Selçuk Hatun

Selçuk Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: سلچوک خاتون‎ c. 1407 – 25 October 1485) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I and Kumru Hatun. She was the half-sister of Murad II.

Selçuk Hatun
Born	c. 1407 Amasya or Merzifon, Ottoman Empire
Died	25 October 1485 (aged 77–78) Bursa, Ottoman Empire (now Bursa, Turkey)
Burial	Green Tomb, Bursa
Spouse	Damat Taceddin Ibrahim II Bey ​ ​ (m. 1425; died 1443)​ Anadolu Beylerbeyi Karaca Pasha
Issue	Orhan Bey Paşa Melek Hatun Emir Yusuf Bey Hafsa Hatun Hatice Hatun Ishak Bali Hundi Hatun
Dynasty	Ottoman
Father	Mehmed I
Mother	Kumru Hatun
Religion	Sunni Islam

Early life

Selçuk Hatun was born in 1407 in Amasya or Merzifon.[1] Her father was Mehmed I and her mother was Kumru Hatun.[2][3]

Due to Ottoman Interregnum, her father Mehmed I resided in the different places, after defeating his brothers in 1413, he finally succeeded the throne and Selçuk Hatun resided in the Edirne Palace and spend her childhood years there, after her father's death in 1421, her eldest half-brother Murad II took over the throne and she moved to Bursa.[1]

Marriages

In 1425, her brother arranged her marriage to Damat Taceddin Ibrahim II Bey, he was the son of Isfendiyar Bey.[2][4] Upon her husband's death in 1443 she married Anadolu Beylerbeyi Karaca Pasha. After the death of her second husband she returned to Bursa and never married again.[5]

Issue

Her daughter Hatice Hatun, the only surviving child of Selçuk Hatun. She had six children from her marriage with Taceddin Ibrahim Bey.[6] Their first child was Orhan Bey who died at the age of five in November 1429.[7] Their second child was Paşa Melek Hatun who died at the age of 10 in 1436, their third child was Emir Yusuf Bey who died most probably at the age of 15 in September 1441.[7] Their fourth child was Hafsa Hatun who died at the age of 16 in May 1442.[8][9] The couples fifth child was Hatice Hatun the only who reached adulthood, her death date is given to be 1502 seventeen years after the death of her mother.[9] They all were buried in a tomb built by their mother.[8] Their last and sixth child was Ishak Bali his birth date is unknown it is only known that after the death of his father he lived with his mother in Bursa.

From her second marriage she had only one child a daughter Hundi Hatun.[6]

Role in accession of Sultan Cem

In 1481, after the death of her nephew Mehmed the Conqueror a fight for the throne began in the two sons of Mehmed. Bayezid II and Cem Sultan rebelled against each other for the throne. She was on the side of Cem Sultan. When he declared himself an emperor she lived in Bursa with him.[10] Sultan Cem sent Selçuk Hatun to Bayezid as a ambassador, however this proposal would destroy the unity of the country, she returned without getting results. Sultan Bayezid II managed to dethrone him and he ascended the throne. Selçuk Hatun returned to Bursa, where she spent the remaining years.[10][11][12]

Charities

Selçuk Hatun Mosque Bursa

She built the Selçuk Hatun Masjid near the Irgandı Bridge in 1450 in Bursa. In Beyazıt, she arranged her foundation, dated 1483, two years before her death, and devoted her entire real estate to her masjid in Bursa as a flow. She also staunched her house, which is called a tabhane in the Mosque District of Isa Bey, in Bursa, as an imaret. In the imaret, it was required to have meals taken out to the poor once a day.[13]

The mosque was damaged by the disasters and fires in Bursa and it was modified on different dates. As a matter of fact, since the trustee Bostan Bey could not complete the 23,135 akçe (silver coins) required for the amendment of the mosque in 1568, he requested 12.744 akçe debt and this request was registered and approved.

Selçuk Hatun also built a Mosque in her name in Edirne. Selçuk Hatun contributed to the development and resettlement of Edirne with its neighbourhood, mosque and rooms named after her. In his work titled Edirne and Pasha Livası in the centuries, he also mentioned Selçuk Hatun among those who served and contributed to the development and settlement of Edirne.[14]

The foundation of Selçuk Hatun also falls under the category of semi-family foundation. As a matter of fact, with the incomes it has allocated, many of the family members have benefited from their foundation, and have not kept their free slaves apart from these foundation conditions, and have paid them a salary throughout their lives.[15]

Selçuk Hatun had also built a imaret where fresh and hot food were served the poor and madrasa students. Selçuk Hatun built a bridge on the Nilüfer Creek on the road route from Bursa to Karacabey. Its location on the road connecting Bursa to the west has increased the importance of the bridge.[16] Selçuk Hatun also built a tomb in Kastamonu, where her children had been buried after their deaths.[8]

Death

Selçuk Hatun died on 25 October 1485 and was buried in the mausoleum of her father Mehmed I Mausoleum, in Green Tomb, Bursa, Turkey.[5][11][17]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Selçuk Hatun
16. Orhan 8. Murad I 17. Nilüfer Hatun 4. Bayezid I 9. Gülçiçek Hatun 2. Mehmed I 5. Devlet Hatun 1. Selçuk Hatun 3. Kumru Hatun

References

1. Gündüz 2018, p. 1155.
2. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 81.
3. Uluçay 2011, p. 28.
4. Uluçay 1992, p. 28.
5. Uluçay 2011, p. 29.
6. Yakupoğlu 2013, p. 43.
7. Yakupoğlu 2013, p. 41.
8. Gündüz 2018, p. 1162.
9. Yakupoğlu 2013, p. 42.
10. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 83.
11. Uluçay 1992, p. 29.
12. Gündüz 2018, p. 1156.
13. Kala, Eyüp (2019). Vakıf Kuran Kadınlar OSMANLI DÖNEMİ HANIM SULTAN VAKIFLARI VE SOSYAL POLİTİKA UYGULAMALARI. p. 117.
14. Gündüz 2018, p. 1159.
15. Gündüz 2018, p. 1164.
16. Gündüz 2018, p. 1161.
17. Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 85.

Sources

• Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara, Ötüken.
• Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
• Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (1992). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara, Ötüken.
• Gündüz, Ahmet (2018). Çelebi Mehmed’in Kızı Selçuk Hatun Vakıfları.
• Yakupoğlu, Cevdet (2013). CANDAROĞULLARI SARAYINDA BİR OSMANLI GELİNİ SELÇUK HATUN.