Ayşe Sultan

Ayşe Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: عائشه سلطان‎ ; died 15 May 1605) was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Murad III (reign 1574–1595) and Safiye Sultan, as well as sister of Sultan Mehmed III (reign 1595–1603) of the Ottoman Empire.

Ayşe Sultan was a daughter of Sultan Murad III, and his consort Safiye Sultan. She had three full siblings, two brothers, Sultan Mehmed III, and Şehzade Mahmud, and a sister, Fatma Sultan.

In 1582, Murad betrothed Ayşe to Ibrahim Pasha. However, her grandmother, Nurbanu Sultan was against this marriage, because she wanted her adoptive son, the kapıcıbaşı Mahmud, who when still a child had been given to her by her husband Sultan Selim II, to be married to Ayşe. For this reason, Ibrahim Pasha was appointed Beylerbey (governor-general) of Egypt. After Nurbanu's death in December 1583, Mahmud married the daughter of Şemsi Pasha in December 1584. In this way, he gave up every hope to eventually marry Ayşe, since in order to marry a princess a man had to repudiate his other wives.

The marriage took place in 1586. Her wedding took place at the Old Palace, and was celebrated in a seven-day ceremony. Historian Mustafa Selaniki mentions the preparations, the presents which were given by both parties, the feasts, prepared for the Nakibü'l-esraf and the sadat, for the Şeyhülislam (supreme religious leader), the ulema and for the high-ranking officials. A year into the marriage, Murad dismissed Ibrahim Pasha from his post, because according to the chronicle of Hasan Beyzade, his damat, or bridegroom, status was an obstacle to sailing. Ibrahim served three times as Grand Vizier to Ayşe’s brother Sultan Mehmed III.

Ayşe Sultan was widowed upon Ibrahim Pasha’s death on 10 July 1601. Yemişci Hasan Pasha became the new Grand Vizier. A telhis of Hasan Pasha announced that the Sultan Mehmed promised him the hand of Ayşe in marriage. In accordance to this telhis, historian Mustafa Naima suggests that Yemişci Hasan Pasha and Ayşe Sultan were only engaged. The wedding took place on 5 April 1602. A year after the marriage, Mehmed decided to execute Yemişci. Ayşe dispatched a post to her mother, Safiye Sultan, and her brother, in which she promised that if the Sultan could forgive her husband, they could go to Mecca without any further charge or trouble. However, the Sultan replied to her indicating that she should accompany him in death if she insisted. Yemisci was executed on 18 October 1603. In 1604, she married Güzelce Mahmud Pasha.

Ayşe was infamous for her charity. In her testament, she gave the following instructions for her inheritance: her slaves and slave girls were to be manumitted unconditionally; 10,000 akçes were bequeathed to cover the cash debts of people detained in prison for debts of up to 500 akçes; 2,000 akçes were for the poor, sick and orphans, and the remainder for the poor in the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. A certain amount of money was allocated to pay the ransom for Muslim prisoners of war, with the condition that female captives be freed first.

Ayşe Sultan died on 15 May 1605, and was buried in her brother Mehmed's mausoleum located at Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul.

Ayşe Sultan owned a translation of "The Ascension of Propitious Stars and Sources of Sovereignty" (Matali' us-sa'ade ve menabi' us-siyade).

• Peirce, Leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-195-08677-5.
• Çeliktemel, Başak (2012). A study of the third English ambassador Henry Lello’s report on the Ottoman Empire (1597-1607).
• Mustafa Çağatay Uluçay (2011). Padişahların kadınları ve kızları. Ankara, Ötüken.