ipl-logo

The Valide Sultana

1606 Words7 Pages

The Valide Sultana had more than a hundred women of different ages who performed in a complex hierarchy. The more practical running of the harem was under the shared responsibility of two women: the “head housekeeper” with the title of Kahya and the “head treasurer” with the title of Haznedar Usta. Financial matters were a great responsibility, thus the haznedar usta was acting as a sort of banker and consultant in the harem. Then came senior maids called kalfas, lower rank servants called halayiks assisted them, their ages ranged from twelve and older. Usually each kalfa was assisted by six halayiks. These positions were of high esteem and would be occupied by the women who had gradually advanced in all parts of the harem’s training but who did not have a chance to become a wife kadin or favorite of the sultan. The most important women after the Valide Sultana were the kadins, and while they were not legally married to the sultan, they were very …show more content…

This period began in 1520 during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificient and continued on until 1656, ending during the reign of Turhan Sultana as valide sultana and her son Mehmet IV as sultan. What happened during these 136 years is what historians have been debating for a long time: were the roles these women of the harem played, the valide sultanas in particular, a positive contribution to the Ottoman Empire or a negative contribution? “If the sultan’s household was disordered so the administration of the state was likely to become disordered.” (Peirce 267) Leslie P. Peirce, author of “The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire” examines the lives of harem women, in particular the valide sultanas, and argues that these women played a significant role in the Ottoman Empire that had many positive

Show More
Related
1116 Words | 5 Pages

In the historical fiction novel, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, people from all different backgrounds in judaism, decide how they will choose to live their lives. Reb Saunders, the Rebe, raises Danny in silence while David Malter, raises Reuven as an orthodox Jew. Each at some point question their part in their religion and the world, struggling to accept the life they have. After crossing paths at a baseball game, Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter seem to both evoke daunting opinions, clearly condescending each other. When Reuven injures his eye, ending up in a hospital both their fathers, David Malter and Reb Saunders try to bring them closer.

Read More
832 Words | 4 Pages

Hezeki Ross 2/23/2016 History 102 Book Review In an era when women were supposed to be disciplined, kindhearted, and obedient. Anna proved that she 's the complete opposite. Defying sixteenth century social mores of being considered as the weaker sex, physically and emotionally.

Read More
906 Words | 4 Pages

Elizabeth I, Queen of England from 1558-1603, brought much success and political stability to England during her reign. However, the ideas about gender at the time greatly influenced her rule. With the views of the religious peoples during Elizabeth’s reign leaning towards negativity about a woman ruler, Elizabeth I responded to these challenges against her ability to rule wisely with sophisticated anger and strong leadership, while not responding to the challenges to her authority as a religious leader. One of the main challenges to Elizabeth’s right to rule came from the church. Document 1, “First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women” by John Knox, a Scottish religious reformer, shows the biased views of a Scot who

Read More
1818 Words | 8 Pages

In the Ottoman Empire the women had many restrictions when it came to public decisions. The role of women is one of the most significant arguments in the current day but how does each empire show the respect of women. "Contemporary feminist scholars suggest that before the Conquest, Andean women could be leaders and warriors as well as wives and mothers. "8 Even though the women weren 't exactly equal to men they could be leaders and warriors.

Read More
912 Words | 4 Pages

They servant would be supplied room and board while working in their master’s field., and only about 40% of servants lived to complete their contract. Female servants had a rough life and were often harassed by their masters. If a female servant became pregnant she would have years added on to the end of her contracted

Read More
841 Words | 4 Pages

Zophy writes of women, “for the most part, did not have much of a “renaissance” ” (Zophy 3). In “The Family”, Alessandria, a woman attempts to connect her exiled soon with a prospective bride with the help of a man, only to fall short in her attempts. This reveals the power dynamics between men and women. Regardless of the gender, both men and women were married to each other with the parentings arranging the ordeal.

Read More
569 Words | 3 Pages

Women’s roles has changed dramatically throughout history. By looking at the lives of women, it would be possible to tell how the civilians at that specific period of time were living. In this paper, women’s lives in mainly three civilizations would be discussed, the Sparta, the Athens, and the Hellenistic era. In Sparta, women were needed to live at home, while their husbands remained in military barracks until the age thirty.

Read More
1075 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout history the existence of patriarchy has threatened women’s rights to equality and self-determination. Patriarchy manifested itself in the marriage practices of early modern European society and became the foundation on which couples built their love and partnership. During the sixteenth century, literature describing ideal wives and husbands was a popular genre, but works about female gender roles were more prevalent. The Bride, a poem published by Samuel Rowland’s in 1617 details the duties of a good wife and life partner.1 The duties listed in Rowland’s poem were very common for women at that time and can also be seen in Steven Ozment’s book, Magdalena and Balthasar. Ozment’s book documents the relationship of Nuremberg Merchant Balthasar Paumgartner and

Read More
1008 Words | 5 Pages

During his era the Ottoman Empire experienced spectacular economic growth and that lead up to the golden age of the Ottoman empire(Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. 1). This age was filled with knowledge and wisdom and the culture was mixed with different backgrounds of people and religion. Sultan Suleyman had a lot of nicknames and one of them is the lawmaker as Suleyman was the first sultan to create law and rules, before Suleyman other Sultans would follow the rules of the Holy Quran only, but Suleyman saw that creating new rules that are mixed with the sharia and it was called Kanun. During the golden age of the Ottoman Empire experienced new arts, different cultures and religions which shaped the empire in a way that it can interact with the people in a positive way by letting everyone live in peace and by their beliefs(Yalman, Suzan

Read More
2250 Words | 9 Pages

Women of the Medieval Times Women have always had a significant role in history even though they were treated horrible in most cases. During the Medieval Times was really the first time women were allowed to become more than just a house wife. The fight for equality has always been a struggle and even in today’s society is still an ongoing battle. Although women of lower and middle class were treated poorly in the Medieval Times, some powerful women held great responsibility and were looked up too by both men and children; despite being admired, “men were thought to be not only physically stronger but more emotionally stable, more intelligent, and morally less feeble” (Hopkins 5). “The position of women in the Medieval Society was greatly influenced by the views of the Roman Catholic Church” (Heeve).

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning, women were treated badly. The sultan loved his wife, but once he finds out that she was unfaithful he then kills her at the break of dawn. Although, he marries a new woman each day, spends the night with her, and then kills her in the morning. His actions show us that the women were seen as deceitful, and the lives of women were meaningless shown in how many

Read More
1400 Words | 6 Pages

As Richard Steele tried to define women, he said that '' a woman is a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother, a mere appendage of the human race…'' Here as we can see, a woman from the moment that she was born, not as she was, regardless of social background, were defined by her relationship with a man. She was respectively under the responsibility of her father and her husband, so women should honor both of them and must obey both. During the marriage process, the contribution of women was very significant in terms of the construction of new family. This implementation was applied in the upper and middle classes of the society throughout the early modern period in a rigid way. Families from these groups do prenuptial agreements for their children because at that time the marriage was not just a decision of the two people, it was decided collectively.

Read More
653 Words | 3 Pages

In the essay, "Did Women have a Renaissance?”, Joan Kelly-Gadol, presents a feminist insight into women's role in society during the Renaissance and how women did not have a Renaissance. While Margaret L. King, who wrote, “Women and High Power”, offers the roles of women and learning from 1300-1800 and argues that women did . The question of, “did women benefit from the Renaissance?”, is an extremely loaded question. Like every argument or question there are two sides to every story. One way, like Margaret L. King to look at this argument is that women experienced the Renaissance just like men did.

Read More
1046 Words | 5 Pages

During this time “A woman's most important commodity was her virginity,” (Murphy 1). It was important to society that women were virgins before marriage and when married they were to have many children. When a woman was married she lost her rights to own property and business, their husbands became guardians over them and gained full control of all property, businesses and land they owned before marriage (Vann 1). Before marriage a woman had some control over her own life but as soon as she was married it was expected that the husband would take over and make decisions for

Read More
1532 Words | 7 Pages

Introduction Women in the Middle ages were treated as the second class members within their social class. They were taught to be obedient to their husbands and were expected to run the household and raise children. Their role in the society, however, was much more complex, while some medieval women achieved a high level of equality with men. In the Middle Ages women had a secondary role, coming second after men.

Read More

More about The Valide Sultana

Related Topics

Open Document