As you know, all births, deaths, and even more so when it concerned the ruling dynasty, were subject to clear accounting and control both in harem books and in other documents. Everything was described - starting with how much flour it took to make a dessert for shehzade and ending with the main expenses for their maintenance. Moreover, all the descendants of the ruling dynasty necessarily lived at the court, in case it was he who had to inherit the throne, because one should not forget about the high infant mortality that took place in those days. Also, since the Ottoman dynasty and its possible heirs were in the zone of close attention not only of the Muslim East, but also of Christian Europe, their ambassadors informed the European kings about the birth of a child from one or another shah, on the occasion of which it was supposed to send congratulations and a gift. These letters have been preserved in the archives, thanks to which it is possible to restore the number of heirs from the same Suleiman. Therefore, each descendant, and even more so shehzade, was known, the name of each was preserved in history.
So, Suleiman had 8 sons shehzade, which is recorded in the family tree of the Ottoman family:

1) Mahmud (1512 - October 29, 1521 in Istanbul) Proclaimed the heir of Vali Ahad on September 22, 1520. Son of Fülane.

2) Mustafa (1515 - November 6, 1553 at Eregli in Karaman Iran) Proclaimed heir of Vali Ahad on October 29, 1521. Viceroy of Karaman province 1529-1533, Manisa 1533-1541, and Amasya 1541-1553. Son of Mahidevran.

4) Mehmet (1521 - November 6, 1543 in Manisa) Proclaimed the heir of Vali Ahad on October 29, 1521. Viceroy of Kutahya 1541-1543. Son of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska.

6) Selim II (1524-1574) the eleventh sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Son of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska.

7) Bayezid (1525 - July 23, 1562) in Iran, the city of Qazvin. Proclaimed the 3rd successor of Vali Ahad on November 6, 1553. Governor of Karaman 1546, governor of the provinces of Kutahya and Amasya 1558-1559. Son of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska.

8) Dzhihangir (1531 - November 27, 1553 in Aleppo (in Arabic Aleppo) Syria) Governor in Aleppo 1553. Son of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska.

It is also worth remembering that it was Suleiman, and not Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, who executed his two sons, namely Mustafa and Bayazid. Mustafa was executed along with his son (the remaining of the two, since one of them died a year before the death of Mustafa himself), and five of his little sons were killed along with Bayezid, but this happened already in 1562, 4 years after the death of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska .

If we talk about the chronology and causes of death of all the descendants of Kanuni, then it looked like this:

Şehzade Mahmud died of smallpox on 11/29/1521,
Şehzade Murad died of smallpox before his brother on 11/10/1521.
Şehzade Mustafa ruler of the province of Manisa since 1533. and the heir to the throne was executed along with his children on the orders of his father on suspicion of conspiring against his father in alliance with the Serbs.
Şehzade Bayezid "Şahi" was executed along with his five sons by order of his father for mutiny against him

Accordingly, what mythical forty descendants from Sultan Suleiman, who were killed by Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, are we talking about remains a mystery not only for skeptics, but also for history itself. Or rather, a tale. One of the 1001 tales of the Ottoman Empire.

The second legend. “About the marriage of twelve-year-old Mihrimah Sultan and fifty-year-old Rustem Pasha”

The legend says: “As soon as the daughter was twelve years old, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska offered Mihrimah as a wife to Rustem Pasha, who took the place of Ibrahim, who at that time was already fifty. The difference between the bride and groom of almost forty years did not bother Roksolana.

Historical facts: Rustem Pasha is also Rustem Pasha Mekri (Ottoman رستم پاشا, Croatian Rustem-paša Opuković; 1500 - 1561) - Grand Vizier of Sultan Suleiman I, a Croatian by nationality.
Rustem Pasha married one of the daughters of Sultan Suleiman I - Princess Mihrimah Sultan
In 1539, at the age of seventeen, Mihrimah Sultan (March 21, 1522-1578) married the Beylerbey of the province of Diyarbakir - Rustem Pasha. At that time, Rustem was 39 years old.
To whom simple arithmetic operations for adding and subtracting dates seem unconvincing, we can only advise you to use a calculator to instill more confidence.

The third legend. "About castration and silver tubes"

The legend says: “Instead of a cute and cheerful laughing enchantress, our eyes appear to be a ferocious, cunning and ruthless survival machine. With the execution of the heir and his friend, a wave of repressions, unprecedented in Istanbul, began. For an extra word about the bloody affairs of the palace, one could easily pay with his head. They chopped off their heads, not even bothering to bury the body ...
An effective and frightening method of Roksolana was castration, performed in the most cruel way. Everything suspected of sedition was cut to the root. And after the "operation" the unfortunate were not supposed to bandage the wound - it was believed that the "bad blood" should come out. Those who still survived could experience the mercy of the sultana: she gave the unfortunate silver tubes that were inserted into the opening of the bladder.
Fear settled in the capital, people began to be afraid of their own shadow, not feeling safe even near the hearth. The name of the sultana was pronounced with trepidation, which was mixed with reverence.

Historical facts: The history of mass repressions organized by Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan has not been preserved in any way, either in historical records or in the description of contemporaries. But on the other hand, it should be noted that historical information has been preserved that a number of contemporaries (in particular, Sehname-i Al-i Osman (1593) and Sehname-i Humayun (1596), Taliki-zade el-Fenari presented a very flattering portrait of Hürrem, as a woman revered "for her numerous charitable donations, for her patronage of students and respect for pundits, connoisseurs of religion, as well as for her acquisition of rare and beautiful things." If we talk about the historical facts that took place in the life of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, then she entered not as a repressive politician, but as a person involved in charity, she became known for her large-scale projects.Thus, with the donations of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska (Külliye Hasseki Hurrem) in Istanbul, the Aksaray district, the so-called Avret Pazari (or women's bazaar, later named after Haseki) was built containing a mosque, a madrasah, an imaret, an elementary school, hospitals and a fountain, it was the first complex built in Istanbul by the architect Sinan in his new position as head of Nogo architect of the ruling family. And the fact that it was the third largest building in the capital, after the complexes of Mehmet II (Fatih) and Suleymaniye (Süleymanie), testifies to the high status of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. She also built complexes in Adrianople and Ankara. Other charitable projects include the construction of a project in Jerusalem (later named after Haseki Sultan), hospices and a canteen for pilgrims and the homeless; a canteen in Mecca (under the Haseki Hürrem imaret), a public canteen in Istanbul (at Avret Pazari), and two large public baths in Istanbul (in the Jewish and Aya Sôfya quarters, respectively). With the filing of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, slave markets were closed and a number of social projects were implemented.

Legend four. "About the origin of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska."

The legend says: “Deceived by the consonance of names - proper and common noun, some historians see Russian in Roksolana, others, mostly French, based on Favard's comedy "Three Sultans", claim that Roksolana was a Frenchwoman. Both are completely unfair: Roksolana, a natural Turkish woman, was bought for a harem as a girl at a slave market for servants to odalists, under whom she held the position of a simple slave.
There is also a legend that the pirates of the Ottoman Empire in the suburbs of Siena attacked the castle belonging to the noble and wealthy family of Marsigli. The castle was plundered and burned to the ground, and the daughter of the owner of the castle, a beautiful girl with red-gold hair and green eyes, was brought to the Sultan's palace. The Marsigli Family Tree lists: Mother Hannah Marsigli. Hannah Marsigli - Margarita Marsigli (La Rosa), nicknamed so for the fiery red hair color. From her marriage to Sultan Suleiman, she had sons - Selim, Ibrahim, Mehmed.

Historical Facts: European observers and historians have referred to Sultana as "Roksolana", "Rocks", or "Ross", as it was assumed that she was of Russian origin. Mikhail Litvin (Mikhalon Lituan), the Lithuanian ambassador to the Crimea in the middle of the sixteenth century, wrote in his chronicle of 1550 "... the beloved wife of the Turkish emperor, the mother of his eldest son and heir, was once abducted from our lands." Navaguerro wrote of her as "[Donna]... di Rossa" and Trevisano called her "Sultana di Russia". Samuel Tvardovsky, a member of the Polish embassy to the Court of the Ottoman Empire in 1621-1622, also indicated in his notes that the Turks told him that Roksolana was the daughter of an Orthodox priest from Rohatyn, a small town in Podolia near Lvov. The belief that Roksolana was of Russian rather than Ukrainian origin likely arose from a possible misinterpretation of the words "Roksolana" and "Rossa". At the beginning of the 16th century in Europe, the word "Roksolania" was used to refer to the province of Ruthenia in Western Ukraine, which was at various times known as Krasnaya Rus', Halychyna, or Podolia (that is, located in Eastern Podolia, which was under Polish control at that time). time), in turn, modern Russia at that time was called the Muscovite State, Muscovite Russia or Muscovy. In ancient times, the word Roxolani denoted nomadic Sarmatian tribes and settlements on the Dniester River (now in the Odessa region in Ukraine).

Fifth legend. "About the Witch at Court"

The legend says: “Hyurrem Sultan was an unremarkable outwardly and very quarrelsome woman by nature. She became famous for her cruelty and cunning for centuries. And, naturally, the only way in which she kept the Sultan for more than forty years by her side was the use of conspiracies and love spells. It’s not for nothing that she was called a witch among the common people. ”

Historical Facts: Venice reports state that Roksolana was not so much beautiful as sweet, graceful, and elegant. But, at the same time, her radiant smile and playful temperament made her irresistibly charming, for which she was named "Hürrem" ("giving joy" or "laughing"). Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was known for her singing and musical abilities, the ability to make elegant embroidery, she knew five European languages, as well as Farsi and was an extremely erudite person. But the most important thing was that Roksolana was a woman of great intelligence and willpower, which gave her advantage over other women in the harem. Like everyone else, European observers testify that the Sultan was completely smitten with his new concubine. He was in love with his Haseki for many years of marriage. Hence, evil tongues accused her of witchcraft (and if in medieval Europe and in the East the existence of such a legend in those days can be understood and explained, in our time belief in such conjectures is difficult to explain).

And logically, you can go to the next, directly related legend

Legend six. "About the infidelity of Sultan Suleiman."

The legend says: “Despite the fact that the Sultan was attached to the intriguing Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, nothing human was alien to him. So, as you know, a harem was kept at the Sultan's court, which could not help but interest Suleiman. It is also known that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska ordered to find in the harem and throughout the country the other sons of Suleiman, who were born by wives and concubines. As it turned out, the Sultan had about forty sons, which confirms the fact that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was not the only love of his life.

Historical facts: When the ambassadors, Navagerro and Trevisano wrote their reports to Venice in 1553 and 1554, indicating that "she is very loved by her master" ("tanto amata da sua maestà"), Roksolana was already about fifty and she was next to Suleiman for a long time. After her death in April 1558, Suleiman remained inconsolable for a long time. She was the greatest love of his life, his soul mate and lawful wife. This great love of Suleiman for Roksolana was confirmed by a number of decisions and actions on the part of the Sultan for his Haseka. For her sake, the Sultan violated a number of very important traditions of the imperial harem. In 1533 or 1534 (the exact date is unknown), Suleiman married Hürrem in an official marriage ceremony, thus violating a century and a half custom of the Ottoman house, according to which sultans were not allowed to marry their concubines. Never before had a former slave been elevated to the rank of the legitimate wife of the Sultan. In addition, the marriage of Haseka Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and the Sultan became almost monogamous, which was simply unheard of in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Trevisano wrote in 1554 that once meeting Roxolana, Suleiman "not only wants to have her as a lawful wife, always keep her close to him and see her as a ruler in a harem, but he also does not want to know any other women: he did what was not done by any of his predecessors, because the Turks are accustomed to accept several women in order to have as many children as possible and satisfy their carnal pleasures. For the sake of love for this woman, Suleiman violated a number of traditions and prohibitions. In particular, it was after his marriage to Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska that Sultan dissolved the harem, leaving only attendants at court. The marriage of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and Suleiman was monogamous, which surprised contemporaries a lot. Also, the real love between the Sultan and his Haseki is confirmed by love letters sent by them to each other and preserved to this day. Thus, one of the many farewell dedications of Kanuni to his wife after her death can be considered one of the indicative messages:

“The heavens are covered with black clouds, for there is no rest for me, no air, no thought and no hope. My love, the trembling feeling of this, strong, so compresses my heart, destroys my flesh. To live, what to believe in, my love... how to meet a new day. I am killed, my mind is killed, my heart has ceased to believe, there is no more your warmth in it, there is no more your hands, your light on my body. I am defeated, I am erased from this world, erased by spiritual sadness for you, my love. Strength, there is no more strength that you betrayed me, there is only faith, the faith of your feelings, not in the flesh, but in my heart, I cry, cry for you my love, there is no ocean greater than the ocean of my tears for you, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska ..."

Seventh legend. "About the conspiracy against Shehzade Mustafa and the whole Universe"

The legend says: “But the day came when Roxalana “opened her eyes” to the Sultan on the allegedly treacherous behavior of Mustafa and his friend. She said that the prince had developed close relations with the Serbs and was plotting against his father. The intriguer knew well where and how to strike - the mythical "conspiracy" was quite plausible: in the East during the time of the sultans, bloody palace coups were the most common thing. In addition, Roksolana cited as an irrefutable argument the true words of Rustem Pasha, Mustafa and other “conspirators” that her daughter allegedly heard ... A painful silence hung in the palace. What will the Sultan decide? Roxalana's melodious voice, similar to the chime of a crystal bell, murmured carefully: "Think, O Lord of my heart, about your state, about its tranquility and prosperity, and not about vain feelings ..." Mustafa, whom Roxalana knew from the age of 4, having become adult, had to die at the request of his stepmother.
The Prophet forbade shedding the blood of the padishahs and their heirs, therefore, by order of Suleiman, but by the will of Roxalana, Mustafa, his brothers and children, the grandsons of the Sultan, were strangled with a silk cord.

Historical facts: In 1553, the eldest son of Suleiman, Prince Mustafa, was executed, at that time he was already under forty years old. The first sultan to execute his adult son was Murad I, who ruled at the end of the 14th century, who ensured that the recalcitrant Savji was put to death. The reason for Mustafa's execution was that he planned to usurp the throne, but, as in the case of the execution of the Sultan's favorite, Ibrahim Pasha, the blame was placed on Hurrem Sultan, who was a foreigner who was near the Sultan. In the history of the Ottoman Empire, there was already a case when a son tried to help his father leave the throne - this was done by Suleiman's father, Selim I, with Suleiman's grandfather, Bayezid II. After the death of Prince Mehmed a few years earlier, the regular army really considered it necessary to remove Suleiman from business and isolate him in the residence of Di-dimothikhon, located south of Edirne, in direct analogy with how it happened with Bayezid II. Moreover, the letters of shehzadeh have been preserved, on which the personal seal of shehzade Mustafa, addressed to the Safavid Shah, was clearly visible, which Sultan Suleiman later learned about (this seal is also preserved and Mustafa's signature is inscribed on it: Sultan Mustafa see photo). The last straw for Suleiman was the visit of the Austrian ambassador, who, instead of visiting the Sultan, first of all went to Mustafa. After the visit, the ambassador informed everyone that Shehzade Mustafa would be a wonderful Padishah. After Suleiman found out about this, he immediately summoned Mustafa to him and ordered him to be strangled. Shehzade Mustafa was strangled by order of his father in 1553 during a Persian military campaign.

Legend eight. "About the Origin of Valide"

The legend says: “Valide Sultan was the daughter of the captain of an English ship that was wrecked in the Adriatic Sea. Then this unfortunate ship was captured by Turkish pirates. The part of the manuscript that has been preserved ends with the message that the girl was sent to the Sultan's harem. This is an Englishwoman who ruled Turkey for 10 years and only later, not finding a common language with her son's wife, the notorious Roksolana, returned to England.

Historical facts: Aishe Sultan Hafsa or Hafsa Sultan (from Ottoman Turkish: عایشه حفصه سلطان) was born around 1479. - 1534) and became the first Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) in the Ottoman Empire, being the wife of Selim I and the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Although the year of birth of Ayşe Sultan is known, historians still cannot determine the date of birth definitively. She was the daughter of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray.
She lived in Manisa with her son from 1513 to 1520, in the province, which was the traditional residence of the Ottoman shehzade, future rulers, who studied there the basics of government.
Aishe Hafsa Sultan died in March 1534 and was buried next to her husband in the mausoleum.

Legend nine. "About soldering Shekhzade Selim"

The legend says: “Selim acquired the nickname “Drunkard” due to excessive consumption of wine. Initially, this love for alcohol was due to the fact that at one time Selim's mother herself, Roksolana, periodically gave him wine, the rack of the son was much more manageable.

Historical facts: Sultan Selim was nicknamed the Drunkard, he was so cheerful and did not shy away from human weaknesses - wine and a harem. Well, the prophet Muhammad himself admitted: "More than anything on earth, I loved women and fragrances, but I always found complete pleasure only in prayer." Do not forget that alcohol was in honor at the Ottoman court, and the life of some sultans turned out to be shorter precisely because of the passion for alcohol. Selim II, being drunk, fell in the bath and then died from the consequences of the fall. Mahmud II died of delirium tremens. Murad II, who defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Varna, died of apoplexy caused by drinking. Mahmud II loved French wines and left behind a huge collection of them. Murad IV from morning till night frolicked with his courtiers, eunuchs and jesters, and sometimes he forced the main muftis and judges to drink with him. Falling into binges, he committed such cruel acts that those around him seriously thought that he had lost his mind. For example, he liked to shoot arrows at people who sailed on boats past the Topkapı Palace or run at night in underwear through the streets of Istanbul, killing anyone who got in their way. It was Murad IV who issued a seditious decree from the point of view of Islam, according to which alcohol was allowed to be sold even to Muslims. In many ways, Sultan Selim's addiction to alcohol was influenced by a person close to him, in whose hands were the main threads of control, namely the vizier Sokolu.
But it should be noted that Selim was not the first and not the last sultan who worshiped alcohol, and this did not prevent him from participating in a number of military campaigns, as well as in the political life of the Ottoman Empire. So from Suleiman he inherited 14.892.000 km2, and after him this territory was already 15.162.000 km2. Selim, reigned prosperously and left his son a state that not only did not decrease territorially, but even increased; this, in many respects, he owed to the mind and energy of the vizier Mehmed Sokollu. Sokollu completed the conquest of Arabia, which was previously only weakly dependent on the Porte.

Legend ten. "About thirty trips to Ukraine"

The legend says: “Hyurrem, of course, had influence on the Sultan, but not enough to save fellow countrymen from suffering. During his reign, Suleiman undertook more than 30 trips to Ukraine.

Historical facts: Restoring the chronology of the conquests of Sultan Suleiman
1521 - a campaign in Hungary, the siege of Belgrade.
1522 - siege of the fortress of Rhodes
1526 - a campaign in Hungary, the siege of the Petervaradin fortress.
1526 - battle near the city of Mohacs.
1526 - the suppression of the uprising in Cilicia
1529 - capture of Buda
1529 Storming of Vienna
1532-1533 - fourth trip to Hungary
1533 - the capture of Tabriz.
1534 - Seizure of Baghdad.
1538 - the ruin of Moldova.
1538 - capture of Aden, naval expedition to the shores of India.
1537-1539 - The Turkish fleet under the command of Hayreddin Barbarossa ruined and imposed tribute on more than 20 islands in the Adriatic Sea that belonged to the Venetians. Capture of cities and villages in Dalmatia.
1540-1547 - fighting in Hungary.
1541 - the capture of Buda.
1541 - capture of Algiers
1543 - the capture of the fortress by Esztergom. A Janissary garrison was stationed in Buda, and the Turkish administration began to function throughout Hungary, occupied by the Turks.
1548 - passage through the lands of South Azerbaijan and the capture of Tabriz.
1548 - the siege of the fortress of Van and the capture of the basin of Lake Van in southern Armenia. The Turks also invaded Eastern Armenia and Southern Georgia. In Iran, the Turkish units reached Kashan and Qom, captured Isfahan.
1552 - the capture of Temeswar
1552 - Turkish squadron headed from Suez to the shores of Oman.
1552 - In 1552, the Turks took the city of Te-meshvar and the fortress of Veszprem
1553 - capture of Eger.
1547-1554 - the capture of Muscat (a large Portuguese fortress).
1551 - 1562 another Austro-Turkish war took place
1554 - naval battles with Portugal.
In 1560, the Sultan's fleet won another great naval victory. Off the coast of North Africa, near the island of Djerba, the Turkish armada entered the battle with the combined squadrons of Malta, Venice, Genoa and Florence
1566-1568 - Austro-Turkish war for the possession of the Principality of Transylvania
1566 - the capture of Szigetvar.

During his long, almost half-century reign (1520-1566), Suleiman the Magnificent never sent his conquerors to Ukraine.
It was at that time that the construction of notches, castles, fortresses of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, the organizational and political activities of Prince Dmitry Vishnevetsky arose. In Suleiman's letters to the Polish King Artykul August II, there are not only threats to punish "Demetrash" (Prince Vyshnevetsky), but also a demand for a quiet life for the inhabitants of Ukraine. At the same time, in many ways, it was Roksolana who contributed to the establishment of friendly relations with Poland, which at that time controlled the lands of Western Ukraine, the native lands of the Sultana. The signing of the Polish-Ottoman truce in 1525 and 1528, as well as the "perpetual peace" treaties of 1533 and 1553 are often attributed to her influence. So Piotr Opalinsky, the Polish ambassador to Suleiman's court in 1533, confirmed that "Roksolana begged the Sultan to forbid the Crimean Khan to disturb the Polish lands." As a result, close diplomatic and friendly contacts established by Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan with King Sigismund II, which is confirmed by the surviving correspondence, allowed not only to prevent new raids on the territory of Ukraine, but also contributed to interrupting the flow of the slave trade from those lands

Shehzade was called the boys born to his sultan, or. When the prince was 5-6 years old, he began to study at a special school for shehzade, built in the 15th century. The school premises are richly decorated, with a large hearth, bookcases, music stands, vaulted mirrored ceilings and decorations, which is evidence of the attention paid to the future heirs to the throne and their education.

Until the age of 8, the princes lived with their mothers and nannies, and after this age they communicated for the most part only with a mentor and servants, and saw their parents only on special occasions.

The brocade caftan of Sultan Ahmed I, which he wore when he was still a shehzade.

The shehzade circumcision ceremony was performed with great luxury and was accompanied by celebrations. Three months before the ceremony, all viziers, provincial rulers, and senior statesmen were notified so that they could come to the celebration, which often began to be prepared a year in advance, and it could last from ten days to a month. The invited guests gave gifts to the shekhzade and his family members according to their status, and then they had fun and were treated to feasts on the occasion of such an important event.

When the prince turned 13-14 years old, he was given his own chambers in the harem. If the father of shehzade died, then he remained a recluse in the same room, so it was called "kafes" ("cell"). Shehzade, who led a secluded life, was assigned a staff of twelve servants, a pantry, eunuchs and his own maintenance.

The windows of the shehzade room overlooking the Bosphorus (Topkapi Palace).

The reign of the Sultan ended not only in the event of his death. So, Murad II (1421-1451) voluntarily left the throne to his son - the future Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. Bayezid II was forced to leave the throne in favor of his younger son Selim. Osman II, Ibrahim I and Mustafa IV were dethroned.

Those who ascended the throne, shehzade, sat on the golden throne,
installed in front of the Gate of the White Eunuchs, and received congratulations.

The chief eunuch informed the prince about the death of his father (or about his abdication). He should have taken the shehzade by the hand and lead him to the body of his father, after which the heir to the throne appeared to the Grand Vizier and Sheikh al-Islam, who were the first to recognize the new monarch and begin preparationsto the ceremony of ascension of the new Sultan to the throne. This was immediately announced to the people, and invitations to the ceremony were sent out to all important government officials.

The throne of the Sultan was located at the Gate of the White Eunuchs (Gate of Bliss). The guests lined up in order of seniority, the sultan came out, sat on the throne, and the participants in the ceremony approached him one by one, fell to their knees and kissed the foot of the throne, thereby recognizing the new ruler. The ceremony was ended by Sheikh al-Islam, the Grand Vizier and other viziers.

Gate of the White Eunuchs (Topkapı Palace)

After that, in accordance with tradition, the Sultan was girded with a sword in the Eyup Mosque. This event was in some way analogous to the European coronation ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, the Sultan was to travel from Topkapı Palace to the mosque by boat. The Sultan went ashore and mounted his horse, which slowly moved along the street between the rows of representatives of the nobility, saluting troops and the graves of the rich - Eyup was one of the most prestigious cemeteries in Istanbul. At the entrance to the mosque, he had to dismount and go to a small elevation in the courtyard between the mausoleum of Ayub al-Ansari and the mosque building itself, where an old plane tree stood. Here he was girded with three swords: the sword of Osman, the sword of the fourth righteous caliph Ali and the sword of Sultan Selim I Yavuz. Then the new sultan entered the city on horseback through the gates of Edirne, visiting the graves of his predecessors and also necessarily the Hagia Sophia Mosque, after which he returned to the Topkapi Palace.

"ILLEGAL SONS" OF OTTOMAN SULTANS OR ANOTHER FALSIFICATION OF THE CREATORS OF THE "MAGNIFICENT AGE. EMPIRE KYOSEM" In order to dispel the ambiguity of what was said in the TV series "The Magnificent Century. Kösem Empire”, we will make our own explanations from the point of view of the historical context. The Ottoman sultan could not have "legitimate" and "illegal" children. Due to the polygamy adopted in the traditional Islamic eastern society, which was the Ottoman Empire at that time, one man (including the Sultan) was allowed to have up to 4 legal wives by nikah (marriage in Islam) and an unlimited number of concubines. The number of women depended on the wealth of the man and the level of his income, because. it was supposed that each of the wives and concubines was provided with everything necessary at a level equal to the property of her rivals. The dynastic houses of Europe, adhering to the Christian faith, had both legitimate children born in marriage and bastards - children born out of wedlock. It was these children who were included in the categories of “legitimate” - born after the marriage of their parents, and “illegal” - born without formalizing the marriage bond between mother and father. Most often, bastards of kings received noble dignity, ducal and county titles, wealth, vassals, allotments and peasants, but did not have the right to inherit the throne after their fathers, since they were born out of wedlock. The exception was cases if, as a result of the suppression of any dynastic line, the throne could be taken by a new ruler, who could also be an illegitimate child (for example, the English king William the Conqueror, who was the bastard of his father, Duke Robert the Devil, or the English Queen Elizabeth I Tudor , for a long time not recognized by the Catholic Church as the legitimate daughter of her father Henry VIII). The presence of such a number of illegitimate children and a significant restriction of their rights were explained both by the impossibility of Christian monarchs to enter into polygamous marriages with a large number of women, and by the unwillingness of European kings to “split” their states between legitimate and illegitimate children, which could provoke civil wars. Such a structure of the family and family hierarchy was fundamentally different from the Eastern society, which had completely different values. Islamic polygamous rulers had harems with tens, hundreds and even thousands of female slaves, who were supposed to serve as concubines. Spectators of the “Magnificent Century” already know that such a slave could become a sultan and achieve recognition of the environment and power in the state only if she gave birth to a son (or several) to the monarch, and subsequently achieved high titles like Haseki Sultan (the favorite or even the wife of the ruling sultan) or Valide Sultan (mother of the reigning sultan), if we consider specifically the example of the Ottoman Empire. The heir to the Ottoman throne was not the eldest son by birth, as was customary in European states, but the one of the shahzade sons, to whom the sultan-father was most disposed, or which of the sons had the greatest influence in the army or bureaucracy. Sometimes it happened that the mother of a given shahzade could not be a wife by nikah, but a concubine of a padishah, but this did not at all turn her son into an “illegal illegitimate” child, since the Ottomans never considered their children from this point of view. All children born to the Ottoman sultans in legal marriages with their wives or from relationships (even single ones) with concubines, were RECOGNIZED AND CONSIDERED (!!!) as legitimate children, bore the titles of shahzade and sultanas, respectively, and were fully included in court life without any omissions. With the accession of the next sultan, even under the conditions of using the notorious fratricidal "Law of Fatih", none of the executed shahzade was deprived of his title and position, they all continued to be called the sons of the late sultan and were usually buried near their relatives - fathers, grandfathers or brothers, which confirmed their high status. Therefore, the question of how much Kösem Sultan changed in the legislation is untenable: even Kösem Sultan, with all her power, could not change the order of the hierarchy of power that was familiar to the Ottoman Empire for centuries, from the name “lawful or illegal shahzade ”, called by the screenwriter of the series Y. Shahin to unsuccessfully copy the court hierarchy of the royal houses of Europe at that time, are unsuccessful and unauthorized, but, simply speaking, are erroneous and deceitful. The case cited in the series about a boy allegedly born to Shehzade Ibrahim from a concubine took place in historical reality, but this child had nothing to do with the Sultan's family. Already at the time of the reign of Sultan Ibrahim I, a slave entered the service of the then Kizlyar-aga (head of the black eunuchs) Syumbylu-aga. The girl was bought by Syumbul from the Persians for a lot of money and was distinguished by beauty and grace. Syumbul-aga, who bought a slave for the Sultan's harem, could not give her to the Sultan due to the fact that the slave not only did not turn out to be a virgin, but was also pregnant. The father of this child remains unknown. Since the supreme eunuchs of the Sultan's harem were not forbidden to have their own estates, wealth and even harems, Syumbyul-aga, taking pity on the girl, took her to him and subsequently even adopted the boy she had born. Wanting to support the mother of his adopted son and himself, Syumbyul, unable to attach a young woman as a concubine to the harem of Ibrahim the Mad, brought her to Topkapi as a nurse for the little Shahzade Mehmed, born Haseki Khadije Turhan Sultan. The boys were almost the same age and grew up together, because Ibrahim, who visited his son, knew the adopted son of Kizlyar Agha, and since the baby was handsome, smart and sweet, the Sultan became attached to him, often spending time with him and playing, ignoring his own son . The attention and care with which the padish spoiled the foster child caused resentment, jealousy and anger in Khadija Turhan Sultan, and one day she took out the accumulated bitterness on the boy's mother and on himself. Ibrahim found out about this, which caused such a fit of wild rage in him that he snatched the little son of Mehmed from the hands of Khadija Turhan and threw him into a nearby fountain (according to another version, a pool or an artificial pond). The kid did not drown, but hit his head very hard on the sides, cut his forehead to blood, which forever remained a reminder in the form of a scar to the future Sultan. The incident frightened and worried Syumbyul-aga, since he rightly feared revenge from Turhan Sultan, who almost lost her son through his unwitting fault. Kizlyar-aga asked Ibrahim for his resignation, under the pretext of a pilgrimage to Mecca, took the concubine with her son and left Istanbul by ship. But their ship got into a storm, it was carried to the shores of Rhodes, after which the ship was captured by the Maltese pirates who ruled the Mediterranean. Syumbyul-aga was brutally killed by them, the woman and the boy were captured, but soon she herself died. The boy was mistakenly taken by the pirates for the son of Sultan Ibrahim, and the robbers hoped to get a huge ransom for him, but their hopes did not come true. The child survived, was later raised in the Christian faith, received the priesthood and the name Padre Ottomano in memory of his origin. Ibrahim, who learned about the death of Syumbyul-aga and the capture of the former slave with her son, was furious and even planned to attack Malta, which was a stronghold of pirates, but he was dissuaded from this venture, after which, in order to harm Venice, which turned a blind eye to the actions of the Maltese pirates in Mediterranean, he announced a campaign against the island of Crete, whose conquest dragged on for the Ottoman Empire for fifty years. Summing up all of the above, we draw attention to the fact that there were no “legitimate” and “illegal” children of the Ottoman sultans, which the creators of the series have recently shown us, were not and could not be: all the children of the sultans, born from wives or concubines, were considered legitimate and legitimate, who had the right to the throne (boys) both de jure and de facto. SOURCE OF INFORMATION: 1. Klug J. The history of the harem in the cultures of the peoples of the world. Smolensk: "Rusich", 2004. 2. Mamedov I.B. The Haseki Institute in the Harem of the Ottoman Sultans. // Proceedings of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen. 2009. No. 111. pp. 33 - 40. 3. Uluchai Chagatai M. Wives and daughters of the Ottoman sultans. Ankara. 1990. 4. Freely J. Secrets of the Ottoman court. The private life of the sultans. Smolensk: "Rusich", 2004. 5. Alderson A. D. The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty. Oxford, 1956 6. Frehley John. Secrets of the Ottoman court. The Private Lives of the Sultans. By Orhan to Abdul Majid II (history of everyday life: lifestyle, customs, mentality). 1998. New York, London. 7. Musallam B. F. Sex and Society in Islam. Cambridge, England, 1983. 8. Penzer N. M. The Harem. London, 1936. 9. Ulucay, Cagatay M. Harem, Ankara, 1985. 10. Ulucay, Cagatay M. Padisahlarin Kadinlari ve Kizlari. Ankara, 1992.

For nearly 400 years, the Ottoman Empire dominated what is now Turkey, southeastern Europe, and the Middle East. Today, interest in the history of this empire is greater than ever, but at the same time, few people know that the stops had many "dark" secrets that they hid from prying eyes.

1. Fratricide

The early Ottoman sultans did not practice primogeniture, in which the eldest son inherits everything. As a result, a number of brothers often claimed the throne. In the first decades, it was not uncommon for some of the potential heirs to take refuge in enemy states and cause a lot of problems for many years.

When Mehmed the Conqueror besieged Constantinople, his own uncle fought against him from the walls of the city. Mehmed handled the problem with his characteristic ruthlessness. When he ascended the throne, he executed most of his male relatives, including even ordered to strangle his baby brother right in the cradle. He later issued his infamous law which read: The one of my sons who should get the Sultanate should kill his brothers"From now on, each new sultan had to take the throne by killing all his male relatives.

Mehmed III tore out his beard in grief when his younger brother begged him for mercy. But at the same time, he "did not answer him a word," and the boy was executed along with 18 other brothers. And Suleiman the Magnificent silently watched from behind a screen as his own son was strangled with a bowstring when he became too popular in the army and became a danger to his power.

2. Cells for shehzade

The policy of fratricide was never popular with the people and the clergy, and when Ahmed I died suddenly in 1617, it was abandoned. Instead of killing all potential heirs to the throne, they began to imprison them in the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul in special rooms known as Kafes ("cages"). An Ottoman prince could spend his entire life imprisoned in Kafes, under constant guards. And although the heirs were kept, as a rule, in luxury, many shehzade (sons of the sultans) went crazy with boredom or became depraved drunkards. And this is understandable, because they understood that at any moment they could be executed.

3. The palace is like a silent hell

Even for a sultan, life in Topkapı Palace could be extremely bleak. At that time, there was an opinion that it was indecent for the Sultan to talk too much, so a special form of sign language was introduced, and the ruler spent most of his time in complete silence.

Mustafa I considered that this was simply unbearable and tried to abolish such a rule, but his viziers refused to approve this ban. As a result, Mustafa soon went mad. He often came to the seashore and threw coins into the water so that "at least the fish would spend them somewhere."

The atmosphere in the palace was literally saturated with intrigue - everyone fought for power: viziers, courtiers and eunuchs. The women of the harem gained great influence and eventually this period of the empire became known as the "sultanate of women". Ahmet III once wrote to his Grand Vizier: " If I move from one room to another, then 40 people line up in the corridor, when I get dressed, then security is watching me ... I can never be alone".

4. Gardener with the duties of an executioner

The rulers of the Ottomans had complete power over the life and death of their subjects, and they used it without hesitation. Topkapi Palace, where petitioners and guests were received, was a terrifying place. It had two columns on which severed heads were placed, as well as a special fountain exclusively for the executioners so that they could wash their hands. During the periodic purges of the palace from objectionable or guilty people, whole mounds were piled in the courtyard from the tongues of the victims.

Curiously, the Ottomans did not bother to create a corps of executioners. These duties, oddly enough, were entrusted to the palace gardeners, who divided their time between killing and growing delicious flowers. Most of the victims were simply beheaded. But it was forbidden to shed the blood of the Sultan's family and high-ranking officials, so they were strangled. It was for this reason that the head gardener was always a huge muscular man, able to quickly strangle anyone.

5. Death Race

For delinquent officials, there was only one way to avoid the wrath of the Sultan. Beginning in the late 18th century, it became customary for a condemned grand vizier to escape his fate by beating the chief gardener in a race through the palace gardens. The vizier was summoned to meet with the head gardener, and after an exchange of greetings, he was presented with a goblet of frozen sherbet. If the sherbet was white, then the sultan granted the vizier a respite, and if it was red, he should have executed the vizier. As soon as the condemned man saw red sherbet, he immediately had to run through the palace gardens between shady cypresses and rows of tulips. The goal was to reach the gate on the other side of the garden that led to the fish market.

There was only one problem: the vizier was pursued by the head gardener (who was always younger and stronger) with a silk cord. However, several viziers managed to do so, including Khachi Salih Pasha, the last vizier who was the last to participate in such a deadly race. As a result, he became a sanjak-bey (governor) of one of the provinces.

6. Scapegoats

Although the grand viziers were theoretically second only to the sultan in power, they were usually executed or thrown into the crowd to be torn apart as a "scapegoat" whenever something went wrong. During the time of Selim the Terrible, so many grand viziers were replaced that they always began to carry their wills with them. One vizier once asked Selim to let him know in advance if he was to be executed soon, to which the sultan replied that a whole line of people had already lined up to replace him. The viziers also had to calm the people of Istanbul, who always, when they didn’t like something, came in a crowd to the palace and demanded execution.

7. Harem

Perhaps the most important attraction of the Topkapi Palace was the Sultan's harem. It consisted of up to 2,000 women, most of whom were bought or kidnapped slaves. These wives and concubines of the Sultan were kept locked up, and any outsider who saw them was executed on the spot.

The harem itself was guarded and ruled by the chief eunuch, who, because of this, had great power. There is little information about living conditions in the harem today. It is known that there were so many concubines that some of them almost never caught the eye of the Sultan. Others managed to get such a huge influence on him that they took part in solving political issues.

So, Suleiman the Magnificent fell madly in love with the Ukrainian beauty Roksolana (1505-1558), married her and made her his chief adviser. Roksolana's influence on the politics of the empire was such that the grand vizier sent the pirate Barbarossa on a desperate mission to kidnap the Italian beauty Giulia Gonzaga (Countess of Fondi and Duchess of Traetto) in the hope that Suleiman would pay attention to her when she was brought to the harem. The plan eventually failed, and Julia could not be kidnapped.

Another lady - Kesem Sultan (1590-1651) - achieved even more influence than Roksolana. She ruled the empire as regent in place of her son and later grandson.

8. Blood Tribute

One of the most famous features of early Ottoman rule was the devshirme ("blood tribute"), a tax imposed on the non-Muslim population of the empire. This tax consisted in the forced recruitment of young boys from Christian families. Most of the boys were enrolled in the corps of the Janissaries - the army of slave soldiers, who were always used in the first line during the Ottoman conquests. This tribute was collected irregularly, usually resorted to devshirma when the sultan and viziers decided that the empire might need additional manpower and warriors. As a rule, boys aged 12-14 were recruited from Greece and the Balkans, and the strongest were taken (on average, 1 boy per 40 families).

The recruited boys were rounded up by Ottoman officials and taken to Istanbul, where they were entered on a register (with a detailed description in case anyone ran away), circumcised, and forcibly converted to Islam. The most beautiful or smartest were sent to the palace, where they were trained. These guys could achieve very high ranks and many of them eventually became pashas or viziers. The rest of the boys were initially sent to work on farms for eight years, where the children simultaneously learned the Turkish language and developed physically.

By the age of twenty, they were officially Janissaries, the elite soldiers of the empire, who were famous for their iron discipline and loyalty. The blood tribute system became obsolete in the early 18th century, when the children of the Janissaries were allowed to join the corps, which thus became self-sustaining.

9. Slavery as a tradition

Although devshirme (slavery) was gradually abandoned during the 17th century, this phenomenon continued to be a key feature of the Ottoman system until the end of the 19th century. Most of the slaves were imported from Africa or the Caucasus (the Adyghes were especially valued), while the Crimean Tatar raids ensured a constant influx of Russians, Ukrainians and Poles.

Initially, it was forbidden to enslave Muslims, but this rule was quietly forgotten when the influx of non-Muslims began to dry up. Islamic slavery largely developed independently of Western slavery and therefore had a number of significant differences. For example, it was somewhat easier for Ottoman slaves to gain freedom or achieve some kind of influence in society. But at the same time, there is no doubt that Ottoman slavery was incredibly cruel.

Millions of people died during slave raids or from exhausting work. And that's not even talking about the castration process that was used to fill the ranks of the eunuchs. What was the mortality rate among the slaves, evidenced by the fact that the Ottomans imported millions of slaves from Africa, while in modern Turkey there are very few people of African descent.

10 Massacres

With all of the above, we can say that the Ottomans were quite a loyal empire. Apart from devshirme, they made no real attempt to convert non-Muslim subjects. They received Jews after they were expelled from Spain. They never discriminated against their subjects, and the empire was often ruled (we are talking about officials) by Albanians and Greeks. But when the Turks felt threatened, they acted very cruelly.

Selim the Terrible, for example, was very alarmed by the Shiites, who denied his authority as a defender of Islam and could be "double agents" of Persia. As a result, he massacred almost the entire east of the empire (at least 40,000 Shiites died and their villages were razed to the ground). When the Greeks first began to seek independence, the Ottomans resorted to the help of Albanian partisans, who carried out a series of terrible pogroms.

As the empire's influence declined, it lost much of its former tolerance for minorities. By the 19th century, massacres had become much more common. This reached its peak in 1915, when the empire, just two years before its collapse, slaughtered 75 percent of the entire Armenian population (about 1.5 million people).

Continuing the Turkish theme, for our readers.

He became, if not the greatest, then one of the greatest monarchs of Turkey in its entire history. In Europe, he is known as the "Magnificent" conqueror, remembering large-scale military campaigns, conquests in the Balkans, in Hungary, the siege of Vienna. At home, he is still known as a wise legislator.

Family and children of Suleiman the Magnificent

As befits a Muslim ruler, the Sultan had many wives and concubines. Any Russian-speaking reader is familiar with the name of Roksolana, a slave concubine who became the beloved wife of the ruler and an important person in the management of state affairs. And thanks to the incredible popularity of the TV series "The Magnificent Century", the intrigues of the Sultan's harem and the long-term confrontation between the Slavic Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan (Roksolana) and the Circassian Mahidevran Sultan became widely known. Of course, over time, all the children of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent were drawn into this long-term feud. Their fates were different. Someone remained in the shadow of their blood relatives, while someone managed to vividly write their name into the pages of Turkish history. Below is the story of the children of Suleiman the Magnificent. Those of them who managed to leave any significant mark.

Children of Suleiman the Magnificent: Shehzade Mustafa and Selim II

These princes became rivals in a dispute started by their mothers. These are those of Suleiman the Magnificent who were drawn into the bitter feud between Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and Mahidevran. Both were not the firstborn of their mothers and were not initially considered direct contenders for the throne. But the vicissitudes of fate made them so. However, it was largely resolved by those who started it. Roksolana managed to win the sultan's sympathy and become his beloved wife. Mahidevran was actually exiled to Manisa along with her son Mustafa. However, the tragic vicissitudes of Prince Mustafa's fate were just beginning. Soon, rumors begin to spread throughout the empire that Mustafa is plotting against his father. Suleiman believed these rumors and ordered the execution of his son when they were both on one of the military campaigns. Thus, Selim's competitor to the throne was eliminated. did not later become such a wise and decisive ruler as his father. On the contrary, it is with his reign that historians connect the beginning of the sunset of the majestic Ottoman port. And the reason for this was not only objective socio-economic prerequisites, but also the personal qualities of the heir: weak character, laziness, short-sightedness and, most importantly, unrestrained drunkenness. He was remembered as a drunkard by the Turkish people.

Children of Suleiman the Magnificent: Shehzade Mehmed and Shehzade Bayazid

Both of them were the sons of the Sultan from Roksolana. Mehmed was her first son, but he could not be considered an heir, since his son Mahidevran Mustafa was older than him. However, when the latter fell into disgrace, it was Mehmed who became the favorite of his father. He was appointed governor of the city of Manisa in 1541. However, he was never destined to become a great sultan, nor did he die of illness in 1543. The heir, Bayazid, from an early age grew up as a brave and desperate young man. Already at an early

age, he took part in military campaigns, proving himself a talented commander. After the death of Mustafa, he began to be considered the main contender for his father's legacy. For the throne in subsequent years, a real war broke out between the brothers Bayezid and Selim, in which the latter won.

Mihrimah Sultan

She became the only daughter of the magnificent Sultan. Her mother was Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. Mihrimah received an excellent education, thanks to which she later became an important assistant to her mother in managing state affairs (at a time when Suleiman was on his countless campaigns).