Women Patrons in Medieval Anatolia and a Discussion of Māhbarī Khātūn’S Mosque Complex in Kayseri
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WOMEN PATRONS IN MEDIEVAL ANATOLIA AND A DISCUSSION OF MĀHBARĪ KHĀTŪN’S MOSQUE COMPLEX IN KAYSERI PATRICIA BLESSING* At the center of Kayseri, facing the well,preser.ed citadel sta ds a large architectural comple2, co sisti g of a mos3ue, madrasa, mauso, leum, a d the rui s of a double bathhouse 5See figure 17. The buildi g, 9 ow locally as the Hu ad Hatu or Hua d Hatu Comple2, was built i the seco d 3uarter of the thirtee th ce tury. I scriptio s o both por, tals of the mos3ue date to 1237,38, while the other parts of the comple2 remai u dated. At the time of co structio , the patro of the comple2, Māhbarī Khātū , was the mother of the ruli g Sulta Ghiyāth al,Dī Kay9husraw II (R 1237,46A a d of the widows of the Sulta BAlā’ al,Dī Kay3ubād (R 121C,37A.1 With her i ter.e tio i Kayseri a d the co , structio of two cara.a serais ear To9at a d YoDgat, Māhbarī Khātū is o e of the most prolific female patro s i medie.al A atolia, a d the o e who is best docume ted i mo ume tal i scriptio s, although ot i much detail i other writte sources of the period, such as chro icles a d hagiographies. * Dr., Sta ford Huma ities Ce ter, Sta ford U i.ersity, 424 Sa ta Teresa Street, Sta , ford, CA C4305, USAG pblessi Hsta ford.edu. 1 I moder Tur9ish, the ame is more commo ly spelled as Mahperi Hatu . Hua d Hatu appears as a Tur9ish adaptatio of the titles Khwa d Khātū . A other wife of the Sulta BAlā’ al,Dī Kay3ubād was Iṣmat al,Du yā wa’l,Dī al,Mali9a al,BĀdila, a daughter of the Ayyubid ruler of Syria, al,Mali9 al,Ashraf Abū Ba9r b. AyyūbI Emi e UyumaD, JTKr9iye SelLu9lu Sulta larM, Meli9leri .e Meli9eleri i E.lili9leri,N i I I. Uluslararası Selçuklu Kültür ve Medeniyeti Kongresi Bildirileri, .ol. 2, T. C. SelLu9 O i.ersitesi, 2001, pp. 411,412. For the sul, ta ’s third wife, seeI Scott Redford, JPaper, Sto e, ScissorsI BAlā’ al,Dī Kay3ubād, BIṣmat al, Du yā wa Bl,Dī a d the Writi g of SelPu9 History,N i I A drew C. S. Peacoc9 a d Sara Nur YMldMD (eds.A The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East, I.B. Tauris, Lo , do I 2013, pp. 151,170. 476 PATRICIA BLESSING This dearth of 9 owledge ope s the 3uestio of female patro age i medie.al A atolia, a d as well as i the medie.al Islamic world as a whole. Although some wor9 has bee do e o female patro s u der the Ayyubids a d Mamlu9s, for i sta ce, there is room for e2te si.e research o the topic.2 Yasser Tabbaa rightly poi ted out thatI J5Q7 the middle Islamic period seems to get lost betwee the theoretical u derpi i gs of early Islam, a d the archi.al rich ess of later periodsN.3 Correspo di gly, research o female patro s i SelPu9 a d Beyli9 A atolia ofte sta ds i the shadow of the comparati.ely rich archi.al docume tatio that is a.ailable for the mothers a d the daughters of the Ottoma sulta s. See o.erall, howe.er, ot ma y female patro s are docume ted i medie.al buildi g i scriptio s i A atolia, a d e.e fewer appear i other writte sources such as chro icles a d wa3fīyas.4 The female patro s, who are 9 ow , howe.er, are ofte related to the ruli g house, wi.es a d daughters of the SelPu9 sulta s, poi ti g to the limited access to patro age for wome of o ,royal status while also i dicati g the lac9 of docume tatio o such figures, particularly for medie.al Is, lam. At the same time, docume tatio , already limited for wome related to the ruli g houses of the medie.al Islamic world, is e.e more scarce at the le.el of the ulamā’ or the court elites, about whose spouses a d daughters hardly a ythi g is 9 ow .5 2 Yasser Tabbaa, JḌayfa Khātū , Rege t Quee a d Architectural Patro N, i I D. Fair, child Ruggles (ed.A Women, Patronage, and Self-representation in Islamic Societies, State U i.ersity of New Yor9 Press, Alba y 2000, pp. 17,34G Ga.i R. G. Hambly, JBecomi g VisibleI Medie.al Islamic Wome i Historiography a d History,N i I Ga.i R. G. Hambly (ed.A Women in the Medieval Islamic World Power, Patronage, and Piety, St. Marti ’s Press, New Yor9 1CC8, pp. 3,27. R. Stephe Humphreys, JWome as Patro s of Religious Architecture i Ayyubid Damas, cus,N Muqarnas,11 (1CC4AI 35,54G Ahmad BAbd al,RaDi3, JTrois fo datio s fRmi i es da s l’Egypte mamelou9e,N ,evue des Etudes Islamiques, XLI (1C73A, pp. C5,126G Esi AtMl, JIslamic Wome as Rulers a d Patro s,N Asian Art, 6.2 (1CC3A, pp. 3,12. 3 Tabbaa, op. cit, p. 17. 4 Howard Cra e, JNotes o SalPū3 Architectural Patro age i 13th,ce tury A atolia,N -ournal of the Economic and Social .istory of the Orient, 36.1 (1CC3A, pp. 11,12 a d os. 30, 52, 85, 8C i the roll of patro sG Ol9K Bates, JWome as Patro s of Architecture i Tur9ey,N i I Lois Bec9 a d Ni99i Keddie (eds.A Women in the Muslim World, Har.ard U i.ersity Press, Cam, bridge, MA 1C78, pp. 245,60. 5 E2ceptio s i medie.al A atolia i clude Ib Bībī’s mother. K ow as al,Bībī al, Mu aPPima, she was the astrologer of se.eral rulers, first at the court of the KhwareDmshahs, WOMEN PATRONS IN MEDIEVAL ANATOLIA 477 Thus, the wome who are docume ted i writte sources, i cludi g buildi g i scriptio s, are, for the most part, the wi.es, daughters, or mothers of rulers. I this article, Māhbarī Khātū will sta d at the ce ter as a e2ample of how such a high,le.el patro was represe ted i the i scriptio s o her fou datio s. Together with a study o the architec, ture that resulted from her patro age, a d its positio i the co te2t of SelPu9 A atolia before the Mo gol co 3uest, this study will pro.ide ew i sights o the role a d status of female patro s i this period. Māāāhbarīīī Khāāātūūūn The life of Māhbarī Khātū remai s i the dar9 to a large e2te t. So far, A to y Eastmo d has pro.ided the most detailed study of her life a d patro age.6 I additio to few me tio s i writte sources, the i , scriptio s o the mo ume ts that Māhbarī Khātū fou ded, discussed below, are the most detailed a d reliable source of i formatio . They co ect her to her late husba d, BAlā’ al,Dī Kay3ubād (R 1220,1237A, a d to her so , the ruli g sulta at the time of co structio , Ghiyāth al, Dī Kay9husraw II (R 1237,1246A. The latter succeeded his father i the at the Ayyubid court i Aleppo, a d last at the SelPu9 court i Ko ya. The o ly source about her life is the i troductio to her so ’s chro icle of A atolia, al-Avāmir al-0alā1iyya fī 0l- 0umūr al-0alā1iyya (JThe most e2alted orders regardi g the most sublime affairsNAI Nāṣir al,Dī al,Ḥusai b. Muḥammad Ib Bībī, al-Avāmirü 0l-ʿAlāʾiyye fī 0l-Umūri2l-ʿAlāʾiyye, ed. Ad a SadM9 ErDi, .ol.1, A 9araI TKr9 Tarih Kurumu, 1C56G Nāṣir al,Dī al,Ḥusai b. Muḥammad Ib Bībī, Selçukn3me, tr. MK9rimi Halil Yi a L, seco d editio , Ista bulI Kitabe.i, 2007G first published i 1C44A. For a a alysis of the sectio s that describe Ib Bībī’s family life, seeI Se.9et KKLK9hKseyi , Selbst- und 5remdwahrnehmung im Pro6ess kultureller Transformation 7 Anato- lische 8uellen über Muslime, Christen und Türken 913. 7 15. -ahrhundert), Verlag der Tsterreichische A9ademie der Wisse schafte , Vie a 2011, pp. 132,137. 6 A to y Eastmo d, JGe der a d Patro age betwee Christia ity a d Islam i the Thirtee th Ce tury,N i I A. Tde9a , E. A9yKre9, N. NecipoUlu (eds.A Change in the By6antine World in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, 1. UluslararasM Se.gi GV Kl BiDa s AraWtMrmalarM SempoDyumu / First I ter atio al Se.gi GV Kl ByDa ti e Studies Symposium, Vehbi KoL Va9fM, Ista bul 2010, pp. 78,88. Eastmo d does, howe.er, pri.ilege Arme ia a d Syriac sources o.er Tur9ish o es, a d does ot discuss a large part of the a.ailable seco dary litera, ture i Tur9ish. 478 PATRICIA BLESSING 1237 with the help of a few loyal amīrs, a d acceded to the thro e i a la.ish ceremo y held i Kayseri.7 The ew sulta ’s half,brothers, BIDD al,Dī a d Ru9 al,Dī were impriso ed. Their murder was ordered, yet the sulta was decei.ed i to belie.i g the pri ces dead.8 The mother of these two pri ces, al,Mali9a al,BĀdila BIṣmat al,Du yā wa Bl,Dī , a daughter of the Ayyubid sulta al, BĀdil Abū Ba9r b.