"Since the advent of the monarchy, the term harem has inevitably appeared. Whether in the East or in the West, thousands of harem beauties are the norm. "
The Ottoman Empire, once a historical existence that could not be ignored, also experienced a self-destructive court battle. As an Islamic sultan, monogamy is a mandatory rule.
However, there are policies and countermeasures, and although the Sultan cannot break this rule, he has the right to find women to serve him. Thus, although the Sultan himself was not married, his harem had countless concubines.
This is the real marital status of the Ottoman sultans.
Sudan is not born out of a devout faith, but because the reality of inequality between men and women is permeated in its bones. It is almost impossible for them to have a woman share half of their power equally.
The Ottoman Topkapi Palace was built during the time of Mehmed II and has been inhabited by 25 sultans since then, and there has never been a shortage of women in the harem. According to statistics, in 1552, Suleiman the Magnificent had 167 concubines in his harem; Selim II had only 73 men; And Murad III had 150 people.
This is a tradition, and the Ottoman harem has always been full, except that there are very few empress roles, as the sultan is usually not officially married, which makes the women of the harem almost equal to each other.
In the harem of mutual equality, palace fighting is inevitable, and as long as you want to be favored, the competition between women will become extremely fierce. In the case of Suleiman the Magnificent's harem, his favorite concubine Khrem fought fiercely with Gulbahar, the mother of Crown Prince Mustafa.
However, Gulbahar was so domineering that he even accidentally slapped Shrem in the face during the fight. As a result, although Shurem gave birth to the crown prince for Suleiman the Magnificent, he still could not escape the fate of being expelled from the harem.
It can be seen that the harem of the Ottoman Empire was full of endless battles, and although it was not allowed, the difficulty of the palace fights was quite high, and many concubines chose other ways out.
In the harem of the Ottoman Empire, although there was only one real sultan, these women were not entirely in love with him, some of them came from harem schools, some were captives, and some were gifts.
This group of women from different backgrounds valued only the authority of the Sultan. If they could gain the affection of other men, they would no longer take the Sultan's favor so seriously.
In addition, the sultan was said to be very fond of freshness, and once the concubine was served and promoted, but after giving birth or becoming pregnant, she could be abandoned. This ephemeral favor comes and goes like spring.
However, for the Sultan, this did not matter, as his harem personnel could be updated at any time, and it was even rumored that the number of harem concubines reached a maximum of 1,000.
Faced with the uncertainty of the future, the relationship between harem women and eunuchs in the Ottoman Empire became increasingly complex. Although the Sultan tried to manage the harem, they were unable to fully control the situation due to technical limitations and the lack of scientific means of detection.
In this situation, the Sultan decided to look for a new solution. He noticed that it was easier for black eunuchs to stay innocent in the harem, so he decided to bring in black eunuchs to reduce unnecessary trouble.
Overall, the Sultan was a wise man who found a solution to the chaos in his harem through his own insight and innovative thinking.
This idea is not wishful thinking on the part of the Sultan, skin color is a measure of race, and children born to white people are naturally white, but if the concubine of the white ** has an affair with the black eunuch, then the child born will naturally have a black and bright **.
In this way, not only the eunuchs, but also the concubines themselves will be aware. Therefore, the sultan's harem has changed, the white ** concubines live a quiet life, and the black ** eunuchs are busy shuttling in the palace.
The Sultan collected a large number of black slaves from Egypt and Ethiopia, performed surgeries and sent them to the palace to meet the various work needs of the harem.
Black eunuchs were highly favored in the sultan's harem because of their strong bodies and efficient work abilities. Not only are they able to take on the heavy lifting, but they also give the Sultan more peace of mind.
As a result, the ** of black eunuchs became very expensive in Istanbul and only wealthy families could afford it. However, while the Sultan was proud of it, he was not aware of the problems with the system.
In the harem, whether male or female, the relationship is always there. In fact, both black and white eunuchs were male, and the surgeries they received were basically the same, and there was a chance that the operation would fail.
Perhaps there are some differences between black and white eunuchs, that is, if the concubine gives birth to a dark-skinned child, the consequences will be more direct and obvious, and the results are self-evident.
However, this does not affect the Sultan's excessive delegation of authority to black eunuchs, is this self-defeating? As long as he did not give birth to a dark-skinned child, the Sultan would consider his approach a success.
As a result, the Sultan's approach led to the excessive power of some black eunuchs, and they became the objects of the concubines' competition for favor and power. According to historical sources, it was through the Sultan's chief black eunuch who staged a palace coup d'état and succeeded in killing her mother-in-law Koseme and seizing power.
Once, the Ottoman sultan tried to avoid chaos in the harem, but unexpectedly gave the black eunuchs real power, responsible for royal finances, religious affairs, and even interfering in state affairs.
This self-righteous behavior ultimately led to the destabilization of the regime. In fact, the royal families of all dynasties have faced the contradictions and problems of the harem, and no emperor can really handle the harem well.
The Ottoman sultan wanted to do it once and for all, which was clearly unrealistic.