Contribution of Fiscal Decentralization To

Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS) Vol. 40, No. 3 (2020), pp. 1343-1356 Imperial Women: Patrons of Political Power in the Ottoman Empire (1520-1660) Fatima Ali PhD Research Scholar, Department of History & Pakistan Studies The Women University Multan-Pakistan Email: [email protected] Asmat Naz Professor, Department of History & Pakistan Studies The Women University Multan-Pakistan Email: [email protected] Abstract: The 16th and early 17th centuries were the ages of intense difficulty in the Ottoman history, when the women were seen as the sovereign, who exercised the power through the administrative network beyond the walls of the royal palace or harem. On the other side, they worked as the social instrument. They were playing their role not only in social progress, but also in social integration, solidarity, national consciousness and progressiveness through social welfare activities as the patrons of Ottoman architecture. The proposed study through deductive research approach emphasizes on the sovereignty of royal women and their role in the Ottoman harem and the politics of the empire. During women sovereign period, the age old traditions of the empire deeply affected as the rule of succession had changed, the alliances between the harem and the imperial officials were increased as well as the Sultans mainly relied on the women especially Valide Sultan and their favourites. This era can be generalized in the light of women‟s contribution as the politicians, diplomats and the socialists. It is necessary to examine the flaws of the Ottoman political system by making periodization in itself, in order to explain the stages of the setback faced by the Ottoman Empire because of women politics of power and rule behind the scene. Thus, the imperial women of the empire centralized the power system and directly influenced the reigning Sultans and the political institutions of the Ottomans. Keywords: Ottoman Empire, Women, Harem, Politics, Power I. The Ottoman Empire: An Overview The Ottoman history is a unique blend of greatness, expansions, cultures, civilization, and the heterogeneous societies. A number of powerful Ottoman Sultans ruled on Turkey and large areas of Asia, Africa and Europe for more than six centuries. It was considered the greatest empire of the world after Taimurid dynasty established by Amir Taimur (1336-1405AD). The Ottoman Empire, its system, military, people and the expansions always had fascinated the historians and researchers and highly influenced the people and regions of the Middle East, the Balkans, Central and Western Europe. The Ottoman Empire emerged in the last decade of thirteenth century after decline of Saljuks 1344 Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 40, No. 3 (1037-1194AD). The Ottoman Turks belonged to a small tribe of the mass nomadic Turk clan, who had its place to those regions which now included in Mongolia. These nomadic tribes lived in the regions of the Altai Mountains, situated in the east of Eurasian steppes and south of Yenisei River and the Lake Baikal. These tribes did not follow any organized system of administration, traditions and the laws of settlement. Lord Eversley in his book „The Turkish Empire‟ says that for a long time the Ottomans produced able rulers, who were capable to lead their armies. The Ottomans were pure Turkish in blood but very soon it had diluted because of the indulgence of non-Turkish slaves. The reason is that, the royal women (both mothers and concubines) of future Sultans belonged to different regions as they had come as slaves in the Ottoman harem. So, the political decadence of the empire had increased in the absence of charismatic and powerful Ottoman Sultans. Suraiya Faroqhi elaborated that the Ottoman Empire was a state of many people, who contained on various social groups which were openly and covertly at odds with one another. In such heterogeneous society, there were social and cultural conflicts rather than the class differences. The women in the Ottoman society had their own rights of property and social contacts. They were allowed to indulge in the socio- cultural and economic development of the empire through their business and social welfare activities. The Ottoman rulers had adopted Islamic laws and implemented them on the multi-ethnic society. They had the objectives to prepare a coalescent society under an Islamic empire, while Halil Sahillioglu presented a view on the economic and social condition of the empire from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The economy of the empire based on trade, business, revenue and amount got by the sale of slaves etc. The economic changes in Europe and Middle East also affected the economy of the Ottoman Empire. The value of coin and currency was maintained at a high level in the 15th and 16th centuries. Furthermore, the society of the empire was based on the heterogeneous communities including Christians and Muslims. The Christians and other people sold out as the slaves and they were hired in the industries as labors. Colin Imber viewed that the Ottoman Empire was not entirely Islamic and Turkish but a dynastic empire, which demanded loyalty and adherence to the Sultan by the inhabitants. It has studied the Ottomans general history as well as the system of empire, divisions of the power between subjects and the institutions in the sixteenth and mid seventeenth centuries. The Turks accommodated by the Saljuks in their boundary areas where, the Turkish nomads under the Ertoghrul got a territory as fief. After death of Ertoghrul, his son, Osman I (real founder of the empire) had acted as the fief holder of the Seljuks but later on he declared his independence with the title of Amir and decided to extend his territory on his own behalf. The Ottomans had controlled almost all areas of Asia Minor, but some regions in its north west such as Brusa, Nicaea, Nicomedia, Bosporus and the Hellespont were not in their possessions on which the Byzantine emperors ruled. However, after the decline of vast Byzantine Empire all these regions came in the hands of Muslims. By the territorial expansion, the people of different faiths mainly Christians and others too had come into the possessions of the Ottomans, who accepted Islam. The efforts of Ottoman rulers at an early age had turned the Ottoman Empire from an unimportant border territory into a great empire that included the vast areas of Balkans and Asia Minor. As a result, the new state embodied a population that had 1345 comprised not only of Turks, but a large number of people belonged to Greeks, Byzantines, Russians including slaves etc. These people accepted the suzerainty of Turks and accepted Islam as their religion. For centuries, the Ottoman Empire underwent extreme development, both in its form and in the concentration of power within the administrative apparatus. In the early age of the Ottomans, the administration and other jobs of the state were performed by the elites (boys), Turkoman leaders, Ottoman monarchs and princes treated equally by the Ottoman Sultan. The elites entered in the Ottoman services as the military men and the administrators to get power, wealth and prosperity. In the last decades of the 16thcentury, in the ruling era of Sultan Suleyman (1520-1566), the political power apparently remained in the hands of Sultan but gradually shifted to others in his household or harem. Apparently, Sultan Suleyman I was the most powerful and successful ruler of the Ottomans, when the empire got utmost enormity, economic prosperity and institutions strengthen by the written laws and sharia rules. In other words, the empire was at its zenith in the political stability, economic and territorial prosperity. However internally, the conflicts and contradictions had begun among the elites, Sultan and the palace women as well. According to the historians, it was the period when the political system of the empire dispersed because of the party politics of imperial women like mother of Sultan, legal wife, favourites and their concubines as well. The women‟s political period within the walls of the palace consisted of almost one hundred and forty years, which highly influenced the political system of the Ottoman Empire. II. The Ottoman Royal Harem In the Muslim world and their societies, the harem (the women of the house) explained as the women's quarter or living place. The harem was considered an essential part of the Muslim culture and women living places kept separately or at a distance from the men living places in the houses/palaces. It refers to prohibition, unlawfulness, veneration, sacredness and inviolability. It was considered a space, an institution and a respectable place for the family, especially for the women in the context of imperial and native harem, where it was constructed in the name of honour, comfort and the protection of women. Moreover, the construction of social, cultural and religious institutions of harem was the integral part between the will to protect and maintain the honour of women. It also elaborates the concept of patriarchal system in the Islamic world particularly in the context of the harem. Yet, in the Ottoman society, the women commonly enjoyed liberty, social rights and honour as well. This capacity and flexibility could also be seen in the political system of the Ottomans, which permitted the Ottoman royal women to enhance their capabilities and indulged in the administration of the empire. The female sovereignty, which referred to the reign of Women dominancy, had originated in the early 16th century and continued until the first half of 17th century under the reign of Sultan Muhammad and his mother Turhan Sultan. In the classical period of Ottomans, powerful women of the inner palace/harem played an active and effective role in the political and administrative life of the Ottoman Empire.

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