Roxelana: From Harem to the Heart of Ottoman Power
Slave, foreigner, mother, consort, political dynamo, and ultimately, the most powerful woman in Ottoman history, Roxelana left an indelible imprint on the Empire with a legacy that outstrips that of most of the Ottoman sultans. But who was she, really?
Who Was Roxelana?
Born circa 1505 in Rohatyn, in what is now western Ukraine, Roxelana lived multiple lives with multiple names until her death in 1558. Little is known of her early life. According to some sources, she was christened Aleksandra Lisovska, and christened she truly would have been coming from an Orthodox tradition in Eastern Europe.
Kidnapped during a Crimean Tartar raid, she was sold into slavery in Constantinople (Istanbul). Bought by the palace, she was forced into a life of concubinage in the royal harem where she was made to convert to Islam. The name Roxelana, by which she became known in Europe, probably originated as a reference to her Ruthenian roots.
While modern interpretations of her show a strikingly beautiful woman, sources say that wasn’t necessarily true, although her reddish-blond hair and fair eyes would likely have set her apart in the harem. Despite not being the most beautiful woman in the harem, she quickly carved out a niche for herself with her pleasing personality. While there’s a joke in there somewhere, that personality won her the name Hürrem, meaning “joyful one,” and, perhaps most importantly, the attention of the sultan.
Roxelana did what no woman in the Ottoman court had managed to do before: she became a wife. That might not sound earthshattering, but no sultan previously did what Süleyman [the Magnificent] did. He bucked tradition by both freeing and legally marrying her. By elevating her to be his consort, she did something else no woman before her had achieved. She became the first haseki sultan, a title created for her.
Hürrem Sultan,* as she was then known, became one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history, and the first in a series of prominent women who lived during the period that came to be known as the Sultanate of Women. She is commonly considered the most powerful Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
*Fun fact, the title for women (post Hürrem of course) was not sultana. They were not raisins. Europeans, who need to genderize titles, popularized the use of sultana.
Political Influence
Roxelana, was one of the most educated women in the world (at the time). And as one of the cleverest women ever to grace the Ottoman court, she was the first woman in Ottoman history to concern herself with state affairs. That’s actually putting it mildly. She more than “concerned herself,” she played a central role in the political life of the Ottoman Empire.
She acted as Süleyman’s chief advisor on matters of state and stood by his side—not behind him—at receptions and other official events. Roxelana was in every way his consort and exerted great influence upon foreign policy and international politics. She even freely corresponded with ambassadors of European countries and Persia.
Beyond politics, she was a patron of public works, collaborating closely with Mimar Sinan who would go on to become the Empire’s most celebrated architect, and one of the most famous Turks in history. Among their joint constructions were the (still standing) Haseki mosque complex, which included two schools and a hospital, and the still hugely popular Haseki Hürrem Hamam that stands in Sultanahmet square between the Haghia Sofia and Sultanahmet Camii, aka the “Blue Mosque.”
Court Intrigue
Like many women throughout history who dared to display any amount of intelligence or talent, her enemies were quick to denounce her as a witch. There obviously could be no other explanation. Again like just about every woman still today who dares to be assertive and wield any power, Roxelana was characterized as a schemer, in addition to more female-targeting derogatory words we won't mention here.
Supposedly, she plotted to assassinate Süleyman’s grand vizier İbrahim Paşa to eliminate a rival influence on the sultan. That might well be true. But in a world where the rising sultan’s first act was usually mass fratricide, her actions would only have been in keeping with court practices.
Roxelana was also accused of scheming to arrange the execution of Süleyman’s eldest son Mustafa (who was not hers) as he stood between her own sons and imperial succession.
Legacy
Roxelana’s legacy is contradictory. On the one hand, she’s portrayed as a wily and manipulative witch who would have anyone who stood in her way killed. For sure that’s how she’s often played in Turkish soap operas.
On the other hand, Roxelana is renowned as a woman of charity who did much to support the under-privileged. In addition to the Constantinople-based mosque and hamam mentioned above, Roxelana commissioned many other mosques, schools, hammams, and resting places for pilgrims travelling to the Islamic holy city. She built the Great Waqf of Al-Quds, a large soup kitchen in Jerusalem that fed the poor. Today, the Hürrem Sultan Endowment supports development and charitable projects in the Muslim world.
Roxelana remains a wildly fashionable character in popular culture as well, especially in Turkish dramas such as the eponymous Hürrem Sultan, Mimar Sinan, 8 Ülke 8 Yönetmen & Sinan, and Muhteşem Yüzyıl. She’s also appeared as either the main protagonist or at least as a character in international films, TV series, and documentaries including: La batalla de los Tres Reyes (Spain), Roxolana (Ukraine), Mätressen – Die geheime Macht der Frauen (Germany), Roxolana: Bloody Path to the Throne (Ukraine), and Three Thousand Years of Longing (USA).
Roxelana’s Favorites
If you couldn't tell, we're big fans of Roxelana. So much so that we chose to brand our wine club, Roxelana's Favorites around her. While there's not much evidence that she had any particular proclivity for wine, there is great evidence and lore around her son Sultan Selim II's love of the vine. Selim is also known, unofficially of course (and not uncontroversially), as Selim the Drunkard. Legend has it that his invasion of Cyprus in 1570 was driven by a desire to lock down a steady supply of a particular wine from Cyprus that he loved. Selim met his demise from severe head trauma suffered when he slipped and fell on the marble floors of the hammam in Topkapı Palace, reportedly while intoxicated. Clearly not as savvy as his mother, but a favorite of hers nonetheless.
And so it is with this tongue-in-cheek reference in mind that we entitled our wine club, Roxelana's Favorites. If you join one of our three wine club tiers, also branded in the spirit of Roxelana's palace - the Sultan’s Circle, the Court of the Grand Vizier, and the Pasha’s Guild - you'll get some great wines, curated in the name of Roxelana, with a healthy dose of palace intrigue. :)
So come get to know the great Roxelana by joining the club! As history demonstrates, it's good to be one of Roxelana's Favorites.
As always, you can enjoy and purchase these wines and many more at the Fine Turkish Wine Bottle Shop + Tasting Room, located in Houston's Montrose District at 1909 Dunlavy Street.
Attributions
Roxelana portrait: By Workshop of Titian - http://emuseum.ringling.org/emuseum/objects/24004/portrait-of-a-woman?ctx=58f0b43d-c6c8-4c05-843a-f456a9ca7f7d&idx=3, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7929744
By unknown - Bosphorous Tour, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=158224875
By Cornelius Gurlitt (1850-1938) - Gurlitt, C. (1912), Die Baukunst Konstantinopels, Berlin: E. Wasmuth. Scanned figure downloaded from MIT libraries' Dome. The levels have been adjusted and the figure cropped., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38569047
By Bernard Gagnon - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46373606
Andrea Lemieux is an international wine expert with particular expertise in Turkish Wine. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine, the world's only comprehensive English language book on Turkish wine. She is also the author of The Quick and Dirty Guide to Greek Wine and the founder of The Quirky Cork website which is dedicated largely to Turkish wine.
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