Emine Gülbahar Mükrime Hatun ("benign", "spring rose" and "hospitable"; died c. 1492) was a concubine of Sultan Mehmed II, and mother of Sultan Bayezid II.

Early life

The Ottoman inscription (vakfiye) describes her as Hātun binti Abdullah (daughter of Abdullah), which means that she was a Christian slave converted to Islam. She was either of Albanian or Greek origin. Ambassadors' reports, for example the Venetian Iacopo de Promontorio-de Campis' notes in 1475 report that Bayezid's mother was an Albanian slave. It is likely that the attribution of a Greek origin arose from the confusion with the homonymous Gülbahar Hatun mother of Selim I, who is believed to have been a Greek slave originally from Pontus. According to Shuteriqi, the mother of Sultan Bayezid II may have been one of the daughters of Gjergj Arianiti and Maria Muzaka, who was captured when Sultan Mehmed II was in the vicinity of Elbasan.

Consort

Gülbahar entered in Mehmed's harem in 1446, when he was still a prince and the governor of Amasya. She had at least two children, a daughter, Gevherhan Hatun, born in 1446, who married Ughurlu Muhammad in 1474, and a son, Şehzade Bayezid (the future Bayezid II), born in 1447 in Demotika. In 1451, after Mehmed's accession to the throne, she followed him to Edirne. According to Ottoman tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors as a part of their training. In 1455 or 1456, Bayezid was appointed the governor of Amasya, and Gülbahar accompanied him, where the two remained until 1481, except for in 1457, when she came to Constantinople, and attended her son's circumcision ceremony. Gülbahar was apparently quite concerned about the future of her son, and related to that, her own properties. In order to secure her properties, she endowed the incomes of certain villages and fields to the Enderun mosque in 1474. Among the endowed properties was the village of Ağılcık, which was turned back into a Timariot village in 1479 during the land reform. In 1468, Mehmed gave the village of Bağluca to Gülbahar. After six years, in 1473, she sold the village to Taceddin Bey, son of Hamza Bali (died 1486), the book keeper of Bayezid's court. In 1478, the village's exemption was abolished and granted back to her probably as a result of the land reform. This order was reissued a year later at the request of Mevlana Şemseddin Ahmed according to which the village was not reverted to her, and she had likely become subject to a legal dispute.

Mother of the Sultan

Per custom, Gülbahar got the highest position in the imperial family after the sultan himself when her son, Bayezid ascended the throne in 1481 until her death in 1492. During her son's reign, she and the rest of the Imperial Family resided at the Old Palace (saray-ı atik) and were visited by the Sultan who on each visit used to pay his respect to his mother. In one case, Gülbahar complained of her son's rare visits and in a letter to her son wrote: ""My fortune, I miss you. Even if you don't miss me, I miss you ... Come and let me see you. My dear lord, if you are going on campaign soon, come once or twice at least so that I may see your fortune-favored face before you go. It's been forty days since I last saw you. My sultan, please forgive my boldness. Who else do I have beside you ... ?"" Gülbahar had a considerable influence over Bayezid, for she used to make evaluations about the situation of some statesmen. Bayezid also valued his mother's words. In a letter written to him, she advises him against Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha, but favours his tutor Ayas Pasha and Hizirbeyoğlu Mehmed Pasha. In 1485, Bayezid endowed a mosque, and a school in Tokat in the memory of Gülbahar Hatun.

Death

Gülbahar Hatun died in 1492, and was buried in Fatih Mosque, Istanbul. The tomb was damaged in the 1766 Istanbul earthquake, and was rebuilt in 1767–1768.

Issue

By Mehmed II, Gülbahar Hatun had at least a daughter, followed by a son:

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