Ümmügülsüm Sultan
| Ümmügülsüm Sultan | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
7 February 1708 Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Died |
November 1732 Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Spouse | Damat Ali Pasha | ||||
| |||||
| House | House of Osman | ||||
| Father | Ahmed III | ||||
| Mother | Emine Mihrişah Kadınefendi | ||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||
Ümmügülsüm Sultan (7 February 1708 - November 1732) was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Ahmed III and his consort Emine Mihrişah Kadınefendi.
Betrothal to Abdurrahman Pasha
Ümmügülsüm Sultan was born as the daughter of Sultan Ahmed III and his consort Emine Mihrişah Kadınefendi. She was one of the fifty two children and thirty daughters of her father. In 1709 at the age of about two, she was engaged to the elderly Abdurrahman Pasha, a vizier. It was an expensive affair for the pasha. He sent to Topkapı a great number of valuable engagement presents, the nişan takimları: to his fiancée a seal ring, an aigrette, six bohças of cloth, as well as flowers and fruits on trays; to the padishah a handsome horse, a jeweled belt, and five bohças of fabric; to the başkadın diamond bracelet and five bohças of fabric. presents were also given to other kadıns, princesses, princes and those who arranged the ceremony. Çağatay Uluçay estimates that the engagement cost Abdurrahman more than 10,000 lira. But the pasha died before the marriage could take place.
Marriage to Ali Pasha
The first of the processions on 20 February 1724, on the occasion of the transfer of the betrothal gifts of Ali from the grand vezir’s palace to the Topkapı Palace, was led by the Grand Admiral Kaymak Mustafa Pasha. The grand admiral was the best man of Ali Pasha. The gifts of the bridegroom included twenty small nahıls, decorative structures made out of silver wires symbolizing fertility and good fortune, carried by colonels, that is to say orta-commanders of household troops (the janissary corps) lined in pairs, followed by thirty exquisitely decorated trays carried by guards, said to be worthy of kind consideration, all dressed in white and in new boots. Each tray held three boxes of candies with delicately coloured coverings. Then came two trays of sugar gardens) and a small nahıl of silver. To the left of this nahıl a silver tray, crowned by a jewelry box, was paraded. Then there were four more silver trays, each carried by the chief gatekeepers of the grand vezir’s palace,105 displaying the gifts of the bridegroom Ali Pasha. Each kapıcıbaşı ağa was escorted by two guards who were again praised as worthy of kind consideration, again dressed in white. Among the gifts on these trays were a jeweled belt, a diamond tiara, a set of rings and bracelets, a pair of large earrings with diamonds and emeralds, a jeweled mirror, pairs of various shoes to be worn indoors, outdoors, and in wet and slippery areas, a diamond aigrette, and a diamond belt.
The procession, comprising the high-ranking members of the two best men’s retinues, and a crowd of elite guards chosen from the private entourage of the grand vezir, entered the palace from the Imperial Gate, and a series of rituals took place in the palace. The sultan’s gifts to Ali Pasha were received, and the marriage contract were signed. On 28 February 1724, the trousseau of the princess was transferred from the Topkapı Palace to her palace at Kadırga Limanı. On Thursday, 2 March 1724, Ümmügülsüm was taken from the Topkapı Palace and transported to the Kadırga Palace. This final procession included the sultan, the grand vizier and their households, as well as members of the ulema, and various formalities were observed along the way, such as an elaborate acclamation in front of Alay Köşkü.
Ümmügülsüm's wedding celebration rivaled her sister Fatma. Yet her life was a trouble one. She and her husband soon found themselves in financial straits, and she appealed to her father for help. There is a letter from her to "My Sublime Sultan," pointing out the woeful financial condition of his slave, her husband the pasha. Unfortunately Ahmed III's reaction to the letter could not be found, but undoubtedly he gave her some help, although the state of Treasury was so serious by this time that the sum offered may have been limited.
Issue
Together with Ali Pasha, she had two sons:
- Mustafa Bey (? - ?);
- Mehmed Bey (? - c. 1737).
Death and burial
The Patrona Halil rebellion against her father ended whatever good days Ümmügülsüm may have had, and in November 1732, at the age of twenty four, she died. She is buried in the New Mosque, Istanbul.
Bibliography
- "Turkey: The Imperial House of Osman". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on May 2, 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- Fanny Davis (1986). The Ottoman Lady: A Social History from 1718 to 1918. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-24811-5.
