Strongilah (died 1548) was a Jewish Ottoman businesswoman. She was the influential favorite and ''

Kira Kira may refer to: People * Kira clan, a Japanese clan, descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) * Kira (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Kira Chikazane (1563–1588), Japanese retainer * Kira (German singer) (Janine ...

'' of

Hafsa Sultan Ayşe Hafsa Sultan (; 1478/1479 - 19 March 1534), was a concubine of Selim I and the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. She was the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and, during the period between her son's enthronement in 1520 until ...

,Minna Rozen: A History of the Jewish Community in Istanbul, The Formative Years, 1453 – 1566 (2002) pp. 204-205 and possibly of

Hürrem Sultan Hürrem Sultan (; , "''the joyful one''"; 1505– 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana (), was the chief consort, the first Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and the mothe ...

Biography

Strongilah was the daughter of the Karaite Jew Eliyah Gibor from

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. She is the first kira in the

Imperial Harem The Imperial Harem () of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the concubines, wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (serag ...

of which there is any information. She become a ''kira'' by presenting the

goods In economics, goods are anything that is good, usually in the sense that it provides welfare or utility to someone. Alan V. Deardorff, 2006. ''Terms Of Trade: Glossary of International Economics'', World Scientific. Online version: Deardorffs ...

of her

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

husband to the harem women. As a ''kira'', she acted as a go-between and provided

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, a tax on products not considered essential, such as speedboats or diamonds. **Luxury tax (sports), a ...

items, medicine and letters. Because of her services, Strongilah became the favoured kira of

. She was possibly the same kira who cured an eye illness of an unidentified sultan's mother and was greatly awarded for this.

Abraham Danon Abraham Danon (; 15 August 1857 – 22 April 1925) was a Turkish rabbi, Hebraist, writer, and poet. Biography Abraham Danon was born into a rabbinical family in Adrianople, Turkey, in 1857. He attended the Talmud Torah in that city, pursuing his ...

, “The Karaites in European Turkey,”The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series 15, no. 3(1925): 323-324 When Hafsa Sultan became mother of the sultan in 1520, she successfully asked her son to grant the descendants of Strongilah the right to freedom from any

tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

es and the right to own

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

s, a permit that was renewed five times until 1867. Strongilah is known to have had a room in the harem, because it is noted that the fire of the harem in 1541 caused her personal material losses. Due to the fact that they were several kiras working in the Imperial Harem in parallel, and that they are seldom documented by name (the different kiras are normally referred to only as kira, kyra, or Kyra Jewess), it is difficult to identify individual kiras and separate them from each other. In 1532, Hafsa Sultan sent a kira to act as a messenger to the Venetian ambassador Pietro Zen, and while the personal name of the kira isn't mentioned, it was likely Strongilah. As she is mentioned to have a room in the harem in 1541 and Hafsa died in 1534, Strongilah appears to have continued her career in the harem after Hafsa's death. She may have been the same unidentified ''kira'' who is noted to have performed secretarial tasks for

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

programs and has been mentioned in connection to Mihrimah Sultan, although

Esther Handali Esther Handali (died 18 or 19 December 1588Pedani, Maria Pia. “Safiye's Household and Venetian Diplomacy”. Turcica 32 (2000). ) was a Jewish Ottoman businesswoman. She was the influential favorite and ''Kira'' (business agent) of Nurbanu S ...

could also have been this kira. Her later career may overlap somewhat with the early career of Esther Handali. Strongilah

converted to Islam Reversion to Islam, also known within Islam as reversion, is adopting Islam as a religion or faith. Conversion requires a formal statement of the '' shahādah'', the credo of Islam, whereby the prospective convert must state that "there is none w ...

under the name Fatma shortly before her death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strongilah 15th-century births 1548 deaths 16th-century businesspeople from the Ottoman Empire 16th-century women from the Ottoman Empire 16th-century businesswomen 16th-century Sephardi Jews Converts to Islam from Judaism Ottoman imperial harem Karaite Jews Jewish women in business Courtiers from the Ottoman Empire 16th-century Jews from the Ottoman Empire Year of birth uncertain