What Actually Happened When You Became the Sultan's Widow? (in the Ottoman Empire)

Original author：Ottoman Days

Original source：https://www.youtube.com/embed/sbEihEq4eW8

What actually happened when you became the Sultan's widow? You are Nurbanu Sultan, favorite of Sultan Selim II, on the night he died in December 1574. Only a handful of people know the Sultan is dead. A chronicler says his body was kept in ice, and your son Murad is days away across a winter sea. The rule for a dead Sultan's women is clear: a closed carriage to the Old Palace, a small stipend, and maybe a husband you never chose. Life in the Ottoman harem looked like silk and gold from outside. One night decided where every woman ended up, and what she was worth, down to the last coin. Nurbanu is a real woman. The night, the secret, the stipends, the letters and the funeral come from chronicles, Venetian reports and modern historians. Scenes in between, like what she ate or who knocked on her door, are dramatized. YOUR STORY, STEP BY STEP 00:00 The night the Sultan died 00:45 Istanbul, 1574: a secret in ice 01:29 Who keeps the secret 01:50 A race against the news 02:29 Where the rule sends a widow 03:29 What every woman was worth 03:47 The way out nobody expects 04:19 A storm on a winter sea 04:51 Midnight at the palace gate 05:23 The law of the dynasty 05:50 Forty silver coins 06:26 Valide Sultan 07:32 Letters to Venice 08:38 No war over Crete 09:13 What actually happened 09:49 A thousand in gold 10:05 The funeral no Sultan should walk 10:41 The mosque on the hill THE EVIDENCE Every line below is tagged. A HISTORIAN tag points to modern scholarship, EYEWITNESS to a person who saw it, CHRONICLE to an Ottoman-era account, and DEBATED to a point where the experts are split. Selim II, the first Sultan to die in Istanbul; his body kept in ice until Murad arrived; only a few people knew. CHRONICLE: Selaniki, via Peirce. HISTORIAN: Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem, Oxford University Press 1993; Feridun Emecen, Selim II, TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi 2009. DEBATED: the exact day of his death and how long the secret held (Emecen: twelve days). Messages from Sokollu and from Nurbanu, no galley at the coast, the crossing on another man's ship, the arrival at midnight, the five princes. HISTORIAN: Bekir Kutukoglu, Murad III, TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi; Peirce 1993. The Old Palace, daughters going with their mothers, remarriage with a dowry, 1,000 silver coins a day for Nurbanu and 40 for each other mother of a son. HISTORIAN: Peirce 1993. DEBATED: 1,000 or 1,100 for Nurbanu. A Venetian report that Selim made her his legal wife. EYEWITNESS: Venetian ambassador Ragazzoni, 1571, via Peirce; not in Ottoman sources. Valide Sultan: 2,000 a day, more than twice the chief mufti, guardian of the dynasty; Janfeda brought out of the Old Palace. HISTORIAN: Peirce 1993; Ilhan Sahin, Nurbanu Sultan, TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi 2007. CHRONICLE: Mustafa Ali, via Peirce. Letters to the Doge, the two dogs, Kara Ali, Samuel Zevi, Esther Handali, Catherine de Medici, the Senate vote of 131 to 5, the warning about Crete, the gold cushions. HISTORIAN: Peirce 1993; Sahin 2007. EYEWITNESS: Venetian and French envoys, via Peirce. 150 women freed with 1,000 gold coins each, Murad on foot behind her coffin, her burial in Selim's tomb, the one miniature of a royal woman's life. HISTORIAN: Peirce 1993; Sahin 2007. The Atik Valide complex in Uskudar and the first library founded by a woman; "a mountain of light" and saffron rice on Thursday evenings. HISTORIAN: Peirce 1993; Sahin 2007. EYEWITNESS: Evliya Celebi, via Peirce. DEBATED: the building dates. STORIES WE CHOSE NOT TO TELL Where Nurbanu was born (Venice, Paros, Corfu and other stories compete), the legend of how Selim died, how the princes died, the "Palace of Tears" and the claim that she spied for Venice: disputed or without good sources. YOUR TURN If you had been in that palace in December 1574, would you have kept the secret, knowing what it would cost the other mothers? Let us know below. ABOUT THIS CHANNEL Ottoman Days is an educational history channel about everyday lives in the past. Our videos explain history; they are not commentary on today's conflicts, politics or religious debates, and they take no side for or against any faith, nation or people today. Everything here is for educational purposes only and based on historical sources. #OttomanEmpire #NurbanuSultan #OttomanHistory #ValideSultan #SelimII #MuradIII #OttomanHarem #Topkapi #Istanbul #WomenInHistory #History #AnimatedHistory #HistoryFacts #16thCentury #Documentary