Canfeda Hatun
Canfeda Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: جان فدا خاتون; died 1600; alias Saliha) was the mistress housekeeper (kedbanu-yi harem, Kethüde Hatun, Kahya Kadın) of the imperial harem during the reign of Murad III of the Ottoman Empire.
Early Life
Of Circassian origin,[1] Canfeda Hatun was the sister of Divane Ibrahim Pasha.[2] She had been an ally of Nurbanu Sultan, who had brought her from the Old Palace,[3] and under her, she had the charge of traning the women of the imperial harem.[4] She had also been an ally of the Agha of the harem, Gazanfer Agha,[4] and Grand vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha's rival Lala Mustafa Pasha.[5][6] At her deathbed Nurbanu insisted in front of her son and daughter-in-law Safiye Sultan, to keep the position of Canfeda in the royal harem.[7] Thus, after later's death in 1583, she assumed the control of the harem.[4]
She, mistress of financial affairs Raziye Hatun, and the poetess Hubbi Hatun, other musahibes (favourites) of Murad III, appear to have been very powerful and influencial during his reign.[8][9] She managed to win the trust of her former adversary, and even to increase her influence on the palace affairs under her protection. As a clever intriguer Canfeda used her nearness to the women of the dynasty to receive bribes and expensive gifts. She gathered extraordinary wealth and this earned her the animosity of part of the high administration and the commandment of the janissary corps. In 1593, during one of the janissary mutinies caused by a delay in the payment of the salaries, the discontented soldiers demanded the heads of the Grand vezir, the head defterdar, and the loathsome Canfeda. Only with great efforts did Murad manage to calm down the mutineers and save the lives of his associates.[1]
Charities
Part of her huge wealth she dedicated to her charitable foundation, whose revenues went for the construction and maintenance of a mosque and a fountain in the imperial capital, Istanbul in 1584. Only the building of these two structures cost two million aspers.[10] The mosque was built in the neighborhood of custom office with a primary school and the public drinking fountain and water pump were built in the neighborhood of Saraçhane. In 1593, she also built another mosque and a public bath in a villiage in the Beykoz village of Akbaba. She also received permission from the Sultan to repair and enlarge a water transport system originally constructed by Sultan Bayezid II in order to bring water to her Istanbul mosque and the nearby bath built by Gedik Ahmed Pasha.[11] In retirement, Canfeda's stipend was 100 aspers a day, but when this amount proved to be unsufficent for the public works she wished to undertake, it was doubled. Her mosques were built after Nurbanu's death suggesting her high status.[12] A garden in Fındıklı belonged to Canfeda Hatun.[9]
Last years and death
After Murad's death in 1595, Canfeda, along with his entire harem, was sent to the Old Palace.[1] She died in 1600.[13]
In popular culture
In the 2011-2014 TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, Canfeda Hatun is portrayed by Turkish actress Kübra Kip.
References
- 1 2 3 Inventory 2003, p. 217.
- ↑ Tezcan 2013, p. 107.
- ↑ Peirce 1993, p. 131.
- 1 2 3 Fleischer 2014, p. 72.
- ↑ Fetvacı 2013, p. 103.
- ↑ Fleischer 2014, p. 73.
- ↑ Peirce 1993, p. 131-2.
- ↑ Fabris & Bombaci 2010, p. 26.
- 1 2 Petruccioli 1997, p. 50.
- ↑ Inventory 2003, p. 218.
- ↑ Peirce 1993, p. 316.
- ↑ Peirce 1993, p. 132.
- ↑ Gövsa 1945, p. 78.
Sources
- Fleischer, Cornell H. (2014). Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: The Historian Mustafa Ali (1541-1600). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-400-85421-9.
- Narodna biblioteka "Sv. sv. Kiril i Metodiĭ. Orientalski otdel, International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations, Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and Culture (2003). Inventory of Ottoman Turkish documents about Waqf preserved in the Oriental Department at the St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library:Registers. Narodna biblioteka "Sv. sv. Kiril i Metodiĭ.
- Fetvacı, Emine (2013). Picturing History at the Ottoman Court. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00678-3.
- Peirce, Leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-195-08677-5.
- Tezcan, Baki (2013). The Second Ottoman Empire: Political and Social Transformation in the Early Modern World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51949-6.
- Fabris, Maria Pia Pedani; Bombaci, Alessio (2010). Inventory of the Lettere E Scritture Turchesche in the Venetian State Archives. BRILL. ISBN 978-9-004-17918-9.
- Gövsa, İbrahim Alâettin (1945). Türk meşhurları ansiklopedisi: edebiyatta, sanatta, ilimde, harpte, politika ürk meşhurları ansiklopedisi: edebiyatta, sanatta, ilimde, harpte, politikada ve her sahada şöhret kazanmış olan Türklerin hayatları eserleri. Yedigün.
- Petruccioli, Attilio (1997). Gardens in the Time of the Great Muslim Empires: Theory and Design. E. J. Brill. ISBN 978-9-004-10723-6.