ota, عدیلہ سلطان
, house = Ottoman
, house-type = Dynasty
, father =
Mahmud II
Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839.
His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...
, mother = Zernigâr Kadın
, birth_date = 23 May 1826
, birth_place =
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
, burial_place =
Eyüp
Eyüp () or Eyüpsultan is a district of the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The district extends from the Golden Horn all the way to the shore of the Black Sea. Eyüp is also the name of a prominent neighborhood and former village in the district, l ...
, Istanbul
, religion =
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disag ...
Adile Sultan ( ota, عدیله سلطان; "''Justice''" or "''fairness''"; 23 May 1826 – 12 February 1899) was an Ottoman princess, a female Diwan poet, and a
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
. She was the daughter of
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...
Mahmud II
Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839.
His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...
and half-sister of the Sultans
Abdulmejid I
Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...
and
Abdulaziz
Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was overthrown in a government coup. He was a ...
.
Early life
Adile Sultan was born on 23 May 1826. Her father was Sultan
Mahmud II
Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839.
His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...
, and her mother was the Fourth Consort Zernigâr Kadın. After her mother's death in 1830, when she was four years old, she was entrusted to the care of her father's First Consort, Nevfidan Kadın.
Adile's was educated at the palace. She took lessons of Quran, Arabic, Persian, music and calligraphy. She took her calligraphy lessons with Ebubekir Mümtaz Efendi, the most famous calligrapher of the era. With the education she received, combined with her sensitive personality, she went on to write poems, becoming the only princess to do so.
After her father's death in 1839, when she was thirteen years old, her elder half-brother, the new sultan
Abdulmejid I
Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...
, took her under his guardianship.
Marriage
In 1845, her brother Sultan Abdulmejid arranged her marriage to Damat
Pasha
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignita ...
, who had been serving as an advisor in the imperial arsenal. Born in
Hemşin
Hemşin (Armenian: Համշէն ''Hamshen'' or Համամաշէն ''Hamamashen'', literally "Hamam's Hamlet"; Laz and Georgian: ზუგა ''Zuga''), is a town and district of Rize Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 57 km from t ...
, he was the son of Hacı Ömer Agha, the chief agha of
Galata
Galata is the former name of the Karaköy neighbourhood in Istanbul, which is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn. The district is connected to the historic Fatih district by several bridges that cross the Golden Horn, most nota ...
. He came to Istanbul at a very young age, where he spent his childhood in the Enderun.
The preparations for the marriage began on 24 March 1845, and the marriage contract was concluded on 27 April in the apartment of the sacred relics,
Topkapı Palace
The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio, is a large museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the compl ...
. After the ceremony was performed, the trousseau was brought to the Darüssaade Ağa from where it was taken through the Tophane Street to Çırağan Palace. The wedding celebrations were delayed until next summer. The wedding took place on 7 June 1845, and lasted a whole week. On the last day of the celebrations, Adile was taken to Neşatabad Palace located in Defterdarburnu. This palace once belonged to Hatice Sultan, daughter of Sultan
Mustafa III
Mustafa III (; ''Muṣṭafā-yi sālis''; 28 January 1717 – 21 January 1774) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774. He was a son of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30), and his consort Mihrişah Kadın. He was succeeded by hi ...
.
After the marriage, Mehmet Ali Pasha became commander of the fleet, and served on this position for five times, and afterwards served a short while as Grand Vizier to her brother, Sultan Abdulmejid. The two together had four children, one son Sultanzade Ismail Bey, and three daughters, Hayriye Hanımsultan, Sıdıka Hanımsultan, and Aliye Hanımsultan. He died in 1868 during the reign of her younger half-brother, Sultan
Abdulaziz
Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was overthrown in a government coup. He was a ...
. Their only surviving daughter, Hayriye was born in 1846, who died in 1869, a year after her father.
In 1861 her half-brother
Abdülaziz
Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was overthrown in a government coup. He was a ...
, with whom she was not on good terms, ascended the throne. To reconcile with him he introduced him to Edadil Hanim, a lady whom Abdülaziz took as his consort. Adile wrote several components to celebrate their son,
Şehzade Mahmud Celaleddin
Şehzade Mahmud Celaleddin ( ota, شهزادہ محمود جلال لدین; 16 November 1862 – 1 September 1888) was an Ottoman prince, the second son of Sultan Abdulaziz and his third wife Edadil Kadın.
Early life
Şehzade Mahmud Celaleddin ...
.
Religion
Adile Sultan was a religious woman. In about 1845, she became a follower of Sheikh Shumnulu Ali Efendi, and became a member of the
Naqshbandi
The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نهقشهبهندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...
Sufi order. She held meetings of sheikhs and dervishes in the Neşetabad Palace, which also served as a sort of application bureau for poor people who would make their needs known to the princess.
Charities
Adile Sultan had a summerhouse in Validebağ and a palace in Kandilli, the Adile Sultan Palace, both in the
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
n part of Istanbul. She left her palace in Kandilli following the death of her husband and moved to the Coastal Palace in Fındıklı. She donated the Adile Sultan Palace to the state on the condition that it be converted into the first secondary high school for girls in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
. Her wish was fulfilled only in 1916 (due to wars), when the Young Turk activist, statesman, and educator Ahmed Rıza opened the ''Adile Sultan İnas Mekteb-i Sultanisi'' ("Adile Sultan Imperial Girls School"), today known as
Kandilli Anatolian High School for Girls
Kandilli Anatolian High School for Girls ( tr, Kandilli Kız Anadolu Lisesi) is a secondary educational institution located in the Kandilli neighborhood of Üsküdar district in Istanbul, Turkey. Known traditionally as ''Kandilli Kız Lisesi'', ...
, although it became not the first, but the second secondary school for girls in the empire. The high school moved to a new building in 1969, and the Adile Sultan Palace burned down in 1986 due to an electrical short-circuit. It was reopened in 2006 as the
Sakıp Sabancı
Sakıp Sabancı (7 April 1933 – 10 April 2004) was a Turkish business tycoon and philanthropist.
Biography
He was the second son of a cotton trader and worked in his father's business without completing high school. He was the head of Turkey' ...
Kandilli Education and Culture Center.
Poetry
Adile Sultan was a poetess. She followed the divan tradition, writing nazires to Fuzuli, Muhibbî, and Şeyh Gâlib, but she is not outstanding in either feeling or technique. Her life lasted long enough for her to have become a modern poet, but she was faithful to the classic tradition which was still strong, particularly in the palace. She was, however, less successful poet than her contemporaries Leyla Hanım, Fitnat Hanım and Leyla Gülefşan Hanim.
Her poetry, ''Adile Sultan's Divan'', was published in 1996.
Death
Adile Sultan died on 12 February 1899 at the age of seventy-three, the last surviving child of Mahmud. She was interred in the mausoleum of her husband in
Eyüp
Eyüp () or Eyüpsultan is a district of the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The district extends from the Golden Horn all the way to the shore of the Black Sea. Eyüp is also the name of a prominent neighborhood and former village in the district, l ...
, Istanbul.
Personality
Adile Sultan was a poetess and a scholarly, cultivated, and pious woman renowned for her benevolence, good works, and charity. She penned beautiful elegies to her husband when he died. Those in her service and in close relations with her always spoke with pleasure of her and her polite manners. She was also in the habit of smoking the water pipe.
She always dressed in a completely Turkish fashion gown of heavy fabrics with four flounces, shoes of chamois leather, shawl tied as a sash around her waist, the so-called salta wide-sleeved jacket over this ensemble, on her head something like a fez wrapped in a silk headkerchief pinked along the edges, and onto which she had fastened exquisite brooches of emeralds and rubies in the shape of roses, a larger one in the center flanked by two smaller ones. Other than these she wore no jewels or decorations.
Kandilli Anatolian High School for Girls
Kandilli Anatolian High School for Girls ( tr, Kandilli Kız Anadolu Lisesi) is a secondary educational institution located in the Kandilli neighborhood of Üsküdar district in Istanbul, Turkey. Known traditionally as ''Kandilli Kız Lisesi'', ...
*
List of Ottoman princesses ''Sultan'' (Ottoman Turkish:سلطان) and ''Hatun'' ( Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠲᠤᠨ хатан; Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰍𐰣, romanized: ''katun''; Ottoman Turkish: خاتون, romanized: ''hatun'' or قادین romanized: ''kadın''; Persian: خاتو ...