England in 15th century: "We need explicit succession rules to prevent another War of the Roses" Ottoman Empire in the 15th century "Fratricidal battle royale wooo!"
Funfact: Fratricide worked until Suleiman decided to execute the prince that is most likely to be sultan and most loved by people, Mustafa. So his other son, Selim the Drunkard, the child of his favorite concubine, could get the power.
@@kurumtelefon7148 exactly I'm very interested in how the empire would have turned out if Suleiman said no to the women and Mustafa became sultan after him. The empire would likely have been a lot stronger for a lot longer as Mustafa would have been a much more competent leader.
@پیاده نظام خان She was Rusyn (or Ruthenian in Latin adoption). Ruthenisn is an old name of all Ukrainians who lived in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
@@fyodor_ivanovich You have bad history knowledge. Ruthenian is a Latin adoption of selfname "Rusyny" (which means "Rus people"). Rusyny (Ruthenian) is an old selfname of all Ukrainians which was used till 20th century but is still used in many parts of Ukraine. In Poland all Ukrainians were named "Rusyn" in passports till 1939. And western Rus (or Ruthenia) with its capital Lviv (Lwow in Polish) was conquered by Poland only in 1387. That was the land of Rus before. The general difference of Rusyn (Ruthenians) was that they spoke Rus language and were Orthodox Christians (Poles were Catholics). Even for 500 years Rusyns did not forget their language and religion (although they were under Poland till 1798, then partially under Austria till 1919, then again under Poland till 1945). Roxolana Hürrem was born in Rogatin town of Ruthenian woivodship (nowadays a small town in Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine) in a family of a rich Orthodox priest. Her real name was Anastasia (second church name Alexandra) Lisovska. So she was very clever and could read and write. But occasionally she was captured during Tartars raids and sold as a slave to Ottomans...
From a Turkish point of view, you really hit the point! The Sultanate of Women was one of main patterns of Ottoman stagnation period. Despite their schemes which weakened the empire, their efforts helped the male line of the dynasty to survive, many architectural masterpieces to be built, and they supported and even financed some successful campaigns such as recapture of Baghdad and Iraq and Armenia by Murad IV, surpress of Anatolian rebellions by Kuyucu Murad Paşa, Ottoman-Habsburg wars. In my opinion, the final influential Ottoman Consort, Turhan Sultan, of possibly Russian origin, was the best one. She paid the defenses and fortresses of Gallipoli (Çanakkale, Gelibolu) from her own pocket to break the Venetian naval blockade. She even rebuked the then-Ottoman Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) fiercely for failing to meet the deadlines for the preparations of naval campaign and eventually conquest of the large island of Crete from Venice. She also discovered and appointed one of the best grand viziers of Ottoman times, Köprülü Mehmet Paşa, a 75-year old experienced and reliable, great statesman who defeated the Venetians, broke their naval blockade of Ottoman straits, and his son Fazıl Ahmed Paşa, who also became the grand vizier after his father's death went on to finalize the conquest of Crete (which had taken 22 years in total until his command) by taking the overall command on the island in addition to his sound victories against Poland and Austria.
William the conquerors wife gave him the ship he would use as his flagship to invade england. These days we live in a time when we get heart shaped necklaces and clothes, we will never get wives that give us warships and entire fleets for our conquering needs
It seems the Sultanate of Women both helped and hindered the Ottoman Empire depending on the individual, much like any form of leadership, some certainly helped the Ottoman Empire while others such as Kosem were more interested in personal power and control and even weakened the Empire for it.
Haseki Sultan Kosem was also a significant part of a movement in giving back to the poorest in society within the Ottoman Empire, and played a great deal in improving health standards through the building of hospitals, as well as education standards for children through the building of schools. When her husband was alive, she also advised him in making improvements and repairs to the Hagia Sofia mosque.
Only time being an Ottoman Sultan would be a dream was the early days when they lived as hardy warrior-rulers who spent their lives hunting, fighting and then commanding their beurocrats around. Their lives were nothing but tragedy in most of it. Madness, death were quite common. Go tell Osman III that his life was a dream. He was imprisoned within his living quarters for 51 years until he was the oldest living relative of the late Sultan. He probably scarcely saw the sky until they said he was the new ruler of the empire. What a joyous life.
I've told this to people around me over and over again: After researching Ottoman history for most of my life and studying history with a focus on the middle east at the university, if someone would ask me what my personal resume on the Ottoman Empire would be and if had only one point to make, my point would be: the Sultan is by far the most ill fated, lonely and depressing person in the entire state. You are born immediately into a competitive environment, seeing your siblings and knowing damn well that either you or they will be sacrificed to the succession tradition of the state. Now that you are a Sultan, the whole shit show just begins. Warfare, the pressure of the well being of the state, further more that of the entire Muslim ummah since you are also the caliph, it doesn't stop there you are also the head of state for a multitude of minorities and non-Muslims so you also have to be cool with them, otherwise, next point - social uprisings, tension between you and the ulema/Muslim scholars, the power of the jannisaries, plotting and cunning vezirs, the paranoia of omnipresent possible and very frequent military coups, being trapped, sometimes up to half a century, in the "Kafes" like a prisoner and burning away your childhood and youth in a tiny building, which can cause you to literally lose your fkn mind, the usual harem drama and heartbreaks (having a shit ton of women in your disposal doesn't protect you against that, quite the opposite), being forced by the state apparatus to kill your siblings, friends and even children (see the bio of Süleyman, if this happens to a sultan, you immediately see a shift in their personality since it ofc takes a huge psychological toll on them), your legacy and reputation etc. - all of this in order to eat your meals in total isolation like a goddamn hermit. But hey, at least you get some coochie right? Wrong. You first have to get a permission by your "Valide" your own mother to enter the harem. Imagine reigning over three continents but you still have to get a pass by your mom in order to have sex that night. Most of us get sick and tired of managing a family and a job at the same time, now imagine being a Sultan. Seriously though, I really encourage everyone to look into some Sultan biographies. Those men, for the majority of their lives, lead a miserable existence.
Interestingly, the same trend happened to some degree in Safavid Iran and Mughal India where women in Harem Sara could exert a substantial power. Women like Pari Khan Khanum, Tahmasp I's daughter in Safavid Court who killed two of his brothers in a span of two years including the reigning King Ismail II, or Nur Jahan, the chief wife of Jahangir, the Mughal emperor, who literally staged one of the most weird civil wars in Mughal history. Highly recommend continuing this series. And as always, Kudos to you guys for another great historical video.
I wish they had mentioned the slavery aspect of the harem abit more. Below is from what i have read...Except for the odd princess, many were enslaved women(sex slaves for lack of better word). They really had no choice in the matter. Much of the ottoman empire bureacracy was also run by slaves. They did that to prevent the kind of court families intrigue seen in the west. Thats what i read on it. Watch the magnificent century, it romanticizes the golden cage of the harem, but its ok. Janissaries, harem guards, and many state officials were also slaves. Among the women, guards, and janissaries, many were simply kidnapped from foreign or Christian groups. Just what i read...but pretty sad stuff.
Maybe it can be said that when you have a gathered group of people that has a quasi stable structure near the seat of power, they may start becoming a political instiutions that control the seat of power itself. The jannasaries, mamlukes are millitary examples but eunchs and mandarins are similar as well
@@hellothere4858 Pretty much one of the whole reason why Ottoman military was lacking behind Europe by the of 17th century . The Janissaries was really stubborn they still think they are the best and feared army in the Europe.
1. Hurrem Sultan - first ever woman to have Legal Marriage,earned Haseki Sultan title (Chief Consort),first ever slave to rule the harem only as Haseki,got freed from slavery and first Queen of Ottoman Empire. 2. Mihrmiah - Most Powerful Ottoman Princess,first ever princess to rule the harem,first ever princess to hold the title as Acting Valide Sultan (Acting Queen Mother). 3. Nurbanu Sultan - second woman to become Haseki Sultan,second woman to get freedom from slavery and have legal marriage. First slave to become Valide Sultan. 4. Safiye Sultan - third woman to earn title as Haseki,ruling the harem as Haseki and later as Valide. Second woman that became Valide,and first woman to go in council meetings when Sultan was in campaigns. 5. Kosem Sultan - fourth woman that earned title as Haseki,ruled the harem as Valide,fourth woman to become Valide,and first ever woman to earn the title as Regent Queen. 6. Turhan Sultan - fifth woman to earn the title as The Main Haseki,rule the harem as Valide and second woman to earn the title as Regent. Also the last powerful woman and haseki of The Ottoman Empire.
@@TsarOfRuss she gave power to her Son And taught them Not to kill each other .kosem even killed her own Son And grandson for power later end up being brutally killed
I've been watching Magnificent Century and wanted to know how historically accurate it was. couldn't find too many videos from trustable sources about the sultanate of women so thanks so much for uploading, Kings and Generals.
Its a very entertaining show that's well acted and interesting but when it comes to accuracy. It seems to try to be historically representative while also toying with the facts to add spice and drama to the show.
Magnificent century is not so accurate. You better watch other Historical Turkish series like " *Dirliş Ertugrul* , *Kurluş Osman* *The great Seljuks* "
Turkic woman Raziya ruled India, in Mamluk Egypt after a death of last Ayubid Sultan, a woman Shadiyar was supported by Mamluks as Sultanna, but Baghdad wasn't recognized her as a legitimate ruler because former concubine couldn't be an equal to Khaliph. And then Mamluks started their Kipchak dynasty
Raziya sultanta didn't get to rule for more than 2 years she was looked down apon for being a woman the royal nobles thought they could use raziya as a puppet ruler but she lead her armies in battle she wrote her own rules and did things without the allowance of the nobles she was killed in a sabotage when she was riding in a cariage with her husband I think she was the daughter of iltuthmish I'm pretty sure about that but I'm not certain, it's said she would have been one of the best rulers of india if she wasn't a woman
I remember going over this period in college, many, many years ago and my teacher was like "this period is going to get more notoriety, I'm tell you." Well, a decade later, they made 2 huge TV shows and the amount of videos on the UA-cam, this one included, like quadrupled and I love that.
Again, must point out, that no, you don't get any titles for buying a small chunk of land in Scotland, the title of Laid is attached to the entire property as a whole, this has been made clear by both the Scottish Parliament and the Lord Lyon King of Arms, it's borderline fraudulent, no matter how many trees it plants.
Yeah I don't know why many companies keep getting sponsored by them. Sounds great on the paper, even I wanted to get a piece of land and officially call myself Lord. But before I did that, I did something most people don't bother. I did my research. Turns out, it's not official, and not recognizable by any authority whatsoever. You can call yourself Lord or Lady for shits and giggles, but that's just that. For fun. It has NO REAL, LEGAL, and SOCIETAL value.
Mr. Balfour I could not agree more. I am pretty angry about them shilling for basically a scam. They don't even know the a Lord would be called a Laird in Scotland. I do like your name, by the way. sincerely Catriona Drummond
My rule of thumb is that every UA-cam sponsorship is a scam: Raycons being overpriced for their quality, BetterHelp being a shit service that sells your private info, the endless stream of freemium games, etc.
The Ottoman Harem system is surprisingly similar with the Chinese system, only that the Chinese have had a clear succession system for millennia. Traditionally, women are not supposed to interfere with stately matters, but from time to time women with outstanding intelligence had been able to exert their influence over the Chinese Imperial Court by impressing the emperor. Concubines fighting each other in an attempt to have the emperor declare their son as the heir of the empire is also a common theme of modern day Chinese TV dramas, and has become its own genre.
@@icechoc Unfortunately no... Chinese "harem" drama focuses much more on the personal endeavours of a certain concubine than anything else historical, and are often highly romanticised.
@@CKLim1998 - that's fine. I never watch a historical TV show and expect it to be really historically accurate. Any shows that focus on a concubine? I enjoyed Magnificent Century and Magnificent Century: Kosem which focused on Hurrem Sultan and Kosem Sultan, respectively and Empress Ki which focused on Empress Ki of the Yuan Dynasty. Any others?
@@icechoc I don't follow drama closely but there's one that became very popular a few years ago called "Empresses in the Palace", which takes place in the Qing empire during Qianlong's reign. Hong Kong has been producing such shows for like twenty years or more but the Chinese ones are bigger nowadays.
ya im surprised how closely it resembles the chinese one maybe some inspirations were taken from chinese empires even the empress dowager, the emperor's mother being the one to manage the harem is the same in the chinese empire
Her real name was Anastasiya (baptized as Alexandra) Lisovska, a daughter of a rich Orthodox priest from Rogatin town. Rogatin was under Galitia-Volhynian principality of former Kievan Rus till 1387 ("Ruthenian" is a Latin adoption of selfname of "Rusyn" - old name of all Ukrainians which is still used in many parts of Ukraine) , under Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth till 1798, under Austria till 1919, nowadays it is a small town in Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine). She was very clever and dangerous. As a daughter of the priest, she could read and write (a rare thing for those times, especially for women). It's almost impossible to turn from a slave to the Queen of Ottoman Empire in 16th century, so many Turks considered and consider her as a red-head witch...I was in Suleimaniye mosque this year (where she was buried) and a lot of Ukrainian tourists visit this place because in Ukraine she was always very famous and Roxolana became a very popular name in Ukraine (although that name was given her by Turks who mistakenly considered that on the territory of modern Ukraine the Scythian tribe of Roxoalanas still inhabited)))...
Sorry but it was pretty common in our country(Bharat),women can read n write n fight n become Maharani in our great civilization,we were nothing like Abhramic relgion...this witch thing always existed in Abrahamic religion(europe n Western Asia) other than that giving children n satisfying the lust of men, this is what women's were for in the Abrahamic religion🙏🙏🇮🇳🇮🇳
Always heard about this. But didn't know enough details about this really interesting time period and these extraordinary women. Nice job. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
Lots of people in the comments arguing that these women gaining power is what caused the decline of the Ottoman empire. Personally, I suspect it's the other way around; the government grew weaker, which presented an opportunity for people to gain power at the expense of the emperor, and the various wives and concubines just so happened to be well positioned to take advantage of this shift.
@@Cecilia-ky3uw wrong punk. Empress wu save china while ottoman fall down because remove it. It is just like political left and right. You remove the political party who suppose to dare question your wrongdoing and than it will be collapse and didn't progress anymore.
How can Sultanate of Women caused decline of the Ottoman Empire? The siege of Vienna happened in 1529 at the start of Sultanate of Women during Hurrem Sultan, and happened again in 1683, the year of the last Sultana Tarhan died. So after Sultanate of Women, Ottoman Empire did decline. Sultanate of Women took place during the height of glory of Ottoman Empire.
Now that this channel has finally covered the subject about the Sultanate of Women, I would like to see the subject regarding the Koprulu family being talked next! I would really love to see the video about this great Albanian Muslim family that produced six Grand Viziers for the Ottoman Empire that helped restored and strengthen the powers of the Ottoman Empire in Europe as best as they could. Of course, that didn't enough because the Empire only have a portion of Hungary left in the end after being defeated by the coalition of Christian powers. But despite that, the Koprulu family should not be overlooked at all in my opinion.
@@jonijoestar6871 Lol just sucked to be some of the Christian minorities in the empire or even from outside the empire. They were sometimes subject to kidnapping for slavery per historical documents. Many ended up in harems, as janissaries, hard labour, or guards. Anything where it suited the elite to protect their power, or for jobs free people didnt want to take. Read on the barbary pirate or the middle eastern slave trade, really ugly stuff. They nabbed europeans, Christians, and africans alot per old records.
@@abcdedfg8340 you make it sound like only them the ottoman empire are bad. A lot of other empire/nation would do that in their own "unique" way. People tend/will do bad/shady/unacceptable things to keep them in power and its stay the same even today
@@abcdedfg8340 lmao atleast the ottomans actually gave them jobs and many non muslim and non turks did get treated a whole lot better the any other empire/kingdom/civilization did
@@abcdedfg8340 The christian empires in latin america, africa and slavic lands commited r4p3 and g3nocid3 of natives by forcefully converting them to chrischanity and having r4p3 child with the natives. Also lets not forget the catholic priest treatment of children. Trying to show yourself in a good light lmao.
Hey Kings and Generals, first of all, great video. I especially liked the part mentioning the correspondence between Hurrem and Sigismund Augustus. I've made a (maybe too lengthy) comment about the Tatar raids on Poland-Lithuania, like the one in which Hurrem was taken, that also targeted Russia (Muscovy) and the Caucasus region, the whole Black Sea slave trade system. I also recommended a paper by Prof. Dariusz Kołodziejczyk on this subject. I noticed a mistake in this comment after sending it and wanted to edit it but I couldn't and it seemingly disappeared. Was it removed for some reason? Maybe it was some glitch on my end...
I think its safe to say that the Magnificent Sultan is the one who started the downfall of the Ottoman Empire by breaking tradition. After him, Hurrem's son ruined the Janissary system and down to the gutter it all went..
Yep Alot of historians credit him as the best but he just weakened the ottoman empire and most of the conquest was because of ibrahim pasha that he killed because of hurrem this two weakend the mighty empire and caused the empire to be in stale and downfall after himself In iran we had a similar shah called khosrow parviz that people call great because he conquered anatolia and egypt from romans He handed power to his lust for power and woman and fought the romans to the point of destruction of both country that caused the persian empire to collapse in less than a century and arabs conquered the persian land in a short time
@@notatroll78 Without that final roman persian war, there might still be a roman and persian state...or some form of its descendent... The early rashidun caliphate really benefitted from the total exhaustion of both empires.
For the record, I don't agree that the harem system was a specific Islamic tradition. During the early Islamic period, women weren't secluded in the household, and various women held various political and social power, and it really only began during the reign of the Ummayad Caliph Al-Hadi and part of the reason for it is due to a power struggle between him and his mother Al-Khayzarun. During which, the Caliph assembled his generals and asked them 'Who is the better among us, you or me?' asked Caliph al-Hadi of his audience. 'Obviously you are the better, Commander of the Faithful,' the assembly replied. 'And whose mother is the better, mine or yours?' continued the caliph. 'Your mother is the better, Commander of the Faithful.' 'Who among you', continued al-Hadi, 'would like to have men spreading news about your mother?' 'No one likes to have his mother talked about,' responded those present. 'Then why do men go to my mother to speak to her?' It is likely that the reason the harem system developed in the Islamic world is due to cultural intermixing with the Byzantines and the Sassanids, who practiced the Harem system well before Islam even began, in Ancient Greece and subsequently in Ancient Byzantium the place of the household where women were secluded was called the gynaeceum. It is unclear how much of this ideal was practiced in ancient Greece, but it was an ideal during the Byzantine era, although it is also unclear how much of it was really practiced. All this being said, it is also pretty unclear to what extent was the Harem system practiced in the Islamic world, while it was practiced among sultans, caliphs, and the elites in society, women probably intermixed with men in the general public, as there were various popular women and some among them were religious leaders in their own right, such as Rabi'a Al-Adawiyya and A’ishah al-Ba‘uniyah. In addition, there were also elite men who abhorred the practice. Elite men expressed in literature the horror they felt for the humiliation and degradation of their daughters and female relatives. For example, the verses addressed to Hasan ibn al-Firat on the death of his daughter read: To Abu Hassan I offer condolences. At times of disaster and catastrophe God multiplies rewards for the patient. To be patient in misery Is equivalent to giving thanks for a gift. Among the blessings of God undoubtedly Is the preservation of sons And the death of daughters.
Great video Would love to see a video on the Franco- ottoman alliance during Francis 1st and suleiman the magnificent reign and also later the less formal one during Louis XIV reign
1.francis/2.henri/diana poiters/barbaros/ottoman/Knights of the crescent They are related to each other. Research; Knights of the crescent(Turks secret organization). Knights of the crescent motto:donec totum impleat orbem Mehmed the Conqueror(nickname grand turk) Founder of Knights of the crescent grand turk island in atlantic. Barbaros hayrettin pasha.
It's har eem I'm an Arab. Harem is just an English latin way of saying it, like dawood to David, haroun to arun, maryem to mary, issa to jesus, nouh to noah, salah a din to saladin, latins always butcher middle eastern names...
Great video, I'll just point out some additional information - The Haseki Sultan title was created for Hurrem Sultana because the Valide Sultan had died. The Valide Sultan was responsible for several issues, such as ruling the harem, financial matters, and other various important other duties. With the death of Suleiman's mother, the position of the Valide became vacant and Suleiman needed someone to rule the harem and take on the other duties, therefore he created the Haseki title specifically for Hurrem which gave her the power and the various duties of the Valide Sultan. This marked the first time ever in Ottoman history that a consort would exercise equal power to the Valide Sultan and carry out her duties. After Selim became the Sultan and Hurrem had already died, Nurbanu Sultan as Haseki shared her power with Mihrimah Sultan who acted as de-facto Valide Sultan. However later on in the empire, when the Valide Sultan would be alive, the Haseki Sultan was very limited in her power, and the title would become almost worthless. A great example of this is during Murad III's reign when his mother Nurbanu Sultan was still alive and ruled as Valide, his Haseki, Safiye Sultan, could not exercise her power because of Nurbanu's active ruling. Because of this experience with her mother in law, Leslie Pierce points out that as Valide Sultan, Safiye literally forbade her son Mehmed III from making any of his concubines Hasekis, hence why there was no Haseki during Mehmed's reign. By the time of Ahmed's reign, however, the Haseki Sultan title started to change in meaning and purpose as now the title only meant the favorite concubine, and because of Ahmed's unwillingness to share his power with any of the women in his harem, his Haseki, Kosem Sultan, did not exercise any power as Haseki Sultan (She did not rule the harem, she did not carry on the duties of the Valide and had no influence on state affairs). The death of the Valide Handan Sultan, Ahmed's mother, naturally would have provided a chance for Kösem to fill in the shoes of the Valide like Hurrem did, but that did not happen because of Ahmed's determination of having all power for himself. The title lost all its meaning during Murad IV's reign when he made two of his concubines Hasekis, and then his brother Ibrahim I who made all of his eight concubines Hasekis. The only time in Ottoman history when the Haseki title was equal to the Valide title was during Hurrem's reign. However, one may argue that Hurrem was a more powerful Haseki than most Valide Sultans of the empire, especially because she redefined the role of the women in the harem by making it possible for her to achieve incredible power and influence which no woman, Valide or non Valide, had previously had in the harem. Besides, the power of the Valides who came before Hurrem did not extend beyond the harem, and the women (including Valides) who came after the Sultanate of Women did not have any real power any longer. Hurrem as a Haseki however, had enormous power which extended beyond the walls of the harem and overshadowed many Valide Sultans of the empire.
Great video as always and I would still appreciate a longer documentary covering the full reigns of the Sultans during that period rather than skipping over them! I'd specifically love to learn more about the reign of Murad IV and his conquest of Baghdad!
Here is interesting and funny fact : the title “sultan” was used for both women and men. If you are a man, you called, for example Sultan Mehmed and if you are a woman you called, for example Hurrem Sultan We know exiled Prince Cem from old videos of k&g. In the palace, they called Cem as “ Cem Sultan “ to mocking him. Great sense of humor ottomans had :D
The feminine title would be Sultana. The use of Hurrem Sultan was literally meant to signify her closeness to the supreme authority, that was the Sultan. Ottomans and muslim dynasties in general did not use last names or family names in general. Her official title was Haseki Sultan. Meaning consort of the Sultan. It wasn't the Turkish or Arabic scholars who were making any mistake in records, it was the European scholars who were mistranslating titles due to incorrect understanding.
@@kertkele Not today, but at the time Arabic was the official language of transcription also Greek. Same as latin in Wetern Europe. Turkish was the common language that everyone spoke.
Great Video kings and General, appreciate your effort.. Btw, just a small correction.. Harem in Arabic means group of women not forbidden. We have this in classic Arabic and other Arabic dialects as well.
Hurrem was kinda like Livia, wife of Augustus. Very influencial and powerful. That is the reason she was blamed for some things she didn't actually do. Hurrem didn't ask Suleiman to kill his son Mustapha so her son could take the throne. Mustapha was executed because he was organizing a military coup. He had a lot of support from political players inside the empire and had many loyal soliders. Suleiman was old and everyone wanted Mustapha to be the new sultan. Young military man and also an intellectual, he definitely would be the best choice for the empire but Suleiman simply didn't want to die. Because he knew that would be the only option. He have seen his father Selim overthrowing his grandfather Bayezid II. Bayezid was poisoned after few weeks. So, to avoid to have the same fate as his grandfather, Suleiman ordered his son Mustapha executed. Brutality of monarchy. Also Grand Vizier Ibrahim was executed because he was getting too big for his britches not because Hurrem arranged it. Suleiman realized he gave too much power to his childhood friend (most powerful vizier in Ottoman history) and Ibrahim Pasha was abusing that power. He had to go.
Mustafa was a brilliant heir. Said to have the very exact traits as his grandfather, Selim I, whom conquered all of Levant in 7 years. Suleiman also loved him. Hurrem was an extremely influential and political woman, however. She created rumors of Mustafa staging a coup and had him strangled so that her son can take the throne. Women in charge have been nothing but harmful to the empire as all they cared about were their own interests and their heir taking the throne
@@adonis1168 Well, you completely ignore the fact that if Mustafa had succeeded her children would have been murdered. Perhaps the sultan should have kept his pants up. Sir, pretty much everyone had their goals and self interests no need to singled women out. And there was many successful sultana. Lastly, is the coup by Mustafa merely rumours?
Once again, great video and very accurate details. Succession, and to a lesser extent retaining the throne, has always been the primary challenge for monarchies. Even Uthman, who later founded the Ottoman state, himself killed his uncle by arrow some time after Uthman was elected as the chief by other begs upon the death of Uthman's father, Ertugrul, who passed away as the chief of a minor federation of tribes, because Uthman's uncle stood as the other candidate in the succession voting, and was a rival as long as alive. Bayezid I, e.g., killed his brothers immediately upon ascension to the throne at the battlefield of Kosovo where his father Murad I was killed in battle. So, fratricide was a key part of succeeding to and keeping the throne, and it was made into law by Mehmed II the Conqueror. Ottomans did however bring a novelty to the eastern part of Christianity in that they gradually suppressed and destroyed local nobility who would otherwise be a larger complicating factor than brothers would in the succession wars, and installed "rootless" slave pashas in positions of power. Thus, the Ottoman dynasty ruled the state for 622 years, from the very foundation in 1299 A.D. through 1922. The fierce fratricide of two centuries (roughly from 1403 to 1600) was followed by "sultanate of women" as you called which, I agree with you, was instrumental in abolishing the fratricide altogether, and still keeping the dynasty on the throne. Thank you.
One thing important to note is that the three "Gunpowder Empires" faced more or less the same problems. Civil war and Infighting among heirs to the throne, Undue influence of the Sultan/Padishah's wives, Resistance towards modernization etc etc.
They usually do, they might have missed it on this one as keeping the algorithm gods happy is overworking all the creators from what I have noticed anyways.
@@EloiFL It's not that big of a request and is seen as an obvious addition and requirement, there should be dates without the viewer having to search for them.
@@FrazzP t'he funny thing is, I've checked t'he vídeo again and they mention dates for reference. Besides, the sultanate of women wasn't an outward institution, meaning that stablishing exact dates for their reign can be difficult since It occured mainly in the shadows. My answer was mostly out of spite because of the tone and apparent Smugness of the comentat above. That's it
It’s very interesting to see the difference between western and more eastern ideas. The harams and concubines a lot of eastern powers had, all the way to China and Japan seem to have caused a decent amount of issues as they hold a special kind of political power that is essentially completely absent in western nations who under Christendom are only supposed to have one wife and well…. not sleep around. So interesting to see how something so small changed the course of history and millions of lives over the years 🤔
As other commenters here have said, the same trend was happening in Safavid Iran and Mughal India. I would like to add event the farthest Islamic kingdoms in Nusantara had queens ruling at roughly the same time. Aceh had 4 queens in a row with the first modern women admiral appeared here, Kamalahayati who defeated the Dutch(She even had a widow-only elite squadron). Similarly, Pattani had 4 queens in a row titled the Blue Queen, Green Queen, Purple Queen and the Yellow Queen. It seems the Muslim world had an era of women ruling for a while at this time
Not an unusual thing, it is very common throughout our history to find leaders, scholars, scientists, poets who were son's of slaves or even slaves themselves...we have many instances where slaves were placed in positions of power in military and government .... the earliest instance is when the ruler of Mecca placed one of his slaves in his place when he had to travel to meet the 2nd Khalifa (Omar bin Al Khattab), Omar Asked him: " you have placed a slave to run Mecca?", the ruler replied: "He studied the Quran, he is knowledgable with the rules, and he has a good judgment", Omar approved saying: "this Quran can elevate people no matter who they are" Slaves were not looked down upon and were treated well, no one would have an issue with someone for being a salve or born to a slave (generally speaking, of course, it is 1400 years spanning over 3 continents) :)
@پیاده نظام خان bro what are you on about the Ottomans' enemies were the Europeans and the Persians, facing the most formidable foes both to their East and West. They all used guns and cannons. It was the spanish who fought with guns and cannons against backward civilizations who couldn't even comprehend the existence of guns. They went to the Americas with much better armour and equipment against people who fought half naked and threw javelins.
@پیاده نظام خان The only reason why the Spaniards were able to conquer the Mesoamericans because they used divide and conquer. There was a tribe in South America that for a very long time resisted the Spanish but it was close to where the Incas were. The Spanish had hundreds of Mesoamericans fighting for them against the Aztecs. That is how European nations managed to conquer parts of Asia and how Briton conquered India to a degree. Divide and Conquer. In WW1 Britain and France made a huge mess in the middle east whose problems still stem to this day. The Romans also did divide et impera. Not related to this topic but just wanted to point out.
@پیاده نظام خان okay no problem just wanted to point it out in response to the Spanish simply conquering Mesoamerica like a piece of cake when it wasn’t
The word is Arabic (حريم) (Hareem) that's how the Arabs pronounce it, and it means "women of a family prohibited from non-family men" and it applies to all women including Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, etc. Who are in direct relation to a man who is part of their family.
By the way, the way Murad IV used to remove her mother's clique of influence in divan was quite bossy. There were tons of rebellions, mainly from janissaries, with ridicilous demands like ''We want that guy to be given this position, that man to be given this title'' sort of stuff. Many of them were organised to threaten the willful Murad. In 1625, there was this last rebellion that killed 6 of his closest friends, and 30 more from his court. His response was a bit harsh, during Ayak Divanı(Foot Divan) which is Sultan seeing large groups of his subjects such as soldiers, beurocrats etc, he claimed he'll not tolerate plotters and mischief makers, ordered his grand vizier Topal Mehmed Pasha to be brought in front of him, and then smashed his head with a mace. Killing the most important man after the Sultan of Rome himself in a gruesome way in front of all his commanders. He then started an era of terror, he started executing janissaries even if they look him the wrong way, he was constnatly having physical trainings and was really athletic, and making a show of his physical strength. He banned smoking first, started to execute common civilians just for consuming or possessing tobacco, breaking their limbs in public display, hanging people and letting them to rot on streets etc. When people became too addicted to alcohol, he banned alcohol and opium as well. Even though he himself was not really sober in his nights. Died of sirrhosis anyway. Weird as it sounds, his era was actually a time of stability in that time of madness and disdain. He even made two successful military campaigns, taken Baghdad and Yerevan. Died of 27 years of age, his last attempt as a Sultan, was trying to kill his last surviving brother Ibrahim(He killed other two before his military campaings, Bayezid before he marched upon Yerevan, Kasım before he marched upon Baghdad) and trying to end Ottoman line. Which meant that Al-i Osman was no more and the throne was gonna be inherited to Al-i Cengiz, the decendants of Crimian Khans who're great grandsons of Chingiz Khan. He probably was so sick of his family, despised the idea of his mother taking everything and destroying it again, he just wanted to destroy his own bloodline.
Thats fiction from a TV series. Murad never had a beef with janissaries. He actually got their full support and before his act got all janissary leaders sacramet (all of them swear on koran). His actual problem was sipahis. That mace thing is fictional stoy as well. He just ordered Recep pashas strangle, after that pashas body decapitated and his head tossed pashas sipahi bodyguards. After that sipahi hunt continued and janissaries were helped Murad. Most of his close aids are janissarie origins. Him giving throne to Gengis bloodline thing is just a baseless rumor. He could kill his last brother and call crimea khan anytime he want.
@@Ahmet-yu7jr Nope, the fiction was how he handled them, besides, the sacrament you mention was in that show either. Actually, if memory serves, the mace thing is kinda brought up by Evliya Çelebi, which is another way of saying ''It's most likely made up'' You're basically calling everything rumour, next to nothing about Ottoman day to day life is based on something other than rumours in that case. Feridun Emecen has quite strong cases about a growing support for a possible Tatar rule in the empire in those days as well.
@@subutaynoyan5372 Only mace story I read is him killing a goat which harrassed convoy with one hit (could be made up story as well). Recep Pasha definetely strangled like traditionaly. Tartar's succession case is different. There are some situations I read about (read Feridun Emecen as well), first is when Ahmet I and his brother Mustafa I were ill and second time is Ibrahim's first years. Ibrahim's custody caused his stress and many belived he could be barren. For Murad IV, there is just one unreliable french envoy raport about that claim, other than no clear evidence like sultan's will, sultan's order or any fetva. The reason I don't belive that thing is he himself executed many Tartar nobles (Cengiz descendents ) most notably one of the Crimean Khan. And last Khan (during his last years) wasn't brilliant ruler. Did he have any reason to left empire him? If he really wanted to left empire to Crimean Khan why he never brin him to capital? Why he send him to recapture of Azak? Why he didn't killed Ibrahim before? That's why it is weak claim and more than could be a rumor. Other situations are more belivable.
@@poesje8051 fake my ass. The lost siege of Vienna, the victory of Mohac battle against Hungary in 1526 and many more are present in the show. Most of the things were fictional but that doesn't make it 90% fake. Learn history better
No hürrem can't give direct order to anybody she need to influence süleiman but Kösem was like padişah she can give any order to anybody she don't need any permission she can kill anybody anytime with her order and she can choose which boy will be next sultan
The last one turhan is known to be the real iron lady She really ruled the state for a few years and stabilizied the empire in contrast to her predecessors She installed capable statesman insted of court groups loyal to her And after 5 years let her son take the over the state Hürrem was never really a factor
Also, the decision for Hürrem to remain in the capital was also helped by the sickness of their youngest son Cihangir, who remained in the Palace even after being of age to go to a Sanjak.
@@TheNord06 well I’ve always loved Ottoman history. And here in Croatia we have a strong connection with their culture since we were under their rule for quite a while. Also we have dozens of Turkish soap operas airing on our national TV and though I don’t usually watch them, I really liked the Magnificent Century. I even think it was the most expensive Turkish soap opera ever and it really shows, the quality of it is just on another level
Comment section gets censor blitzed. I've had two comments deleted because I posed historical challenges. Apparently, only positive posts are "approved."
Killing the eldest son of sulaiman the magnificent is the worst mistake happened to ottoman empire. The sultanate of women literally led to power struggle with in court and officials Corruption in government led to internal strife. While Europe was saved from ottoman empire as a result.
And as gruesome as it was, the system of fratricide actually allowed the Ottomans to enjoy a good deal of stability and prevented civil wars and rebellions, while at the same time assigning the princes their own cities to govern gave them meaningful experience to one day rule the empire if and when they ascended the throne. The Kafe system created more problems than it tried to resolve as it made prospective heirs to the throne developmentally stunted and unprepared to rule.
@@barbiquearea yeah, ottoman princes in that era kind playing 𝗮 "𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗱 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲". They have no choice other than winning They are born as a prince so there is no leaving.
It would be great if you can cover China's Era of Crimson Rouge 红妆时代, which was the 8 years after the reign of Empress Regnant Wu Zetian, when women emulated her and rose to power.
There are a few comments here that suggest that it was the woman’s fault that the empire fractured in the coming centuries, but I think this over simplifies the issue. Sure, perhaps the personal interests of the women led to relatively poor decisions that benefited thier family at the expense of literally everyone else, but this sort of thing is to be expected in a system where you only have power if your direct family member has power. They were just playing the system in a time when family was the most important thing- your tribe was more important than your nation. Also, this sort of decile would have happened to eventually, or some Sultan would come along and try to make modernizing reforms that would be refused by the military class. It just so happened that the decline was started by these women trying to hold onto as power as possible for their family. I do not think it is worthy of blame, just sadness.
Exactly. Grand Viziers and politicized Janissaries almost certainly contributed a lot more to the empire's slow decline that these women who were playing an extremely bad hand well for themselves, their children and, in their minds at least, probably for the empire too. I mean, one of them offered to rebuild the Ottoman navy out of her own pocket. In any other context that would be considered extremely patriotic.
@@elemperadordemexico - lol, not you using a TV as your basis of historical knowledge on Mahidevran. Her love didn't lead to Mustafa's end but Suleiman's paranoia and weakness to manipulation and Mustafa's loyalty to his father. That all killed him in the end.
Partly true. Because all wives were foreigners, all statesmen were foreigners, all elite solders who would protect the state were foreigners, too. So, citizen Turks could not fight for power. This prevented power struggling among Turks. But there were many local Turkish tribes who were still fighting against Ottoman dynasty.
@@jackwhitestripe7342 There are many more reasons for violence other than power ambitions and regardless of circumstances in the upper class the Ottomman empire, like all other civilizations, is riddled with conflict ranging from all out war to seemingly minor internal strife. It proves that what’s between your legs has little to no affect on the benevolence of any particular culture.
So glad to see this covered! Honestly I think anyone blaming the Sultanate of women are biased, the stuff we saw near the end is typical political squabbling seen in any empire, Rome just to name an obvious example. The issue always comes back to people being more invested in power than in governance, which is an issue anyone can have, regardless of gender.
As always ... I have to complain (kinda my thing) The word for Forbidden is "Haraam" "حرام"(not Haram)... and the word "Hareem" is derived from "Haram" "حرم" and not "Haraam" "حرام" (Forbidden), Haram is anything with significance that must be protected, for example, the Grand Mosque in Mecca and Al Madena is called "Haram", the university campus is called Haram, a wife is called Haram. The word Haraam (Forbidden) is also derived from the word "Haram" since it is an action with significance that you need to stay clear from Great work, I always enjoy your work.... any update on the 3rd video on the golden age of the Islamic Empire? or was it out and I missed it?
While the woman are well loved, protected, and respected, they help thrive the nation. While they are on survival mode, constantly fearful for themselves and their children, they are so destructive. Men, love your wives like Suleyman the Magnificent!
Really interesting video, thanks. However, I feel at least one episode of note was left out. During King Charles XII's exile in the Ottoman Empire his officers used the Harem to influence the Sultan to declare war on the Russian Empire.
Oh my goodddnesssssss ! I’m over the mooooooonnnnnn !!!! Love it ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Haseki Hurrem Sultan and Valide Muazzama Kosem Sultan ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Mihrimah sultan ♥️♥️♥️♥️ thank you for this gem !!!!! MC fans 🙌
All of them were powerful sultanas, except that one was missing from the list, which also had a great influence, and that is Emetullah Rabia Gülnuş Sultan was the daughter-in-law of Turhan Sultan and she was the mother of two sultans Ahmed III and Mustafa II. A even lived for a long time 73 year she died on 6 November 1715. and she was the last Sultan who had the title of Haseki Sultan.
Sultanate of women ends ..... Random Men : yesssss , time to paaaaarty.... any idea?? Other Random men : let's besiege vienna ..... this time is gonna be great
Actually, the last researches shows that Turhan Sultan indeed stayed very strong and kept directing the statesmen with iron fist. But at some point she relinquished the power voluntarily
And to me this just proves to me why the West values monogamy so much. If you have many women/wives and have kids with them all it does is create conflict not only between them, but the children as well. With monogamy however there isn't conflict all that much. You might have the children bickering and fighting every now and then but under monogamy both the mother and father will teach their kids that fighting among family is wrong and that they should work together.
@@notatroll78 this is a big lie from athiest iranian nationalists the son of khosro 2 killed all his brothers and they were 20 or more and all persan kings had 360 concubines , one for every day in the year
@@amor8996 Magnificent Century? I actually did watch a good bit of that show when I discovered it several years ago, but I’m not much of a TV watcher and got out of the habit😂 it was good, though! Factual enough, and entertaining.
Turhan gave her political power to the grand vizier, she didn't retire. She also wasn't as politically savvy as her predecessors. All she wanted was to save her son from being deposed by Kösem and in the end, she threw away the only hard power women had in the Ottoman Empire at that time.
Given that a lot of these concubines were Christian Europeans taken as captives, I wouldn't be surprised if many of the Ottoman sultans looked just as white as their European counterparts, on account of their maternal ancestry.
look at photographic pictures of these sultans I don't think they look european , more middle eastern . I'd say out of all the photographed ones Mehmed V looked european.
@@angelicking2890 Idk man tbh it doesn't matter how they look like. They do have middle east characteristics bc the Osmanli were basically Anatolian descendant and they do have characteristics of their fathers. For me though they look more of European characteristics but I might be wrong
@@ioannisdimitriadis3073 most of the ottoman descendants came from an area around Mongolia. They moved from the west because of Genghis Khan, then tldr they create seljuk empire/dynasty and after that ottoman.
The extremely overrated era of women, where everything wrong was blamed on women who were brought into the palace as sex slaves because Ottoman scholars, and later historians were just too shy to admit the wrongs of the holy, godly and great Sultans of the Dynasty. Hürrem, again is the most overrated figure. She didn't even have a proper political power. She was just around Suleiman, who seems to be a romantic and quite closed down as a person. Might she caused the death of Mustafa? Most clearly she influenced it. But the real reason of his death, was the transition from a nomadic khanate to a proper Balkan Empire. When the dynasty was new, and they were conquering Western Anatolia and balkans, Ottomans were just the leading family of many Turkoman raiding tribes and families. So their children needed to have respect of the horde in their dominion, and also military experience. So the model was sons, were being warchiefs before anything else. They were out fighting and making raids in enemy territory. And also getting to know their beys and lords etc. This model, started to cause many problems, anyone of the sons could provoke rebellion easily, too much instability. Mehmed I, Murad II and Mehmed II all tried to appoint a crown heir before their death, Murad II even stepped down from the throne to see his son safely ascending to it but even that was problematic. Later on, another disasterous civil war because Bayezid II's sons were basically eating eachother to stay alive after their old father's imminent death, Suleiman's father Selim won the throne, he basically took it by force from his father. Suleiman was old enough when his son was executed. The army was restless, the big military successes were at a pause, the Sultan was old. Knowing his father overthrew his grandfather because of the jannissaries, Suleiman just killed his son who was in a disobedient and proud mood towards his father. Not long after that, the system where princes don't go to serve as governors, but sit locked inside the palace was assumed, and Ottoman princes started to live a hellish life where they were just political puppets for the beurocrats. This was a shift from military khanate to beurocratic empire. Women were just important because of two people: Hürrem Sultan and Kösem Sultan. Hürrem, because she started this whole ''A woman who was significant in political scene'' and Kösem because she basically ran the government for a decade.
@@jamescook4402 They were sold as slaves, nobody had to marry them, marrige happened only if the man deemed the woman worthy They were fucking sex slaves
@werid personactually that was why much of the ottoman civil service and harem members were slaves from what i read. It avoided family rivalries and civil wars between noble families. Ofc slavery isnt good either.
If you are going to post misogyny, at least make it somewhat original. We are reading it all, you know...
Women be protecting their sons?
@@jeffm3283 big time. But also, preserving the state
@@KingsandGenerals please do on the sikh empire and duranni wars
@@KingsandGenerals also on king porus
Check out our playlist Synthetic Sunday
England in 15th century: "We need explicit succession rules to prevent another War of the Roses"
Ottoman Empire in the 15th century "Fratricidal battle royale wooo!"
It was wrong but the interregnum seemed to keep the ottomans very strong for a couple of centuries.
England royals in 15th century: incest
Funfact: Fratricide worked until Suleiman decided to execute the prince that is most likely to be sultan and most loved by people, Mustafa.
So his other son, Selim the Drunkard, the child of his favorite concubine, could get the power.
@@kurumtelefon7148 exactly I'm very interested in how the empire would have turned out if Suleiman said no to the women and Mustafa became sultan after him. The empire would likely have been a lot stronger for a lot longer as Mustafa would have been a much more competent leader.
@@kurumtelefon7148 To be fair other sons of Hürrem weren't such failures as Selim.
Interesting fact: in Ukraine Roksolana, wife of Suleiman the magnificent, is very famous: we have numerous movies and series about her life.
@پیاده نظام خان well she does because her historical homeland
@پیاده نظام خان She was Rusyn (or Ruthenian in Latin adoption). Ruthenisn is an old name of all Ukrainians who lived in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
@پیاده نظام خان learn history please!
@@fyodor_ivanovich You have bad history knowledge. Ruthenian is a Latin adoption of selfname "Rusyny" (which means "Rus people"). Rusyny (Ruthenian) is an old selfname of all Ukrainians which was used till 20th century but is still used in many parts of Ukraine. In Poland all Ukrainians were named "Rusyn" in passports till 1939. And western Rus (or Ruthenia) with its capital Lviv (Lwow in Polish) was conquered by Poland only in 1387. That was the land of Rus before. The general difference of Rusyn (Ruthenians) was that they spoke Rus language and were Orthodox Christians (Poles were Catholics). Even for 500 years Rusyns did not forget their language and religion (although they were under Poland till 1798, then partially under Austria till 1919, then again under Poland till 1945). Roxolana Hürrem was born in Rogatin town of Ruthenian woivodship (nowadays a small town in Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine) in a family of a rich Orthodox priest. Her real name was Anastasia (second church name Alexandra) Lisovska. So she was very clever and could read and write. But occasionally she was captured during Tartars raids and sold as a slave to Ottomans...
@@TheOlgaSasha interesting..!
From a Turkish point of view, you really hit the point! The Sultanate of Women was one of main patterns of Ottoman stagnation period. Despite their schemes which weakened the empire, their efforts helped the male line of the dynasty to survive, many architectural masterpieces to be built, and they supported and even financed some successful campaigns such as recapture of Baghdad and Iraq and Armenia by Murad IV, surpress of Anatolian rebellions by Kuyucu Murad Paşa, Ottoman-Habsburg wars.
In my opinion, the final influential Ottoman Consort, Turhan Sultan, of possibly Russian origin, was the best one. She paid the defenses and fortresses of Gallipoli (Çanakkale, Gelibolu) from her own pocket to break the Venetian naval blockade. She even rebuked the then-Ottoman Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) fiercely for failing to meet the deadlines for the preparations of naval campaign and eventually conquest of the large island of Crete from Venice.
She also discovered and appointed one of the best grand viziers of Ottoman times, Köprülü Mehmet Paşa, a 75-year old experienced and reliable, great statesman who defeated the Venetians, broke their naval blockade of Ottoman straits, and his son Fazıl Ahmed Paşa, who also became the grand vizier after his father's death went on to finalize the conquest of Crete (which had taken 22 years in total until his command) by taking the overall command on the island in addition to his sound victories against Poland and Austria.
Turks ≠ ottoman
Offering to rebuild the navy from your own pocket is a straight up power move. "Dude I'll pay the bill just go to war already."
LOL
@@TsarOfRuss well she was his daughter lol
William the conquerors wife gave him the ship he would use as his flagship to invade england. These days we live in a time when we get heart shaped necklaces and clothes, we will never get wives that give us warships and entire fleets for our conquering needs
Imagine one of these todays feminist trying to teach her about so call girl power lol
@@bigdaddy7729did a feminist rejected you?
It seems the Sultanate of Women both helped and hindered the Ottoman Empire depending on the individual, much like any form of leadership, some certainly helped the Ottoman Empire while others such as Kosem were more interested in personal power and control and even weakened the Empire for it.
That is just how it is. What is on your crotch doesn't make you a great or bad leader. It is what is in your head and heart.
@@toxicdermyillunary4103 Exactly.
@@Lexman00 There were more scumbags of kings than warrior kings
Haseki Sultan Kosem was also a significant part of a movement in giving back to the poorest in society within the Ottoman Empire, and played a great deal in improving health standards through the building of hospitals, as well as education standards for children through the building of schools. When her husband was alive, she also advised him in making improvements and repairs to the Hagia Sofia mosque.
YOOO9 BUT THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE WAS BASED AND FEMINIST PILLED YO. TOTALLY BETTER THAN CRAPPY CHEESEBURGER AMERICA!
Being an Ottoman Sultan would be the dream. Being an Ottoman Sultan's brother... not so much.
Only time being an Ottoman Sultan would be a dream was the early days when they lived as hardy warrior-rulers who spent their lives hunting, fighting and then commanding their beurocrats around.
Their lives were nothing but tragedy in most of it. Madness, death were quite common. Go tell Osman III that his life was a dream. He was imprisoned within his living quarters for 51 years until he was the oldest living relative of the late Sultan.
He probably scarcely saw the sky until they said he was the new ruler of the empire.
What a joyous life.
After sultan Ahmed I, the succession started from brother
I've told this to people around me over and over again: After researching Ottoman history for most of my life and studying history with a focus on the middle east at the university, if someone would ask me what my personal resume on the Ottoman Empire would be and if had only one point to make, my point would be: the Sultan is by far the most ill fated, lonely and depressing person in the entire state. You are born immediately into a competitive environment, seeing your siblings and knowing damn well that either you or they will be sacrificed to the succession tradition of the state. Now that you are a Sultan, the whole shit show just begins. Warfare, the pressure of the well being of the state, further more that of the entire Muslim ummah since you are also the caliph, it doesn't stop there you are also the head of state for a multitude of minorities and non-Muslims so you also have to be cool with them, otherwise, next point - social uprisings, tension between you and the ulema/Muslim scholars, the power of the jannisaries, plotting and cunning vezirs, the paranoia of omnipresent possible and very frequent military coups, being trapped, sometimes up to half a century, in the "Kafes" like a prisoner and burning away your childhood and youth in a tiny building, which can cause you to literally lose your fkn mind, the usual harem drama and heartbreaks (having a shit ton of women in your disposal doesn't protect you against that, quite the opposite), being forced by the state apparatus to kill your siblings, friends and even children (see the bio of Süleyman, if this happens to a sultan, you immediately see a shift in their personality since it ofc takes a huge psychological toll on them), your legacy and reputation etc. - all of this in order to eat your meals in total isolation like a goddamn hermit. But hey, at least you get some coochie right? Wrong. You first have to get a permission by your "Valide" your own mother to enter the harem. Imagine reigning over three continents but you still have to get a pass by your mom in order to have sex that night. Most of us get sick and tired of managing a family and a job at the same time, now imagine being a Sultan. Seriously though, I really encourage everyone to look into some Sultan biographies. Those men, for the majority of their lives, lead a miserable existence.
I don't think so. It was a guilded prison.
Interestingly, the same trend happened to some degree in Safavid Iran and Mughal India where women in Harem Sara could exert a substantial power.
Women like Pari Khan Khanum, Tahmasp I's daughter in Safavid Court who killed two of his brothers in a span of two years including the reigning King Ismail II, or Nur Jahan, the chief wife of Jahangir, the Mughal emperor, who literally staged one of the most weird civil wars in Mughal history.
Highly recommend continuing this series.
And as always, Kudos to you guys for another great historical video.
I wish they had mentioned the slavery aspect of the harem abit more. Below is from what i have read...Except for the odd princess, many were enslaved women(sex slaves for lack of better word). They really had no choice in the matter. Much of the ottoman empire bureacracy was also run by slaves. They did that to prevent the kind of court families intrigue seen in the west. Thats what i read on it. Watch the magnificent century, it romanticizes the golden cage of the harem, but its ok. Janissaries, harem guards, and many state officials were also slaves. Among the women, guards, and janissaries, many were simply kidnapped from foreign or Christian groups. Just what i read...but pretty sad stuff.
Maybe it can be said that when you have a gathered group of people that has a quasi stable structure near the seat of power, they may start becoming a political instiutions that control the seat of power itself. The jannasaries, mamlukes are millitary examples but eunchs and mandarins are similar as well
@@abcdedfg8340 If someine runs a state then practically not a slave
@@hellothere4858 Pretty much one of the whole reason why Ottoman military was lacking behind Europe by the of 17th century . The Janissaries was really stubborn they still think they are the best and feared army in the Europe.
You're comment says 11 hours ago
1. Hurrem Sultan - first ever woman to have Legal Marriage,earned Haseki Sultan title (Chief Consort),first ever slave to rule the harem only as Haseki,got freed from slavery and first Queen of Ottoman Empire.
2. Mihrmiah - Most Powerful Ottoman Princess,first ever princess to rule the harem,first ever princess to hold the title as Acting Valide Sultan (Acting Queen Mother).
3. Nurbanu Sultan - second woman to become Haseki Sultan,second woman to get freedom from slavery and have legal marriage. First slave to become Valide Sultan.
4. Safiye Sultan - third woman to earn title as Haseki,ruling the harem as Haseki and later as Valide. Second woman that became Valide,and first woman to go in council meetings when Sultan was in campaigns.
5. Kosem Sultan - fourth woman that earned title as Haseki,ruled the harem as Valide,fourth woman to become Valide,and first ever woman to earn the title as Regent Queen.
6. Turhan Sultan - fifth woman to earn the title as The Main Haseki,rule the harem as Valide and second woman to earn the title as Regent. Also the last powerful woman and haseki of The Ottoman Empire.
@@TsarOfRuss she gave power to her Son And taught them Not to kill each other .kosem even killed her own Son And grandson for power later end up being brutally killed
@@asilaslapt1510 yessss
Ayse Hafsa was the first slave to become the valide sultan.
@@Ryan_K535 yes,she was the first Valide Sultan. However many believe she wasnt of a slave origin but from The Genghis Khan Empire a princess/sultana.
@@medixstar9184 That’s all a myth. She was slave originated, thus making her the first slave to become Valide Sultan, not Nurbanu.
I've been watching Magnificent Century and wanted to know how historically accurate it was. couldn't find too many videos from trustable sources about the sultanate of women so thanks so much for uploading, Kings and Generals.
Magnificent century just a drama nothing to do with ottoman history.
Its a very entertaining show that's well acted and interesting but when it comes to accuracy. It seems to try to be historically representative while also toying with the facts to add spice and drama to the show.
Historians have said it's a show that's butchered the actual history.
Very Liberalized and dramatized.
Magnificent century is not so accurate. You better watch other Historical Turkish series like " *Dirliş Ertugrul* , *Kurluş Osman* *The great Seljuks* "
@@asimullah like they are so accurate, LoL. Do not learn history from TV series.
Ottowoman empire
Lol
owo empire
OttOwOman empire
Turks are arabic ? Or other
Wottowomon Wompire
Turkic woman Raziya ruled India, in Mamluk Egypt after a death of last Ayubid Sultan, a woman Shadiyar was supported by Mamluks as Sultanna, but Baghdad wasn't recognized her as a legitimate ruler because former concubine couldn't be an equal to Khaliph. And then Mamluks started their Kipchak dynasty
Raziya sultanta didn't get to rule for more than 2 years she was looked down apon for being a woman the royal nobles thought they could use raziya as a puppet ruler but she lead her armies in battle she wrote her own rules and did things without the allowance of the nobles she was killed in a sabotage when she was riding in a cariage with her husband I think she was the daughter of iltuthmish I'm pretty sure about that but I'm not certain, it's said she would have been one of the best rulers of india if she wasn't a woman
@@factshistory3193 no she ruled the whole mughal empire
@@factshistory3193 Northern parts were always independent
@@pokemontrainer6941 Dude read your history lol.Delhi sultanate didnot even conquer full north india until the reign of khilji and tughlaqs.
@@rexxer8055 "Northern parts were always independent"
6:03 Hurrem Sultan
8:53 Mihrimah Sultan
10:05 Nurbanu Sultan
11:49 Safiye Sultan
13:28 Kösem Sultan
16:14 Turhan Sultan
I remember going over this period in college, many, many years ago and my teacher was like "this period is going to get more notoriety, I'm tell you." Well, a decade later, they made 2 huge TV shows and the amount of videos on the UA-cam, this one included, like quadrupled and I love that.
Again, must point out, that no, you don't get any titles for buying a small chunk of land in Scotland, the title of Laid is attached to the entire property as a whole, this has been made clear by both the Scottish Parliament and the Lord Lyon King of Arms, it's borderline fraudulent, no matter how many trees it plants.
Yeah I don't know why many companies keep getting sponsored by them. Sounds great on the paper, even I wanted to get a piece of land and officially call myself Lord. But before I did that, I did something most people don't bother. I did my research. Turns out, it's not official, and not recognizable by any authority whatsoever. You can call yourself Lord or Lady for shits and giggles, but that's just that. For fun. It has NO REAL, LEGAL, and SOCIETAL value.
Being able to buy a lordship makes being lord/lady watered down and meaningless
Mr. Balfour I could not agree more. I am pretty angry about them shilling for basically a scam. They don't even know the a Lord would be called a Laird in Scotland.
I do like your name, by the way.
sincerely
Catriona Drummond
Sponsor money $$$
My rule of thumb is that every UA-cam sponsorship is a scam: Raycons being overpriced for their quality, BetterHelp being a shit service that sells your private info, the endless stream of freemium games, etc.
The Ottoman Harem system is surprisingly similar with the Chinese system, only that the Chinese have had a clear succession system for millennia. Traditionally, women are not supposed to interfere with stately matters, but from time to time women with outstanding intelligence had been able to exert their influence over the Chinese Imperial Court by impressing the emperor. Concubines fighting each other in an attempt to have the emperor declare their son as the heir of the empire is also a common theme of modern day Chinese TV dramas, and has become its own genre.
What are some good shows that have this? What do you recommend?
@@icechoc Unfortunately no... Chinese "harem" drama focuses much more on the personal endeavours of a certain concubine than anything else historical, and are often highly romanticised.
@@CKLim1998 - that's fine. I never watch a historical TV show and expect it to be really historically accurate. Any shows that focus on a concubine? I enjoyed Magnificent Century and Magnificent Century: Kosem which focused on Hurrem Sultan and Kosem Sultan, respectively and Empress Ki which focused on Empress Ki of the Yuan Dynasty. Any others?
@@icechoc I don't follow drama closely but there's one that became very popular a few years ago called "Empresses in the Palace", which takes place in the Qing empire during Qianlong's reign. Hong Kong has been producing such shows for like twenty years or more but the Chinese ones are bigger nowadays.
ya im surprised how closely it resembles the chinese one maybe some inspirations were taken from chinese empires even the empress dowager, the emperor's mother being the one to manage the harem is the same in the chinese empire
Her real name was Anastasiya (baptized as Alexandra) Lisovska, a daughter of a rich Orthodox priest from Rogatin town. Rogatin was under Galitia-Volhynian principality of former Kievan Rus till 1387 ("Ruthenian" is a Latin adoption of selfname of "Rusyn" - old name of all Ukrainians which is still used in many parts of Ukraine) , under Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth till 1798, under Austria till 1919, nowadays it is a small town in Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine). She was very clever and dangerous. As a daughter of the priest, she could read and write (a rare thing for those times, especially for women). It's almost impossible to turn from a slave to the Queen of Ottoman Empire in 16th century, so many Turks considered and consider her as a red-head witch...I was in Suleimaniye mosque this year (where she was buried) and a lot of Ukrainian tourists visit this place because in Ukraine she was always very famous and Roxolana became a very popular name in Ukraine (although that name was given her by Turks who mistakenly considered that on the territory of modern Ukraine the Scythian tribe of Roxoalanas still inhabited)))...
Maybe Roxolani = Rutheni (Rusyn)?
Sorry but it was pretty common in our country(Bharat),women can read n write n fight n become Maharani in our great civilization,we were nothing like Abhramic relgion...this witch thing always existed in Abrahamic religion(europe n Western Asia) other than that giving children n satisfying the lust of men, this is what women's were for in the Abrahamic religion🙏🙏🇮🇳🇮🇳
@@user-kt3jn7wx5f its really clean and lovely in the streets of india isnt it
Yeah, I always thought that the name Roxolana came from the Scythian tribe.
@@user-kt3jn7wx5f Thats why India is one of the most unsafe place for wormen
Always heard about this. But didn't know enough details about this really interesting time period and these extraordinary women. Nice job. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
@@gasmonkey1000---Hey friend. I'm not going to try n buy some tiny piece of Scotland. I don't care much for things like this anyway.
Lots of people in the comments arguing that these women gaining power is what caused the decline of the Ottoman empire. Personally, I suspect it's the other way around; the government grew weaker, which presented an opportunity for people to gain power at the expense of the emperor, and the various wives and concubines just so happened to be well positioned to take advantage of this shift.
Conrad J, it wasnt just a symptom, they actively reduced the authority of the sultan by increasing their own
@@Cecilia-ky3uw Yes, that's what I said.
Yeah women taking power is usually a result of decadent patriarchs who become drunk and weak.
@@Cecilia-ky3uw wrong punk. Empress wu save china while ottoman fall down because remove it. It is just like political left and right. You remove the political party who suppose to dare question your wrongdoing and than it will be collapse and didn't progress anymore.
How can Sultanate of Women caused decline of the Ottoman Empire? The siege of Vienna happened in 1529 at the start of Sultanate of Women during Hurrem Sultan, and happened again in 1683, the year of the last Sultana Tarhan died. So after Sultanate of Women, Ottoman Empire did decline. Sultanate of Women took place during the height of glory of Ottoman Empire.
Now that this channel has finally covered the subject about the Sultanate of Women, I would like to see the subject regarding the Koprulu family being talked next! I would really love to see the video about this great Albanian Muslim family that produced six Grand Viziers for the Ottoman Empire that helped restored and strengthen the powers of the Ottoman Empire in Europe as best as they could. Of course, that didn't enough because the Empire only have a portion of Hungary left in the end after being defeated by the coalition of Christian powers. But despite that, the Koprulu family should not be overlooked at all in my opinion.
Koprulo fired Algeria from the Ottoman Empire….
@@jonijoestar6871 Lol just sucked to be some of the Christian minorities in the empire or even from outside the empire. They were sometimes subject to kidnapping for slavery per historical documents. Many ended up in harems, as janissaries, hard labour, or guards. Anything where it suited the elite to protect their power, or for jobs free people didnt want to take. Read on the barbary pirate or the middle eastern slave trade, really ugly stuff. They nabbed europeans, Christians, and africans alot per old records.
@@abcdedfg8340 you make it sound like only them the ottoman empire are bad. A lot of other empire/nation would do that in their own "unique" way. People tend/will do bad/shady/unacceptable things to keep them in power and its stay the same even today
@@abcdedfg8340 lmao atleast the ottomans actually gave them jobs and many non muslim and non turks did get treated a whole lot better the any other empire/kingdom/civilization did
@@abcdedfg8340 The christian empires in latin america, africa and slavic lands commited r4p3 and g3nocid3 of natives by forcefully converting them to chrischanity and having r4p3 child with the natives. Also lets not forget the catholic priest treatment of children. Trying to show yourself in a good light lmao.
Normal monarchy heirs: First-born becomes new ruler!
Ottomans: *Battle royale*.
Better than Gavelkind, at least.
... slightly, anyways.
Hey Kings and Generals, first of all, great video. I especially liked the part mentioning the correspondence between Hurrem and Sigismund Augustus. I've made a (maybe too lengthy) comment about the Tatar raids on Poland-Lithuania, like the one in which Hurrem was taken, that also targeted Russia (Muscovy) and the Caucasus region, the whole Black Sea slave trade system. I also recommended a paper by Prof. Dariusz Kołodziejczyk on this subject. I noticed a mistake in this comment after sending it and wanted to edit it but I couldn't and it seemingly disappeared. Was it removed for some reason? Maybe it was some glitch on my end...
I think there was an error on UA-cam's end, but they fixed it
"Ara Ara, my Sultan..."
Where have I seen this before and why do I know where this is going
I see you everywhere man, also nice profile pic Mamluks too are my favorite nation in EU4 by far
I think its safe to say that the Magnificent Sultan is the one who started the downfall of the Ottoman Empire by breaking tradition. After him, Hurrem's son ruined the Janissary system and down to the gutter it all went..
Yep
Alot of historians credit him as the best but he just weakened the ottoman empire and most of the conquest was because of ibrahim pasha that he killed because of hurrem this two weakend the mighty empire and caused the empire to be in stale and downfall after himself
In iran we had a similar shah called khosrow parviz that people call great because he conquered anatolia and egypt from romans
He handed power to his lust for power and woman and fought the romans to the point of destruction of both country that caused the persian empire to collapse in less than a century and arabs conquered the persian land in a short time
@@notatroll78 Without that final roman persian war, there might still be a roman and persian state...or some form of its descendent... The early rashidun caliphate really benefitted from the total exhaustion of both empires.
Some others think that the decline of the Ottoman Empire started with the invasion of napoleon in Egypt and the rise of nacionalism in Europe
Good
@پیاده نظام خان why are you gay?
the sponsor is a SCAM. The Scottish Courts have declared these not legal titles.
(It's like those companies that will "sell" you a star.)
For the record, I don't agree that the harem system was a specific Islamic tradition. During the early Islamic period, women weren't secluded in the household, and various women held various political and social power, and it really only began during the reign of the Ummayad Caliph Al-Hadi and part of the reason for it is due to a power struggle between him and his mother Al-Khayzarun. During which, the Caliph assembled his generals and asked them
'Who is the better among us, you or me?' asked Caliph al-Hadi of his audience.
'Obviously you are the better, Commander of the Faithful,' the assembly replied.
'And whose mother is the better, mine or yours?' continued the caliph.
'Your mother is the better, Commander of the Faithful.'
'Who among you', continued al-Hadi, 'would like to have men spreading news about your mother?'
'No one likes to have his mother talked about,' responded those present.
'Then why do men go to my mother to speak to her?'
It is likely that the reason the harem system developed in the Islamic world is due to cultural intermixing with the Byzantines and the Sassanids, who practiced the Harem system well before Islam even began, in Ancient Greece and subsequently in Ancient Byzantium the place of the household where women were secluded was called the gynaeceum. It is unclear how much of this ideal was practiced in ancient Greece, but it was an ideal during the Byzantine era, although it is also unclear how much of it was really practiced.
All this being said, it is also pretty unclear to what extent was the Harem system practiced in the Islamic world, while it was practiced among sultans, caliphs, and the elites in society, women probably intermixed with men in the general public, as there were various popular women and some among them were religious leaders in their own right, such as Rabi'a Al-Adawiyya and A’ishah al-Ba‘uniyah. In addition, there were also elite men who abhorred the practice. Elite men expressed in literature the horror they felt for the humiliation and degradation of their daughters and female relatives. For example, the verses addressed to Hasan ibn al-Firat on the death of his daughter read:
To Abu Hassan I offer condolences.
At times of disaster and catastrophe
God multiplies rewards for the patient.
To be patient in misery
Is equivalent to giving thanks for a gift.
Among the blessings of God undoubtedly
Is the preservation of sons
And the death of daughters.
Harem is Islamic women were captured from other countries And taken as slave.u can watch magnificent century which is a Turkish drama
@@asilaslapt1510 A TV drama is your source?
At least acknowledge the various firm proof that it was of islamic origin, bias is obvious.
small edit: Al-Hadi was Abbasid not Umayyad
@@asilaslapt1510
Hurem means Haram..
So it's forbidden in islam
Great video
Would love to see a video on the Franco- ottoman alliance during Francis 1st and suleiman the magnificent reign and also later the less formal one during Louis XIV reign
1.francis/2.henri/diana poiters/barbaros/ottoman/Knights of the crescent
They are related to each other.
Research;
Knights of the crescent(Turks secret organization).
Knights of the crescent motto:donec totum impleat orbem
Mehmed the Conqueror(nickname grand turk) Founder of Knights of the crescent
grand turk island in atlantic.
Barbaros hayrettin pasha.
its not pronounced as "Har eem" its just "Harem", the ending "-em" is pronounced as same as "-em" in the word "empower".
English pronunciation.
As a French I think the same when they pronunce French words : table, constitution, déjà vu, and hundreds of other words
The funny thing is, the word harem exists in English, with the correct pronunciation that you said.
It's har eem
I'm an Arab.
Harem is just an English latin way of saying it, like dawood to David, haroun to arun, maryem to mary, issa to jesus, nouh to noah, salah a din to saladin, latins always butcher middle eastern names...
@@rohankishibe8259 well im a Turk. In Turkish we say it as "Har em"
@@utkugulgec5508 the Turkish literally took that word from Arabic haram=forbidden, and hareem is an arabic word, forbidden for other men.
Great video, I'll just point out some additional information
- The Haseki Sultan title was created for Hurrem Sultana because the Valide Sultan had died. The Valide Sultan was responsible for several issues, such as ruling the harem, financial matters, and other various important other duties. With the death of Suleiman's mother, the position of the Valide became vacant and Suleiman needed someone to rule the harem and take on the other duties, therefore he created the Haseki title specifically for Hurrem which gave her the power and the various duties of the Valide Sultan. This marked the first time ever in Ottoman history that a consort would exercise equal power to the Valide Sultan and carry out her duties. After Selim became the Sultan and Hurrem had already died, Nurbanu Sultan as Haseki shared her power with Mihrimah Sultan who acted as de-facto Valide Sultan. However later on in the empire, when the Valide Sultan would be alive, the Haseki Sultan was very limited in her power, and the title would become almost worthless. A great example of this is during Murad III's reign when his mother Nurbanu Sultan was still alive and ruled as Valide, his Haseki, Safiye Sultan, could not exercise her power because of Nurbanu's active ruling. Because of this experience with her mother in law, Leslie Pierce points out that as Valide Sultan, Safiye literally forbade her son Mehmed III from making any of his concubines Hasekis, hence why there was no Haseki during Mehmed's reign. By the time of Ahmed's reign, however, the Haseki Sultan title started to change in meaning and purpose as now the title only meant the favorite concubine, and because of Ahmed's unwillingness to share his power with any of the women in his harem, his Haseki, Kosem Sultan, did not exercise any power as Haseki Sultan (She did not rule the harem, she did not carry on the duties of the Valide and had no influence on state affairs). The death of the Valide Handan Sultan, Ahmed's mother, naturally would have provided a chance for Kösem to fill in the shoes of the Valide like Hurrem did, but that did not happen because of Ahmed's determination of having all power for himself. The title lost all its meaning during Murad IV's reign when he made two of his concubines Hasekis, and then his brother Ibrahim I who made all of his eight concubines Hasekis.
The only time in Ottoman history when the Haseki title was equal to the Valide title was during Hurrem's reign. However, one may argue that Hurrem was a more powerful Haseki than most Valide Sultans of the empire, especially because she redefined the role of the women in the harem by making it possible for her to achieve incredible power and influence which no woman, Valide or non Valide, had previously had in the harem. Besides, the power of the Valides who came before Hurrem did not extend beyond the harem, and the women (including Valides) who came after the Sultanate of Women did not have any real power any longer. Hurrem as a Haseki however, had enormous power which extended beyond the walls of the harem and overshadowed many Valide Sultans of the empire.
Great video as always and I would still appreciate a longer documentary covering the full reigns of the Sultans during that period rather than skipping over them! I'd specifically love to learn more about the reign of Murad IV and his conquest of Baghdad!
12:07 “…and basically forced him to have sexual relations with other women of the harem” 😭😭😭
😂😭
😂😂😂
Like Sarah did with Abraham.
Well the slave women of the harem didn't get much choice in the matter either.
Lmaoooo
Here is interesting and funny fact :
the title “sultan” was used for both women and men. If you are a man, you called, for example Sultan Mehmed and if you are a woman you called, for example Hurrem Sultan
We know exiled Prince Cem from old videos of k&g. In the palace, they called Cem as “ Cem Sultan “ to mocking him. Great sense of humor ottomans had :D
Right and an extra fact, the original title of Turks, Khan, on the other hand isnt likewise unisex, Khatun being the feminine version of Khan :)
The feminine title would be Sultana. The use of Hurrem Sultan was literally meant to signify her closeness to the supreme authority, that was the Sultan. Ottomans and muslim dynasties in general did not use last names or family names in general. Her official title was Haseki Sultan. Meaning consort of the Sultan. It wasn't the Turkish or Arabic scholars who were making any mistake in records, it was the European scholars who were mistranslating titles due to incorrect understanding.
@@absurdist9609 no it isn't the original comment is right İt's not a translation issue there is no sultana in Turkish
@@kertkele Not today, but at the time Arabic was the official language of transcription also Greek. Same as latin in Wetern Europe. Turkish was the common language that everyone spoke.
@@absurdist9609 they may have used the Arabic alphabet but the language was Turkish. There is and was no sultana in Turkish any time
Great video as always! The animations are 10/10!
Great Video kings and General, appreciate your effort..
Btw, just a small correction.. Harem in Arabic means group of women not forbidden. We have this in classic Arabic and other Arabic dialects as well.
Hurrem was kinda like Livia, wife of Augustus. Very influencial and powerful. That is the reason she was blamed for some things she didn't actually do. Hurrem didn't ask Suleiman to kill his son Mustapha so her son could take the throne. Mustapha was executed because he was organizing a military coup. He had a lot of support from political players inside the empire and had many loyal soliders. Suleiman was old and everyone wanted Mustapha to be the new sultan. Young military man and also an intellectual, he definitely would be the best choice for the empire but Suleiman simply didn't want to die. Because he knew that would be the only option. He have seen his father Selim overthrowing his grandfather Bayezid II. Bayezid was poisoned after few weeks. So, to avoid to have the same fate as his grandfather, Suleiman ordered his son Mustapha executed. Brutality of monarchy.
Also Grand Vizier Ibrahim was executed because he was getting too big for his britches not because Hurrem arranged it. Suleiman realized he gave too much power to his childhood friend (most powerful vizier in Ottoman history) and Ibrahim Pasha was abusing that power. He had to go.
Easy to find a scrapegoat.
@@blugaledoh2669 exactly
Mustafa was a brilliant heir. Said to have the very exact traits as his grandfather, Selim I, whom conquered all of Levant in 7 years. Suleiman also loved him. Hurrem was an extremely influential and political woman, however. She created rumors of Mustafa staging a coup and had him strangled so that her son can take the throne.
Women in charge have been nothing but harmful to the empire as all they cared about were their own interests and their heir taking the throne
@@adonis1168 Well, you completely ignore the fact that if Mustafa had succeeded her children would have been murdered. Perhaps the sultan should have kept his pants up.
Sir, pretty much everyone had their goals and self interests no need to singled women out. And there was many successful sultana.
Lastly, is the coup by Mustafa merely rumours?
@@adonis1168 so you think Suleiman was a complete idiot and believed that story without any proof and killed his own son.
Once again, great video and very accurate details. Succession, and to a lesser extent retaining the throne, has always been the primary challenge for monarchies. Even Uthman, who later founded the Ottoman state, himself killed his uncle by arrow some time after Uthman was elected as the chief by other begs upon the death of Uthman's father, Ertugrul, who passed away as the chief of a minor federation of tribes, because Uthman's uncle stood as the other candidate in the succession voting, and was a rival as long as alive. Bayezid I, e.g., killed his brothers immediately upon ascension to the throne at the battlefield of Kosovo where his father Murad I was killed in battle. So, fratricide was a key part of succeeding to and keeping the throne, and it was made into law by Mehmed II the Conqueror. Ottomans did however bring a novelty to the eastern part of Christianity in that they gradually suppressed and destroyed local nobility who would otherwise be a larger complicating factor than brothers would in the succession wars, and installed "rootless" slave pashas in positions of power. Thus, the Ottoman dynasty ruled the state for 622 years, from the very foundation in 1299 A.D. through 1922. The fierce fratricide of two centuries (roughly from 1403 to 1600) was followed by "sultanate of women" as you called which, I agree with you, was instrumental in abolishing the fratricide altogether, and still keeping the dynasty on the throne. Thank you.
One thing important to note is that the three "Gunpowder Empires" faced more or less the same problems. Civil war and Infighting among heirs to the throne, Undue influence of the Sultan/Padishah's wives, Resistance towards modernization etc etc.
Is this too ambitious of me to ask a history channel to place YEARS throughout their video about historical events?
They usually do, they might have missed it on this one as keeping the algorithm gods happy is overworking all the creators from what I have noticed anyways.
You can also search the dates of the rulers mentioned. Or is that too ambitious to ask of you?
@@EloiFL It's not that big of a request and is seen as an obvious addition and requirement, there should be dates without the viewer having to search for them.
@@FrazzP t'he funny thing is, I've checked t'he vídeo again and they mention dates for reference. Besides, the sultanate of women wasn't an outward institution, meaning that stablishing exact dates for their reign can be difficult since It occured mainly in the shadows. My answer was mostly out of spite because of the tone and apparent Smugness of the comentat above. That's it
@@EloiFL I can also read a history book instead according to your logic.
Thank you Kings and Generals. Also we missed the Ottoman wars😊😊😊
Todays Kings and generals drinking game: Take a shot every time they say Sultan
have you ever heard of sultan sultan of sultan sultanate?
I'M BLIND
@@burakcanduzcan was he a sultan tho?
@@SaidBKD95 ofc, he's sultan of sultan sultanate
It’s very interesting to see the difference between western and more eastern ideas. The harams and concubines a lot of eastern powers had, all the way to China and Japan seem to have caused a decent amount of issues as they hold a special kind of political power that is essentially completely absent in western nations who under Christendom are only supposed to have one wife and well…. not sleep around. So interesting to see how something so small changed the course of history and millions of lives over the years 🤔
As other commenters here have said, the same trend was happening in Safavid Iran and Mughal India. I would like to add event the farthest Islamic kingdoms in Nusantara had queens ruling at roughly the same time. Aceh had 4 queens in a row with the first modern women admiral appeared here, Kamalahayati who defeated the Dutch(She even had a widow-only elite squadron). Similarly, Pattani had 4 queens in a row titled the Blue Queen, Green Queen, Purple Queen and the Yellow Queen. It seems the Muslim world had an era of women ruling for a while at this time
Just imagine: Mightiest monarchs of Europe were sons of slaves once
Not an unusual thing, it is very common throughout our history to find leaders, scholars, scientists, poets who were son's of slaves or even slaves themselves...we have many instances where slaves were placed in positions of power in military and government .... the earliest instance is when the ruler of Mecca placed one of his slaves in his place when he had to travel to meet the 2nd Khalifa (Omar bin Al Khattab), Omar Asked him: " you have placed a slave to run Mecca?", the ruler replied: "He studied the Quran, he is knowledgable with the rules, and he has a good judgment", Omar approved saying: "this Quran can elevate people no matter who they are"
Slaves were not looked down upon and were treated well, no one would have an issue with someone for being a salve or born to a slave (generally speaking, of course, it is 1400 years spanning over 3 continents) :)
@پیاده نظام خان The Ottoman sultans were quite mighty , as this was near the peak of thier power and influence
@پیاده نظام خان bro what are you on about the Ottomans' enemies were the Europeans and the Persians, facing the most formidable foes both to their East and West. They all used guns and cannons. It was the spanish who fought with guns and cannons against backward civilizations who couldn't even comprehend the existence of guns. They went to the Americas with much better armour and equipment against people who fought half naked and threw javelins.
@پیاده نظام خان The only reason why the Spaniards were able to conquer the Mesoamericans because they used divide and conquer. There was a tribe in South America that for a very long time resisted the Spanish but it was close to where the Incas were. The Spanish had hundreds of Mesoamericans fighting for them against the Aztecs. That is how European nations managed to conquer parts of Asia and how Briton conquered India to a degree. Divide and Conquer. In WW1 Britain and France made a huge mess in the middle east whose problems still stem to this day. The Romans also did divide et impera. Not related to this topic but just wanted to point out.
@پیاده نظام خان okay no problem just wanted to point it out in response to the Spanish simply conquering Mesoamerica like a piece of cake when it wasn’t
The word is Arabic (حريم) (Hareem) that's how the Arabs pronounce it, and it means "women of a family prohibited from non-family men" and it applies to all women including Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, etc. Who are in direct relation to a man who is part of their family.
Is word haram related to mahram?
@@apalahartisebuahnama7684 no
By the way, the way Murad IV used to remove her mother's clique of influence in divan was quite bossy.
There were tons of rebellions, mainly from janissaries, with ridicilous demands like ''We want that guy to be given this position, that man to be given this title'' sort of stuff. Many of them were organised to threaten the willful Murad.
In 1625, there was this last rebellion that killed 6 of his closest friends, and 30 more from his court.
His response was a bit harsh, during Ayak Divanı(Foot Divan) which is Sultan seeing large groups of his subjects such as soldiers, beurocrats etc, he claimed he'll not tolerate plotters and mischief makers, ordered his grand vizier Topal Mehmed Pasha to be brought in front of him, and then smashed his head with a mace. Killing the most important man after the Sultan of Rome himself in a gruesome way in front of all his commanders.
He then started an era of terror, he started executing janissaries even if they look him the wrong way, he was constnatly having physical trainings and was really athletic, and making a show of his physical strength. He banned smoking first, started to execute common civilians just for consuming or possessing tobacco, breaking their limbs in public display, hanging people and letting them to rot on streets etc.
When people became too addicted to alcohol, he banned alcohol and opium as well. Even though he himself was not really sober in his nights. Died of sirrhosis anyway.
Weird as it sounds, his era was actually a time of stability in that time of madness and disdain. He even made two successful military campaigns, taken Baghdad and Yerevan.
Died of 27 years of age, his last attempt as a Sultan, was trying to kill his last surviving brother Ibrahim(He killed other two before his military campaings, Bayezid before he marched upon Yerevan, Kasım before he marched upon Baghdad) and trying to end Ottoman line. Which meant that Al-i Osman was no more and the throne was gonna be inherited to Al-i Cengiz, the decendants of Crimian Khans who're great grandsons of Chingiz Khan.
He probably was so sick of his family, despised the idea of his mother taking everything and destroying it again, he just wanted to destroy his own bloodline.
Thats fiction from a TV series. Murad never had a beef with janissaries. He actually got their full support and before his act got all janissary leaders sacramet (all of them swear on koran). His actual problem was sipahis. That mace thing is fictional stoy as well. He just ordered Recep pashas strangle, after that pashas body decapitated and his head tossed pashas sipahi bodyguards. After that sipahi hunt continued and janissaries were helped Murad. Most of his close aids are janissarie origins.
Him giving throne to Gengis bloodline thing is just a baseless rumor. He could kill his last brother and call crimea khan anytime he want.
@@Ahmet-yu7jr Nope, the fiction was how he handled them, besides, the sacrament you mention was in that show either.
Actually, if memory serves, the mace thing is kinda brought up by Evliya Çelebi, which is another way of saying ''It's most likely made up''
You're basically calling everything rumour, next to nothing about Ottoman day to day life is based on something other than rumours in that case.
Feridun Emecen has quite strong cases about a growing support for a possible Tatar rule in the empire in those days as well.
@@subutaynoyan5372 Only mace story I read is him killing a goat which harrassed convoy with one hit (could be made up story as well). Recep Pasha definetely strangled like traditionaly.
Tartar's succession case is different. There are some situations I read about (read Feridun Emecen as well), first is when Ahmet I and his brother Mustafa I were ill and second time is Ibrahim's first years. Ibrahim's custody caused his stress and many belived he could be barren.
For Murad IV, there is just one unreliable french envoy raport about that claim, other than no clear evidence like sultan's will, sultan's order or any fetva. The reason I don't belive that thing is he himself executed many Tartar nobles (Cengiz descendents ) most notably one of the Crimean Khan. And last Khan (during his last years) wasn't brilliant ruler. Did he have any reason to left empire him? If he really wanted to left empire to Crimean Khan why he never brin him to capital? Why he send him to recapture of Azak? Why he didn't killed Ibrahim before? That's why it is weak claim and more than could be a rumor. Other situations are more belivable.
I smell anti-ottoman pro-kemalist ideologies here...
@@Lone_Nomad it's just the story of a tv series, narrated as if it is real 😂😂😂😂😂
Sultan women's from this videos were either Russian,Ukrainian or East European
Now I wanna watch the magnificent century series all over again..
Yep, that series sparked this interest in Ottoman women.
Keep in min d that it's a heavily romanticized/more sexualized version of Ottoman history
90% fake
@@poesje8051 Yeah. Sultan Sulaiman lost His battle against hungry
@@poesje8051 fake my ass. The lost siege of Vienna, the victory of Mohac battle against Hungary in 1526 and many more are present in the show. Most of the things were fictional but that doesn't make it 90% fake. Learn history better
Interesting topic! Thank you Kings and Generals Team.
Hurem is the most powerful figure in the Ottoman Empire if it weren't for her there wouldn't be a sultanate of women
some can argue that she was one of the most powerful female royalty in the world
No hürrem can't give direct order to anybody she need to influence süleiman but
Kösem was like padişah she can give any order to anybody she don't need any permission she can kill anybody anytime with her order and she can choose which boy will be next sultan
@@shahrukhkhan8307
She is indeed, she is also in one way or another caused the inevitable decline of the Ottomans
The last one turhan is known to be the real iron lady
She really ruled the state for a few years and stabilizied the empire in contrast to her predecessors
She installed capable statesman insted of court groups loyal to her
And after 5 years let her son take the over the state
Hürrem was never really a factor
@@firstnamelastname4249 yes that's true but that also tells how powerful she was
Also, the decision for Hürrem to remain in the capital was also helped by the sickness of their youngest son Cihangir, who remained in the Palace even after being of age to go to a Sanjak.
She had many sons, she couldn't go to them all. Also, it wouldn't be appropriate for a married woman to be separated from her husband.
This video came out just as I was rewatching “the Maginificent Century”, which is after all these years, still one of my favorite shows ever!!
same!!
interesting how that show blew up back in the day. i'm curious about the reasons, can you tell me why do you like the show that much?
@@TheNord06 well I’ve always loved Ottoman history. And here in Croatia we have a strong connection with their culture since we were under their rule for quite a while. Also we have dozens of Turkish soap operas airing on our national TV and though I don’t usually watch them, I really liked the Magnificent Century. I even think it was the most expensive Turkish soap opera ever and it really shows, the quality of it is just on another level
@@karlogrubisic thanks for the response! I always wondered about it and turkish media mostly gives the same reasons you said.
Two videos in 2 days, hats off 🎩
What about the Sultanahs of the Delhi Sultanate? Which had direct female Sultanahs ruling? That'd be an interesting series.
I didn't know anything about this subject. See you learn something new everyday. Keep up the great work 👍🏻
The Ottomans series is back!
*drops everything to watch*
Comment section gets censor blitzed. I've had two comments deleted because I posed historical challenges. Apparently, only positive posts are "approved."
@@zsedcftglkjh Nah i see bunch of negative comments. You probably want to spread propaganda.
Killing the eldest son of sulaiman the magnificent is the worst mistake happened to ottoman empire.
The sultanate of women literally led to power struggle with in court and officials
Corruption in government led to internal strife. While Europe was saved from ottoman empire as a result.
And as gruesome as it was, the system of fratricide actually allowed the Ottomans to enjoy a good deal of stability and prevented civil wars and rebellions, while at the same time assigning the princes their own cities to govern gave them meaningful experience to one day rule the empire if and when they ascended the throne. The Kafe system created more problems than it tried to resolve as it made prospective heirs to the throne developmentally stunted and unprepared to rule.
@@barbiquearea yeah, ottoman princes in that era kind playing 𝗮 "𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗱 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲".
They have no choice other than winning
They are born as a prince so there is no leaving.
Yes. And that was the greatest mistake suleiman has ever done.
It would be great if you can cover China's Era of Crimson Rouge 红妆时代, which was the 8 years after the reign of Empress Regnant Wu Zetian, when women emulated her and rose to power.
Greetings from Russian Muslim
Assalaamou^alaykoum brother, greetings to you from USA
Assalamu'alaikum brother greeting from Indonesia
Assalam Aleyküm bro, have a nice day 😎
It's Kösem. Not Köşem.
@ايجون تارجاريين no my ancestors are turkish.
@ايجون تارجاريين What are you on about?
KnG’sThank you so much for another great historical video.
There are a few comments here that suggest that it was the woman’s fault that the empire fractured in the coming centuries, but I think this over simplifies the issue. Sure, perhaps the personal interests of the women led to relatively poor decisions that benefited thier family at the expense of literally everyone else, but this sort of thing is to be expected in a system where you only have power if your direct family member has power. They were just playing the system in a time when family was the most important thing- your tribe was more important than your nation. Also, this sort of decile would have happened to eventually, or some Sultan would come along and try to make modernizing reforms that would be refused by the military class. It just so happened that the decline was started by these women trying to hold onto as power as possible for their family. I do not think it is worthy of blame, just sadness.
Exactly. Grand Viziers and politicized Janissaries almost certainly contributed a lot more to the empire's slow decline that these women who were playing an extremely bad hand well for themselves, their children and, in their minds at least, probably for the empire too. I mean, one of them offered to rebuild the Ottoman navy out of her own pocket. In any other context that would be considered extremely patriotic.
Can you do a video about the Köprülü Family in the Ottoman Empire ?
It's a great video,Anyways You should make a video about Ottoman Safavid war of 1578-1590
Ottoman Empire reached its greatest eastern borders, right?
@@kasadam85 yes that's true
@@kasadam85 until Qum.
This episode is one of my favourites. Loved it.
Please do a video on the Khmer Empire and Jayavarman VII, it would mean the world!
Could be great if you covered the ottoman time in bosnia and the countries around. To this day today they have a big impact for their past.
I love your consistency keep flooding history lessons ✌
Thanks for this, highly informative 👍🏻
A mother's love is the strongest form of love.
@@elemperadordemexico - lol, not you using a TV as your basis of historical knowledge on Mahidevran. Her love didn't lead to Mustafa's end but Suleiman's paranoia and weakness to manipulation and Mustafa's loyalty to his father. That all killed him in the end.
Thank you so much for making the video about this ❤️❤️❤️❤️
And let me guess, “everyone lived peacefully and there was no corruption”
@@triplekmafia4932 Lol
@@triplekmafia4932 lol
Partly true. Because all wives were foreigners, all statesmen were foreigners, all elite solders who would protect the state were foreigners, too. So, citizen Turks could not fight for power.
This prevented power struggling among Turks.
But there were many local Turkish tribes who were still fighting against Ottoman dynasty.
@@jackwhitestripe7342 There are many more reasons for violence other than power ambitions and regardless of circumstances in the upper class the Ottomman empire, like all other civilizations, is riddled with conflict ranging from all out war to seemingly minor internal strife.
It proves that what’s between your legs has little to no affect on the benevolence of any particular culture.
So glad to see this covered!
Honestly I think anyone blaming the Sultanate of women are biased, the stuff we saw near the end is typical political squabbling seen in any empire, Rome just to name an obvious example. The issue always comes back to people being more invested in power than in governance, which is an issue anyone can have, regardless of gender.
As always ... I have to complain (kinda my thing)
The word for Forbidden is "Haraam" "حرام"(not Haram)... and the word "Hareem" is derived from "Haram" "حرم" and not "Haraam" "حرام" (Forbidden),
Haram is anything with significance that must be protected, for example, the Grand Mosque in Mecca and Al Madena is called "Haram", the university campus is called Haram, a wife is called Haram.
The word Haraam (Forbidden) is also derived from the word "Haram" since it is an action with significance that you need to stay clear from
Great work, I always enjoy your work.... any update on the 3rd video on the golden age of the Islamic Empire? or was it out and I missed it?
Didn't knew about this, thanks for explanation.
While the woman are well loved, protected, and respected, they help thrive the nation. While they are on survival mode, constantly fearful for themselves and their children, they are so destructive. Men, love your wives like Suleyman the Magnificent!
Really interesting video, thanks. However, I feel at least one episode of note was left out. During King Charles XII's exile in the Ottoman Empire his officers used the Harem to influence the Sultan to declare war on the Russian Empire.
Unique and Fascinating video. Thanks kindly, can't wait to share this with my students.
Multiple wives. Multiply the drama.
Imagine a soap opera but hundred of times worse.
There’s a Turkish tv series, Magnificent Century, which covers this period and is actually very good viewing. I loved it.
Oh my goodddnesssssss ! I’m over the mooooooonnnnnn !!!! Love it ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Haseki Hurrem Sultan and Valide Muazzama Kosem Sultan ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Mihrimah sultan ♥️♥️♥️♥️ thank you for this gem !!!!! MC fans 🙌
All of them were powerful sultanas, except that one was missing from the list, which also had a great influence, and that is Emetullah Rabia Gülnuş Sultan was the daughter-in-law of Turhan Sultan and she was the mother of two sultans Ahmed III and Mustafa II. A even lived for a long time 73 year she died on 6 November 1715. and she was the last Sultan who had the title of Haseki Sultan.
Great topic guys, thank you for tackling it and ignore the idiots.
It's quite annoying when you pay for ad free UA-cam and get 2 ads in a video that are exactly the same. I can see one, but 2?
Downald Adblock bruh, you'll have 0 adds in youtub
Basically sultanate of women is a battle between pokemon masters to see who can raise the best pokemon (sultan)
Sultanate of women ends .....
Random Men : yesssss , time to paaaaarty.... any idea??
Other Random men : let's besiege vienna ..... this time is gonna be great
lame
@@TheMrgoodmanners either you're a ( radical ) feminist or a stupid person...... probably both.🙂
@@SousouCell that shit was pretty lame, 👉👳♂️👉❣🐐👉👍
I think it was pretty funny.
Actually, the last researches shows that Turhan Sultan indeed stayed very strong and kept directing the statesmen with iron fist. But at some point she relinquished the power voluntarily
Does anybody else think that the “Buy a small piece of land in Scotland” sounds like it could be a scam?
It is.
And to me this just proves to me why the West values monogamy so much. If you have many women/wives and have kids with them all it does is create conflict not only between them, but the children as well. With monogamy however there isn't conflict all that much. You might have the children bickering and fighting every now and then but under monogamy both the mother and father will teach their kids that fighting among family is wrong and that they should work together.
It wasnt just a western value it was aryan value
Sassanid and achaemenid persians were monogomist before islam corrupted there
Many British monarchs have concubines and children with them.
polygamy was just for the riches , the rest were monogamous
@@notatroll78 this is a big lie from athiest iranian nationalists
the son of khosro 2 killed all his brothers and they were 20 or more and all persan kings had 360 concubines , one for every day in the year
@@notatroll78 no they were not monogamous in fact the arabs got the traditions of harem from the Persians
Excellent video! I’ll be back for any Ottoman history video you put up👍🏻
And may I personally request more Great Northern War videos soon! They are top notch!
You can watch Sultan Suleiman series. You will love it.
@@amor8996 Magnificent Century? I actually did watch a good bit of that show when I discovered it several years ago, but I’m not much of a TV watcher and got out of the habit😂 it was good, though! Factual enough, and entertaining.
Anyone remembers series the Magnificent Century?
90% fake
@@sikandereazam2821 He's right that show is bullshit.
@@smashing-3291 Yeah. Love story kinda messed it up
@@smashing-3291 Its not a documentary so not sure what youre complaining about,
Turhan gave her political power to the grand vizier, she didn't retire. She also wasn't as politically savvy as her predecessors. All she wanted was to save her son from being deposed by Kösem and in the end, she threw away the only hard power women had in the Ottoman Empire at that time.
Man of Rome rule Rome
& the women of rome rule their male
& 150 years later rome fell.
Same thing happened to ottomans.
Such a cool and fascinating subject. Kudos for covering it.
Given that a lot of these concubines were Christian Europeans taken as captives, I wouldn't be surprised if many of the Ottoman sultans looked just as white as their European counterparts, on account of their maternal ancestry.
And they were white from what was seen by description of that period. Same for their mother.
look at photographic pictures of these sultans I don't think they look european , more middle eastern . I'd say out of all the photographed ones Mehmed V looked european.
@@angelicking2890 Idk man tbh it doesn't matter how they look like. They do have middle east characteristics bc the Osmanli were basically Anatolian descendant and they do have characteristics of their fathers. For me though they look more of European characteristics but I might be wrong
@@angelicking2890 I bet none of the Ottoman Sultans actually had not any middle eastern ancestors.
@@ioannisdimitriadis3073 most of the ottoman descendants came from an area around Mongolia. They moved from the west because of Genghis Khan, then tldr they create seljuk empire/dynasty and after that ottoman.
People should watch Turkish series "The Magnificent Century", "Kosem" & "Payitaht: Abdülhamid"
This serises are the worst I can belleive stell watching it
The extremely overrated era of women, where everything wrong was blamed on women who were brought into the palace as sex slaves because Ottoman scholars, and later historians were just too shy to admit the wrongs of the holy, godly and great Sultans of the Dynasty.
Hürrem, again is the most overrated figure. She didn't even have a proper political power. She was just around Suleiman, who seems to be a romantic and quite closed down as a person. Might she caused the death of Mustafa? Most clearly she influenced it.
But the real reason of his death, was the transition from a nomadic khanate to a proper Balkan Empire. When the dynasty was new, and they were conquering Western Anatolia and balkans, Ottomans were just the leading family of many Turkoman raiding tribes and families. So their children needed to have respect of the horde in their dominion, and also military experience. So the model was sons, were being warchiefs before anything else. They were out fighting and making raids in enemy territory. And also getting to know their beys and lords etc.
This model, started to cause many problems, anyone of the sons could provoke rebellion easily, too much instability. Mehmed I, Murad II and Mehmed II all tried to appoint a crown heir before their death, Murad II even stepped down from the throne to see his son safely ascending to it but even that was problematic.
Later on, another disasterous civil war because Bayezid II's sons were basically eating eachother to stay alive after their old father's imminent death, Suleiman's father Selim won the throne, he basically took it by force from his father.
Suleiman was old enough when his son was executed. The army was restless, the big military successes were at a pause, the Sultan was old. Knowing his father overthrew his grandfather because of the jannissaries, Suleiman just killed his son who was in a disobedient and proud mood towards his father.
Not long after that, the system where princes don't go to serve as governors, but sit locked inside the palace was assumed, and Ottoman princes started to live a hellish life where they were just political puppets for the beurocrats.
This was a shift from military khanate to beurocratic empire. Women were just important because of two people: Hürrem Sultan and Kösem Sultan. Hürrem, because she started this whole ''A woman who was significant in political scene'' and Kösem because she basically ran the government for a decade.
Let's be honest, they weren't sex slaves, but more like forced marriages.
@@jamescook4402 They were sold as slaves, nobody had to marry them, marrige happened only if the man deemed the woman worthy
They were fucking sex slaves
What you're saying is nonsensical. We have evidence of Hurrem's incredible political power.
Wonderful stuff, KandG!
It was one of the reasons why the ottoman empire got weakened. It had a long-term impact on the empire
Yeah but I doubt it helped matters. But then political corruption of any sort tends to make things worse no matter whose doing it
@werid person Hey Turks are Arab ?
@@stefanodadamo6809 well, yes. I said that they were one of the reasons, not the only reason or the major. It was the sultans' faults mostly
@werid personactually that was why much of the ottoman civil service and harem members were slaves from what i read. It avoided family rivalries and civil wars between noble families. Ofc slavery isnt good either.
@@tsmlaska7761 no, Turks are Turks, Persians are Persians, Arabs are Arabs. Please don't confuse, they don't like when you get them wrong
I like watching your videos very much, please have Turkish subtitle option
MAGNIFICENT CENTURY!!!
Some of the comments here are just not it lol.