Meylişah Hatun

Meyl-i Şah Hatun (before 1615 - ? other names Meleksima, Meylikaya) was a consort to Ottoman Sultan Osman II (reign 1618 - 1622) and the mother of Şehzade Ömer of the Ottoman Empire.

Biography

Meylişah Hatun, whose original name was Marica (Turkish: Mariça) was considered to be of Serbian origin. She was captured during one of the raids by Tatars and sold into slavery. It was Mahfiruz Hatice Sultan, Osman's mother who gave Meylişah to Osman as a concubine at the age of about thirteen. Very little is known about Meylişah Sultan, principally because neither sultans left sons who survived their father's death to reach the throne, thereby bringing their mothers to public attention as Valide Sultan.

Birth of Şehzade Ömer

On 20 October 1621 she gave birth to a son, Şehzade Ömer. On Osman's way back he had received the news that he had a son born. Now as a father, he had a successor and posed a threat against his brothers. He called her to Edirne where the two met and Osman had the chance to see his son, Ömer. To celebrate the auspicious moment and possibly to impress her, he ordered a festivity to be held. In the celebrations, imitation of the battle scenes was a part of the show. Yet the unimaginable happened and the baby suddenly died. Some history writers explain this event by the shock the infant had due to noises of the fired cannons. Hammer gives a more striking reason for the baby's death: "To increase her joy festivities were held and some scenes of the Polish war were staged. The prince was present in these games and by the sudden shot from a rifle [by coincidence] he was wounded and died." If this information Hammer brings without telling its source is true, then it means we are expected to believe that the baby, the existence of whom was so critical for Osman, was shot "accidentally".

Death

After Osman's death in 1622, Meylişah along with the other members of Osman's entourage were permanently exiled to the Old Palace, where she lived until her death. She is buried along with her husband in Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul.

See also

• Ottoman Empire
• Ottoman dynasty
• Ottoman family tree
• List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire
• Line of succession to the Ottoman throne
• Ottoman Emperors family tree (simplified)
• List of consorts of the Ottoman Sultans

Further reading

• Peirce, Leslie P., The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-19-508677-5 (paperback).
• Yavuz Bahadıroğlu, Resimli Osmanlı Tarihi, Nesil Yayınları (Ottoman History with Illustrations, Nesil Publications), 15th Ed., 2009, ISBN 978-975-269-299-2 (Hardcover).