Roksolana - Anastasia Gavrilovna Lisovskaya - Khyurrem. Historical information about Hurrem Sultan or Roksolan

There are still many legends and speculations about this woman. Date of birth is not truly known, originally from Ukraine, according to some sources from the town of Rogatina (now in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, where her name sounded like Anastasia or Alexandra Gavrilovna Lisovskaya, according to others from the town of Chemerovets (now in the Khmelnitsky region). Both settlements at that time they were part of Poland.

Historical portrait

This historical figure became known in Europe under the name Roksolana, which was coined by the author of the Turkish Notes, the Hamburg ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbeck. It was based on the fact that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska came from Western Ukraine, which in Poland at the end of the 16th century was called Roxolania (from the Roxolans tribe who lived in the Northern Black Sea region).

Around 1520, during a raid by the Crimean Tatars, the girl was captured, resold several times and eventually given to 25-year-old Suleiman. At that time, he was still the crown prince and was the governor of the city of Manisa, where, as was customary, he had his own harem. According to other sources, she and other slaves were presented to Suleiman on the occasion of his ascension to the throne.

Roksolana or Hurrem Sultan

In the shortest possible time, Roksolana attracted the attention of the Sultan and after the first quarrel with the first concubine - Mahidevran Suleiman brought her closer and gave her a new name - Khyurrem, translated from Persian as “cheerful”, made her his favorite concubine.

In the 16th century, a smallpox epidemic raged in Turkey, which did not spare two of Suleiman’s three sons. Only six-year-old Mustafa remained alive. This circumstance was regarded as a threat to the dynasty. Taking advantage of the current situation, Hurrem Sultan sought to see the Sultan more often, thereby giving birth to an heir and receiving support in the palace. Meanwhile, the conflict between Hurrem Sultan and Mahidevran did not weaken; the only one who could restrain the female enmity was the valid Sultan - Hafsa Khatun (Suleiman's mother). In 1521, to the joy of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, she managed to give birth to a boy named Mehmed. The next year, the girl Mihrimah was born - the only daughter of Suleiman who survived infancy, then Abdallah was born, who lived only three years, in 1524 Selim was born, and the next year Bayazid. Hurrem gave birth to the last one, Cihangir, in 1531.

Hurrem's influence on the Sultan was so great that even Valide, who gave another Russian slave to her son, was forced to apologize to the dissatisfied Hurrem and take her back, and then marry her to one of the nobles. As is known from history, Suleiman led many wars of conquest, and Hurrem, the chief political adviser, informed him about the state of affairs in the palace. Although previously Suleiman received information about palace affairs only from Valide Sultan. In his letters, the Sultan expressed great love and longing for Hurrem.
Hafsa Khatun died in 1534. And a year before the death of the Sultan’s mother, Khyurrem’s main rival, Mahidevran, went to Manisa with her 18-year-old son Mustafa.

Hurrem - the official wife of Suleiman

Hurrem Sultan managed to achieve what others had not achieved before her. She officially became the wife of Sultan Suleiman. There were no prohibitions on this issue in the empire, although the established tradition contradicted the Sultan’s marriage to a slave. The ceremonial event may have taken place in June 1534 and Hurrem's unique position was reflected in her title Haseki, created by Suleiman especially for her.

Roksolana, after many years of intrigue, removed Suleiman’s children from other concubines in order to open the way to the throne for her son Selim. In 1536, through the efforts of Hurrem, the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha was deposed and strangled. He was accused of being in too close contact with the French. The death of the Valide and the removal of the Grand Vizier opened the way for Hurrem to strengthen her own power. She promoted the husband of her 17-year-old daughter Mehrimah, Rustem Pasha Mekri, to the position of Grand Vizier. He and Mehrimah then helped Roxalana accuse Mustafa of plotting against her father in alliance with the Serbs. After which, in 1553, Suleiman ordered to strangle him with a silk cord in front of his eyes, and also to execute his sons, that is, his grandchildren. According to legend, Khyurrem's youngest son, Jahongir, died of longing for Mustafa. Mahidevran began to live in Bursa, living in poverty. Only the death of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska saved her from poverty. In addition to everything, another person loyal to the Sultan, Kara Akhmet, was executed.

Another aspect of Hurrem Haseki Sultan’s position was that it was she who received foreign envoys and corresponded with the rulers of other countries, as well as with influential nobles of that time. On the initiative of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, several mosques, a bathhouse and a madrasah were built in the capital.

Children of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska

The only son who survived his father was Selim, the rest died as a result of the struggle for the throne, with the exception of Mehmed, who died in 1543 from smallpox. The penultimate son, Bayazid, with several thousand of his people was forced to hide in Persia, which was at war with Turkey, after an unsuccessful attempt to kill his brother Selim. Later, the Ottomans made peace with the Persians for 400 thousand gold coins. All Bayazid's supporters were destroyed by the Persians, and he and his 4 children were handed over to Suleiman. According to the latter's verdict, Bayezid was executed in November 1563.

Thanks to her influence on the Sultan, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was able to repeatedly violate the customs accepted at the Ottoman court: the Sultan’s favorite could have only one son, after whose birth she lost the status of favorite and had to raise her son, and when he reached adulthood, she followed him to one of the distant provinces as the mother of the governor. Contemporaries, unable to explain how Hurrem “twisted” the Sultan for 25 years, becoming the most influential person in the palace, believed that she had bewitched Suleiman. The image of an insidious and power-hungry woman was transformed into the history of the Ottoman Empire. Hurrem Haseki Sultan, mother of Sultan Selim II, died on April 18, 1558.

Filming of the sensational Turkish TV series The Magnificent Century ended long ago, and the series itself is already over, but interest in the actors who played the main roles in it has not subsided to this day. And one of them, of course, is Halit Ergench.

This amazing and famous Turkish actor was born in Istanbul in the family of actor Sait Ergench on April 30, 1970. Ergench's biography is amazing and very interesting. In his youth, Halit Ergench had no intention of becoming an actor. He was attracted by the sea element, and he dreamed of becoming a sailor. That is why he entered the Technical University in Istanbul, where he is studying to become a marine engineer. However, after a year of study, he left his studies to take an opera course at Mimar Sinan University, and at the same time worked as a computer operator and marketer.

The beginning of an acting career

For a long time he has been working with singers such as Aishe Pekkan and Leman Sam as a vocalist and dancer. The acting talent he inherited from his father begins to show itself by the age of 25. At this age, Halit begins to try himself in musicals. The actor combines participation in musicals with work in theatrical plays, while simultaneously starring in films and TV series. They begin to recognize him on the street. One of his famous roles in the film “My Father and My Son” in 2005 brought the actor unprecedented success. The series “A Thousand and One Nights” was highly praised by critics, where the actor played the boss Onur Aksal, who fell in love with his subordinate and offered money for a night of love when the girl found herself in a hopeless situation.

In 2009, Halit Ergench starred in the TV series “Bitter Love,” where he played a literature professor, Orhan, who is entangled in complex relationships with three women.

However, the role of Sultan Suleiman in the TV series “The Magnificent Century”, which was released in 2011, brought the actor particular popularity. Halit Ergenc himself admitted that he was always captivated and interested in the history of the Ottoman Empire, and he never imagined that he would someday have the opportunity to play one of the great rulers of that era.

Interview with Halit Ergench

- Over the past years, quite a few changes have occurred in your life, which concern both personal and professional life. Your acting career especially took off right around the time you started having a family. What is most important to you in your life and why?

Yes, there have been significant changes in my life. Working on a TV show is never easy, but success and people's love are always a relief. However, my family is in the most important place in my life. When I am at home with my family, I can truly be myself and experience the most powerful and unique emotions of my life.

- Do you have any common traits with Sultan Suleiman, and are there any differences between your characters?

It seems to me that we have nothing in common. The only thing that unites us is sensitivity. But it seems to me that this is not enough to count us similar people. And the biggest difference between us is the fact that he is the Sultan and I am not.

Has your life changed in any way since you became a father?

Yes, a lot has changed since then. Our parents also said that until you have your own children, you won’t be able to understand anything about it. Time only confirmed their words. As soon as my son Ali was born, all my personal problems and negative thoughts faded into the background. My fatherhood gives me a sense of great responsibility for my son's future. This is due to the fact that until I had my own children, I did not have any special obligations.

- After you realized the image of Suleiman in the series, do you believe that because of your popularity you will not be able to find your personal happiness?

Suleiman once said: “Power is a threat that makes us blind and deaf.” In order not to succumb to this threat, you need to remind yourself that you remain only human. However, not everyone can stop at the right moment. I believe that true happiness is in the small details.

Currently, Halit Ergench is starring in the series My Homeland is You. Izmir 1918, in which he plays with his wife, the beautiful actress Berguzar Korel. Note that this is the second series in which the couple starred together - the first was One Thousand and One Nights, although at that time they were not yet married.

Great courage and wisdom were in the character of Hurrem Sultan. The biography of this beautiful Ukrainian girl is full of both festive events and bitter suffering. Behind the mask of inaccessibility hid a soft and creative nature that could support a conversation on any topic. Conversations with such a woman brought tremendous pleasure to men, which is what endeared her to Turkish Sultan.

This publication will discuss the most important points life of Hurrem Sultan. The biography, photos and other materials presented in the article will help you get to know this outstanding personality better.

Unknown birth

The place of birth and the very origin of Roksolana is still a controversial issue in the historical context. The most common version is that the beauty was born in Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk region and was the daughter Orthodox priest.

Her name at that time was truly Russian - Alexandra or Anastasia Lisovskaya, but after being captured by the Turks she acquired a new name - Khyurrem Sultan. The biography and the years of life that are written in it are also subject to doubt, but historians still identified the main dates: 1505 - 1558.

There is much debate about the girl's origins, but the main events in her life were recorded on parchments in Ukrainian and Polish chronicles. Thanks to them, it is possible to deduce the further life line of the eminent Turkish captive.

Fateful twist

The biography of Hurrem Haseki Sultan changed after one event.

When she was only 15 years old, the small town of Rohatyn, where she lived with her parents, was raided by the Crimean Tatars. The girl was captured, and some time later, after several resales, she found herself in the harem of the Turkish Sultan. There she found her new name - Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska.

Relations between the other concubines were very tense and, one might even say, “bloody.” The culprit was one incident, which is openly described in various historical chronicles.

After arriving in the harem, Hurrem became the clear leader and earned great favor from the Sultan. Another concubine of Suleiman, Makhidevran, did not like this, and she attacked the beauty, scratching her face and body.

This incident became outrageous, the ruler was angry, but after this Roksolana became his main favorite.

Submission or love?

The favor of the Turkish gentleman charmed the beautiful Hurrem Sultan, whose biography amazes with its amazing facts.

Having received a special status and gained the trust of the master, she asked to go to his personal library, which greatly surprised Suleiman. After he returned from military campaigns, Roksolana already knew several languages and could carry on a conversation on any topic, from culture to politics.

She also dedicated poems to her master and danced graceful oriental dances.

If new girls were brought into the harem for selection, she could easily eliminate any competitor, putting her in a bad light.

The attraction between Roksolana and Sultan was visible to everyone who was at least somehow familiar with their society. But the established canons could not allow a marriage between two people in love.

Against everything and everyone

But still, the biography of Khyurrem Sultan was replenished with such a significant event as a wedding. Contrary to all the rules and condemnations, the celebration took place in 1530. This was an unprecedented incident in the history of the royal Turkish community. From time immemorial, the Sultan did not have the right to marry a woman from the harem.

The wedding ceremony was on an unprecedented scale. The streets were decorated with colorful decorations, musicians were playing everywhere, and the locals were incredibly delighted with what was happening.

There was also a festive performance, which included acts with wild animals, magicians and tightrope walkers.

Their love was limitless, and all thanks to Roksolana’s wisdom. She knew what she could talk about, what she couldn’t, where she needed to remain silent, and where she needed to express her opinion.

During the war period, when Suleiman expanded his territories, the beautiful Hurrem wrote touching letters that conveyed all the bitterness of parting with her beloved.

Continuation of the family line

After the Sultan lost three children from previous concubines, he persuaded Roksolana to have their own children. Hurrem Sultan, whose biography was already full of difficult events, agreed to such a decisive step, and soon they had their first child named Mehmed. His fate was quite difficult, and he lived only 22 years.

The second son, Abdullah, died at the age of three.

Then Shehzade Selim was born. He is the only heir who was able to outlive his parents and became the ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

The fourth son, Bayazid, ended his life tragically. After the death of his mother, he opposed his older brother Selim, who already ruled the empire at that time. This angered his father, and Bayazid and his wife and sons decided to flee, but he was soon found and executed along with his entire family.

The youngest heir, Dzhanhangir, was born with a congenital defect - he was hunchbacked. But despite his handicap, he developed well intellectually and was fond of poetry. Died at the age of approximately 17-22 years.

The only daughter of Roksolana and Suleiman was the Turkish beauty Mikhrimah. The girl’s parents adored her, and she had all the luxury of her father’s royal lands at her disposal.

Mikhrimah received an education and was involved in charity work. It was thanks to her activities that two mosques were built in Istanbul, the architect of which was Sian.

When natural reasons Mihrimah died and was buried in the crypt along with her father. Of all the children, only she was awarded such an honor.

The role of Roksolana in culture

The biography of Hurrem Sultan was full of educational activities. She cared for her people, who were ruled by her beloved husband.

Unlike all other concubines, she received special powers and also had financial privileges. This led to the establishment of religious and charitable houses in Istanbul.

Throughout her activities outside the royal court, she opened her own foundation - Külliye Hasseki Hurrem. Its activities developed actively, and after some time a small district of Aksray appeared in the city, in which residents were provided with a whole range of housing and educational services.

Historical trace

Unsurpassed and indestructible Hurrem Sultan. The biography of this woman shows the world the spirit of the Slavic nation. She was helpless and weak immediately after her arrival at the harem, but life's troubles made her spirit stronger.

After being elevated to the “pedestal” in the royal community, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was still unable to maintain her status, even after the birth of her first son. Her duties included instilling the warrior spirit in the child, because he was to become the next ruler of the empire. Therefore, she went to the province in order to focus on raising her first child.

Many years later, when she and the Sultan had other sons and they reached adulthood, Hurrem returned to the throne and occasionally visited her children.

A great many negative rumors were spread around her, which created the image of a woman with a steely, tough character.

Pernicious sympathies

The beauty and life of Hurrem Sultan, whose biography hides many interesting facts, was always under the cruel sight of the local elites of society. Suleiman could not stand any sidelong glances towards his wife, and those who dared to sympathize with her were immediately sentenced to death.

There was also the other side of the coin. Roksolana took the most severe measures against anyone who sympathized with another country. In advance, in her eyes, this man became a traitor to the homeland. She caught plenty of such people. One of the victims was the state entrepreneur of the Ottoman Empire, Ibrahim. He was accused of excessive sympathy for France, and he was strangled by order of the ruler.

But still, Hurrem Sultan, whose biography became the most mysterious in the entire history of the Ottoman Empire, tried to adhere to the created image - a family woman and a good mother.

Hurrem Sultan: biography, cause of death

Her exploits and reforms for the state were significant, especially for women and their children, but sometimes cruel punishments spoiled her image of an exemplary and kind woman.

The difficult life of Hurrem Sultan, whose biography contains many secrets and a tape of joyless events, ended with the fact that at the end of the journey she had very difficult health conditions.

The children and husband did everything in their power, but the beautiful Roksolana was fading away before our eyes.

Everyone hoped for a speedy recovery for Hurrem Sultan. The cause of death actually remains a controversial issue. Officially it is said that Roksolana was poisoned. All available medicine was powerless at that time, and on April 15 or 18, 1558, she died. A year later, the ruler’s body was transferred to a domed mausoleum, the architect of which was Mimara Sinana. The tomb was decorated with ceramic tiles with drawings of the Garden of Eden, as well as the texts of poems carved on them, written in honor of Roksolana’s charming smile.

Thus, Mikhalon Litvin, who in the middle of the 16th century was the ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Crimean Khanate, in his essay of 1548-1551 “On the Morals of the Tatars, Lithuanians and Muscovites” (lat. De moribus tartarorum, lituanorum et moscorum ) when describing the slave trade, indicates that “and the beloved wife of the current Turkish emperor, the mother of his first-born [son], who will reign after him, was kidnapped from our land” .

Member of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth embassy Ottoman Sultan 1621-1622, the poet Samuil Tvardovsky wrote that the Turks told him that Roksolana was the daughter of an Orthodox priest from Rohatyn (now in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine). Galina Ermolenko notes that Tvardovsky's message is confirmed by an old Bukovinian folk song telling about a beautiful girl from Rohatyn named Nastusenka, kidnapped by the Crimean Tatars and sold into the Sultan's harem.

Some details about Hurrem's life before entering the harem appear in literature in the 19th century. According to Polish literary tradition, her real name was Alexandra and she was the daughter of the Rogatyn priest Gavrila Lisovsky. In Ukrainian literature of the 19th century she is called Anastasia, this version was accepted by Soviet historians. According to Mikhail Orlovsky, set out in the historical story “Roksolana or Anastasia Lisovskaya” (1880), she was not from Rohatyn, but from Chemerovets (now in the Khmelnitsky region).

Sultan's wife

In a very short time, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska attracted the attention of the Sultan. Another concubine of Suleiman, Mahidevran, the mother of Shehzade Mustafa, a slave of Albanian or Circassian origin, became jealous of the Sultan for Hurrem. The quarrel that arose between Mahidevran and Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was described in his report for 1533 by the Venetian ambassador Bernardo Navajero: “...The Circassian woman insulted Hurrem and tore her face, hair and dress. After some time, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was invited to the Sultan's bedchamber. However, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska said that she could not go to the ruler in this form. Nevertheless, the Sultan called Hurrem and listened to her. Then he called Mahidevran, asking if Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska told him the truth. Mahidevran said that she was the main woman of the Sultan and that other concubines should obey her, and that she had not yet beaten the treacherous Hurrem. The Sultan was angry with Mahidevran and made Hurrem his favorite concubine.” . In 1521, two of Suleiman's three sons died. The only heir was six-year-old Mustafa, which, in conditions of high mortality, posed a threat to the dynasty. In this regard, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska's ability to give birth to an heir gave her the necessary support in the palace. The new favorite's conflict with Makhidevran was restrained by the authority of Suleiman's mother Hafsa Sultan. In 1521, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska gave birth to a boy named Mehmed. The following year, the girl Mihrimah was born - the only daughter of Suleiman who survived infancy, after which Abdallah was born, who lived only three years, in 1524 Selim was born, and the next year Bayazid. Hurrem gave birth to the last one, Cihangir, in 1531.

Valide Sultan died in 1534. Even before this, in 1533, together with her son Mustafa, who had reached adulthood, Khyurrem’s longtime rival, Mahidevran, went to Manisa. In March 1536, the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha, who had previously relied on the support of Hafsa, was executed by order of Sultan Suleiman, and his property was confiscated. The death of the Valide and the removal of the Grand Vizier opened the way for Hurrem to strengthen her own power.

After the death of Hafsa, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was able to achieve something that no one had ever achieved before her. She officially became Suleiman's wife. Although there were no laws prohibiting sultans from marrying slaves, the entire tradition of the Ottoman court was against it. Moreover, in the Ottoman Empire, even the terms “law” and “tradition” themselves were designated by one word - eve. The wedding ceremony that took place was, apparently, very magnificent, although it is not mentioned in any way in Ottoman sources. The wedding probably took place in June 1534, although the exact date of this event is unknown. Hurrem's unique position was reflected by her title - Haseki, introduced by Suleiman especially for her.

Sultan Suleiman, who spent most of his time on campaigns, received information about the situation in the palace exclusively from Hurrem. Letters have been preserved that reflect the Sultan's great love and longing for Hurrem, who was his main political adviser. Meanwhile, Leslie Pierce notes that in the early stages of Suleiman’s activity, he relied more on correspondence with his mother, since Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska did not know the language well enough. Hurrem's early letters are written in a polished clerical language, suggesting that they were written by a court clerk.
The influence exerted by Hurrem on Suleiman is illustrated by an episode described by the Venetian ambassador Pietro Bragadin. One of the sanjak beys gave the sultan and his mother one beautiful Russian slave girl each. When the girls arrived at the palace, Hurrem, who was found by the ambassador, was very unhappy. Valide, who gave her slave to her son, was forced to apologize to Hurrem and take the concubine back. The Sultan ordered the second slave to be sent as a wife to another sanjak bey, since the presence of even one concubine in the palace made the Haseki unhappy.

The most educated woman of her time, Hurrem Haseki Sultan received foreign ambassadors, answered letters from foreign rulers, influential nobles and artists. On her initiative, several mosques, a bathhouse and a madrasah were built in Istanbul.

Soon after returning from a trip to Edirne, on April 15 or 18, 1558, Hurrem Sultan died due to a long illness or poisoning. A year later, her body was transferred to a domed octagonal mausoleum designed by the architect Mimar Sinan. The mausoleum of Hurrem Haseki Sultan (Turkish: Haseki Hurrem Sultan Turbesi) is decorated with exquisite Iznik ceramic tiles with images of the Garden of Eden, as well as printed poems, perhaps in honor of her smile and cheerful character. Roksolana's tomb is located near the Suleiman mausoleum to the left of the mosque in the Suleymaniye complex. Inside Hürrem's tomb there is probably the coffin of Hanım Sultan, daughter of Hatice Sultan, sister of Suleiman.

Children

Hurrem gave birth to six children for the Sultan:

In works of art

Literature

poem “The Glorious Embassy of His Serene Highness Prince Krzysztof Zbarazhsky from Sigismund III to the mighty Sultan Mustafa” (Samuel Twardowski, 1633)
poem “Roksolana, drama in five acts in verse” (Nestor Kukolnik, 1835)
story “Roksolana or Anastasia Lisovskaya” (Mikhail Orlovsky, 1880)
historical drama in five acts “Roksolyan” (Gnat Yakimovich, 1864-1869)
historical work of the Ukrainian orientalist Agafangel Krymsky “History of Turkey and its literature”, in which Roksolana is given more than 20 pages, 1924
story (Osip Nazaruk, 1930)
short story "Shadow of the Vulture" (Robert E. Howard, 1934); in the story Roksolana is only mentioned, but the main character is a fictional character, Red Sonja, who in the story is Roksolana’s sister
short story “Roksolana. Historical narrative of the 16th century" (Anton Lototsky, 1937)
novel "Roxelane" (Johannes Tralow, 1942)
novel “Mikael Hakim: kymmenen kirjaa Mikael Carvajalin eli Mikael El-Hakimin elämästä vuosina 1527 - 38 hänen tunnustettuaan ainoan Jumalan ja antauduttuaan Korkean Portin palvelukseen” (Mika Valtari, 1949)
novel “Steppe Flower” (Nikolai Lazorsky, 1965)
study “The Imperial Career of Anastasia Lisovskaya” (Irina Knysh, 1966)
story “The Burning Bush” (Yuri Kolisnichenko, 1968)
poem “Roksolyan. The Girl from Rohatyn" (Lyubov Zabashta, 1971)
novel “Roksolana” (Pavel Zagrebelny, 1980)
novel “La magnifica dell’harem” (Isor de Saint-Pierre, 2003)
novel “Hurrem. The famous beloved of Sultan Suleiman" (Sophia Benois, 2013; richly illustrated edition)
novel "Harem" (Bertrice Small, 1978)

Movie

television series “Roksolana” (Ukraine, 1996-2003) - film adaptation of the story by Osip Nazaruk, in the role of Roksolana - Olga Sumskaya
television series “Hürrem Sultan” (Turkey, 2003), in the role of Roksolana-Hürrem - Gulben Ergen
documentary film “Roksolana: the bloody path to the throne” from the series “In Search of Truth” (Ukraine, 2008)
television series “Magnificent Century” (Turkey, 2011-2014), in the role of Roksolana-Hurrem - Meryem Uzerli, from episode 103 - Vahide Gördyum (Perchin)

Theater

play “Les Trois Sultanes ou Soliman Second” (Charles Simon Favard, 1761)
performance "Roksolana" of the Ternopil Regional Music and Drama Theater named after. T. G. Shevchenko (Ukraine) - production of the novel by Pavel Zagrebelny, in the role of Roksolana - Lyusya Davidko
play “Roksolana” of the Dnepropetrovsk Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater named after T. G. Shevchenko (Ukraine, 1988), in the role of Roksolana - Alexander Kopytin

Music

About two dozen musical works have been written about Roksolana or dedicated to her, among them:

"63rd Symphony" (Joseph Haydn, 1779-1781)
opera “Roksoliana” (Denis Sichinsky, 1908-1909)
ballet “Hürrem Sultan” (music: Nevit Kodalli, choreography: Oytun Turfanda, 1976)
song “Roksolana” (lyrics by Stepan Galyabarda, music by Oleg Slobodenko, performed by Alla Kudlay, 1990)
opera “Suleiman and Roksolana or Love in a Harem” (Alexander Kostin, libr. Boris Chip, 1995)
rock opera “I am Roksolana” (lyrics by Stepan Galyabarda and music by Arnold Svyatogorov, 2000)
ballet “Roksolana” (dir.-choreographer Dmitry Akimov, 2009)

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Notes

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Abbott E. A history of mistresses. - HarperFlamingoCanada, 2003. - 510 p. - P. 53.
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Ukrainian Radian Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 3 volumes. Vol. III. / For ed. M. Bazhana. - 1st type. - K.: Head office of the Ukrainian Radian Encyclopedia. - 1968. - P. 162.
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Roxolana in European Literature… - P. 272.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 58.
Quinn R. S.. - Trafford Publishing, 2005. - P. 276. - ISBN 1-4120-7054-6.
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Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 55.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 59-60.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 60.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 61.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 62.
Being a poet, the Sultan dedicated love poems to Roksolana in Persian and Arabic. Some of them have survived. See Roxolana in European Literature... - P. 5.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 63-64.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 59.
Oztuna Y.Şehzade Mustafa. - İstanbul: Ötüken Yayınevi, 1978. - ISBN 9-7543-7141-5.
(tur.) . www.devletialiyyei.com. Retrieved April 29, 2013. .
Öztuna, Yılmaz. Kanuni Sultan Süleyman. Babıali Kültür Yayınları, 2006. s. 174-189
Uzunçarşılı, İsmail Hakkı (1951, yeni ed. 1998), Osmanlı Tarihi: İstanbul’un Fethinden Kanunî Sultan Süleyman"ın Ölümüne Kadar, Ankara:Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları
Tereshchenko A.V. To be the Russian people. - Part II. - St. Petersburg. : Type. Ministry of Internal Affairs, 1848. - p.5.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 88-89.
Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem... - P. 63.
Yermolenko G. Roxolana: “The Greatest Empresse of the East.” - P. 237.

Literature

Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. - New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. - 374 p.
Roxolana in European Literature, History and Culture / ed. by Galina I. Yermolenko. - New York: Ashgate Publishing, 2010. - 318 p.
Yermolenko G.// The Muslim World. - 95. - 2. - 2005. - P. 231-248.

An excerpt characterizing Roksolan

“Yes,” said the countess, after the ray of sunshine that had penetrated into the living room with this young generation had disappeared, and as if answering a question that no one had asked her, but which constantly occupied her. - How much suffering, how much anxiety has been endured in order to now rejoice in them! And now, really, there is more fear than joy. You're still afraid, you're still afraid! This is precisely the age at which there are so many dangers for both girls and boys.
“Everything depends on upbringing,” said the guest.
“Yes, your truth,” continued the Countess. “Until now, thank God, I have been a friend of my children and enjoy their complete trust,” said the countess, repeating the misconception of many parents who believe that their children have no secrets from them. “I know that I will always be the first confidente [confidant] of my daughters, and that Nikolenka, due to her ardent character, if she plays naughty (a boy cannot live without this), then everything is not like these St. Petersburg gentlemen.
“Yes, nice, nice guys,” confirmed the count, who always resolved issues that confused him by finding everything nice. - Come on, I want to become a hussar! Yes, that's what you want, ma chere!
“What a sweet creature your little one is,” said the guest. - Gunpowder!
“Yes, gunpowder,” said the count. - It hit me! And what a voice: even though it’s my daughter, I’ll tell the truth, she will be a singer, Salomoni is different. We hired an Italian to teach her.
- Is not it too early? They say it is harmful for your voice to study at this time.
- Oh, no, it’s so early! - said the count. - How did our mothers get married at twelve thirteen?
- She’s already in love with Boris! What? - said the countess, smiling quietly, looking at Boris’s mother, and, apparently answering the thought that had always occupied her, she continued. - Well, you see, if I had kept her strictly, I would have forbidden her... God knows what they would have done on the sly (the countess meant: they would have kissed), and now I know every word she says. She will come running in the evening and tell me everything. Maybe I'm spoiling her; but, really, this seems to be better. I kept the eldest strictly.
“Yes, I was brought up completely differently,” said the eldest, beautiful Countess Vera, smiling.
But a smile did not grace Vera’s face, as usually happens; on the contrary, her face became unnatural and therefore unpleasant.
The eldest, Vera, was good, she was not stupid, she studied well, she was well brought up, her voice was pleasant, what she said was fair and appropriate; but, strangely, everyone, both the guest and the countess, looked back at her, as if they were surprised why she said this, and felt awkward.
“They always play tricks with older children, they want to do something extraordinary,” said the guest.
- To be honest, ma chere! The Countess was playing tricks with Vera,” said the Count. - Well, oh well! Still, she turned out nice,” he added, winking approvingly at Vera.
The guests got up and left, promising to come for dinner.
- What a manner! They were already sitting, sitting! - said the countess, ushering the guests out.

When Natasha left the living room and ran, she only reached the flower shop. She stopped in this room, listening to the conversation in the living room and waiting for Boris to come out. She was already beginning to get impatient and, stamping her foot, was about to cry because he was not walking now, when she heard the quiet, not fast, decent steps of a young man.
Natasha quickly rushed between the flower pots and hid.
Boris stopped in the middle of the room, looked around, brushed specks from his uniform sleeve with his hand and walked up to the mirror, examining his handsome face. Natasha, having become quiet, looked out from her ambush, waiting for what he would do. He stood in front of the mirror for a while, smiled and went to the exit door. Natasha wanted to call out to him, but then changed her mind. “Let him search,” she told herself. Boris had just left when a flushed Sonya emerged from another door, whispering something angrily through her tears. Natasha restrained herself from her first move to run out to her and remained in her ambush, as if under an invisible cap, looking out for what was happening in the world. She experienced a special new pleasure. Sonya whispered something and looked back at the living room door. Nikolai came out of the door.
- Sonya! What happened to you? Is this possible? - Nikolai said, running up to her.
- Nothing, nothing, leave me! – Sonya began to sob.
- No, I know what.
- Well, you know, that’s great, and go to her.
- Sooo! One word! Is it possible to torture me and yourself like this because of a fantasy? - Nikolai said, taking her hand.
Sonya did not pull his hands away and stopped crying.
Natasha, without moving or breathing, looked out with shining heads from her ambush. "What will happen now"? she thought.
- Sonya! I don't need the whole world! “You alone are everything to me,” Nikolai said. - I'll prove it to you.
“I don’t like it when you talk like that.”
- Well, I won’t, I’m sorry, Sonya! “He pulled her towards him and kissed her.
“Oh, how good!” thought Natasha, and when Sonya and Nikolai left the room, she followed them and called Boris to her.
“Boris, come here,” she said with a significant and cunning look. – I need to tell you one thing. Here, here,” she said and led him into the flower shop to the place between the tubs where she was hidden. Boris, smiling, followed her.
– What is this one thing? - he asked.
She was embarrassed, looked around her and, seeing her doll abandoned on the tub, took it in her hands.
“Kiss the doll,” she said.
Boris looked into her lively face with an attentive, affectionate gaze and did not answer.
- You do not want? Well, come here,” she said and went deeper into the flowers and threw the doll. - Closer, closer! - she whispered. She caught the officer's cuffs with her hands, and solemnity and fear were visible in her reddened face.
- Do you want to kiss me? – she whispered barely audibly, looking at him from under her brows, smiling and almost crying with excitement.
Boris blushed.
- How funny you are! - he said, bending over to her, blushing even more, but doing nothing and waiting.
She suddenly jumped up on the tub so that she stood taller than him, hugged him with both arms so that her thin bare arms bent above his neck and, moving her hair back with a movement of her head, kissed him right on the lips.
She slipped between the pots to the other side of the flowers and, lowering her head, stopped.
“Natasha,” he said, “you know that I love you, but...
-Are you in love with me? – Natasha interrupted him.
- Yes, I’m in love, but please, let’s not do what we’re doing now... Four more years... Then I’ll ask for your hand.
Natasha thought.
“Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen...” she said, counting with her thin fingers. - Fine! So it's over?
And a smile of joy and peace lit up her lively face.
- It's over! - said Boris.
- Forever? - said the girl. - Until death?
And, taking his arm, with a happy face, she quietly walked next to him into the sofa.

The countess was so tired of the visits that she did not order to receive anyone else, and the doorman was only ordered to invite everyone who would still come with congratulations to eat. The Countess wanted to talk privately with her childhood friend, Princess Anna Mikhailovna, whom she had not seen well since her arrival from St. Petersburg. Anna Mikhailovna, with her tear-stained and pleasant face, moved closer to the countess’s chair.
“I’ll be completely frank with you,” said Anna Mikhailovna. – There are very few of us left, old friends! This is why I value your friendship so much.
Anna Mikhailovna looked at Vera and stopped. The Countess shook hands with her friend.
“Vera,” said the countess, addressing her eldest daughter, obviously unloved. - How come you have no idea about anything? Don't you feel like you're out of place here? Go to your sisters, or...
Beautiful Vera smiled contemptuously, apparently not feeling the slightest insult.
“If you had told me long ago, mamma, I would have left immediately,” she said, and went to her room.
But, passing by the sofa, she noticed that there were two couples sitting symmetrically at two windows. She stopped and smiled contemptuously. Sonya sat close to Nikolai, who was copying out poems for her that he had written for the first time. Boris and Natasha were sitting at another window and fell silent when Vera entered. Sonya and Natasha looked at Vera with guilty and happy faces.
It was fun and touching to look at these girls in love, but the sight of them, obviously, did not arouse a pleasant feeling in Vera.
“How many times have I asked you,” she said, “not to take my things, you have your own room.”
She took the inkwell from Nikolai.
“Now, now,” he said, wetting his pen.
“You know how to do everything at the wrong time,” said Vera. “Then they ran into the living room, so everyone felt ashamed of you.”
Despite the fact that, or precisely because, what she said was completely fair, no one answered her, and all four only looked at each other. She lingered in the room with the inkwell in her hand.
- And what secrets could there be at your age between Natasha and Boris and between you - they’re all just nonsense!
- Well, what do you care, Vera? – Natasha said intercedingly in a quiet voice.
She, apparently, was even more kind and affectionate to everyone than always that day.
“Very stupid,” said Vera, “I’m ashamed of you.” What are the secrets?...
- Everyone has their own secrets. We won’t touch you and Berg,” Natasha said, getting excited.
“I think you won’t touch me,” said Vera, “because there can never be anything bad in my actions.” But I’ll tell mommy how you treat Boris.
“Natalya Ilyinishna treats me very well,” said Boris. “I can't complain,” he said.
- Leave it, Boris, you are such a diplomat (the word diplomat was in great use among children in those days) special significance, what they attached to this word); It’s even boring,” Natasha said in an offended, trembling voice. - Why is she pestering me? You will never understand this,” she said, turning to Vera, “because you have never loved anyone; you have no heart, you are only madame de Genlis [Madame Genlis] (this nickname, considered very offensive, was given to Vera by Nikolai), and your first pleasure is to cause trouble for others. “You flirt with Berg as much as you want,” she said quickly.
- Yes, I certainly won’t start chasing a young man in front of guests...
“Well, she achieved her goal,” Nikolai intervened, “she said unpleasant things to everyone, upset everyone.” Let's go to the nursery.
All four, like a frightened flock of birds, got up and left the room.
“They told me some troubles, but I didn’t mean anything to anyone,” said Vera.
- Madame de Genlis! Madame de Genlis! - Laughing voices said from behind the door.
Beautiful Vera, who had such an irritating, unpleasant effect on everyone, smiled and, apparently unaffected by what was said to her, went to the mirror and straightened her scarf and hairstyle. Looking at her beautiful face, she apparently became even colder and calmer.

The conversation continued in the living room.
- Ah! chere,” said the countess, “and in my life tout n”est pas rose. Don’t I see that du train, que nous allons, [not everything is roses. - given our way of life,] our condition will not last long for us! And "It's all a club, and its kindness. We live in the village, do we really relax? Theatres, hunting and God knows what. But what can I say about me! Well, how did you arrange all this? I'm often surprised at you, Annette, how it's possible You, at your age, ride alone in a carriage, to Moscow, to St. Petersburg, to all the ministers, to all the nobility, you know how to get along with everyone, I’m surprised! Well, how did this work out? I don’t know how to do any of this.
- Oh, my soul! - answered Princess Anna Mikhailovna. “God forbid you know how hard it is to remain a widow without support and with a son whom you love to the point of adoration.” “You’ll learn everything,” she continued with some pride. – My process taught me. If I need to see one of these aces, I write a note: “princesse une telle [princess so-and-so] wants to see so-and-so,” and I drive myself in a cab at least two, at least three times, at least four times, until I achieve what I need. I don't care what anyone thinks of me.
- Well, well, who did you ask about Borenka? – asked the Countess. - After all, yours is already a guard officer, and Nikolushka is a cadet. There is no one to bother. Who did you ask?
- Prince Vasily. He was very nice. Now I agreed to everything, reported to the sovereign,” Princess Anna Mikhailovna said with delight, completely forgetting all the humiliation she went through to achieve her goal.
- That he has aged, Prince Vasily? – asked the Countess. – I haven’t seen him since our theaters at the Rumyantsevs’. And I think he forgot about me. “Il me faisait la cour, [He was trailing after me,” the countess recalled with a smile.
“Still the same,” answered Anna Mikhailovna, “kind, crumbling.” Les grandeurs ne lui ont pas touriene la tete du tout. [The high position did not turn his head at all.] “I regret that I can do too little for you, dear princess,” he tells me, “order.” No, he is a nice man and a wonderful family member. But you know, Nathalieie, my love for my son. I don't know what I wouldn't do to make him happy. “And my circumstances are so bad,” Anna Mikhailovna continued with sadness and lowering her voice, “so bad that I am now in the most terrible situation. My miserable process is eating up everything I have and is not moving. I don’t have, you can imagine, a la lettre [literally], I don’t have a dime of money, and I don’t know what to outfit Boris with. “She took out a handkerchief and began to cry. “I need five hundred rubles, but I have one twenty-five-ruble note.” I am in this position... My only hope now is Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov. If he does not want to support his godson - after all, he baptized Borya - and assign him something for his maintenance, then all my troubles will be lost: I will have nothing to outfit him with.
The Countess shed tears and silently thought about something.
“I often think, maybe this is a sin,” said the princess, “and I often think: Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhoy lives alone... this is a huge fortune... and what does he live for? Life is a burden for him, but Borya is just beginning to live.
“He will probably leave something for Boris,” said the countess.
- God knows, chere amie! [dear friend!] These rich people and nobles are so selfish. But I’ll still go to him now with Boris and tell him straight out what’s going on. Let them think what they want about me, I really don’t care when my son’s fate depends on it. - The princess stood up. - Now it’s two o’clock, and at four o’clock you have lunch. I'll have time to go.
And with the techniques of a St. Petersburg business lady who knows how to use time, Anna Mikhailovna sent for her son and went out into the hall with him.
“Farewell, my soul,” she said to the countess, who accompanied her to the door, “wish me success,” she added in a whisper from her son.
– Are you visiting Count Kirill Vladimirovich, ma chere? - said the count from the dining room, also going out into the hallway. - If he feels better, invite Pierre to dinner with me. After all, he visited me and danced with the children. Call me by all means, ma chere. Well, let's see how Taras distinguishes himself today. He says that Count Orlov never had such a dinner as we will have.

“Mon cher Boris, [Dear Boris,”] said Princess Anna Mikhailovna to her son when Countess Rostova’s carriage, in which they were sitting, drove along the straw-covered street and drove into the wide courtyard of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhy. “Mon cher Boris,” said the mother, pulling her hand out from under her old coat and with a timid and affectionate movement placing it on her son’s hand, “be gentle, be attentive.” Count Kirill Vladimirovich is still your godfather, and your future fate depends on him. Remember this, mon cher, be as sweet as you know how to be...
“If I had known that anything other than humiliation would come out of this...” the son answered coldly. “But I promised you and I’m doing this for you.”
Despite the fact that someone’s carriage was standing at the entrance, the doorman, looking at the mother and son (who, without ordering to report themselves, directly entered the glass vestibule between two rows of statues in the niches), looking significantly at the old cloak, asked who they wanted whatever, the princesses or the count, and, having learned that the count, said that their Lordships are worse off now and their Lordships do not receive anyone.
“We can leave,” the son said in French.
- Mon ami! [My friend!] - said the mother in a pleading voice, again touching her son’s hand, as if this touch could calm or excite him.
Boris fell silent and, without taking off his overcoat, looked questioningly at his mother.
“Darling,” Anna Mikhailovna said in a gentle voice, turning to the doorman, “I know that Count Kirill Vladimirovich is very ill... that’s why I came... I’m a relative... I won’t bother you, dear... But I just need to see Prince Vasily Sergeevich: because he is standing here. Report back, please.
The doorman sullenly pulled the string upward and turned away.
“Princess Drubetskaya to Prince Vasily Sergeevich,” he shouted to a waiter in stockings, shoes and a tailcoat who had run down from above and was peeking out from under the ledge of the stairs.
The mother smoothed out the folds of her dyed silk dress, looked into the solid Venetian mirror in the wall and walked briskly up the staircase carpet in her worn-out shoes.
“Mon cher, voue m"avez promis, [My friend, you promised me,” she turned again to the Son, exciting him with the touch of her hand.
The son, with lowered eyes, calmly followed her.
They entered the hall, from which one door led to the chambers allocated to Prince Vasily.
While the mother and son, going out into the middle of the room, intended to ask for directions from the old waiter who jumped up at their entrance, a bronze handle turned at one of the doors and Prince Vasily in a velvet fur coat, with one star, in a homely manner, came out, seeing off the handsome black-haired a man. This man was the famous St. Petersburg doctor Lorrain.
“C"est donc positif? [So, is this true?] - said the prince.
“Mon prince, “errare humanum est”, mais... [Prince, it is human nature to make mistakes.] - answered the doctor, rasping and pronouncing Latin words in a French accent.
– C"est bien, c"est bien... [Okay, okay...]
Noticing Anna Mikhailovna and her son, Prince Vasily dismissed the doctor with a bow and silently, but with a questioning look, approached them. The son noticed how suddenly deep sorrow was expressed in his mother's eyes, and smiled slightly.
- Yes, in what sad circumstances did we have to see each other, Prince... Well, what about our dear patient? - she said, as if not noticing the cold, insulting gaze directed at her.
Prince Vasily looked questioningly, to the point of bewilderment, at her, then at Boris. Boris bowed politely. Prince Vasily, without answering the bow, turned to Anna Mikhailovna and answered her question with a movement of his head and lips, which meant the worst hope for the patient.
- Really? - Anna Mikhailovna exclaimed. - Oh, this is terrible! It’s scary to think... This is my son,” she added, pointing to Boris. “He himself wanted to thank you.”
Boris bowed politely again.
- Believe, prince, that a mother’s heart will never forget what you did for us.
“I’m glad that I could do something pleasant for you, my dear Anna Mikhailovna,” said Prince Vasily, straightening his frill and in his gesture and voice showing here, in Moscow, in front of the patronized Anna Mikhailovna, even greater importance than in St. Petersburg, at Annette’s evening Scherer.
“Try to serve well and be worthy,” he added, turning sternly to Boris. - I'm glad... Are you here on vacation? – he dictated in his dispassionate tone.
“I’m waiting for an order, your Excellency, to go to a new destination,” answered Boris, showing neither annoyance at the prince’s harsh tone, nor a desire to engage in conversation, but so calmly and respectfully that the prince looked at him intently.
- Do you live with your mother?
“I live with Countess Rostova,” said Boris, adding again: “Your Excellency.”
“This is the Ilya Rostov who married Nathalie Shinshina,” said Anna Mikhailovna.
“I know, I know,” said Prince Vasily in his monotonous voice. – Je n"ai jamais pu concevoir, comment Nathalieie s"est decidee a epouser cet ours mal – leche l Un personnage completement stupide et ridicule.Et joueur a ce qu"on dit. [I could never understand how Natalie decided to come out marry this dirty bear. A completely stupid and ridiculous person. And a player, too, they say.]
“Mais tres brave homme, mon prince,” Anna Mikhailovna remarked, smiling touchingly, as if she knew that Count Rostov deserved such an opinion, but asked to have pity on the poor old man. – What do the doctors say? - asked the princess, after a short silence and again expressing great sadness on her tear-stained face.

Origin

Information about the origin of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska is quite contradictory. There are no documentary sources or even any reliable written evidence talking about Hurrem’s life before joining the harem. At the same time, its origin is known from legends and literary works, mainly of Western origin. Early literary sources do not contain information about her childhood, limiting themselves to mentioning her Russian origin.

The first details about Hurrem's life before entering the harem appear in literature in the 19th century. According to Polish literary tradition, her real name was Alexandra and she was the daughter of the priest Gavrila Lisovsky from Rohatyn (now in the Ivano-Frankivsk region). In Ukrainian literature of the 19th century she is called Anastasia. According to Mikhail Orlovsky’s version, set out in the historical story “Roksolana or Anastasia Lisovskaya” (1882), she was not from Rohatyn, but from Chemerovets (now in the Khmelnitsky region). At that time, both cities were located on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland.

Sultan's wife

Roksolana and the Sultan. Anton Hakel, 1780

In a very short time, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska attracted the attention of the Sultan. Another concubine of Suleiman, Mahidevran, the mother of Prince Mustafa, a slave of Albanian or Circassian origin, became jealous of the Sultan for Hurrem. The quarrel that arose between Mahidevran and Hurrem was described in his report for 1533 by the Venetian ambassador Bernardo Navagero: “...The Circassian woman insulted Hurrem and tore her face, hair and dress. After some time, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was invited to the Sultan's bedchamber. However, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska said that she could not go to the ruler in this form. However, the Sultan called Hurrem and listened to her. Then he called Mahidevran, asking if Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska told him the truth. Mahidevran said that she was the main woman of the Sultan and that other concubines should obey her, and that she had not yet beaten the treacherous Hurrem. The Sultan was angry with Mahidevran and made Hurrem his favorite concubine.” .

In 1521, two of Suleiman's three sons died. The only heir was six-year-old Mustafa, which, in conditions of high mortality, posed a threat to the dynasty. In this regard, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska's ability to give birth to an heir gave her the necessary support in the courtyard. The new favorite's conflict with Mahidevran was restrained by the authority of Suleiman's mother Hafsa Khatun. In 1521, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska gave birth to a boy named Mehmed. The following year, the girl Mihrimah was born - the only daughter of Suleiman who survived infancy, then Abdallah was born, who lived only three years, in 1524 Selim was born, and the next year Bayazid. Hurrem gave birth to the last one, Cihangir, in 1531.

Valide Sultan Hafsa Khatun died in 1534. Even before this, in 1533, together with her son Mustafa, who had reached adulthood, Khyurrem’s longtime rival, Mahidevran, went to Manisa. In March 1536, the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha, who had previously relied on the support of Hafsa, was arrested and his property confiscated. The death of the Valide and the removal of the Grand Vizier opened the way for Hurrem to strengthen her own power.

The influence exerted by Hurrem on Suleiman is illustrated by an episode described by the Venetian ambassador Pietro Bragadin. One of the sanjak beys gave the sultan and his mother one beautiful Russian slave girl each. When the girls arrived at the palace, Hurrem, who was found by the ambassador, was very unhappy. Valide, who gave her slave to her son, was forced to apologize to Hurrem and take the concubine back. The Sultan ordered the second slave to be sent as a wife to another sanjak bey, since the presence of even one concubine in the palace made the Haseki unhappy.

Children

Hurrem gave birth to 6 children to the Sultan:

Role in history

Professor of history, author of a work on the Sultan's harem, Leslie Pierce, notes that before Hurrem, the sultans' favorites played two roles - the role of the favorite and the role of the mother of the heir to the throne, and that these roles were never combined. Having given birth to a son, the woman ceased to be a favorite, going with the child to a remote province, where the heir was to be raised until he took his father’s place. Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was the first woman who managed to simultaneously play both roles, which caused great irritation at the conservative court. When her sons reached adulthood, she did not follow them, but remained in the capital, only occasionally visiting them. This can largely explain the negative image that has formed around Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. In addition, she violated another principle of the Ottoman court, which was that one favorite of the Sultan should have no more than one son. Unable to explain how Hurrem was able to achieve such a high position, contemporaries attributed to her that she had simply bewitched Suleiman. This image of an insidious and power-hungry woman was transferred to Western historiography, although it underwent some transformation.

Role in culture

Unlike all her predecessors, as well as the mothers of Shehzade, who had the right to erect buildings only within the province in which they lived with their sons, Hurrem received the right to build religious and charitable buildings in Istanbul and other major cities of the Ottoman Empire. She created a charitable foundation in her name ( Külliye Hasseki Hurrem). With donations from this fund, the Aksaray district or women's bazaar, later also named after Haseki, was built in Istanbul. Avret Pazari), whose buildings included a mosque, madrasah, imaret, Primary School, hospitals and fountain. It was the first complex built in Istanbul by the architect Sinan in his new position as chief architect of the ruling house, and also the third largest building in the capital, after the complexes of Mehmet II ( Fatih) and Sulaymaniyah ( Süleymanie). Other charitable projects of Roksolana include complexes in Adrianople and Ankara, which formed the basis of the project in Jerusalem (later named after Haseki Sultan), hospices and canteens for pilgrims and the homeless, a canteen in Mecca (under the emiret of Haseki Hurrem), a public canteen in Istanbul ( V Avret Pazari), as well as two large public baths in Istanbul (in Jewish and Aya Sofya blocks).

1st page of the waqfiya on the Takhtiyat-Haseki Hurrem Sultan Complex (Haseki Hurrem Mosque, madrasah and imaret in Jerusalem)

Dome vault in the hammam (Istanbul, near Hagia Sophia)

In works of art

Literature

poem “The Glorious Embassy of His Serene Highness Prince Krzysztof Zbarazhsky from Sigismund III to the mighty Sultan Mustafa” (Samuel Twardowski, 1633)
story “Roksolana or Anastasia Lisovskaya” (Sergei Plachinda and Mikhail Orlovsky, 1882)
historical drama in five acts “Roksolyan” (Gnat Yakimovich, 1864-1869)
historical work of the Ukrainian orientalist Agafaegel Krymsky “History of Turkey and its literature”, in which Roksolana is given more than 20 pages, 1924
story “Roksolyan” (Osip Nazaruk, 1930)
short story “Roksolana. Historical narrative of the 16th century" (Anton Lototsky, 1937)
novel “Roxelane” (Johannes Tralow, 1942)
novel “Mikael Hakim: kymmenen kirjaa Mikael Carvajalin eli Mikael El-Hakimin elämästä vuosina 1527 - 38 hänen tunnustettuaan ainoan Jumalan ja antauduttuaan Korkean Portin palvelukseen” (Mika Valtari, 1949)
novel “Steppe Flower” (Nikolai Lazorsky, 1965)
study “The Imperial Career of Anastasia Lisovskaya” (Irina Knysh, 1966)
story “The Burning Bush” (Yuri Kolisnichenko, 1968)
poem “Roksolyan. The Girl from Rohatyn” (Lyubov Zabashta, 1971)
novel “Roksolana” (Pavel Zagrebelny, 1980)
novel “La magnifica dell’harem” (Isor de Saint-Pierre, 2003)

Movie

television series “Roksolana: Beloved Wife of the Khalifa” (Ukraine, 1996-2003) - film adaptation of the story by Osip Nazaruk, in the role of Roksolana - Olga Sumskaya
television series “Hürrem Sultan” (Turkey, 2003), in the role of Roksolana-Hürrem - Gulben Ergen
documentary film “Roksolana: the bloody path to the throne” from the series “In Search of Truth” (Ukraine, 2008)
television series “Magnificent Century” (Turkey, 2011-2013), in the role of Roksolana-Hurrem - Meryem Uzerli

Theater

play “Les Trois Sultanes ou Soliman Second” (Charles Simon Favard, 1761)
performance "Roksolana" of the Ternopil Regional Music and Drama Theater named after. T. G. Shevchenka (Ukraine) - production of the novel by Pavel Zagrebelny, in the role of Roksolana - Lyusya Davidko
play “Roksolana” of the Dnepropetrovsk Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater named after T. G. Shevchenko (Ukraine, 1988), in the role of Roksolana - Alexander Kopytin

Music

About two dozen musical works have been written about Roksolana or dedicated to her, among them:

"63rd Symphony" (Joseph Haydn, 1779-1781)
opera “Roksoliana” (Denis Sichinsky, 1908-1909)
ballet “Hurrem Sultan” (music: Nevit Kodalli, choreography: Oytun Turfanda, 1976)
song “Roksolana”, (lyrics by Stepan Galyabarda, music by Oleg Slobodenko, performed by Alla Kudlay, 1990)
opera “Suleiman and Roksolana or Love in a Harem” to the libretto by B. N. Chip (Alexander Kostin, 1995).
rock opera “I am Roksolana” (lyrics by Stepan Galyabarda and music by Arnold Svyatogorov, 2000)
ballet “Roksolana” (Dmitry Akimov, 2009)

Notes

Literature

Peirce L.P. The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. - New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. - 374 p.
Roxolana in European Literature, History and Culture / ed. by Galina I. Yermolenko. - New York: Ashgate Publishing, 2010. - 318 p.
Yermolenko G. Roxolana: The Greatest Empresse of the East // The Muslim World. - 95. - 2. - 2005. - P. 231-248.

Any Hollywood script pales in comparison to life's journey Roksolany who became the most powerful woman in history great empire. Her powers, contrary to Turkish laws and Islamic canons, could only be compared with the capabilities of the Sultan himself. Roksolana became not just a wife, she was a co-ruler; they didn’t listen to her opinion - it was the only one that was correct, legal...

Anastasia Gavrilovna Lisovskaya (born c. 1506 - d. c. 1562) was the daughter of the priest Gavrila Lisovsky from Rohatyn, a small town in Western Ukraine, located southwest of Ternopil. In the 16th century, this territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and was constantly subject to devastating raids by the Crimean Tatars.

During one of them, in the summer of 1522, the young daughter of a clergyman was caught by a detachment of robbers. Legend has it that the misfortune happened just before Anastasia’s wedding.

First, the captive ended up in Crimea - this is the usual route for all slaves. The Tatars did not drive valuable “live goods” on foot across the steppe, but carried them on horseback under vigilant guard, without even tying their hands, so as not to spoil the delicate girl’s skin with ropes. Most sources say that the Crimeans, struck by the beauty of Polonyanka, decided to send the girl to Istanbul, hoping to sell her profitably at one of the largest slave markets in the Muslim East.

“Giovane, ma non bella” (“young, but ugly”), Venetian nobles said about her in 1526, but “graceful and short in stature.” None of her contemporaries, contrary to legend, called Roksolana a beauty.

The captive was sent to the capital of the sultans on a large felucca, and the owner himself took her to sell her - history has not preserved his name. On the very first day, when the Horde took the captive to the market, she accidentally caught the eye of the all-powerful vizier of the young Sultan Suleiman I, the noble Rustem, who happened to be there - Pasha. Again, the legend says that the Turk was struck by the dazzling beauty of the girl, and he decided to buy her to give a gift to the Sultan.

During this era, the sultan was Suleiman I the Magnificent (Luxurious), who ruled from 1520 to 1566, considered the greatest sultan of the Ottoman dynasty. During the years of his rule, the empire reached the apogee of its development, including all of Serbia with Belgrade, most of Hungary, the island of Rhodes, significant territories in North Africa to the borders of Morocco and the Middle East.

Europe gave the Sultan the nickname Magnificent, while in the Muslim world he is more often called Kanuni, which translated from Turkish means Lawgiver.
“Such greatness and nobility,” the report of the 16th-century Venetian ambassador Marini Sanuto wrote about Suleiman, “was also adorned by the fact that he, unlike his father and many other sultans, had no inclination towards pederasty.”

An honest ruler and uncompromising fighter against bribery, he encouraged the development of the arts and philosophy, and was also considered a skilled poet and blacksmith - few European monarchs could compete with Suleiman I.
According to the laws of faith, the padishah could have four legal wives. The children of the first of them became heirs to the throne.

Or rather, one firstborn inherited the throne, and the rest often faced a sad fate: all possible contenders for supreme power were subject to destruction.

In addition to wives, the Commander of the Faithful had any number of concubines that his soul desired and his flesh required. IN different time under different sultans, from several hundred to a thousand or more women lived in the harem. In addition to women, the harem consisted of a whole staff of castrati eunuchs, maids of various ages, chiropractors, midwives, masseuses, doctors and the like.

But no one except the padishah himself could encroach on the beauties belonging to him. All this complex and hectic economy was supervised by the “chief of the girls” - the eunuch of Kyzlyaragassy.

However, amazing beauty alone was not enough: the girls destined for the padishah’s harem mandatory taught music, dance, Muslim poetry and, of course, the art of love. Naturally, the course of love sciences was theoretical, and the practice was taught by experienced old women and women experienced in all the intricacies of sex.

Rustem Pasha decided to buy a Slavic beauty. But her Krymchak owner refused to sell Anastasia and presented her as a gift to the all-powerful courtier, rightly expecting to receive for this not only an expensive return gift, as is customary in the East, but also considerable benefits.

Rustem Pasha ordered it to be fully prepared as a gift to the Sultan, in turn hoping to achieve even greater favor with him. The padishah was young; he ascended the throne only in 1520 and greatly appreciated female beauty, and not just as a contemplator.

In the harem, Anastasia receives the name Khurrem (laughing). And for the Sultan, she always remained only Khurrem. Roksolana, the name under which she went down in history, is just the name of the Sarmatian tribes in the 2nd-4th centuries AD, who roamed the steppes between the Dnieper and Don, translated from Latin as “Russian”. Roksolana will often be called, both during her life and after her death, nothing more than “Rusynka” - a native of Rus' or Roxolanii, as Ukraine was previously called.

The mystery of the birth of love between the Sultan and a fifteen-year-old unknown captive will remain unsolved. After all, there was a strict hierarchy in the harem, and anyone who violated it was expected to cruel punishment. Often - death.

The female recruits - adzhemi, step by step, first became jariye, then shagird, gedikli and usta. No one except the mouth had the right to be in the Sultan's chambers. Only the mother of the ruling sultan, the valide sultan, had absolute power within the harem, and decided who and when to share a bed with the sultan from her mouth. How Roksolana managed to occupy the Sultan’s monastery almost immediately will forever remain a mystery.

There is a legend about how Hurrem came to the attention of the Sultan. When new slaves (more beautiful and expensive than she) were introduced to the Sultan, a small figure suddenly flew into the circle of dancing odalisques and, pushing away the “soloist,” laughed. And then she sang her song. The harem lived according to cruel laws. And the eunuchs were waiting for only one sign - what to prepare for the girl - clothes for the Sultan’s bedroom or a cord used to strangle the slaves. The Sultan was intrigued and surprised.

And that same evening, Khurrem received the Sultan’s scarf - a sign that in the evening he was waiting for her in his bedroom. Having interested the Sultan with her silence, she asked for only one thing - the right to visit the Sultan's library. The Sultan was shocked, but allowed it. When he returned from a military campaign some time later, Khurrem already spoke several languages. She dedicated poems to her Sultan and even wrote books.

This was unprecedented at that time, and instead of respect it aroused fear. Her learning, plus the fact that the Sultan spent all his nights with her, created Khurrem's lasting fame as a witch. They said about Roksolana that she bewitched the Sultan with the help of evil spirits. And in fact he was bewitched.

“Finally, let us unite with soul, thoughts, imagination, will, heart, everything that I left mine in you and took with me yours, oh my only love!”, the Sultan wrote in a letter to Roksolana. “My lord, your absence has kindled a fire in me that does not go out. Have pity on this suffering soul and hurry up your letter so that I can find at least a little consolation in it,” answered Khurrem.

Roksolana greedily absorbed everything that she was taught in the palace, took everything that life gave her. Historians testify that after some time she actually mastered the Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages, learned to dance perfectly, recite her contemporaries, and also play according to the rules of the foreign, cruel country in which she lived. Following the rules of her new homeland, Roksolana converted to Islam.

Her main trump card was that Rustem Pasha, thanks to whom she got into the palace of the padishah, received her as a gift, and did not buy her. In turn, he did not sell it to the kyzlyaragassa, who replenished the harem, but gave it to Suleiman. So Roxalana stayed free woman and could lay claim to the role of the padishah’s wife. According to the laws of the Ottoman Empire, a slave could never, under any circumstances, become the wife of the Commander of the Faithful.

A few years later, Suleiman enters into an official marriage with her according to Muslim rites, elevates her to the rank of bash-kadyna - the main (and in fact, the only) wife and addresses her “Haseki,” which means “dear to the heart.”

Roksolana’s incredible position at the Sultan’s court amazed both Asia and Europe. Her education made scientists bow to her, she received foreign ambassadors, responded to messages from foreign sovereigns, influential nobles and artists. She not only came to terms with the new faith, but also gained fame as a zealous orthodox Muslim, which earned her considerable respect at court.

One day, the Florentines placed a ceremonial portrait of Hurrem, for which she posed for a Venetian artist, in an art gallery. It was the only female portrait among the images of hook-nosed, bearded sultans in huge turbans. “There was never another woman in the Ottoman palace who had such power” - Venetian ambassador Navajero, 1533.

Lisovskaya gives birth to the Sultan four sons (Mohammed, Bayazet, Selim, Jehangir) and a daughter, Khamerie. But Mustafa, the eldest son of the padishah’s first wife, Circassian Gulbekhar, was still officially considered the heir to the throne. She and her children became mortal enemies of the power-hungry and treacherous Roxalana.

Lisovskaya understood perfectly well: until her son became the heir to the throne or sat on the throne of the padishahs, her own position was constantly under threat. At any moment, Suleiman could be carried away by a new beautiful concubine and make her his legal wife, and order one of the old wives to be executed: in the harem, an unwanted wife or concubine was put alive in a leather bag, an angry cat and a poisonous snake were thrown in there, the bag was tied and a special stone chute was used to lower him with a tied stone into the waters of the Bosphorus.

The guilty considered it lucky if they were simply quickly strangled with a silk cord.
Therefore, Roxalana prepared for a very long time and began to act actively and cruelly only after almost fifteen years! Her daughter turned twelve years old, and she decided to marry her to... Rustem Pasha, who was already over fifty. But he was in great favor at court, close to the throne of the padishah and, most importantly, was something of a mentor and “godfather” to the heir to the throne, Mustafa, the son of the Circassian Gulbehar, Suleiman’s first wife.

Roxalana's daughter grew up with a similar face and chiseled figure to her beautiful mother, and Rustem Pasha with great pleasure became related to the Sultan - this is a very high honor for a courtier. Women were not forbidden to see each other, and the sultana deftly found out from her daughter about everything that was happening in the house of Rustem Pasha, literally collecting the information she needed bit by bit.

During a meeting with her husband, Roxalana secretly informed the Commander of the Faithful about the “terrible conspiracy.” Merciful Allah granted her time to learn about the secret plans of the conspirators and allowed her to warn her adored husband about the danger that threatened him: Rustem Pasha and the sons of Gulbehar planned to take the life of the padishah and take possession of the throne, placing Mustafa on it!

The intriguer knew well where and how to strike - the mythical “conspiracy” was quite plausible: in the East during the time of the sultans, bloody palace coups were the most common thing. In addition, Roxalana cited as an irrefutable argument the true words of Rustem Pasha, Mustafa and other “conspirators” that the daughter of Anastasia and the Sultan heard. Therefore, the seeds of evil fell on fertile soil!

Rustem Pasha was immediately taken into custody, and an investigation began: Pasha was terribly tortured. Perhaps he incriminated himself and others under torture. But even if he was silent, this only confirmed the padishah in the actual existence of a “conspiracy.” After torture, Rustem Pasha was beheaded.

Only Mustafa and his brothers remained - they were an obstacle to the throne of Roxalana’s first-born, red-haired Selim, and for this reason they simply had to die. Constantly instigated by his wife, Suleiman agreed and gave the order to kill his children. The Prophet forbade the shedding of the blood of the padishahs and their heirs, so Mustafa and his brothers were strangled with a green silk twisted cord. Gulbehar went crazy with grief and soon died.

The cruelty and injustice of her son struck Valide Khamse, the mother of Padishah Suleiman, who came from the family of the Crimean khans Giray. At the meeting, she told her son everything she thought about the “conspiracy,” the execution, and her son’s beloved wife Roxalana. By a strange coincidence, Valide Khamse, the Sultan’s mother, lived less than a month after the said conversation...

The Sultana ordered to find in the harem and throughout the country the other sons of Suleiman, whom his wives and concubines gave birth to, and to deprive them all of their lives. As it turned out, the Sultan had about forty sons - all of them, some secretly, some openly, were killed by order of Lisovskaya.

Thus, over forty years of marriage, Roksolana managed the almost impossible. She was proclaimed the first wife, and her son Selim became the heir. But the sacrifices did not stop there. Roksolana's two youngest sons were strangled. Some sources accuse her of involvement in these murders - allegedly this was done in order to strengthen the position of her beloved son Selim. However, reliable data about this tragedy has never been found.

She was no longer able to see her son ascend the throne, becoming Sultan Selim II. He reigned after the death of his father for only eight years - from 1566 to 1574 - and, although the Koran forbids drinking wine, he was a terrible alcoholic. His heart once simply could not withstand the constant excessive libations, and in the memory of the people he remained as Sultan Selim the drunkard.

No one will ever know what the true feelings of the famous Roksolana were. What is it like for a young girl to find herself in slavery, in a foreign country, with a foreign faith imposed on her. Not only not to break, but also to grow into the mistress of the empire, gaining glory throughout Asia and Europe. Trying to erase shame and humiliation from her memory, Roksolana ordered the slave market to be hidden and a mosque, madrasah and almshouse to be erected in its place.

That mosque and hospital in the almshouse building still bear the name of Haseki, as well as the surrounding area of the city. Her name, shrouded in myths and legends, sung by her contemporaries and covered in black glory, remains forever in history.

Roksolana died either in 1558 or 1561. Suleiman I - in 1566. He managed to complete the construction of the majestic Suleymaniye Mosque - one of the largest architectural monuments of the Ottoman Empire - near which Roksolana’s ashes rest in an octagonal stone tomb, next to the also octagonal tomb of the Sultan. This tomb has stood for more than four hundred years.

Inside, under the high dome, Suleiman ordered to carve alabaster rosettes and decorate each of them with a priceless emerald, Roksolana’s favorite gem. When Suleiman died, his tomb was also decorated with emeralds, forgetting that his favorite stone was ruby.

Roksolana - Anastasia Gavrilovna Lisovskaya - Khyurrem. Historical information about Hurrem Sultan or Roksolan

Roksolana or Hurrem Sultan

Hurrem - the official wife of Suleiman

Children of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska

The beginning of an acting career

Interview with Halit Ergench

Unknown birth

Fateful twist

Submission or love?

Against everything and everyone

Continuation of the family line

The role of Roksolana in culture

Historical trace

Pernicious sympathies

Hurrem Sultan: biography, cause of death

Sultan's wife

Children

In works of art

Literature

Movie

Theater

Music

see also

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An excerpt characterizing Roksolan

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Sultan's wife

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