She probably acted as the sultan's advisor, wrote diplomatic letters to Sigismund II Augustus King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (r. 1548–1572).

[6] She was born in the town of Rohatyn 68 km (42 mi) southeast of Lwów (Lviv), a major city of the Ruthenian Voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland,[5][7] in what is now Ukraine.

[8] According to late 16th-century and early 17th-century sources, such as the Polish poet Samuel Twardowski (died 1661), who researched the subject in Turkey, Hürrem was seemingly born to a man named Hawrylo Lisovski, who was an Orthodox priest of Ruthenian origin, and his wife Leksandra.

[6] Michalo Lituanus wrote in the 16th century that "the most beloved wife of the present Turkish emperor – mother of his first [son] who will govern after him, was kidnapped from our land".

[19] According to Bernardo Navagero's report, as a result of the bitter rivalry a fight between the two women broke out, with Mahidevran beating Hürrem, which angered Suleiman.

In this case, Suleiman not only broke the old custom, but began a new tradition for the future Ottoman sultans: to marry in a formal ceremony and to give their consorts significant influence on the court, especially in matters of succession.

In the Ottoman imperial family tradition, a sultan's consort was to remain in the harem only until her son came of age (around 16 or 17), after which he would be sent away from the capital to govern a faraway province, and his mother would follow him.

Either way, this was another significant break from established customs, as Mehmed the Conqueror had specifically issued a decree to the effect that no women would be allowed to reside in the same building where government affairs were conducted.

Suleiman spent most of his time on military campaigns, consequently he needed someone reliable to provide him with information about the situation in the palace: he chose Hürrem Sultan.

Historical scholars note that, in the early stages of his reign, Suleiman relied on correspondence, not with Haseki, but with his mother, as Hürrem did not know the language well enough.

Hürrem and Mahidevran had given birth to Suleiman's six şehzades (Ottoman princes): Mustafa, Mehmed, Selim, Abdüllah (died at three), Bayezid, and Cihangir.

[17] Since the empire lacked, until the reign of Ahmed I (1603–1617), any formal means of nominating a successor, successions usually involved the death of competing princes in order to avert civil unrest and rebellions.

[35] A skilled commander of Suleiman's army, Ibrahim eventually fell from grace after an imprudence committed during a campaign against the Persian Safavid empire during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55), when he awarded himself a title including the word "Sultan".

According to a source he was executed that very year on charges of planning to dethrone his father; his guilt for the treason of which he was accused remains neither proven nor disproven.

[ii][citation needed] After the death of Mustafa, Mahidevran lost her status in the palace as the mother of the heir apparent and moved to Bursa.

All other depictions of Hürrem, starting with comments by sixteenth and seventeenth-century Ottoman historians as well as by European diplomats, observers, and travellers, are highly derivative and speculative in nature.

Because none of these people – neither Ottomans nor foreign visitors – were permitted into the inner circle of the imperial harem, which was surrounded by multiple walls, they largely relied on the testimony of the servants or courtiers or on the popular gossip circulating around Constantinople.

[13] Even the reports of the Venetian ambassadors (baili) at Suleiman's court, the most extensive and objective first-hand Western source on Hürrem to date, were often filled with the authors' own interpretations of the harem rumours.

Most other sixteenth-century Western sources on Hürrem, which are considered highly authoritative today – such as Turcicae epistolae (English: The Turkish Letters) of Ogier de Busbecq, the Emissary of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I at the Porte between 1554 and 1562; the account of the murder of Şehzade Mustafa by Nicholas de Moffan; the historical chronicles on Turkey by Paolo Giovio; and the travel narrative by Luidgi Bassano – derived from hearsay.

Two of her letters to Sigismund II Augustus King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (reigned 1548–1572) have survived, and during her lifetime the Ottoman Empire generally had peaceful relations with the Polish state within a Polish–Ottoman alliance.

The command belongs to Allah Almighty; we advise you to act in accordance with the decrees (orders) of Allah Almighty..." In her second letter to Sigismund Augustus, written in response to his letter, Hürrem expresses in superlative terms her joy at hearing that the king is in good health and that he sends assurances of his sincere friendliness and attachment towards Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

There are reasons to believe that these two letters were more than just diplomatic gestures, and that Suleiman's references to brotherly or fatherly feelings were not a mere tribute to political expediency.

Whether this phrase refers to a warm friendship between the Polish-Lithuanian monarch and Ottoman Haseki, or whether it suggests a closer relation, the degree of their intimacy definitely points to a special link between the two states at the time.

[13] Some of her embroideries, or at least made under her supervision, have come down to us, such as those given in 1547 to Tahmasp I Shah of Iran and in 1549 to Sigismund II Augustus King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.

Aside from her political concerns, Hürrem engaged in several major works of public buildings, from Makkah to Jerusalem (Al-Quds), perhaps modelling her charitable foundations in part after the caliph Harun al-Rashid's consort Zubaida.

The Haseki Sultan Imaret not only fulfilled the religious requirement to give charity, but reinforced the social order and helped the Ottoman Empire project a political image of power and generosity.

She was buried in a domed mausoleum (türbe) decorated in exquisite Iznik tiles depicting the garden of paradise, perhaps in homage to her smiling and joyful nature.

In a play entitled The Holy League, Titian appears on stage at the Venetian Senate, and stating that he has just come from visiting the Sultan, displays his painting of Sultana Rossa or Roxelana.

In 2013, Croatian singer Severina made a song "Hurem" after national success of TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, which was broadcast in Croatia.

[61] In 2019, a mention of a Russian origin for Hürrem was removed from the visitor panel near her tomb at the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul at the request of the Ukrainian embassy in Turkey.