#sehzade abdullah son of suleyman i

[ottomanladies]

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF HÜRREM SULTAN | day 3: Hürrem and her children

There are no certain dates of birth for Hürrem's children, sometimes not even a specific year. Her first child, Şehzade Mehmed, was born in late 1521. In his case, only the year of his birth was recorded - 972 in Islamic calendar - which ended on 30 November 1521. Şehzade Mehmed was the first child of Süleyman I's to be born after his accession, around a year later, which could confirm the theory that Hürrem had been presented to him as a congratulatory gift. After Mehmed's birth, Hürrem's status rose, and in harem registers she started to be referred to as "the mother of Prince Mehmed". Her only daughter, Mihrimah, was born in autumn 1522, therefore breaking a centuries-old rule that mothers of a son could not have any more sexual encounters with the sultan. Süleyman was far from Istanbul at the time of the birth: he was at war against the Knights Hospitallers and returned to the capital only in February 1523. The future Selim II was born on 28 May 1524 - the only child to have a sure date of birth - and was followed in 1525 or 1526 by another prince, Şehzade Abdullah, who died of smallpox at a young age. Şehzade Bayezid was born in 1527, and Hürrem's youngest child - Şehzade Cihangir - was born in 1531, unusually distanced from his elder brother Bayezid. Peirce thinks he may have been "unanticipated or an afterthought—the result of a decision by Roxelana and Suleyman to have one last child", since his birth had arrived after the magnificent circumcision fest that Süleyman had organised for his three eldest princes, which could have symbolised that "the sultan considered his reproductive obligation to the empire fulfilled"

sources: Leslie Peirce, Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire; Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire

[ottomanladies]

I have a question what Do you think about sehzade Abdullah son of suleyman can you talk about him

Şehzade Abdullah was Süleyman I and Hürrem Sultan's third son: he was born "probably sometime in 1525 or early 1526" (Peirce, The Empress of the East). Öztuna places him in 1522 between Mehmed and Mihrimah (Kanuni Sultan Süleyman), but I would trust Peirce on this and put Abdullah between Selim and Bayezid instead. It would explain why Selim was brought up with Mehmed and Bayezid with Cihangir: there's quite the gap between them.

It's not known when he died. Again, Öztuna claims he died on October 28, 1522, therefore thinking he was still a baby when he died. Peirce calls him "a toddler" but says that there is no known date for his death. Maybe he died before Cihangir's birth and this was the reason why Süleyman and Hürrem decided to have another child? Who knows.

[ottomanladies]

Do we have any concrete sense of a birth year for Hurrem's son, Abdullah? I keep stumbling onto claims that he was possibly the twin of Mihrimah, but the sources to back it up seem spotty at best.

Honestly I have never seen anyone claim that Abdullah was Mihrimah’s twin. I’ve seen claims that he was Mahidevran’s son which.... doesn’t make any sense.

Anyway, this is what Peirce says about him in Empress of the East:

“If Mehmed and Mihrumah were conceived in the interstices between campaigns, Selim and Abdullah, their next children, were honeymoon babies. Selim was born in May 1524 and Abdullah probably sometime in 1525 or early 1526 (his precise birth date is not known).”

Öztuna claims that Abdullah was born in 1522 but if Mihrimah was born in fall 1522 and Mehmed was born in late 1521, there really is no time for him to be born in that year. 

I personally stand by Peirce. Biologically, there really is no time for Abdullah to be born in 1522 between Mehmed and Mihrimah (which is where Öztuna puts him)

[ottomanladies]

Haseki Hürrem Sultan + children // sources: Leslie Peirce - Empress of the East, Yılmaz Öztuna - Kanuni Sultan Süleyman

[ottomanladies]

Sehzade Abdullah was Hurrem son?

Yes, he was.