Gülşah Hatun
| Gülşah Hatun | |||||
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| Born | c. 1433 Mut, Karaman Principality |
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| Died | c. 1487 Bursa, Ottoman Empire |
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| Burial | Hatice Sultan Mausoleum, Bursa | ||||
| Spouse | Mehmed the Conqueror | ||||
| Issue | Şehzade Mustafa | ||||
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| House | House of Karaman (by birth) House of Osman (by marriage) |
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| Father | Ibrahim Bey | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||
Gülşah Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: گل شاہ خاتون; c. 1433, Mut – c. 1487) was the daughter of Ibrahim Bey, ruler of Karamanids; she was the wife of Mehmed the Conqueror.
Marriage
After Sultan Murad II’s death, his son Mehmed the Conqueror ascended the throne for the second time. Immediately after his succession Ibrahim Bey, had once again raised his head. He invaded the disputed Hamid-ili region, but it took only a brief campaign to teach Ibrahim that the young Sultan was not to be trifled with. Ibrahim Bey fled to the mountains, sent letters pleading for forgiveness and peace. Finally, envoys who reached Mehmed in Akşehir repeated his message and offered the Sultan the hand of one of Ibrahim Bey’s daughters. The Sultan granted his forgiveness, whereupon Ibrahim undertook to pay perpetual homage and acknowledged that his territories had been a gift from his brother-in-law, Sultan Murad. Mehmed married Gülşah Hatun and returned home more determined to crush Constantinople. Gülşah gave birth to Mehmed’s second son, Mustafa in 1451, who was her only child. When Mustafa came of age his father sent him to govern Konya and later Kayseri, and Gülşah accompanied him.
Mustafa's death
Mustafa, was strangled by his father's order for adultery in 1474. Giovanni Maria Angiolello, a Venetian traveler, author of an important historical report on the Aq Qoyunlu and early Safavid Persia, was in the service of Mustafa, and who with the rest of Mustafa’s household accompanied the prince’s cortege from his post his Kayseri to Bursa, where he was buried. Sultan Mehmed sent word that Gülşah Hatun should remain in Bursa with those maidens whom she required, and he had good provision made for her, that she might live there honourably. He ordered that Mustafa’s daughter Princess Ferahşad Sultan and her mother and rest of the maidens together with all others belonging to the court of his decreased son should come to Istanbul. The women were lodged in the palace where the Mehmed other women and maidens stayed, and after several days the maidens were married to courtiers.
Death and burial
Gülşah Hatun died in 1487, and was buried in Bursa in the tomb she had built for herself near that of Mustafa. The tomb of Gülşah Hatun has an entrance with elegant jogged voussoirs, and marble cenotaphs inside, new-made from old pieces.
