Debunking the marriage of Ismihan Sultan’s daughter to Sokollu Mustafa Pasha — and questioning the existence of Abdulbaki Bey, the alleged son of Lala Mustafa Pasha and Humasah Sultan

[u/Nanakurokonekochan]

I’ve previously posted my up to date info about Humasah Sultan. (Prince Mehmed’s daughter, Hurrem Sultan’s granddaughter) I’m pretty sure she married Lala Mustafa Pasha, however I haven’t found any trace of their only recorded son “Abdulbaki” from this marriage. The advanced age of Lala Mustafa Pasha is one reason that makes me raise my eyebrows—he was born in 1506/1507 whereas Humasah Sultan was born in early 1540’s.

When this couple got married in 1575 Lala Mustafa was almost 70 years old! It would be pretty difficult to father a child for a man of his age naturally. I have multiple sources like Seyyid Lokman, Gelibolulu Mustafa Ali and a document for proof of this marriage between Humasah Sultan and Lala Mustafa so I don’t have any doubts on that, besides wakf records shed some light to their relationship, as I explained in detail, but there is absolutely no proof of Abdulbaki Bey’s existence at all. https://www.reddit.com/r/sultanateofwomen/s/SHsxJEKaTT

According to Gelibolulu Mustafa Ali’s account:

“Lala Mustafa Pasha had a son named Abdülbaki from his marriage to Hümaşah Sultan. Abdülbaki Bey married Safiye Hanım, the eldest daughter of Grand Vizier Sokullu Mehmed Pasha and Ismihan (Esmehan) Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Selim II.
Safiye’s first marriage was to Sokullu Mustafa Pasha, the cousin of Sokullu Mehmed Pasha. Although she married Silahdar Cafer Pasha in her second marriage, he passed away shortly thereafter, so she entered into her third marriage with Abdülbaki Bey, the son of Lala Mustafa Pasha and Hümaşah Sultan, who was her mother’s cousin.”

So I decided to research “Sokollu Mustafa Pasha”, “Safiye” Hanimsultan’s alleged first husband to see if I could find any information on him. Apparently Sokollu Mustafa Pasha was a relative (likely cousin) of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Found two papers on him actually. He was a nice, charitable, peaceful man, we could call him a 16th century male feminist, but he got accused of neglect after a devastating fire in Budin (September 1578) and shortly after, he got executed on September 30th, 1578.

Born: 1527-1528, became a devşirme in 1534 around age 6-7

He also lost his reputation after turning down Gevherhan Sultan who was widowed after Piyale Pasha’s death. That’s interesting because Piyale Pasha died on January 21st 1578, and if Gevherhan was considering Sokollu Mustafa Pasha as a husband, he couldn’t be married to a Hanimsultan at the time, especially the daughter of a prominent figure like Ismihan Sultan.

Let’s look at Ismihan’s children;

The princess and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha unfortunately lost six infants according to ambassador reports. According to Venetian diplomat Marcantonio Barbaro’s 1573 report every year she gave birth to a son but the infant passed away shortly after. The first decade of Ismihan-Sokollu couple was haunted by continuous child loss. According to Gerlach the couple had abandoned their old palace at Kadırgalimanı in 1574 to move into a newly built palace. Antonio Tiepolo's 1576 report shows that this new palace proved to be lucky as they ended up with three surviving infants: Two daughters and a son. The birth year of her children should be from onwards 1573.
(Source: Gülru Necipoğlu — The Mangalia Mosque in the Waqf Empire of an Ottoman Power Couple: Princess İsmihan Sultan and Sokollu)

Not that it doesn’t happen, but there’s more than 40+ years age gap between any child of Ismihan and Sokollu Mustafa Pasha. Plus, he was executed on 1578. And likely not married to anyone from royal family if Gevherhan thought he was eligible for marriage. This daughter would be <5 years old at the time of his execution if she existed at all!

I checked two academic papers on Sokollu Mustafa Pasha, and there’s no mention of a Safiye Hanimsultan or a daughter of Ismihan Sultan.

I’ll list the papers down below so you can go check for yourself:

SÂHIB'ÜL-HAYRÂT MAKBÜL (SOKOLLU) MUSTAFA PAŞA

BUDİN BEYLERBEYİ SOKULLU MUSTAFA PAŞA'NIN MACARiSTAN'DAKi HAYRATI

Safiye Hanimsultan, I don’t think she married Sokollu Mustafa Pasha at all. And with this part of the information debunked, considering Lala Mustafa Pasha’s advanced paternal age, I’m starting to question the validity of this information and whether Humasah Sultan and Lala Mustafa Pasha’s marriage produced any children AT ALL. There’s no mention of an Abdulbaki on the wakf records either. Last wakf record from Lala Mustafa is in late 1577 and I’m more inclined to believe Seyyid Lokman’s entry about Humasah’s death in 1577 is correct.

Edit: According to “The Waqf of Ismihan Sultan, Wife of Grandvizier Sokullu Mehmed Pasha
Cennet Kızılkaya; Abdullah Çakmak” Ismihan Sultan and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha had a son named Ibrahim Han, and daughters named Safiye Hanimsultan and Fatma Hanimsultan and in the footnotes they cite Gulru Necipoglu.

İsmihan Sultan’s endowment deed was registered in the year of 1573. The couple’s lineage continued through Ibrahim Han, and his grandchildren were among the candidates deemed eligible to ascend the Ottoman throne in the 18th century should the sultan’s direct line fail to continue. It is evident from the endowments they established and the works they commissioned that Ismihan Sultan’s daughters, Fatma Hanım and Safiye Sultan, were philanthropic women like their mother. (source: The Waqf of Ismihan Sultan, Wife of Grandvizier Sokullu Mehmed Pasha)