Hurrem sultan: Roxelana

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. 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 (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. History of Hurrem Sultan Hurrem Sultan, also known as Roxelana, was Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent's chief consort and wife. She rose to become one of Ottoman history's most important and influential women, as well as a popular and divisive figure during the Sultanate of Women. Hurrem Sultan was born in Ruthenia, which was then part of the Polish Crown. She was born in the Ruthenian Voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, in what is now Ukraine, specifically in the town of ...