Ottoman Imperial Harem

Historians claim that the sultan was frequently lobbied by harem members of different ethnic or religious backgrounds to influence the geography of the Ottoman wars of conquest.

[6] At the end of the sixteenth century, except for the sultan himself, no member of the royal family, male or female, left the capital.

The emphasis on seclusion of the harem and dynastic life away from the public gaze also communicated his power, as only those closest to him had the privilege to interact with him privately.

At the end of their respective educations, the men and women would be married off to one another and "graduated" from the palace to occupy administrative posts in the empire's provinces.

[9] By the mid 18th century, an imperial hall, also known as the "privy chamber," took on Europeanizing decorations and inscriptions dating from the renovations made by Osman III.

[19] The history of the Yıldız Palace begins in 1795 when Selim III built a pavilion there for his mother, marking a moment when valide sultans began managing and inhabiting their own hilltop estates.

After assassination attempts, Abdülhamid II moved his immediate family to the Yıldız Palace to live in a two-story mansion known as the Şale Kiosk.

Given that this new site did not have enough space to support the number of women in the imperial harem, it was downsized with wives, unmarried sisters, and servants being moved elsewhere.

As part of this project, scholars and others began to research the harem architecture, ornate decor, furnishings, and everyday lives of its inhabitants.

The ethnic background of the valide sultan was a major determinant of whether a military target would be aimed at North Africa, the Middle East, or Europe.

Matrilineal background was so important that a sultan descended from a European mother was more than 70 percent less likely to orient the empire's imperial venture in the West.

[2] For the perpetuation and service of the Ottoman dynasty, slave girls were either captured in war, given as gifts to the Sultan and the dynastic family on special occasions, recruited within the empire, or procured from neighbouring countries to become imperial court ladies (cariyes).

Circassians had been expelled from Russian lands in the 1860s and impoverished refugee parents sold their daughters in a trade that was formally banned but continued in practice.

Inexperienced female slaves who newly entered the imperial palace were called acemi (novice), and their early period of service and training was known as acemilik (novitiate) before they were eligible for promotions.

The next step was sakird (apprentices), with the goal of being promoted to a gedikli (directly waiting on the sultan), usta (mistress), or even kadin (consort), if they were lucky.

[25] The cariyes with whom the sultan shared his bed became a member of the dynasty and might rise in rank to attain the status of gözde ('the favorite'), ikbal ('the fortunate') or kadin ('the woman/wife').

[27] Hurrem Sultan, also called Roxelana, was a female concubine who completely transformed the harem system and left a lasting impact on the Ottoman Empire.

Eunuchs were castrated men recruited and trained to serve in the apartments of the princes, also called kafes (cage), as well as women's quarters of the harem at Topkapı Palace.

Some of the eunuch's basic duties were watching over the women in the harem, negotiating and speaking to both the sultan and their relatives, and supervising the palace and keeping everyone safe.

[3] She was the absolute authority in the seraglio, and she, with the help of the kapı ağa and the kızlar ağası, often her confidantes, or even men she herself had chosen upon her accession, had a finger in every aspect of harem life.

[53] In particular, European notions of race, sexuality, and gender heavily influenced their perception and depictions of life and politics in the Ottoman Empire.

Seclusion was not as actively gendered in a strict binary, because the privacy of both male and female members of the imperial family symbolized their power over the rest of society.

[54] According to Edward Said, Orientalist paintings, reflected Europe's eroticized view of Islam with luxury, leisure, and lust being common motifs.

French artists such as Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Fernand Cormon painted some of the most recognizable orientalist artwork based on the imperial harem.

[57] Of the artists who illustrated the Ottoman Imperial Harem, very few actually visited the empire, and all were male, so it is highly possible that these depictions were neither accurate nor authentic.

Her husband served as the British Ambassador to Turkey, allowing her to spend time in the Ottoman Empire and write extensively about her experiences there.

In her writings, she explained that the Ottoman women did not lack in their privileges due to their control over property, autonomy in the harem, and sexual liberty through the wearing of veils.

Fatima would be considered beautiful "either in England or Germany" and could be "suddenly transported upon the most polite throne of Europe nobody would think her other than born and bred to be a queen, though educated in a country we call barbarous.

In An Englishwoman in a Turkish Harem published in 1915, Ellison sought to "correct" the prejudice and hatred that dominated the British national attitude towards Turkey.

Reportedly, Pertevniyal became outraged by the presence of a foreign woman in her harem, and so she slapped the empress in the face, almost provoking an international incident.