Roxelana and Suleiman "The Magnificent", the extraordinary love story between a slave and a powerful sultan

"The great Eastern Empress". This is how some historians describe Roxelana, the slave who conquered the heart of Suleiman "the Magnificent" and who became a sultana.

His grace, intelligence and especially his cunning influenced the will of the Sultan who ruled the Ottoman Empire between 1520 and 1566, extending his power across Europe, Asia and Africa.

But who was this woman who managed to break several rules of the time? And how did he manage to break free from slavery and become powerful?

The favourite

It is believed that Roxelana, also known in the West as Roxolana, Roxana or Rossa, because of her red hair, was born in 1500 and died in 1558.

In the Orient, he was known as Hürrem and could be translated as "happy" or "smiling," but his real name is supposed to be Anastasia Lisowska, according to American Leslie Pierce, author of "The Imperial Harem: women and sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire ". "(The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire).

She was the daughter of a humble priest of the Orthodox Church and arrived at the Suleyman harem in adolescence after being kidnapped on a territory currently owned by Ukraine and sold as a slave in Istanbul.

"While Ukrainian and Polish legends and sources extol the beauty of Roxolana who defeated the mighty Sultan, Venetian reports contend that she was not particularly beautiful, but rather small, elegant and modest." ", describes Galina Yermolenko, professor of English at DeSales University in Pensilvani, USA, and author of" Roxolana: the Great Eastern Empress "(Roxolana:" The Greatest Entrepreneur of the East ").

And it quickly became the favorite of the sultan.

"He married her, took her to live in her rooms in the legendary Topkapi Palace, the center of political life, made her the mother of six of her children and was her main counselor", describes Daniel Samper Pizano in his book "The beds and the glory, the rarest and most authentic love stories".

That a sultan married a slave was an extraordinary event for culture and time.

So, Suleiman, a sultan with a harem of hundreds of women, became monogamous because he promised love and did not have bad with another woman.

But not everything was pink or innocent in this story.

The power of the Sultan

If anyone can call it "the Magnificent" it is Suleiman. He accumulated a large number of titles and his empire encompbaded territories on three continents.

"Sultan of the Ottomans, Deputy of Allah on Earth, Lord of the Lords of this world, Possessor of the necks of men, King of Believers and unbelievers, King of kings, Emperor of the East and d & # 39; 39, West, Majestic Caesar, Emperor of the Chakans of great authority, Prince and Lord of the happiest constellation, Seal of Victory, Refuge of all the peoples of the world, shadow of the silent dispensation and omnipresent on Earth, "enumerates Historian Jem Duducu, in an article from BBC History Magazine.

And being so powerful, it was badumed that Suleiman already had a favorite wife when Roxelana arrived at the harem.

Mahidevran Gülbahar was his concubine with whom he already had a son: Mustafa. Everything seemed to indicate that he would be the heir to the throne (if Roxelana had not prevented him).

A sultan poet

Perhaps another surprising fact about Suleiman's "The Magnificent" is that he had a soft spot for poetry. But not only by reading it, but by writing it. And his inspiring muse was repeatedly his beloved Hürrem.

Below are verses from a poem that he wrote to Roxelana and that the writer Samper Pizano translated.

"I became sovereign of the world

planted in front of your door like a poor vagabond.

My love is flying under my floor

like a bird of paradise. "

Taking place

Little by little, Roxelana managed to chase away his friends and relatives who advised Soliman. One by one, they fell.

He first cleared his concubine taking advantage of the rivalry that existed between them.

At a meeting at Topkapi Palace, Mahidevran Gülbahar was ripped to Roxelana and scratched his face, leaving him with "bloody furrows".

"At night, Suleyman asked to be taken to Roxelana and she cleverly told him that he was ashamed to have seen her because" the other one "had scraped her up to her. it is impenetrable, "explains Samper Pizano.

As a result, the Sultan became enraged and expelled his former lover from the city.

Meanwhile, the power that Roxelana accumulated began to annoy some of the high commanders who decided to conspire against her.

This was the case of Ibrahim, friend and powerful ambbadador of the Sultan in several corners of the empire.

But the play ended badly and in 1536 it was Ibrahim who was killed in his bedroom in Topkapi.

L & # 39; heir

Roxelana was gaining power and adding children. But he who inherited the throne according to Ottoman custom was not the eldest brother, but the strongest.

And all the letters were in Mustafa, the son that Suleiman had with his former concubine. So Roxelana put in place a whole strategy and convinced his beloved that his own son was conspiring to overthrow him. Suleiman ordered him to kill.

First lady

Roxelana was not a woman to settle for the simple fact of being a mother.

As the first lady, she participated in various government activities such as the construction of religious schools, a women's hospital near the place where slaves were sold in Istanbul, and decision-making about national issues.

"He even went into foreign policy of the Sultanate, with the approval of Suleiman, who knew how to use it as a weapon of sympathy and seduction to open doors," says Samper Pizano in his book.

For many years, historians have described Roxelana from the angle of prejudice and from the "patriarchal" point of view, says Galina Yermolenko, a specialist in Roxelana's life, in her essay.

"His intelligence, his education, his will and his other talents enabled him not only to survive in the populous world of the Ottoman Empire, but also to triumph," he said.