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SHIFTING BOUNDARIES: IMAGES OF OTTOMAN ROYAL WOMEN IN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES
In 1599, the sheikh ul-Islam of the Ottoman Empire, leader of the religious hierarchy and foremost guardian of the sharia, the holy law of Islam, publicly lamented a number of harmful and disruptive practices in Ottoman society. Among his prescriptions for reform, he proclaimed that women "absolutely must not walk about openly in the markets among men;" furthermore, they must not "interfere in the affairs of government and sovereignty." While the former proclamation was addressed to the general populace, the latter was aimed at the sultan and the dynastic family, whose senior women had come in recent decades to exercise an extraordinary degree of political influence.
From almost the beginning of the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566) until the mid-17th century, high-ranking women of the Ottoman dynasty enjoyed a degree of political power and public prominence greater than ever before or after. Indeed, this period in the history of the empire is often referred to, in both popular and scholarly literature, as "the sultanate of the women." As a result of the shifting configurations of power and status within the royal family during this period, women were able to increase their influence on the conduct of government. While for the most part this influence was exercised unofficially, it was not hidden from the public. Furthermore, as a consequence both of their salience in the political arena and of the dynasty's concern for legitimating their newly acquired privileges and wealth, these women emerged as important exemplars of the dynasty's prestige, munificence, and piety.
The prominence of royal women - in particular the mother of the reigning sulta - provoked varied and often ambivalent reactions among the dynasty's subjects. Reporting the death in 1583 of Nurbanu Sultan, the mother of Süuleyman's grandson Murad III, the Venetian ambassador to the Ottoman court commented:
Some are saddened by the death of this lady and others consoled, each
according to his or her own interests, for just as she provided enormous
benefits to many as a result of the great authority she enjoyed with her
son, so conversely did she deprive others of the hopes of obtaining what
they desired. But all universally admit...