154 | A Princess Constructs Ottoman Dynastic Identity
among his administrators. Women’s education included womanly arts, and at
least some women learned to read and write. Mihrimah’s letters to Süleyman
preserved in the Topkapı archives provide evidence for her literacy.
During the course of the fifteenth century, princesses of the imperial family
had ceased marrying rulers of neighboring Muslim states and instead married
members of the Ottoman slave elite. Süleyman arranged marriages for several of
Selim I’s daughters, his sisters, to his grand viziers. Thus, Mihrimah was typical
of princesses who were her aunts or great aunts in that she married a powerful
Ottoman official. But her importance was not confined to her role of wife. Also,
since Süleyman only had one daughter, her status during Süleyman’s reign was
greater than that of Süleyman’s sisters.
Mihrimah, Hurrem, and Rüstem
Mihrimah’s future husband, Rüstem Pasha, did not emerge from an elite back-
ground. Before he was recruited from the levy of boys made periodically among
Christian peasants of the Balkans, Rüstem was a Bosnian Croat swineherd from
a village near Sarajevo. His younger brother Sinan was also brought into the pal-
ace as a page for training. Men who had received a palace education held a mo-
nopoly of military and administrative offices under Süleyman. During his reign
nearly all of these recruits came from humble backgrounds and were officially
considered slaves of the sultan.
Süleyman believed Rüstem would make an ideal son-in-law and decided to
marry Mihrimah to him, although Hurrem wished her to marry the more hand-
some governor of Cairo. This example illustrates that if Hurrem and Süleyman
differed regarding choosing individuals for key positions, Süleyman selected the
individual that he preferred. This provides evidence that while Süleyman was
undoubtedly swayed by the influence of his favorites, if their advice differed from
what he had decided, it would not cause him to alter his own decision. Süley-
man married Mihrimah to Rüstem in 1539 at the time of her younger brothers’
circumcision ceremonies.
Mihrimah was approximately seventeen years old when she married Rüstem,
who was probably at least twenty years older. Rüstem greatly benefited from Mih-
rimah and Hurrem’s influence with Süleyman. However, while Mihrimah vis-
ited her parents in the palace whenever she wished, Rüstem’s access was more
restricted, and he did not enjoy the same level of intimacy with Süleyman that
Ibrahim had earlier. Nevertheless, Ogier de Busbecq, the Hapsburg ambassador,
stated in 1555 that of “all the Pashas Roostem enjoyed most influence and author-
ity with the sultan.” Rüstem and Mihrimah had two children, a son, Osman,
and a daughter, Humashah. Their daughter married an official chosen for her
by Mihrimah, Ahmed, who became grand vizier in 1579. Humashah’s daughter,