Handan Sultan

Handan Sultan (, "smiling"; 1568 - 9 November 1605) was a consort of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III, and mother and Valide Sultan to their son Sultan Ahmed I. Early life Of Greek or Bosnian origin, her original name was Helen or Helena. Handan Sultan was a servant in the household of Cerrah Mehmed Pasha, the Beylerbey of the Rumelia Eyalet. He was the husband of Gevherhan Sultan, daughter of Sultan Selim II, sister of Sultan Murad III, and aunt of Sultan Mehmed III. Mehmed Pasha was a surgeon ("cerrah") and had circumcised Prince Mehmed in 1582. As imperial consort In 1583, when Mehmed was appointed the sancak-bey of Saruhan, Mehmed Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan decided to let Handan, described as beautiful, into his harem. Handan became quickly Mehmed's first favorite and gave him at least four sons and two daughters. When Mehmed ascended the throne after his father's death in 1595, Handan came to Istanbul with him. She was allied with Safiye Sultan against Halime, Mehmed's second favorite and mother of two sons and at least two daughters, however she and Safiye didn't really like each other and Handan never was Haseki Sultan. Handan also had an ally in Raziye Hatun, an harem staff member who had helped her to became Mehmed's favorite. Issue Together with Mehmed, Handan had at least six children, four sons and two daughters: Fatma Sultan (, Manisa Palace, Manisa - ?). She married the governor of Cairo, Mahmud Pasha, in the early 1600s. She married Tiryaki Hasan Pasha in 1604 and had a son and two daughters. When Hasan died in 1611, she married Güzelce Ali Pasha in 1616, until his death in 1621. Şehzade Selim (1585, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 1597/1598, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque); Şehzade Süleyman (1586, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 1597/1598, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque); Ayşe Sultan ( – after 1614), married firstly to Destari Mustafa Pasha, with whom she had a son and two daughters who died young. Some sources also suggest that she married Gazi Hüsrev Pasha Ahmed I (18 April 1590, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 22 November 1617, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque); Şehzade Osman (1597, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - 1601, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople).