Hürrem Sultan

Hürrem Sultan
Meryem-hilkat Asiye-'iffet Hatice-hürmet Fâtımâ-'ismet Vâlide-i sa'ide Mehd-i Ulya-i Sultanat Vâlide-i Padişah
Portrait by Titian titled La Sultana Rossa, c. 1550
Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Imperial Consort)
Tenure	1533/1534 – 15 April 1558
Predecessor	position established
Successor	Nurbanu Sultan
Born	c. 1502–04 Rohatyn, Kingdom of Poland (now modern day Ukraine)
Died	15 April 1558 (aged 53–56) Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Burial	Süleymaniye Mosque, Constantinople
Spouse	Suleiman the Magnificent
Issue	Şehzade Mehmed Mihrimah Sultan Şehzade Abdullah (possibly) Sultan Selim II Şehzade Bayezid Şehzade Cihangir
Father	Havrylo Lisowski
Mother	Leksandra Lisowska
Religion	Islam, previously Orthodox Christian

Hürrem Sultan (Turkish pronunciation: [hyɾˈɾem suɫˈtaːn]; Ottoman Turkish: خُرَّم سلطان‎, Ḫurrem Sulṭān; c. 1502 – 15 April 1558, also known as Roxelana) was the favourite and later the chief consort and legal wife of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and the mother of Şehzade Mehmed, Mihrimah Sultan, Şehzade Abdullah, Sultan Selim II, Şehzade Bayezid, and Şehzade Cihangir. She was one of the most powerful and influential women in Ottoman history and a prominent and controversial figure during the era known as the Sultanate of Women. She was "Haseki Sultan" (chief wife of the Sultan) when her husband, Suleiman I, reigned as the Ottoman sultan. She achieved power and influenced the politics of the Ottoman Empire through her husband and played an active role in state affairs of the Empire.

According to some historians, Roxelana was born as Aleksandra Ruslana Lisowska, or Anastasja Lisowska while her childhood nickname was Nastia. Among the Ottomans, she was known mainly as Haseki Hürrem Sultan or Hürrem Haseki Sultan; also known as Roxolena, Roxolana, Roxelane, Rossa, Ružica; in Turkish as Hürrem (from Persian: ‎‎, Khorram, "the cheerful one"); and in Arabic as Karima (Arabic: ‎‎, "the noble one"). "Roxelana" might be not a proper name but a nickname, referring to her Rusyn heritage (cf. the common contemporary name "Ruslana"); "Roxolany" or "Roxelany" was one of the names of Rusyns, up to the 15th century, after the ancient Roxolani. Thus her nickname would literally mean "The Ruthenian One".