Canfeda Hatun

Canfeda Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: جان فدا خاتون‎; died 1600; alias Saliha) was the mistress housekeeper (kedbanu-yi harem, Kethüde Hatun, Kahya Kadın) of the Imperial Harem during the reign of Murad III of the Ottoman Empire.

Of Circassian origin, Canfeda Hatun was the sister of Divane Ibrahim Pasha. Hatun was an ally of Nurbanu Sultan, who brought her from the Old Palace and under whom she was responsible for training the women of the imperial harem. She had also been an ally of Ghazanfer Agha, the Agha of the imperial harem and of Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha's rival Lala Mustafa Pasha. At her deathbed, Nurbanu insisted in front of her daughter-in-law Safiye Sultan and son that the position of Canfeda be kept in the royal harem. After Nurbanu's death in 1583, Hatun assumed control of the harem.

Canfeda Hatun, Mistress of Financial Affairs Raziye Hatun, the poet Hubbi Hatun, and other musahibes (favourites) of Murad III appear to have been very powerful and influential during his reign. She managed to win the trust of her former adversary, and even to increase her influence on the palace affairs under her protection. As a clever intrigue Canfeda used her nearness to the women of the dynasty to receive bribes and expensive gifts. She gathered extraordinary wealth and this earned her the animosity of part of the high administration and the commandment of the janissary corps. In 1593, during one of the janissary mutinies caused by a delay in the payment of the salaries, the discontented soldiers demanded the heads of the Grand Vezir, the head defterdar, and the loathsome Canfeda. Only with great efforts did Murad manage to calm down the mutineers and save the lives of his associates.

She dedicated part of her huge wealth to her charitable foundation, whose revenues were used for the construction and maintenance of a mosque and a fountain in the imperial capital, Istanbul in 1584 at an estimated cost of two million espers. The mosque was built in the neighborhood of Sarachne near the customs office, with a primary school, a public drinking fountain and water pump. In 1593, she also built another mosque and a public bath in a village in the Beykoz village of Akbaba. She also received permission from the Sultan to repair and enlarge a water transport system originally constructed by Sultan Bayezid II in order to bring water to her Istanbul mosque and the nearby bath built by Gedik Ahmed Pasha. In retirement, Canfeda's stipend was 100 aspers a day, but when this amount proved to be insufficient for the public works she wished to undertake, it was doubled. Her mosques were built after Nurbanu's death suggesting her high status. A garden in Fındıklı belonged to Canfeda Hatun.

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