Akile Hatun
| Akîle Hanım عقیلہ خاتون | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
c. 1607 Istanbul, Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Died |
after 1630 Istanbul, Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Spouse |
Osman II Ganizade Nadiri Efendi | ||||
| |||||
| House | House of Osman (by marriage) | ||||
| Father | Şeyhülislam Hacı Mehmed Esadullah Efendi | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||
Akile Hatun (born 1607; Ottoman Turkish: عقیلہ خاتون) was a wife of Sultan Osman II. She was the daughter of Şeyhülislam Hacı Mehmed Esadullah Efendi, member of one of the most venerated ulema linages in Ottoman history.[1][2]
Background
From the time the Ottomans endeavored to transform themselves from an outstanding family of ghazis, whose status vis-à-vis other prominent ghazi families was that of primus inter pares, into a ruling dynasty from which sovereignty emanated, one of the most fundamental notions that guided this ruling house was the prerequisite of avoiding consequential ties with the free aristocracy within the society.[2] Şeyhülislam Esad Efendi was the son of esteemed Sadeddin Efendi, royal tutor, müfti, historian and founder of a veritable dynasty of prominent religious officials (two of his four sons and three of his grandsons held the post of müfti, while his other two sons held the post of chief justice).[1]
Marriage to Osman
Her marriage appears to have taken place only a few months before Osman's death. Acting as the sultan's proxy in the marriage was the prominent Jelveti sheikh Üsküdari Mahmud, among whose followers figured Esad Efendi. Nevizade Atai, compiler of a seventeenth century ulema biography, described Esad Efendi as "a second Edebali" because he was honored by the tie of marriage to the dynasty and foremost among the ulema. By the marriage of Akile Hatun to Osman II her father's relations with the sultan cooled, in part at least because of the marriage. Her marriage with Osman was a sharp break with the dynasty's tradition of avoiding legal alliances, especially with high born Muslim women and it contributed to the popular discontent that culminated in his deposition.[1]
The sight of Akile, a free born Muslim of exceptional pedigree, passing through the Babüssaade and into the harem must have seemed an inconceivable nightmare to an Ottoman.[2] However, privy purse accounts suggest that Akile never entered the harem of the imperial palace. Certainly this free born Muslim woman of great status would have been an anomaly in a household composed of slaves, and her presence disruptive of the harem's established hierarchies. As with the projected marriage of the father of Osman, Ahmed I to a daughter of Kuyucu Murad Pasha, an incident related by the Venetian ambassador Simon Contarini in his 1612 report, suggests that the prospect of the daughter residing within the imperial harem may have been an important element in the unpopularity of the marriage.[1]
Osman's death
After Osman's death in 1622 she married again to Ganizâde Nadiri Efendi in 1627.[3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Leslie P. Peirce (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-0-195-08677-5.
- 1 2 3 Gabriel Piterberg (2003). An Ottoman Tragedy: History and Historiography at Play. University of California Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0-520-93005-6.
- ↑ The assassination of Sultan Osman