royal slaves ın ottoman palace
ottomans - a multinational empıre
The Ottoman Empire is commonly known as an empire run by a Turkish Dynasty. It could have been started in this way by a Turkish nomad tribe, but many things have changed throughout the history.
Those were the days when the ''Nationalism'' hasn't been noticed and wasn't an actor of Social or political environments yet. There wasn't disciplines like History & Anthropology, & the humanity wouldn't be able to meet ''Nationalism'' untill the french Riot in 1789.
There used to be Empires like Romans, Persians, Ottomans etc. They were the biggest actors and the other smaller ones had to be ruled by the bigger ones by pay tax to them to be survived and protected. Just like the times of Christian Roman Empire and the Catholic states during the dark middle ages, the main cement between the people which form the societies was the religion. Ä°n order to be a member of the society you had to believe in the religion of that society.
Second Ottoman Sultan ''Orhan Bey'' who got married with 3 Greek women.
Ottomans were just like that. You had to be a Muslim to have an effective or even a small role in the layers of the empire, the rest, like nation, race, sex, lenguage etc. weren't important.
The first steps of the Ottoman empire were held by a Turkish Nomadic tribe, but as the time pass they started to mix with the people from different nations who were eager to live as Ottoman by accepting Ä°slam as their religions.
The significant part of these nations were mainly the Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians, Russians and other people especially from the Orthodox parts of European continent. The very first encounters resulted with alliance with some small Byzantion feudal landlords. Some of them changed their religions, and became high graded statesmen or generals in the layers of the small empire. The first Orthodox Byzaintine feudal landlord who joined the Ottomans was the land lord of ''Harmankaya'' Mihal the Corner.
Video - Hot Concubines in Ottoman Harem
During hundreds of years, the Dynasty and Empire enlargened by the efforts of these multinational court in the palace and people in the cities.
The main reasons which leaded to that multinational governance were the marriages with converted Christian women and the concept of slavery.
Since the wery beginning of the state, the leaders were tend to marry Christian women who used to be converted into Ä°slam. Only the wife of Osman who was the first tribal leader was a Turkish origined woman. Osman was the founder of the Dynasty (possibly he couldn't even imagine that) & that Dynasty were started to be known with his name.
We can say that, only ''Orhan Bey'', who was the son of Osman was a real Turkish origined Sultan during the whole history of the dynasty. This is told, considering that he and his successors all got married with converted Christian women from Orthodox nations who would give birth to the sultans of the future.
The second Sultan Orhan, started this tradition and got married with 3 greek women whose names were Halofira, Asporce & Theodora.
Halofira gave birth to the third Sultan of Ottomans, who would also get marry with two Bulgarian women Tamar & Marya. The story went on like that and there never been any other Turkish origined Sultan's wife in the palace.
Ottoman Sultans could have many concubines or female slaves who he possessed. All the women were from other nations. Whenever a women gives birth to the first son of the Sultan she would gain a great power in the ''harem'' & would lead it as the most powerfull woman of the empire. Of course, in order to be freed from slavery in the Harem, to change her title and to be First lady, changing the religion to Ä°slam was the primary necessity. The race or the nation wasn't important.
Sokullu Mehmet Pasha (Above) was a Serbian. He converted, educated and became one of the highest grade Ottomans. He became the Admiral of Ottoman navy and the Governor of Trachian Province.
After the invasion of Constantinople in 1453, requisition of sons of Christian families become a common application of Ottomans in order to provide soldiers for Ottoman army. These requisited and later converted boys would also have the chance to become high grade statesmen in the future of their service.
The more this system was in progress the more these converted ex-orthodox men started to control many important elements of the empire. They became Vezir(Prime minister), Generals, Governors, Admirals, Architects or even high grade priests of Ä°slam.
Such that, the ''Vezir'' who were in charege during the siege of Constantinople became the last Turkish origined Vezir of Ottomans. All his successors would be converted Greeks, Serbians or Russians and the state would never have a Turkish high grade statesman.
Speaking of the invasion of Constantinople, it is necessary to add that, Sultan Mehmet the 2nd, after the invasion of Constantinople, announced himself as the ''Emperor of Rome & the conservator of all the Orthodx nations''. One more information to be added is that during the siege of Constantinople the Ottomans have 10.000 serbian soldiers in their army.
Hürrem Sultan; c. 1502 – 1558, often called Roxelana (Russian), was brought to palace as a slave as the present of Ottoman pirates to the Sultan after being captured. later, she became the chief consort and legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. After his death she controlled the palace and his son ''Selim'' ruled the Empire under her shade.
Hayreddin Barbarossa or Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa, also Hızır Reis. He was a pirate before being promoted to the rank of Pasha and becoming the Kapudan Pasha which means Ottoman admiral. He was born in 1466 in the village Palaiokipos on Lesbos island as the son of a converted Albanian from Giannitsa , and an Orthodox Christian Greek woman, named Katerina, from Lesbos. His mother was a widow of a Greek Orthodoxpriest.
Some historians describesbes Ottoman Empire not as a Turkish Empire but an Empire of two nations which are Greeks and Turks. Thousands of Ottoman statesmen with Greek origins can be given as examples to this allegation. Besides what happened to the members of the royal family of Constantinopolis is another strong example.
Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos died without producing an heir, and had Constantinople not fallen to the Ottomans he likely would have been succeeded by the sons of his deceased elder brother. Those children were taken into the palace service of Mehmed after the fall of Constantinople. The oldest boy, renamed Has Murad, became a personal favorite of Mehmed and served as beylerbeyi (State Governor) of the Balkans. The younger son, renamed Mesih Pasha, became admiral of the Ottoman fleet and sanjak-bey of the Gallipoli. He eventually served twice as Grand Vizier (Primeminister) under Mehmed's son, Bayezid II. Mesih Pasha whose origin is Bysantine Royal family sieged the Ä°sland Rhodes in 1480 as the Ottoman Grand Admiral.
Ottoman Grand Admiral Mesih Pasha who was a royal member of Palaiolohos Dynasty of Bysantium before the fall of Constantinople (The younger son of the elder brother of Bysantium Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos) is in the siege of Rhodes
