Sultanate of Women

Part of a series on the
History of the Ottoman Empire
Timeline
Rise (1299–1453) Beylik of Osman Interregnum (1402–1413) Fall of Constantinople
Classical Age (1453–1566) Sultanate of Women (1533–1656)
Transformation (1566–1703) Köprülü Era (1656–1703)
Old Regime (1703–1789) Tulip Era (1718–1730)
Decline & Modernization (1789–1908) Nizam-i Djedid (late 18th and early 19th) Tanzimat Era (1839–1876) 1st Constitutional Era (1876–1878)
Dissolution (1908–1922) 2nd Constitutional Era (1908–1920) World War I (1914–1918) Partitioning (1918–1922) Abolition of the Sultanate (1922) Abolition of the Caliphate (1924)
Historiography (Ghaza, Decline)
v t e

The Sultanate of Women (Ottoman Turkish: قادينلر سلطنتى, romanized: Kadınlar saltanatı) was a period when some consorts and mothers of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire exerted extraordinary political influence.

This phenomenon took place from roughly 1534 to 1683, beginning in the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent with his marriage to Hürrem Sultan and ending with the death of Turhan Sultan. These women were either the consorts - either wives or concubines - of the Sultan, referred to as haseki sultans, or the mothers of the Sultan, known as valide sultans. Many of them were of slave origin, as was expected during the sultanate, since the traditional idea of marriage was considered inappropriate for the sultan, who was not expected to have any personal allegiances beyond his governmental role.^[1]

During this time, haseki and valide sultans often held political and social influence, which allowed them to influence the daily running of the empire and undertake philanthropic works as well as to request the construction of buildings such as the large Haseki Sultan Mosque complex and the prominent Valide Sultan Mosque, also known as the Yeni Mosque (Yeni Cami), at Eminönü.^[1]