Nur Sultan

Nur Sultan (1451–1519) was the wife of Mengli I Giray (r. 1467–1515). She was one of very few women known to have had influence over the affairs of state in the Crimean Khanate. She is also one of few well known women of the Giray dynasty. Life She was the daughter of Prince Timur ibn Mansur, bey of the Manghits. She was the sister of Tevkel. She first married khan Xälil of Kazan (r. 1466-67). After his death, she married his brother Ibrahim of Kazan (r. 1467-1479). By Ibrahim she had two sons, Möxämmädämin of Kazan and Ghabdellatif of Kazan, and a daughter, Gawharshat. She supported the neutrality policy of her spouse against the more aggressive policy of her stepson Ilham Ghali. She was widowed when Ibrahim Khan died in 1479. Her spouse was succeeded by her stepson Ilham Ghali of Kazan. She left Kazan with her two sons and sought refuge with Ivan III of Moscow. Her brother Tevkel enterred Crimean service in 1483. In 1487, she married Mengli I Giray. The marriage was possibly made to give the Crimean khan an influential power base in the power struggle in post- Golden Horde Central Asia. She left for Bakhchisarai on the Crimea in the company of her youngest son Ghabdellatif, but left her eldest son in the custody Ivan of Moscow. She became one of the wives of Mengli I Giray. The women of the Giray dynasty, though an Islamic dynasty, did not yet live secluded in a harem, since until 1564 the royal women were still allowed to receive male visitors in audience. Nur Sultan herself never lived in seclusion.