Valide sultan

Valide Sultan of
the Ottoman Empire
A bust of the first Valide Sultan, Hafsa Sultan in Manisa, Turkey
StyleValide Sultan
Residence
Formation30 September 1520
First holderHafsa Sultan
Final holderRahime Perestu Sultan
Abolished1 November 1922

Valide Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: والده سلطان, lit. "Sultana mother") was the title held by the mother of a ruling sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans first formally used the title in the 16th century as an epithet of Hafsa Sultan (died 1534), mother of Sultan Suleyman I (r. 1520–1566), superseding the previous epithets of Valide Hatun (lady mother), mehd-i ulya ("cradle of the great").[1] or "the nacre of the pearl of the sultanate".[2]

Normally, the living mother of a reigning sultan held this title. Those mothers who died before their sons' accession to the throne never received the title of valide sultan. In special cases sisters, grandmothers and stepmothers of a reigning sultan assumed the title and/or the functions valide sultan.

  1. ^ Davis, Fanny (1986). "The Valide". The Ottoman Lady: A Social History from 1718 to 1918. ISBN 0-313-24811-7.
  2. ^ Peirce, Leslie P., The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-19-508677-5 (paperback)