Hurrem sultan: Roxelana (born c

Roxelana (born c. 1505, Rohatyn, Poland [now in Ukraine]—died April 1558, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]) was a Slavic woman who was forced into concubinage and later became the wife of the Ottoman sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. Hürrem Sultan occupies an interesting place in Ottoman history, as Suleiman broke tradition by marrying a slave and is one of only two sultans to ever officially take a wife. Hürrem Sultan appeared in Topkapi Palace as a slave, but in a very short time she became one the most influential women of the Ottoman Empire. The name Hürrem was given her by the Sultan Suleiman I, and means “the cheerful one”- but in the eyes of many of her rivals she was the most dangerous weapon in Constantinople’s armory. Roxelana, Slavic woman who was forced into concubinage and later became the wife of the Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Through her influence on the sultan and her mastery of palace intrigue, she wielded considerable power, anticipating the ‘Sultanate of the Women’ of later generations.