Mah-Para Ummatullah Rabia Gül-Nush
| Emetullah Rabia Gülnûş Sultan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire | |
| Tenure | 6 February 1695 – 6 November 1715 |
| Predecessor | Aşub Sultan |
| Successor | Saliha Sultan |
|
Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Imperial Consort) |
|
| Tenure | 5 July 1683 – 8 November 1687 |
| Predecessor |
Turhan Hatice Sultan (among others) |
| Successor | Rabia Sultan |
| Born | Evmania Voria c. 1642 Rethymno, Crete, Republic of Venice |
| Died | 6 November 1715 (aged 72–73) Constantinople, Ottoman Empire |
| Burial | Yeni Valide Mosque, Istanbul |
| Spouse | Mehmed IV |
| Issue |
Mustafa II Ahmed III Hatice Sultan Fatma Sultan |
| Religion | Islam, formerly Greek Orthodox |
Emetullah Rabia Gülnuş Sultan (fully Devletlu İsmetlu Emetullah Rabia Gülnûş Valide Sultan Aliyyetü'ş-şân Hazretleri; 1642 – 6 November 1715) was Haseki Sultan of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV and Valide Sultan to their sons Mustafa II and Ahmed III. She was the last imperial concubine to be legally married to an Ottoman Sultan.
Râbi'a Gülnûş was born in 1642 in the town of Rethymno, under the Christian name Eugenia Vergitsi Crete, when the island was under Venetian rule; she was originally named Eugenia Vergitsi and she was an ethnic Greek, the daughter of an esteemed noble Greek family She was captured by the Ottomans during the invasion of Crete in 1645.
The Ottoman army invaded the island during the Cretan War (1645–1669); she was captured as a very young girl when the Ottomans conquered Rethymno in 1645, taken as slave and was sent to Constantinople. She was renamed Mahpare (meaning "a slice of the moon") and was given a thoroughly Turkish and Muslim education in the harem department of Topkapi Palace and soon attracted the attention of the Sultan, Mehmed IV. He was famous for his hunting expeditions in the Balkans and used to take her, his favourite, to these expeditions. They had two sons both of whom became the future Sultans, Mustafa II (born 1664; died 1703) and Ahmed III (born 1673; died 1736). Ahmed was born in Dobruca during one of the hunting expeditions of Mehmed IV. Her rivalry with Gülbeyaz, an odalisque of Mehmed IV led to a tragic end. Sultan Mehmed had been deeply enamored of her, but after Gülbeyaz entered his harem, his affections began to shift, Gülnuş, still in love with the sultan became madly jealous. One day, as Gülbeyaz was sitting on a rock and watching the sea, Gülnuş slightly pushed her off the cliff and drowned the young odalisque, or according to others she ordered Gülbeyaz's strangulation in the Kandilli Palace. Some writers stress the fact that Gülnuş was a ruthless person claiming that she attempted to have her husband's brothers Suleiman II and Ahmed II strangled after she gave birth to her firstborn Mustafa, but that Mother Turhan Hatice Sultan had hindered these attempted murders.
...
Wikipedia