Quick Facts
Biography
Aynışah Hatun was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Bayezid II (reign 1481–1512) and sister of Sultan Selim I (reign 1512–1520) of the Ottoman Empire.
Life
Aynışah Hatun was born in Amasya, during her father's princedom. Her mother was his consort Şirin Hatun. She had one full-sibling, Şehzade Abdullah (d. 1483).
In 1489 or 1490, Aynışah was married to Göde Ahmed Bey (d. 1498), son of Shahzada Damad Muhammad Mirza Pasha Ugurlu of the Ağ Qoyunlu and her aunt Gevherhan Hatun and thus her own cousin. Göde Ahmed later took part in the fight for the Ağ Qoyunlu throne and was eventually murdered after a brief rule over the Ağ Qoyunlu lands.
She was still alive and on good terms with her brother Selim when he deposed their father in 1512, as evident in a letter she wrote him to congratulate him on his ascension.
In around 1506, she built a mekteb (meaning elementary school) in Alemdar vicinity of Fatih, Istanbul, close to where Hacı Beşir Ağa Külliye (meaning Complex) was later erected. In this school she bequeathed her property.Her grave was also situated there, while a certain Aynışah Sultan that lies buried in the same tomb as her mother Şirin and brother Abdullah, in Bursa, is her niece of the same name, Abdullah's daughter.
Issue
With Göde Ahmed, Aynışah had three children:
- A daughter, married to Yahyapaşazade Malkoçoğlu Balı Bey;
- Another daughter, married to Şehzade Alaeddin (Ali), son of Şehzade Ahmet, himself one of Aynışah's half-siblings.
- A son, reportedly born the same day Göde Ahmed captured the Ağ Qoyunlu throne.