The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher

The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher PDF Author: Douglas Scott Brookes
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292783353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
In the Western imagination, the Middle Eastern harem was a place of sex, debauchery, slavery, miscegenation, power, riches, and sheer abandon. But for the women and children who actually inhabited this realm of the imperial palace, the reality was vastly different. In this collection of translated memoirs, three women who lived in the Ottoman imperial harem in Istanbul between 1876 and 1924 offer a fascinating glimpse "behind the veil" into the lives of Muslim palace women of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The memoirists are Filizten, concubine to Sultan Murad V; Princess Ayse, daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid II; and Safiye, a schoolteacher who instructed the grandchildren and harem ladies of Sultan Mehmed V. Their recollections of the Ottoman harem reveal the rigid protocol and hierarchy that governed the lives of the imperial family and concubines, as well as the hundreds of slave women and black eunuchs in service to them. The memoirists show that, far from being a place of debauchery, the harem was a family home in which polite and refined behavior prevailed. Douglas Brookes explains the social structure of the nineteenth-century Ottoman palace harem in his introduction. These three memoirs, written across a half century and by women of differing social classes, offer a fuller and richer portrait of the Ottoman imperial harem than has ever before been available in English.

The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher

The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher PDF Author: Douglas Scott Brookes
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292783353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book

Book Description
In the Western imagination, the Middle Eastern harem was a place of sex, debauchery, slavery, miscegenation, power, riches, and sheer abandon. But for the women and children who actually inhabited this realm of the imperial palace, the reality was vastly different. In this collection of translated memoirs, three women who lived in the Ottoman imperial harem in Istanbul between 1876 and 1924 offer a fascinating glimpse "behind the veil" into the lives of Muslim palace women of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The memoirists are Filizten, concubine to Sultan Murad V; Princess Ayse, daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid II; and Safiye, a schoolteacher who instructed the grandchildren and harem ladies of Sultan Mehmed V. Their recollections of the Ottoman harem reveal the rigid protocol and hierarchy that governed the lives of the imperial family and concubines, as well as the hundreds of slave women and black eunuchs in service to them. The memoirists show that, far from being a place of debauchery, the harem was a family home in which polite and refined behavior prevailed. Douglas Brookes explains the social structure of the nineteenth-century Ottoman palace harem in his introduction. These three memoirs, written across a half century and by women of differing social classes, offer a fuller and richer portrait of the Ottoman imperial harem than has ever before been available in English.

The Sultan's Harem

The Sultan's Harem PDF Author: Colin Falconer
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
ISBN: 9781400083121
Category : Harems
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
From the author of the critically acclaimed When We Were Gods comes a dramatic, unforgettable novel of cruelty and passion, set in the great Harem of the Ottoman Empire. In Constantinople there is only one ruler: Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, Lord of Lords of this World, Possessor of Men's Necks, Allah's Deputy, absolute ruler of the mighty Ottoman Empire. And at the heart of his palace is the Sultan's vast Harem, the domain of hundreds of scented, pampered women--some wives, some concubines, some merely slaves. Among them is Gulbehar, the Sultan's submissive favorite and mother of his heir; Julia, the daughter of an Italian lord, kidnapped when she attempted to flee Venice with her lover; and Hurrem, a Tartar girl from the Russian steppes, sold into slavery. All three women are beautiful, but Hurrem is the most dangerous--ruthless in her desire to rule the Harem and, ultimately, Suleyman himself. Endlessly manipulative and clever, she carefully arranges the downfall of her rivals and endears herself to the Sultan, who places her at the center of the Empire's power. It is his obsession with Hurrem--not his enemies--that in the end costs Suleyman his allies, his sons, and finally his dynasty. Bestselling author Colin Falconer offers an irresistible glimpse into a world of intrigue, sensuality, and violence, where an empire can be controlled not by the might of its king but by the women hidden behind the Harem walls.

The Imperial Harem

The Imperial Harem PDF Author: Leslie P. Peirce
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195086775
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
The unprecedented political power of the Ottoman imperial harem in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is widely viewed as illegitimate and corrupting. This book examines the sources of royal women's power and assesses the reactions of contemporaries, which ranged from loyal devotion to armed opposition. By examining political action in the context of household networks, Leslie Peirce demonstrates that female power was a logical, indeed an intended, consequence of political structures. Royal women were custodians of sovereign power, training their sons in its use and exercising it directly as regents when necessary. Furthermore, they played central roles in the public culture of sovereignty--royal ceremonial, monumental building, and patronage of artistic production. The Imperial Harem argues that the exercise of political power was tied to definitions of sexuality. Within the dynasty, the hierarchy of female power, like the hierarchy of male power, reflected the broader society's control for social control of the sexually active.

The Sultan's Harem

The Sultan's Harem PDF Author: Colin Falconer
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 9780609610305
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
From the author of the critically acclaimedWhen We Were Godscomes a dramatic, unforgettable novel of cruelty and passion, set in the great Harem of the Ottoman Empire. In Constantinople there is only one ruler: Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, Lord of Lords of this World, Possessor of Men’s Necks, Allah’s Deputy, absolute ruler of the mighty Ottoman Empire. And at the heart of his palace is the Sultan’s vast Harem, the domain of hundreds of scented, pampered women—some wives, some concubines, some merely slaves. Among them is Gülbehar, the Sultan’s submissive favorite and mother of his heir; Julia, the daughter of an Italian lord, kidnapped when she attempted to flee Venice with her lover; and Hürrem, a Tartar girl from the Russian steppes, sold into slavery. All three women are beautiful, but Hürrem is the most dangerous—ruthless in her desire to rule the Harem and, ultimately, Süleyman himself. Endlessly manipulative and clever, she carefully arranges the downfall of her rivals and endears herself to the Sultan, who places her at the center of the Empire’s power. It is his obsession with Hürrem—not his enemies—that in the end costs Süleyman his allies, his sons, and finally his dynasty. Bestselling author Colin Falconer offers an irresistible glimpse into a world of intrigue, sensuality, and violence, where an empire can be controlled not by the might of its king but by the women hidden behind the Harem walls.

When We Were Gods

When We Were Gods PDF Author: Colin Falconer
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
ISBN: 0609808893
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
Re-creates the life and loves of the storied queen as she ascends the throne of Egypt, embarks on passionate love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and struggles with the intrigues of the Roman Empire.

Some Girls

Some Girls PDF Author: Jillian Lauren
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0452296315
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince's harem, and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser At eighteen, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The "casting director" told her that a rich businessman in Singapore would pay pretty American girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Borneo, where she would spend the next eighteen months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, youngest brother of the Sultan of Brunei, leaving behind her gritty East Village apartment for a palace with rugs laced with gold and trading her band of artist friends for a coterie of backstabbing beauties. More than just a sexy read set in an exotic land, Some Girls is also the story of how a rebellious teen found herself-and the courage to meet her birth mother and eventually adopt a baby boy.

The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem

The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem PDF Author: Jane Hathaway
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107108292
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
A study of the chief of the African eunuchs who guarded the sultan's harem in Istanbul under the Ottoman Empire.

Empress of the East

Empress of the East PDF Author: Leslie Peirce
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465093094
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
The "fascinating . . . lively" story of the Russian slave girl Roxelana, who rose from concubine to become the only queen of the Ottoman empire (New York Times). In Empress of the East, historian Leslie Peirce tells the remarkable story of a Christian slave girl, Roxelana, who was abducted by slave traders from her Ruthenian homeland and brought to the harem of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in Istanbul. Suleyman became besotted with her and foreswore all other concubines. Then, in an unprecedented step, he freed her and married her. The bold and canny Roxelana soon became a shrewd diplomat and philanthropist, who helped Suleyman keep pace with a changing world in which women, from Isabella of Hungary to Catherine de Medici, increasingly held the reins of power. Until now Roxelana has been seen as a seductress who brought ruin to the empire, but in Empress of the East, Peirce reveals the true history of an elusive figure who transformed the Ottoman harem into an institution of imperial rule.

Life after the Harem

Life after the Harem PDF Author: Betül İpşirli Argit
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108488366
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
The first study exploring the lives of female slaves of the Ottoman imperial court, drawing from hitherto unexplored primary sources

The Sultan's Wife

The Sultan's Wife PDF Author: Jane Johnson
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
ISBN: 0385670001
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
Page-turning mystery, grandly seductive romance and full historical immersion into Moroccan court history, this exquisitely depicted and intensely absorbing novel follows in the bestselling tradition of The Tenth Gift and The Salt Road. 1677, Morocco. Behind the magnificent walls and towering arches of the Palace of Meknes, captive chieftain's son and now a lowly scribe, Nus Nus is framed for murder. As he attempts to evade punishment for the bloody crime, Nus Nus finds himself trapped in a vicious plot, caught between the three most powerful figures in the court: the cruel and arbitrary sultan, Moulay Ismail, one of the most tyrannical rulers in history; his monstrous wife Zidana, famed for her use of poison and black magic; and the conniving Grand Vizier. Meanwhile, a young Englishwoman named Alys Swann has been taken prisoner by Barbary corsairs and brought to the court. She faces a simple choice: renounce her faith and join the Sultan's harem; or die. As they battle for survival, Alys and Nus Nus find themselves thrust into an unlikely alliance--an alliance that will become a deep and moving relationship in which these two outsiders will find sustenance and courage in the most perilous of circumstances. From the danger and majesty of Meknes to the stinking streets of London and the decadent court of Charles II, The Sultan's Wife brings to life some of the most remarkable characters of history through a captivating tale of intrigue, loyalty and desire.