The Imperial Harem : Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

The rise to power of the imperial harem is one of the most dramatic developments in the history of the Ottoman empire. From the beginning of the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent in 1520 until the mid-17th century, high-ranking women of the Ottoman dynasty enjoyed a degree of political power greater than ever before or after. Leslie Peirce challenges the notion that the gender segregation of traditional Islamic society precluded women from playing anything more than a subordinate role within the household. In part one, Peirce examines the dynasty’s reproduction policies and argues that the decisions about reproduction and the training or princes was tied to an ideology of power. Part two, examines the sources of women’s direct and indirect political power. Peirce discusses how women participated in diplomacy, negotiating treaties and corresponding with figures such as Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medicis. Of equal importance, was women’s participation in what Peirce terms ‘the public culture of sovereignty’ by which is meant royal ceremonies and the patronage of artists. This book reinterprets definitions of sovereignty and political action to show the centrality of women. It makes an important contribution to the study both of the history of Turkey in the 16th and 17th centuries and to the study of women and politics.