Gevherhan Sultan (daughter of Selim II)

Gevherhan Sultan was born in Manisa in 1544/ 5.[3][4] Her father was Şehzade Selim (future Selim II)

In 1562, strong alliances were made for the daughters of Şehzade Selim, the prince who would succeed Suleiman as Selim II, Ismihan married Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, Gevherhan the admiral Piyale Pasha, and Şah the chief falconer Hasan Agha.[5] The State Treasury covered the expenses for the imperial wedding and granted 10,000 florins as a wedding gift to the imperial son-in-law.[6][7]

After the triple wedding, Mihrimah Sultan, Gevherhan's aunt, pushed assiduously for a naval campaign against Malta, enlisting the help of her son-in-law, the grand vizier Semiz Ali Pasha, and promising to outfit four hundred ships at her own expanse. However, Suleiman and his son Selim prevented the campaign from going forward so that the admiral, Piyale Pasha, might remain in Istanbul with his new wife, Gevherhan Sultan.[8]

In 1575, just after her brother Sultan Murad ascended to the throne her daily stipend consisted of 250 aspers.[9]

The two together had a son, Mustafa Bey, who died in 1593,[10] and three daughters, Ayşe Sultan, Fatma Sultan,[11][7] and Hatice Sultan.[12][13] One of them married Sinanpaşaoğlu Mehmed Pasha in November 1598.[14] Gevherhan was widowed at Piyale Pasha's death in 1578.[11][7]

In 1579,[1] Gevherhan Sultan married Cerrah Mehmed Pasha.[15] When he was promoted from the generalship of the janissaries to the governorship of Rumelia in March 1580, people opined that it was due to the political power of Gevherhan Sultan.[1] In 1583, he presented Handan to then Prince Mehmed (later Mehmed III) on his departure for Manisa.[16]

In 1598, when he was appointed the grand vizier during Mehmed III's reign, Gevherhan became an influential political figure in court circles. This position seems to have enabled her to keep in touch with Mehmed III’s sons and their mothers as well.[17]

Soon after his succession, Mehmed's son by Handan Sultan, Ahmed I wanted to express his gratitude to Mehmed Pasha and Gevherhan Sultan for the role they had played in bringing his parents together. By then, however, Cerrah Mehmed Pasha was old and ailing, and died on 9 January 1604. Ahmed, therefore, honored the late pasha's wife. Venetian bailo Contarini records that "having remembered this [i.e., his mother’s background], he sent the sultana [Gevherhan] a thousand gold coins and a sable robe with many other gifts as a sign of welcome, since she had been the origin of his good fortune and of the greatness in which at present he found himself."[18]

Ahmed also named his firstborn daughter Gevherhan to further mark his great-aunt’s role in his life.[18] Her daily stipend consisted of 350 aspers.[13]

From her properties she constituted a religious and charitable foundation with whose revenues built and maintained a high theological college in the İstanbul neighbourhood of Cağaloğlu.[11]

She is buried in her father Sultan Selim II's mausoleum next to Hagia Sophia Mosque.[11][19]

• Borekçi, Günhan (2010). Factions And Favorites At The Courts Of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predecessors.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Peirce, leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-195-08677-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Mustafa Çağatay Uluçay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara, Ötüken.
• Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.