Esma Sultan (daughter of Abdul Hamid I)

Esma Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: اسما سلطان; 16 July 1778 – 4 June 1848), also called Küçuk Esma Sultan,[1] "Esma Sultan "The Younger" was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid I and Sineperver Sultan, sister of Sultan Mustafa IV and half-sister of Sultan Mahmud II, as well as the adoptive mother of Valide Sultans Bezmiâlem Sultan and Perestu Kadın.

This article is about the Ottoman princess , daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid I. For other uses, see Esma Sultan (disambiguation).
Esma Sultan
Born16 July 1778
Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
(now Istanbul, Turkey)
Died4 June 1848(1848-06-04) (aged 69)
Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Burial
Mahmud II Mausoleum, Divanyolu, Istanbul
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1792; died 1803)​
IssueAdopted children: Perestu Kadın
DynastyOttoman
FatherAbdul Hamid I
MotherSineperver Sultan
ReligionSunni Islam

Early life

Esma Sultan was born on 16 July 1778 in the Topkapı Palace. Her father was Abdul Hamid I and Her mother was Sineperver Sultan. She had an elder brother Şehzade Ahmed two years elder then her, a younger brother named Mustafa IV one year younger than her, and a younger sister named Fatma Sultan four years younger than her.[1][2][3]

When she was 11 years old, her father died. Since Mustafa was only 10 years old at the time of his father's death. Selim III ascended to the throne as the eldest male member of the Ottoman Empire. She followed her mother to the old palace. When she was 14 her cousin Selim III married her to Küçük Huseyn Pasha.[1][2]

Esma Sultan spend her time in her childhood by reading books, musical instruments and games, her mother, Sineperver, was most likely to manage these entertainments in her apartment. [4]

Marriage

In 1792, when Esma was fourteen, her cousin Selim III arranged her marriage to Küçük Hüseyin Pasha, who was captain of the seas.[1][5] The engagement took place on 29 May 1792.[6] The wedding processions were held in Istanbul, the deputy of Esma Sultan was Darussade Agha.[7] Following the engagement, a major disturbance took place in the Aegean Islands, Hüseyin Pasha left Istanbul and the wedding as a result was postponed, Hüseyin Pasha returned to Istanbul on 29 September 1792.[8] Three months later on 19 December 1792, the wedding of Esma Sultan and Hüseyin Pasha took place. The couple was given Divanyolu Palace as their residence.[8]

Valuable gifts were also sent by Mihrişah Sultan at the wedding of Esma Sultan. The gifts of the Valide Sultan were as follows: one medium-sized and 706 small rose diamonds and a chandelier decorated with red rubies and diamonds; For the palace of the sultan's house in Divanyolu, 18 pieces of Austrian footbed pillows, 3 pieces of Polish-made striped and fringed, solid wire upper mat cushion, 3 pieces of mattress.[9]

Esma Sultan entered the palace in the palace in Divanyolu, which was repaired a year ago, in the place of the current Sultan Mahmud Mausoleum. Hüseyin Pasha died on 8 December 1803 and was buried in Mihrişah Sultan Mausoleum at Eyüp.[10] She never married again.[11][12] She lived a colourful life after the death of her husband, this lifestyle even caused various rumours to emerge, although she didn't bother and continued the lifestyle until her death.[13]

Widowhood

Adopted children

She lived with luxury in her magnificent villa in Istanbul, but still her life passed in sadness because she could not have the one thing she wished for most; a child. At length she decided to adopt a child. After reaching satisfactory terms with the mother and father, she adopted Rahime Perestu, one year of age.[14][15]

Rahime was particularly diminutive, delicate and graceful, so she renamed her Perestu, the Persian word for swallow.[15] All the kalfas in Esma Sultan's villa behaved toward this child as though she were a daughter of an Ottoman imperial princess, and indeed her disposition and manners were so lovely that they became devoted to her.[14] In 1844, her nephew Abdulmejid I asked in hand for the marriage for Perestu, firstly, she refused to give Perestu's hand in marriage but consented on the condition that the Sultan legally marries her and not consider her a concubine, which he did. One week after that, Perestu was sent off to Topkapı Palace to the harem.[16]

She herself educated Bezmiâlem Sultan, the ninth wife of her brother Mahmud II and the mother of Abdulmejid I.[17]

Political influence

Unlike other princesses, Esma was politically active. Along with her mother, she played a vital role in Kabakçı revolt, which had the aim of overthrowing Selim from the throne.[18] After Mahmud succeeded the throne, she wanted her brother Mustafa to succeed the throne again but didn't succeed. In response to it, she planned a mutinous rebellion during the reign of Mahmud. She personally send letters to Janissaries for restoring Mustafa back to the throne and met them personally. Mahmud who knew about Esma's political activities, didn't intervene in the affairs as he loved Esma Sultan like his own sister,[19] Following Mustafa's execution on 16 November 1808,[11][2] Esma and her sister Hibetullah Sultan were kept under close surveillance by Mahmud, and they both were forbade to have communications with the outsiders.[20][11][2]

Esma Sultan exercised great influence over her brother Mahmud during his reign of 31 years. Mahmud loved his sister very much and Esma Sultan also esteemed him. They always visited each other at their palaces. She was respected by both by Mustafa IV and Mahmud II.[11][12] She became the empire's affluent woman at that time. She was the owner of Eyüp Palace, Maçka Palace and Tirnakçı Palace.[21][22] She also owe Ed several lands to in Crete, Kemer, Edremit and Biga.[21][23]

Palaces and revenues

Esma Sultan, bought many farms around Istanbul, built palaces in Eyüp, Maçka, and Tirnakçı and Kuruçeşme mansions in Boğaziçi.[24] Thanks to the high position of her husband, she had important influence over Ottoman society. She owned a palace in Divanyolu, kiosks in Çamlıca, Maçka and Eyüp and a waterfront mansion in Kuruçeşme at Bosporus.

As the guest of Esma Sultan, Miss Julia Pardoe, who went to Tirnakçı, gave detailed information about the mansion. Miss Pardoe described the mansion as follows: After the waiting hall leading up the stairs, after passing several rooms and a hall with twelve windows on one side overlooking the Bosphorus and on the mansion gardens, the harem apartment was coming. [25]

Esma Sultan was interested in British culture; she was said to have furnished her palace with Western furniture, putting all of the traditional Ottoman furniture in a storage room. After her death, all of her English furniture was put away in the same storage room and the old oriental ones taken out once again.[26]

Death

Esma Sultan died on 4 June 1848 in Istanbul, nine years after the death of Mahmud, she was buried the Mausoleum of Mahmud at Divanyolu Street, Istanbul, Turkey.[21][23][27]

  • In 2018 Turkish historical fiction TV series Kalbimin Sultanı, Esma is portrayed by Turkish actress Emel Çölgeçen.[28]

See also

Ancestry

References
  1. Uluçay 2011, p. 166.
  2. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 502.
  3. Duran 2007, p. 4.
  4. Duran 2007, p. 12.
  5. Duran 2007, p. 13.
  6. Duran 2007, p. 13-4.
  7. Duran 2007, p. 14.
  8. Duran 2007, p. 15.
  9. Duran 2007, p. 17.
  10. Duran 2007, p. 23.
  11. Uluçay 2011, p. 167.
  12. Uluçay 1992, p. 167.
  13. Duran 2007, p. 79.
  14. Brookes 2010, p. 130.
  15. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 586.
  16. Brookes 2010, p. 130-1.
  17. Schiffer, Reinhold (1999). Oriental Panorama: British Travellers in 19th Century Turkey. Taylor & Francis. p. 191.
  18. Duran 2007, p. 80.
  19. Duran 2007, p. 95.
  20. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 507.
  21. Uluçay 2011, p. 168.
  22. Uluçay 1992, p. 168.
  23. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 503.
  24. Sakaoğlu 2015, p. 356-57.
  25. Duran 2007, p. 60.
  26. Philip Mansel, Constantinople: City of the World's Desire (London, 1995), pp. 257–258.
  27. Duran 2007, p. 89.
  28. Kalbimin Sultanı (TV Series 2018), retrieved 26 April 2020

Sources
  • Brookes, Douglas Scott (2010). The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78335-5.
  • Duran, Türkan (2007). I. Abdülhamid'in Kızı Esma Sultan'ın Hayatı (1778–1848).
  • Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
  • Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2015). Bu Mülkün Sultanları. Alfa Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-6-051-71080-8.
  • Uluçay, M. Çağatay (1992). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ötüken.
  • Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara: Ötüken. ISBN 978-9-754-37840-5.
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