‘Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight. My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.‘ Suleiman the Magnificent
If you ever visit Topkapı Palace when you visit İstanbul, make sure that you follow the footsteps of a love story that changed the Ottoman Empire. Roxalena a 15 year old war prisoner who was to become one of the concubines of Suleyman the Magnificent in the 16th Century made her way to becoming the love of the Sultan. Some historians think that she was originally the daughter of an Ukrainian Orthodox family. She had such a powerful spell on the Sultan that she was the first woman to be officially married to any Sultan in the Ottoman history. She even persuaded the Sultan to bring the harem inside the walls of the Topkapı Palace so that they could live together.
Sultan Suleiman was a poet and wrote under the pen name Muhibbi, He wrote beautiful love poems for Hürrem Sultan. A part of the love poem goes as;
“Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.
My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.
The most beautiful among the beautiful…
My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf…
My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this world…
My Constantinople, my Caraman, the earth of my Anatolia
My Badakhshan, my Baghdad and Khorasan
My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of mischief…
I’ll sing your praises always
I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy.”
Having such an admiration and idealisation for Hürrem, he granted her extensive powers like no other harem woman could have before her. She could influence the power dynamics in the empire and would correspond with royal women in other empires.
A recently found love letter of Hürrem Sultan to her husband Suleiman the Magnificent depicts her love for the Sultan. A part of the letter says;
“My life, My Lord, My dear Sultan, my only prayer to Allah is to see your beaming face again. No more separation from now on…I wish from my Lord that my Sultan, my beloved man, will always be happy in the world and in the hereafter. You always gain victories against your enemies. I know very well that my sultan fell for this slave in a twist of fate. Wiped away her tears… Made her happy… I chose Islam because of him. That’s why, I can only be happy around you. I am sending you one of my clothes soaked with my tears…Please wear it, for me…”
She ends her letter with the words: “I wish nothing but happiness for you, in both worlds. Your poor and lowly slave, Hürrem.”
Both the Sultan and his beloved Hürrem rest in Süleymaniye Mosque built on one of the most beautiful spots of the city overlooking the two continents. Make sure you pay a visit to the last resting place of these two lovers that changed the course of history and make sure that you read Suleyman’s love poems for Hürrem which reminds one that love knows no boundaries of culture or religion. The poems were translated by a prominent translator Talat Halman and book is a rare one to find very similar to love in our day and age.
And definitely pay a visit to Hürrem Sultan’s Hammam in which you can bath in the section which solely belonged to her! You will be amazed by the simple elegance and the tranquility of the hammam that was built to remind us that her name is meant to live for ever!
visit Hürrem Sultan Hammam at https://www.hurremsultanhamami.com/en/
