The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire
The unprecedented political power of the Ottoman imperial harem in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is widely viewed as illegitimate and corrupting. This book examines the sources of royal women's power and assesses the reactions of contemporaries, which ranged from loyal devotion to armed opposition. By examining political action in the context of household networks, Leslie Peirce demonstrates that female power was a logical, indeed an intended, consequence of political structures....
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The unprecented political power of the Ottoman imperial harem in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is widely viewed as illegitimate and corrupting. This book examines the sources of royal women's power and assesses the reactions of contemporaries, which ranged from loyal devotion to armed opposition. By examining political action in the context of household networks, Peirce demonstrates that female power was a logical, indeed an intended, consequence of political structures. Royal women were custodians of sovereign power, training their sons in its use and exercising it directly as regents when necessary. Furthermore, they played central roles in the public culture of sovereignty—royal ceremonial, monumental building, and patronage of artistic production. The Imperial Harem argues that the exercise of political power was tied to definitions of sexuality. Within the dynasty, the hierarchy of female power, like the hierarchy of male power, reflected the broader society's concern for social control of the sexually active.
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsGlossary of Essential TermsNotes on Transliteration and TranslationList of IllustrationsMap of the Ottomans in Anatolia and Rumelia after Their Defeat by Timur (Tamerlane) in 1402Map of the Ottoman Empire and Its Vassals during the Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566)Introduction: Myths and Realities of the Harem3Pt. 1The Politics of Reproduction1The House of Osman152Wives and Concubines: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries283The Age of the Favorite: 1520-1566574The Age of the Queen Mother: 1566-1656915The Imperial Harem Institution113Pt. IIWomen and Sovereign Power6Shifting Images of Ottoman Sovereignty1537The Display of Sovereign Prerogative1868The Politics of Diplomacy2199The Exercise of Political Power229Conclusion: Women, Sovereignty, and Society267Appendix: Genealogical Charts287Notes289Bibliography345Index363
