# The Ottoman Iron Lady: Kösem Sultan and the Women Who Ruled

An episode of [The Story of Turkey: From Byzantium to the Ottoman Empire to Today — Fexingo History](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1895450461), 5 Aug 2026, 8:49.

Audio: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-story-of-turkey/episode-0195.mp3

In Episode 195 of The Story of Turkey, we dive into the extraordinary life of Kösem Sultan, the Greek-born slave girl who became one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history. From her rise as the favourite of Ahmed I to her role as regent for two of her sons, Kösem navigated the treacherous politics of the Topkapı Palace, the Janissaries, and the ulema. We explore her rivalry with the Valide Sultan Turhan Hatice, the Harem's influence on imperial policy, and the brutal struggle that led to Kösem's death by strangulation in 1651. Along the way, we touch on the devshirme system, the Köprülü reforms, and the great fire of 1660, which shaped Istanbul's skyline. This episode reveals how a woman, despite all odds, wielded power in a patriarchal empire and left a legacy that still sparks debate among historians. Tune in for a story of ambition, survival, and the iron will of a sultan's mother. #KosemSultan #OttomanEmpire #ValideSultan #Harem #TopkapiPalace #AhmedI #TurhanHatice #Janissaries #Devshirme #KopruluReforms #Istanbul #WomenInHistory #SultanateOfWomen #OttomanPolitics #History #FexingoHistory #OttomanDynasty #17thCentury Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

## Transcript

Lucas: So we've talked a lot about sultans and viziers, but today I want to bring someone into the spotlight who's often been in the background of our episodes. Kösem Sultan — the Greek-born slave girl who became one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history.
Luna: Oh, I've heard the name. She's the one from the 'Sultanate of Women,' right?
Lucas: Exactly. That's the period, roughly from the late 1500s to the mid 1600s, when the women of the harem, especially the sultan's mother, held enormous political influence. Kösem is the most famous of them. Her story starts around 1603, when she was captured in Greece and sold into the imperial harem. She was about fifteen.
Luna: And she caught the eye of the sultan?
Lucas: She caught the eye of Ahmed I, who was just a teenager himself. She became his favorite, and when she gave birth to sons, her status skyrocketed. But here's the thing — Ahmed died young, in 1617, and what followed was a messy succession that would define her career. The Ottomans didn't have a set rule for succession then, so it was basically a free-for-all among the princes.
Luna: So Kösem had to fight to get her sons on the throne?
Lucas: She had to do more than fight. She had to survive. When Ahmed died, his brother Mustafa came to the throne — he was mentally unstable, and Kösem managed to keep her own sons alive, which was no small feat. Then her son Murad IV took over in 1623 when he was just eleven. Kösem became Valide Sultan, the official regent. That's when she started really pulling the strings.
Luna: She was ruling the empire, in effect.
Lucas: She was the one who met with the grand viziers, received foreign ambassadors, and managed the court's factions. She even had a say in military appointments. And she did this from inside the harem, which was both her prison and her power base. The harem was not just a place of seclusion — it was the center of the dynasty's domestic politics.
Lucas: Murad IV grew up to be a fearsome sultan, known for his brutal execution of his own brothers to secure the line. But he always relied on his mother's counsel. After he died in 1640, his brother Ibrahim took over — and that's where Kösem's power grew even more. Ibrahim was mentally frail, so Kösem essentially ran the empire for years.
Luna: So she was the real ruler during Ibrahim's reign?
Lucas: For a while, yeah. But Ibrahim was erratic and his behavior got so bad that the Janissaries and the court eventually deposed him in 1648. They placed his six-year-old son Mehmed IV on the throne — and that's when Kösem's position became truly precarious. Because Mehmed's own mother, Turhan Hatice, was now the Valide Sultan, and she was not about to step aside.
Luna: So you have two powerful women fighting for control.
Lucas: Exactly. Kösem, the grandmother, and Turhan, the mother. They represented two factions in the palace. Kösem, ever the pragmatist, even tried to have Mehmed deposed in favor of another of her sons. But Turhan got wind of it. The Janissaries, who were loyal to Kösem, were still powerful, but Turhan had her own alliances. And in 1651, Kösem was strangled to death in her own chamber — probably by the chief black eunuch, a man she had trusted.
Luna: That's brutal. So her own schemes caught up with her.
Lucas: It's a Shakespearean end, really. She had spent nearly half a century manipulating everyone around her, and in the end, she was betrayed by those closest to her. But here's the thing — her death didn't end the influence of the harem. Turhan took over and actually used her power more effectively. She's the one who commissioned the Yeni Cami in Istanbul, that enormous mosque on the Golden Horn, to consolidate her own legitimacy.
Lucas: And you know, the Ottoman state was so fragile at that point that the viziers were desperate for stability. That's why they turned to the Köprülü family — Köprülü Mehmed Pasha became grand vizier in 1656, with the condition that he'd have absolute authority. He and his son, Fazıl Ahmed, essentially reasserted the power of the state, curbed the Janissaries, and pushed back against the harem's influence.
Luna: So the era of the Sultanate of Women ended with Kösem.
Lucas: It ended, yes. But Kösem's legacy is complicated. She's been called a schemer, a power-hungry manipulator, but also a shrewd politician who held the empire together during a critical period. Some historians argue she was a unifying force, while others see her as a symptom of the dynasty's decay. And the contemporary sources are all written by men who were either her allies or her enemies, so it's hard to separate fact from propaganda.
Luna: It's amazing how much of her story we actually know, given that she was a woman in a harem.
Lucas: That's actually a great point. We know so much because her political role was so public, relatively speaking. She corresponded with foreign rulers, she had her own agents in the palace, and her name appears in the official chronicles. But for every Kösem, there were hundreds of women whose stories are lost. That's why her case is so valuable — it gives us a rare window into the inner workings of the Ottoman court.
Lucas: And it's also a reminder that the harem wasn't just a place of luxury and intrigue. It was a political institution, and the women who rose within it were as savvy as any vizier. Kösem was one of the most skilled players in a game that had very high stakes — and she played it for forty years.
Luna: It's fascinating how much of Ottoman history is shaped by these women.
Lucas: And yet, for a long time, they were written out of the story. Now, historians are re-examining the role of the harem and the women who ran it. And it's a reminder that we should question the sources we rely on, because the chronicles were often written by men who had their own agendas.
Luna: Before we go further, I just want to say — I love that this show is ad-free and we can just get deep into the history without interruptions. It feels like we're just having a conversation.
Lucas: I really appreciate that. And you know, that's only possible because of a small group of listeners who chip in a few dollars a month through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's not a big operation — it's literally just us and the support of people who like what we do. That's what keeps the episodes coming without ads.
Luna: Yeah, it's a small but loyal community, and it makes a real difference.
Lucas: Totally. And it lets us spend time on stories like Kösem's, which deserve the space. Anyway, let's get back to her — because after her death, the empire went through a period of intense reform. The Köprülüs, with their iron fist, managed to restore order, but the seeds of decline were already there. And the fire of 1660 that we mentioned in an earlier episode was a symptom of that instability — the city was overcrowded, the streets were narrow, and a single spark could destroy entire neighborhoods.
Luna: So the empire's problems were becoming visible in its capital.
Lucas: Exactly. The great fire of 1660 destroyed thousands of homes, and it was followed by outbreaks of plague. It was a low point. But out of that crisis came one of Istanbul's most iconic landmarks — the Yeni Cami, which Turhan Hatice had commissioned but which wasn't finished until after her death. It's a symbol of her own ambition, and of the enduring influence of the harem.
Luna: So even in the era of the Köprülüs, the women were still shaping the city.
Lucas: They were. And they shaped it in stone, in ways that are still visible today. When you walk through Istanbul, you're walking through layers of history — the Hagia Sophia, the Topkapı Palace, the Yeni Cami. Each one tells a story of power, and some of those stories are about women who wielded it from behind the veil.
Luna: It's a good reminder that history isn't just about men and battles.
Lucas: It's about people, and all the ways they find to influence the world around them. And Kösem Sultan is a perfect example of that. She started as a slave, and she ended up as the most powerful woman in the empire. That's a story worth telling.

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