Roxelana

Hürrem Sultan
Portrait by Titian titled La Sultana Rossa, c. 1550
Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Imperial Consort)
Tenure	c. 1533 – 15 April 1558
Predecessor	position established
Successor	Nurbanu Sultan
Born	Aleksandra Anastazja Lisowska c. 1504 Rohatyn, Ruthenia, Kingdom of Poland (now Ukraine)
Died	15 April 1558(1558-04-15) (aged 53–54) Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey)
Burial	Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul
Spouse	Suleiman I ​ (m. 1533)​
Issue	Şehzade Mehmed Mihrimah Sultan Selim II Şehzade Abdullah Şehzade Bayezid Şehzade Cihangir
Names Turkish: Hürrem Sultan Ottoman Turkish: حرم سلطان
Dynasty	Ottoman (for marriage)
Father	Hawryło Lisowski[1]
Mother	Leksandra Lisowska[1]
Religion	Sunni Islam, previously Eastern Orthodox Christian

Hürrem Sultan (Turkish pronunciation: [hyɾˈɾæm suɫˈtan]; Ottoman Turkish: حرّم سلطان; "the joyful one"; c. 1504 – 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana (Ukrainian: Роксолана, romanized: Roksolana), was the chief consort and legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history,^[2] and as well a prominent figure during the period known as the Sultanate of Women.

Born in Ruthenia (then an eastern region of the Kingdom of Poland, now Rohatyn, Ukraine) to a Ruthenian Orthodox priest, she was captured by Crimean Tatars during a slave raid and eventually taken via the Crimean slave trade to Istanbul, the Ottoman capital.^[3]

She entered the Imperial Harem where her name was changed to Hürrem, rose through the ranks and became the favourite of Sultan Suleiman. Breaking Ottoman tradition, he married Hürrem, making her his legal wife. Sultans had previously married only foreign free noble ladies. She was the first imperial consort to receive the title, created for her, to Haseki Sultan. Hürrem remained in the sultan's court for the rest of her life, enjoying a close relationship with her husband, and having six children with him, including the future sultan, Selim II. Hürrem is the ancestor of all following sultans and currently living members of the Ottoman dynasty.

Hürrem eventually achieved power, influencing the politics of the Ottoman Empire. Through her husband, she played an active role in affairs of the state. She probably acted as the sultan's advisor, wrote diplomatic letters to King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland (r. 1548–1572) and patronized major public works (including the Haseki Sultan Complex and the Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse). She died in 1558, in Istanbul and was buried in a mausoleum within the Süleymaniye Mosque complex.