# The Sultanate of Women: Power, Plot, and the Harem

An episode of [The Story of Turkey: From Byzantium to the Ottoman Empire to Today — Fexingo History](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1895450461), 12 Aug 2026, 9:57.

Audio: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-story-of-turkey/episode-0202.mp3

In this episode of The Story of Turkey, Lucas and Luna explore the Sultanate of Women — the century when the Ottoman harem's most powerful women shaped the empire's destiny. From Nurbanu Sultan, the Venetian-born mother of Selim II, to Safiye Sultan, who corresponded with Queen Elizabeth I, to Kösem Sultan, the formidable regent who protected her sons and grandsons through palace intrigue, we trace how these women wielded influence from the harem's private chambers. We'll also discuss the role of the Valide Sultan, the politics of royal succession, and the janissary revolts that threatened to undo everything. Along the way, we uncover how Turhan Hatice — the last of the great regents — helped rise of the Köprülü dynasty and built the Yeni Cami. This episode dives into a world of political maneuvering, family drama, and statecraft that challenges everything you thought you knew about the Ottoman court. #SultanateOfWomen #NurbanuSultan #SafiyeSultan #KosemSultan #TurhanHatice #OttomanEmpire #Harem #ValideSultan #Istanbul #TopkapiPalace #Byzantium #History #OttomanHistory #WomenInPower #TurkishHistory #FexingoHistory #Podcast #MiddleEast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

## Transcript

Lucas: So, we've talked about the big sultans, the battles, the walls. But there's a whole other layer of Ottoman power that we haven't really touched — the Sultanate of Women. It's this stretch from the mid-1500s to the mid-1600s when the women of the harem, especially the sultan's mother and his favorites, held enormous political influence. And it's a world that's been romanticized and misunderstood, but when you actually dig in, it's some of the most fascinating statecraft of the era.
Luna: The Sultanate of Women — I've heard the term, but what exactly made it happen?
Lucas: Good question. It starts with one of those quirks of Ottoman succession. By the sixteenth century, the empire had moved away from the old Mongol-style idea that any male descendant could seize the throne. Now it was the eldest surviving son who inherited — but there was no rule about which son that would be. So the race to produce a male heir and then keep him alive became the great game of the court. And the women who bore those sons — the haseki sultans, the chief consorts — suddenly had a massive stake in who won.
Lucas: And it's not just about plotting in bedchambers. These women built charitable foundations, corresponded with foreign monarchs, and oversaw major building projects. They were political players in a world that officially denied them any role. The fact that they managed to move the levers of power anyway — that's the story.
Luna: So who was really first? Was it Roxelana, from the episode we did?
Lucas: Roxelana, Hürrem, was the trailblazer, absolutely. She was Suleiman's wife, and she was the first haseki to live in Topkapı Palace permanently, instead of staying in the Old Palace. She broke so many precedents — she corresponded with heads of state, even with the Polish king, and she built the Haseki Hürrem Külliyesi, a huge charitable complex. But the full-blown Sultanate of Women really kicks into gear with her daughter-in-law, Nurbanu.
Lucas: Nurbanu was Venetian — born Cecilia Baffo, the daughter of a noble family, taken captive when she was young and then became Selim II's favorite. When Selim came to the throne, she took the title of Valide Sultan, the sultan's mother, and she ran the harem like a political headquarters. She corresponded with Venice, and she wasn't shy about negotiating trade agreements or even the release of prisoners. She also built a major mosque complex in Üsküdar, the Atik Valide Camii.
Luna: So she was basically the first real Valide Sultan to flex that kind of power?
Lucas: Exactly. And her position was positioned to be even stronger because Selim II wasn't as interested in ruling as his father had been. He was more of a wine and poetry guy, so Nurbanu stepped into the vacuum. But here's the thing — she wasn't just a placeholder. She had actual political savvy. When the Ottomans went to war with Venice over Cyprus, she was working behind the scenes to try to protect Venetian interests, even as her stepson was conquering the island.
Lucas: And then after Selim died, her son Murad III became sultan, and she remained Valide Sultan — and that's when the position really became a kind of co-ruler. Murad III was more interested in his harem than in affairs of state, so Nurbanu was effectively running things. She controlled access to the sultan, she reviewed petitions, she even had a network of informants. And she made sure her son married Safiye, a Venetian woman herself, to keep the diplomatic ties strong.
Luna: So it's like a Venetian mafia controlling the Ottoman court?
Lucas: Ha, not exactly a mafia, but you're not far off. The point is that these women used their networks — their family connections, their cultural knowledge — to carve out a space of power. And it wasn't just the Valide Sultan. The haseki sultans — the sultan's favorite consorts — also had their own agendas. Safiye, for example, was Murad III's haseki, and she corresponded with Queen Elizabeth I of England. They exchanged gifts and letters for years, and Safiye actually lobbied for an alliance against Spain. So you've got this direct line of communication between the harem and the English court.
Lucas: But this kind of power doesn't come without blood. The politics of succession were brutal. When a sultan died, his sons would fight for the throne, and the losers were typically strangled. So these women were fighting for their sons' lives as much as for their own influence. There's a reason they called the harem the 'cage' — it was a place where you could rise to the highest power or end up dead in a dungeon.
Luna: That's brutal. And that's where someone like Kösem comes in?
Lucas: Right. Kösem Sultan is maybe the most famous of them all. She came to the harem as a slave — probably Greek, though it's contested — and she rose to be Ahmed I's favorite. She had enormous influence during his reign, and when he died young in 1617, she pulled the strings to put his brother Mustafa on the throne, even though Mustafa was mentally unstable. Then she had Mustafa deposed and put her own son, Murad IV, on the throne when he was just eleven. She served as his regent, effectively ruling the empire for years.
Lucas: Murad IV grew up to be a brutal sultan — he banned coffee and tobacco, and he had a habit of wandering the streets in disguise to catch his subjects breaking the rules. But he also pushed back against his mother's influence. Still, when he died in 1640, his brother İbrahim came to the throne, and Kösem had to step in again, because İbrahim was... let's say, not well suited to rule. He was known as 'İbrahim the Mad' — he had a thing for furs, and he drowned his entire harem in the Bosphorus on a whim.
Luna: He drowned the whole harem? That's insane.
Lucas: Yeah, he was definitely something. But the point is, Kösem had to manage him, and then when he was deposed and executed, she put her grandson Mehmed IV on the throne. Mehmed was only six, so Kösem became regent again. But there was a rivalry with her daughter-in-law, Turhan Hatice, who was the boy's mother. And that rivalry ended in one of the most tragic episodes of the era — Kösem was assassinated, probably on Turhan's orders, in 1651.
Lucas: Now Turhan takes over as Valide Sultan, but by that point the empire is in real trouble. There are janissary revolts, the economy is a mess, and the navy keeps losing to Venice. So Turhan makes a decision that's actually more important than any personal power grab — she hands the reins of government to a vizier of her choice, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. And that's the start of the Köprülü dynasty, these grand viziers who basically saved the empire for the next couple decades.
Luna: So she was smart enough to know when to step back.
Lucas: Exactly. She could have tried to keep ruling, but she saw that the state was collapsing, and she chose competence over control. She also built the Yeni Cami, the New Mosque, in Eminönü — right on the Golden Horn, that beautiful silhouette you see today. It had been started by Safiye Sultan decades earlier, but it was left unfinished. Turhan picked it up and finished it, and it's one of the great landmarks of Istanbul.
Luna: It's amazing how much they got done, even with all the chaos.
Lucas: And that's the thing — the Sultanate of Women wasn't just about political scheming, it was also about patronage. These women were founding mosques, hospitals, schools, fountains. They were shaping the physical city of Istanbul. And their legacy is all over the modern city — you can walk through Üsküdar and see the Atik Valide Mosque, or stop by the Yeni Cami and remember the women who built it.
Lucas: It's also a window into how the Ottoman court really worked. The harem wasn't just a place of leisure — it was a training ground for girls who would become queens, and a center of political power that could rival the Divan itself. And it's easy to romanticize or demonize it, but the reality is these were women playing a deadly game with very high stakes.
Luna: And they won, at least for a while.
Lucas: They absolutely did. They held power for nearly a century, and their influence shaped the empire's foreign policy, its architecture, and its very survival. And that's something we don't always appreciate when we look at the Ottoman Empire — we think of the sultans, but the women behind the throne were often the ones keeping the whole thing together.
Lucas: And you know, if this episode has been useful — if it's given you a new way to see Istanbul or a new appreciation for these women — the reason we can keep doing this ad-free is because of listeners like you. If you want to keep that going, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small way to say this matters.
Luna: Yeah, it's a good way to keep history accessible. And honestly, it's a nice feeling to know you're helping.
Lucas: Yeah, it genuinely helps. And it lets us keep digging into corners like this one. Because there's so much more to the story — the harem's role in diplomacy, the lives of the women who never made it to the top, the way the Sultanate of Women eventually faded as the Köprülüs took over. We could spend a whole season on it.
Luna: I'd listen to that.
Lucas: Me too. And that's the great thing about history — there's always another layer to peel back. So next time you're walking around Istanbul, look up at that skyline, and remember the women who helped shape it. They're part of that story too.

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