Servetseza Kadın

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In this Ottoman Turkish style name, the given name is Servetseza, the title is Kadın, and there is no family name.
Servetseza Kadın
Died25 September 1878
Kabataş Palace, Kabataş, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Burial
Yavuz Selim Mosque, Istanbul
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1839; died 1861)​
Issue
Names
Turkish: Servetseza Kadın
Ottoman Turkish: ثروت سزا قادین
HouseOttoman (by marriage)
ReligionSunni Islam

Servetseza Kadın (Ottoman Turkish: ثروت سزا قادين; died 25 September 1878; meaning "Worthy of riches" in Persian[1]) was the first wife and chief consort of Sultan Abdulmejid I of the Ottoman Empire.

Early life[]

Of Circassian origin, Servetseza Kadın belonged to the Cherkessky princely family.[2] She had been formerly a member of the household of Esma Sultan, daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid I.[3]

Marriage[]

When Abdulmejid ascended the throne, after the death of his father on 2 July 1839, Esma Sultan, selected her as a consort for her nephew, the new Sultan.[3] The marriage[2] took place in 1839, and Servetseza became his principal consort with the title of "Senior Kadın"[4] directly after the wedding, a position at which she remained throughout his entire reign.[5]

Leyla Achba, writes in her memoirs that she was an intelligent and a well cultured woman.[6] Charles White, who visited Istanbul in 1843, said following about her:

The Buyuk Kadinn...is described by those ladies who knew her previously to her removal to the palace as an interesting and accomplished woman, but not extraordinary for extra charms.[3]

Servetseza remained childless. After Gülcemal Kadın's death in 1851, her children, Fatma Sultan, Refia Sultan and Şehzade Mehmed Reşad (future Mehmed V) were entrusted in her care.[4][7] She had asked Abdulmejid to take the motherless children under her wing, and raise as her own, and carried out the duties of a mother who cares for her children with compassion and concern.[8]

When Bezmiâlem Sultan died in 1853, Servetseza was placed incharge of Abdulmejid's harem. Upon this occasion, Şevkefza Kadın took courage of Servetseza Kadın's affection for heir Şehzade Mehmed Murad (future Sultan Murad V) and Abdulmejid's wish to see his son as the next Sultan, and rose in opposition to Pertevniyal Sultan and her son Şehzade Abdulaziz (the future Sultan Abdulaziz).[9]

Widowhood, death and aftermath[]

After Abdulmejid's death on 25 June 1861, and the accession of his younger brother, Sultan Abdulaziz, Servetseza settled in the Kabataş Palace.[10][4] In 1872, she commissioned a fountain in the courtyard of Özbekler Tekke in Üsküdar.[11] She was apparently very fond of Murad, and after his deposition in 1876, she indiscreetly told many people that Abdul Hamid II had usurped the throne from him.[12][13]

Servetseza died on 25 September 1878 at the age of fifty five, and was buried near the mausoleum of her husband at the Yavuz Selim Mosque, Istanbul.[14][15] It is believed by some that she was murdered. One night in Ramadan she is said to have gone to Abdul Hamid and warned him. She ordered him to give the throne back to it to its rightful owner. After pretending to heed her warning, he arranged that she be served with a poisoned drink. She died upon her return to her palace.[12][13]

Servetseza had been greatly benefited from her husband, Abdulmejid, and so the possessions she bequeathed amounted to a great sum in value, especially her jewels. For this reason, Abdul Hamid didn't surrender them to Reşad, and had her jewels brought to the Yıldız Palace for safekeeping along with two large trunks of her things. However, after Abdul Hamid was deposed in 1909, all the jewels and trunks were returned to the newly enthroned Sultan Mehmed Reşad.[16]

In literature[]

  • Servetseza is a character in Hıfzı Topuz's historical novel Abdülmecit: İmparatorluk Çökerken Sarayda 22 Yıl: Roman (2009).[17]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Davis 1986, p. 105.
  2. ^ a b Açba & Açba 2004, p. 122.
  3. ^ a b c White 1846, p. 10.
  4. ^ a b c Uluçay 2011, p. 203.
  5. ^ Brookes 2020, p. 245.
  6. ^ Açba & Açba 2004, p. 22.
  7. ^ Brookes 2020, p. xvi, 245.
  8. ^ Brookes 2020, pp. 70–71.
  9. ^ Sakaoğlu 2007, p. 232.
  10. ^ Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 575.
  11. ^ Haskan, Mehmet Nermi (2001). Yüzyıllar boyunca Üsküdar - Volume 1. Üsküdar Belediyesi. p. 434. ISBN 978-9-759-76060-1.
  12. ^ a b Tuğlacı 1985b, p. 207.
  13. ^ a b Tuğlacı 1985a, p. 207.
  14. ^ Uluçay 2011, pp. 203–4.
  15. ^ Sakaoğlu 2008, p. 574.
  16. ^ Brookes 2020, p. 71.
  17. ^ Hıfzı Topuz (2009). Abdülmecit: İmparatorluk Çökerken Sarayda 22 Yıl: Roman. Remzi Kitabevi. p. 33. ISBN 978-975-14-1357-4.

Sources[]

  • Açba, Leyla; Açba, Harun (2004). Bir Çerkes prensesinin harem hatıraları. L & M. ISBN 978-9-756-49131-7.
  • Bey, Mehmet Süreyya (1969). Osmanlı devletinde kim kimdi, Volume 1. Küğ Yayını.
  • Brookes, Douglas S. (February 4, 2020). On the Sultan's Service: Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil's Memoir of the Ottoman Palace, 1909–1912. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-04553-9.
  • Davis, Fanny (1986). The Ottoman Lady: A Social History from 1718 to 1918. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-24811-5.
  • Kurumu, Türk Tarih (1951). Türk Tarih Kurumu yayınları. Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevı.
  • Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2007). Famous Ottoman women. Avea.
  • Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları. Beyoğlu, İstanbul : Oğlak Yayıncılık ve Reklamcılık. ISBN 978-9-753-29299-3.
  • Tuğlacı, Pars (1985a). Osmanlı Saray Kadınları. Cem Yayınevi.
  • Tuğlacı, Pars (1985b). Türkiyeʼde kadın, Volume 3. Cem Yayınevi.
  • Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara: Ötüken. ISBN 978-9-754-37840-5.
  • White, Charles (1846). Three years in Constantinople; or, Domestic manners of the Turks in 1844. London, H. Colburn.
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