Isom-Verhaaren|153succession—Mustafa or one of Hurrem’s sons—would not be resolved for an-
other twenty years.
In 1534 dramatic changes occurred in the harem, which ultimately had far-
reaching consequences. Hafsa died in March. Süleyman married Hurrem, who
moved with her children into Topkapı Palace, the sultan’s residence, from the Old
Palace, where the harem was located, before Süleyman left on campaign against
the Safavids in June 1534. Mihrimah’s status was enhanced by these events: her
mother’s rival Mahidevran was no longer residing in the same palace, her mother
was now clearly the highest-ranking woman in the empire with the death of
Hafsa, and her mother now had the status of a legal wife, not merely concubine,
of the sultan.
Hurrem no longer had a female rival in the palace, but her influence with the
sultan was challenged by his principal male favorite, Ibrahim Pasha, the enor-
mously powerful grand vizier. Rivalry existed among Süleyman’s male favorites,
for when their future prosperity totally depended on the sultan’s favor, preserv-
ing this was worth any effort. Süleyman had elevated Ibrahim to the office of
grand vizier in 1523, promoting him directly from his position in the inner-palace
service to the highest rank in the bureaucracy over more senior men. His favor-
ing of Ibrahim upset tradition and was as unpopular as his elevation of Hurrem.
Ibrahim was accused of overweening ambition, and Süleyman had him ex-
ecuted in 1536. Hurrem may have contributed to Ibrahim’s fall from favor. In a
letter that she sent to Süleyman early in his reign, Hurrem wrote that she would
tell him when they were together again why she was angry with Ibrahim. In the
same letter Hurrem expressed the love she and her children felt for Süleyman,
and she indicated their subservience to him when she wrote that they “send you
many greetings and rub their faces in the dust at your feet.”
Ottoman Princesses’ Training in the Harem
Mihrimah grew up in the harem with her mother and her brothers, who except
for the hunchback Cihangir, eventually served as provincial governors, which
was part of their training as possible rulers. As a daughter her future role dif-
fered from theirs; Süleyman would marry her to one of his male favorites, and
the time she spent in the harem prepared her to function as a link between the
sultan and one of his most powerful administrators. Women in the harem were
not limited to the sexual partners of the sultan. In addition to the sultan’s family
and female servants, many female slaves trained there to become suitable wives
for the male, palace-educated slave administrators. Mihrimah probably received
an education with other young women in the palace who eventually married men
of the administrative elite. But she would have known from observing the mar-
riages of her aunts that Süleyman would marry her to a man of the highest rank