Mahidevran

[10][11][12] Of Circassian,[1][4][13] Albanian[1][14] or Montenegrin origin,[4][15] Mahidevran was listed among the seventeen women of the harem of Suleiman while he was governor of Manisa.

[18][19] According to his report, as a result of the bitter rivalry a fight between the two women broke out, with Mahidevran beating Hürrem, which angered Suleiman.

[18] Even though Suleiman and Hürrem developed a closer relationship, Mahidevran, as the mother of Mustafa, the eldest surviving son, retained a privileged position within the harem.

[23] Pietro Bragadin, ambassador in the early years of Suleiman's reign, reported that while both were still resident in the imperial palace in Istanbul, Mustafa was his mother's "whole joy".

Up until the very end of her son's life, she endeavored to protect Mustafa from his political rivals, and most probably maintained a network of informants in order to do so.

[1] The ambassador Bernado Navagero, in a 1553 report, described Mahidevran's efforts to protect her son: "Mustafa has with him his mother, who exercises great diligence to guard him from poisoning and reminds him everyday that he has nothing else but this to avoid, and it is said that he has boundless respect and reverence for her.

When he was a child, the Venetian ambassador had reported that "he has extraordinary talent, he will be warrior, is much loved by the Janissaries, and performs great feats.

During the campaign against Safavid Persia in 1553, Suleiman ordered the execution of Mustafa[30] on charges of planning to dethrone his father; his guilt for the treason of which he was accused has since been neither proven nor disproven.

Less fortunate than her predecessors and presumably disgraced by her son's execution, she was unable to pay the rent on the house in which she lived, and her servants were taunted and cheated in the local markets.

[2] In around 1558, some years after Mustafa's death, Suleiman's childhood friend Yahya Efendi recommended Mahidevran to be welcomed back into the palace.