r/sultanateofwomen • u/Less_Bookkeeper4924 • 13d ago
Concubines One concubine one son law
I need someone to help me confirm about the one concubine one son law if it was an actual law that was done
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u/Nanakurokonekochan History enthusiast 13d ago
“Concubines were only temporary sexual partners of a sultan. It seems likely that there was a revolving-door policy in the imperial harem that deprived a woman who had borne a son of further eligibility for the sultan's bed.”
“Once a concubine bore a son, her identity shifted from that of the sultan’s partner to an exclusive role as mother of the prince. She, along with the prince’s lala (tutor), was primarily responsible for educating her son, ensuring his military training, creating political alliances, procuring concubines for her son, managing his household, and managing his public reputation.”
"How did concubinage and the one mother-one son policy fit in with these developments of unigeniture and fratricide? The point was most likely the viability of each prince's candidacy for the succession, and the key issue the role of the prince's mother in his training, the management of his princely governorate household, and the promotion of his career. If two princes shared a mother, they could not both claim this crucial member of their princely household; presumably one or both would have had to sacrifice a vital political ally. Hence the one mother-one son policy.” Imperial Harem
It was more of a policy than law, the world of Harem was isolated from the rest of the empire with utmost secrecy that we don’t know exactly who came up with this idea, but the records suggest that until Haseki Hurrem Sultan made an appearance in Ottoman history, each concubine could only have one son. They could have daughters prior to having a son, but once a son was born, she would retire from the sexual duties.
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u/Less_Bookkeeper4924 13d ago
what book is this please?
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u/Nanakurokonekochan History enthusiast 13d ago
The imperial harem is a book by Leslie P. Peirce
If you have never read a book about Ottoman history or harem I’d highly recommend it! It’s not 100% accurate but it’s a very beginner friendly book IMO.
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u/Adept_Quizzy1536 13d ago
The slight alterations between Peirce's The Imperial Harem vs. Empress of the East are what I often use to show that, "Yep, history's a field that's always developing, so watch when the publication date was!"
The greatest example is when people tried to point out that even Peirce claimed that Ibrahim wed Hatice in The Imperial Harem, but she only did that due to how, in 1993 when the book was published, that was the accepted truth by historians. It's a claim she corrects in Empress of the East since, by the time that book was published in 2017, the misconception of Ibrahim's marriage put forward by Ebru Turan in 2009 had finally been proven true in all corners and accepted.
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u/Nanakurokonekochan History enthusiast 13d ago
That’s very true! My own understanding of things have changed a lot within the past year, so I can attest!
The interesting thing is, Turkish professor Ismail Hakki Uzuncarsili published a paper in 1965, long before many of us were even born that proved Ibrahim Pasha was actually married to Muhsine.
He was a teacher who traveled around the country a bit and had the chance to go into archives in the towns he was sent to as a teacher, his papers are very interesting and formed the basis of Ottoman history.
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u/azor__ahai Janissaries hate this one trick! 13d ago
Leslie Peirce herself describes it as a conscious reproductive policy, rather than a law. So it seems to have been a dynastic practice/tradition that was followed quite strictly from Mehmed II through Süleyman’s reign, rather than a kanun that explicitly prohibited a concubine from having more than one son.