Isom-Verhaaren|163an overwhelming illuminated summit, like a Mount Sinai that is a place of
descent for flashes of light.***By the final years of Süleyman’s reign, Mihrimah was recognized as an extremely
wealthy widow; this wealth gave her power that continued after her father’s death.
Koçi Bey, an Ottoman author of the seventeenth century, criticized Süleyman for
having given so many state lands to Mihrimah that they would have provided
funds for a minor king. Mihrimah used her wealth to construct mosques in her
name and also that of her husband, which contributed to visually transforming
Istanbul into an Ottoman city. But she also hoped to use her assets to fund a
naval expedition against Malta. In 1562 she offered to equip four hundred ships
at her own expense to promote the campaign. That Mihrimah’s offer could be
considered a serious one suggests that she possessed great wealth. While no naval
campaign in 1562 was the recipient of her largess, Mihrimah proceeded to com-
mission Rüstem’s mosque and her own at Edirnekapı.
Figure 11.4 Dome of Mihrimah Mosque at Edirnekapı. (Photograph by Christine Isom-
Ve r h a a r e n .)