Mihrimah Sultan

Mihrimah Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: ,

Turkish pronunciation: [mihimah sutan]) (21 March
1522 25 January 1578) was the daughter of the
Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I and his wife Hrrem Sultan.[1] Mihrimah Sultans name is also spelled Mihrumah,
Mihr--Mh, Mihr-a-Mh or Mehr--Mh. She was
born in Constantinople.
Mehr--Mh means Sun
(lit. clemency, compassion, endearment, aection) and
Moon.

Life

A letter that has written by Mihrimah Sultan to Sigismund II Augustus in 1548

translation, son-in-law) Rstem Pasha (1505 10 July

1561), the Grand Vizier under Suleiman. Though the
union was unhappy, Mihrimah ourished as a patroness
of the arts and continued her travels with her father until
her husbands death.
The fact that Mihrimah encouraged her father to launch
the campaign against Malta, promising to build 400 galleys at her own expense; that like her mother she wrote
Mihrimah Sultan
letters to Sigismund II the King of Poland; and that on
her fathers death she lent 50,000 gold sovereigns to her
Mihrimah traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire with brother Sultan Selim to meet his immediate needs, illusher father as he surveyed the lands and conquered new trate the political power which she wielded.
ones. It is written in Persian literature that she traveled She was not only a princess, but functioned as Valide
into battle with her father on an Arabian stallion called Sultan (equivalent to Queen Mother) to her younger
Batal at the Battle of Gizah in northern Egypt outside brother Selim II (r. 1566 - 1574). In Ottoman Turkey,
Alexandria.
the valide sultan traditionally had access to considerable
In Constantinople on 26 November 1539, at the age of economic resources and often funded major architectural
seventeen, Mihr--Mh was married o to Damat (literal projects. Mihrimah Sultans most famous foundations
1

are the two Istanbul-area mosque complexes that bear

her name, both designed by her fathers chief architect,
Mimar Sinan. Mihrimah Mosque at the Edirne Gate, at
the western wall of the old city of Constantinople, was one
of Sinans most imaginative designs, using new support
systems and lateral spaces to increase the area available
for windows. The second mosque is the skele Mosque,
which is one of skdar's most prominent landmarks.
There is a myth about these two Mosques. It is said that
Mimar Sinan fell in love with Mihrimah and built the
smaller mosque in Edirnekap without palace approval,
on his own, dedicated to his love. The legend continues to say that on 21 March (when day time and night
time are equal and Mihrimahs alleged birthday, hence
the name) at the time of sunset, if you have clear view of
both mosques, you will notice that as the sun sets behind
the only minaret of the mosque in Edirnekap, the moon
rises between the two minarets of the mosque in skdar.

Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Edirnekap, stanbul, Turkey.

Death and burial place

She died in Constantinople on 25 January 1578 and was

buried in Sleymaniye Mosque.
Her elder brother, Mehmed, died in 1543. She also had
four younger brothers: Abdullah (died in 1526), Selim
(died in 1574), Bayezid (died in 1561), and Cihangir
(died in 1553).

Notes

[1] Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and

Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, (Oxford University
Press, 1993), 18, 201.

References
Imperial Harem : Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire 1993 by Leslie Peirce, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508677-5.

EXTERNAL LINKS

See Sinan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimar_

Sinan

5 External links
Photos of Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Edirnekapi
Photos of Iskele Mosque (aka Mihrimah) in Uskudar
Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Edirnekapi
Mihrimah Sultan -- an Ottoman princess legacy survives

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Mihrimah Sultan Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihrimah%20Sultan?oldid=650079558 Contributors: SpeedyGonsales, Deacon

of Pndapetzim, Fdewaele, Rsrikanth05, GoodDay, Alessandro57, Waacstats, Edward321, Johnpacklambert, Kansas Bear, KylieTastic,
Smsarmad, MARKELLOS, Takabeg, MystBot, Surtsicna, Addbot, LaaknorBot, Zorrobot, Yobot, JackieBot, Rangond, English Bobby,
Diannaa, Onel5969, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, Dilek2, 19thPharaoh, ClueBot NG, Arshia.jumong, Almedina22, Titodutta, Keivan.f, Erkistreet, ElphiBot, AvocatoBot, PetrosB3, Maurice Flesier, Egeymi, JYBot, E4024, Hmainsbot1, Nimetapoeg, Acetotyce, Sakura sakura97,
Pip023, TridiaChaplain, Seka123, Beren Saat Beroo Barbie, SekaNovi02, Ghunchaali43, Madison001 and Anonymous: 37

6.2

Images

File:Flag_of_the_Ottoman_Empire.svg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Flag_of_the_Ottoman_
Empire.svg License: Public domain Contributors:
http://www.vicmart.com/ext/en/exrw/item=1416 - Ottoman medal from 1850 Original artist: <a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/User:Dsmurat' title='User:Dsmurat'>DsMurat</a><a href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Dsmurat' title='User
talk:Dsmurat'>talk </a>
File:Istanbul_-_Mesquita_de_Mihrimah_-_Cpula.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Istanbul_-_
Mesquita_de_Mihrimah_-_C%C3%BApula.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Josep Renalias
File:Mihrimah-zygmunt(1548).jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Mihrimah-zygmunt%281548%29.
jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Poland State Archives Original artist: Mihrimah Sultan
File:Tizian_121.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Tizian_121.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
[1] Original artist: Workshop of Titian

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