(OTTOMAN) WOMEN’S HISTORY MEME | 5 harem servants: Meleki Hatun Meleki was originally a member

(OTTOMAN) WOMEN’S HISTORY MEME | 5 harem servants: Meleki Hatun Meleki was originally a member of Kösem Sultan’s suite. […] When, however, Turhan began to assert what she saw as her rightful authority, Kösem reportedly planned to depose the young sultan and replace him with another prince, whose mother she believed more tractable. At this point Meleki deserted Kösem and betrayed her plans to Turhan, thus enabling the latter to eliminate her mother-in-law (Kösem was murdered in a palace coup led by Turhan’s chief black eunuch). Meleki became the new valide sultan’s loyal and favored retainer. She was eventually manumitted and married to Şaban Khalife, a former page in the palace training school. The couple established residence in Istanbul, where, as a team, they were ideally suited to act as channels of information and intercessors on behalf of individuals with petitions for the palace. Şaban received male petitioners, Meleki female petitioners; Şaban exploited contacts he had formed while serving within the palace, while Meleki exploited her relationship with Turhan Sultan. The political influence of the couple grew to such a point that they lost their lives in 1656 when troops stationed in Istanbul rebelled against alleged abuses in government. — Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovreignty in the Ottoman Empire -- source link

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