sultan - Mahmud I - Serb
Şehsüvar Sultan - Osman III - Russian/Serb
Emine Mihrişah Kadın - Mustafa III - French (not exact)
Rabia Şermi Kadın - Abdülhamid I - French (not exact)
Mihrişah Sultan - Selim III - Georgian
Ayşe Sineperver Sultan - Mustafa IV - Bulgar/Georgian/Circassian
Nakşidil Sultan - Mahmud II - Georgian
Bezmialem Sultan - Abdülmecid - Georgian
Pertevniyal Sultan - Abdülaziz - Circassian/Romanian
Şevkefza Sultan - Murad V - Circassian
Tirimüjgan Kadınefendi - Abdülhamid II - Circassian
Gülcemal Kadınefendi - Mehmed V - Bosnian
Gülüstü Hanım - Mehmed VI - Abkhazian
Numbers of claims by possible nationalities
Greek - 9
Turk/Tatar - 8
Serb - 8
Circassian/Abkhazian - 7
Georgian - 6
Bosnian - 3
Jew - 3
Albanian - 2
Bulgar/North Macedonian - 2
Ukrainian - 2
Russian - 2
Venetian/Italian - 2
French - 2
Romanian - 1
[1]Halime Hatun (حلیمه خاتون) was, according to some Ottoman folklore, the wife of Ertuğrul (13th century) and possibly the mother of Osman I.
Her origins are unknown; she is variously referred to as "Hayme Ana" and "Khaimah" in later legends, and is not mentioned at all in any historical Ottoman texts. Hayme Ana is also a traditional name of Ertuğrul's mother.
Some legends described her as the mother of Osman I; however, historian Heath W. Lowry, among other Ottoman scholars, states that Osman I's mother is unknown. The burial place of Halime Hatun, which was added in the late 19th century by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, is located in the garden of the Ertuğrul Gazi's grave in Söğüt, present-day Turkey. According to historian Cemal Kafadar, the 19th century "recovery" and "rebuilding" of this tomb by the Sultan, with the name added later, was politically motivated.Additionally, according to author Turgut Güler, "Hayme Ana", buried in Domanic, was most likely the wife of Ertuğrul.
[2]Hatice Muazzez The Second Haseki Sultan (Devletlu İsmetlu Hatice (Khadija) Mu’azzez İkinci Haseki Sultânā Aliyyetü'ş-Şân Hazretleri, née Eva,
(b. 1628, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth - d. 1687, Istanbul, Turkey) Mu'azzez, Muazzez meaning "Powerful, strong") she was the Polish Jewish spouse of Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim and the biological mother of Ottoman Sultan Ahmed II. She was regarded as the most beautiful wife of Sultan Ibrahim. She was also known for her mild character, since she was not as ambitious for power as Turhan Hatice Sultan, who fought Kösem Sultan and triumphed when Kösem was murdered. After the deposition and death of Sultan Ibrahim in 1648, his eldest son, Sultan Mehmed IV ascended the throne, after which Muazzez settled in the Old Palace.
In 1687, a large fire broke out near the Old Palace. By the next evening the fire had engulfed the Old Palace. The fire burned for five hours and the palace burned down in many places. Most of lives of people in the Old Palace were saved by the servants in the palace. Muazzez was so burned from the fire that she died the next day. Her body was taken to Üsküdar, and was buried near a palace around there. Thus, she was not Valide Sultan to her son because she died four years before Ahmed II's accession to the throne
Her resting place is located at the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent inside Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.
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Born as Fatma Chachba, Gülüstü Hanım was a member of the Abkhazian princely family, Shervashidze[*]. Her father was Prince Tahir Bey Chachba. She was the granddaughter of Kelesh Ahmed-Bey Shervashidze, head of state of the Principality of Abkhazia.
Gülüstü married Abdulmejid in 1855, and was given the title of "Fourth Ikbal". On 30 July 1856, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Mediha Sultan. Five years later on 14 January 1861, she gave birth to her second child, a son, Şehzade Mehmed Vahideddin (future Mehmed VI).
After Abdulmejid's death in 1861, Gülüstü Hanım moved to a waterfront palace located at Eyüp, where she died in 1865, in an outbreak of cholera.[8] She was buried in her own mausoleum located in Fatih Mosque, Fatih, Constantinople, today in Istanbul.
After her death, her daughter Mediha Sultan was entrusted in the care of Verdicenan Kadın,and her son Mehmed was entrusted in the care of Şayeste Hanım.
[*] In the late 18th century, the Sharvashidze princes embraced Islam, but shifted back and forth across the religious divide, as the Russians and Ottomans struggled for controlling the area. The pro-Russian orientation prevailed, and Abkhazia joined Imperial Russia in 1810 while the Sharvashidzes (Russian: Шарвашидзе) were confirmed in the Russian princely rank in accordance with the Russo-Georgian Treaty of Georgievsk.