Saliha Sultan

Saliha Sultan (; "the devoted one"; 1680 – 21 September 1739) was the Serbian consort of Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire, and Valide sultan to their son, Sultan Mahmud I. Early life Saliha Sultan was born in 1680 in Serbia. Her original name was Elizaveta. She was captured in one of the raids of the Tatars and was sold into slavery. She became the concubine of Sultan Mustafa, and gave birth to her only child Şehzade Mahmud (later Mahmud I) on 2 August 1696 in the Edirne Palace. Widowhood After the Edirne event and the deposal of Sultan Mustafa in 1703, she was transferred to the Old Palace in Istanbul from where she negotiated and sustained her alliances with members from the imperial palace and the urban elite. On the other hand, her son, Şehzade Mahmud was transferred to the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul together with the entire court. Mahmud's most reliable and influential ally was Saliha, who had the capacity of securing her son's position by virtue of her political experience and the network of alliances which she had built up over the years. She and her son closely cooperated with the chief black eunuch Hacı Beşir Agha, who had presided over the harem since 1717, and therefore bore considerable skills in politics and the survival of the Ottoman dynasty.