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The great Suleimaniye Mosque in Istanbul on the grounds of which both Suleiman and Roxolana are buried. From a 19th century engraving. (Illustration from Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries). Finally, during a great expedition against Persia which he led in person, Ibrahim took the title of “sultan” to impress local Kurdish tribesman among whom the title had a different meaning from the one in Istanbul. No doubt helped along by a whispering campaign led by Roxolana, Suleiman became convinced that Ibrahim was conspiring against him. We shall never know Suleiman’s secret thoughts at having to choose between his old friend and his lover, but in the spring of 1536, the Sultan ordered Ibrahim to be strangled in his sleep. Roxolana thereafter became more influential than ever. The Ukrainian woman’s triumph became public when in about 1541 the interior of the Old Palace, which had housed the Sultan's harem, was gutted by a serious fire; she created a precedent by moving into the Sultan’s own residence, the Grand Seraglio itself, where the bus iness of government was carried on. Here she took her possessions and large retinue, which included a hundred ladies-in-waiting and her purveyor, who had thirty slaves of his own. By tradition, no woman had been permitted to sleep in the Grand Seraglio before. But Roxolana remained there for the rest of her life and eventually grand new harem quarters were constructed there. Tur kish historians consider this event a milestone on the path to the “reign of the favored women." But Roxolana was not content to share Suleiman’s bed, house, and rule; she soon wished to be acknowl edged not only as his favorite concubine, but also his legal wife. No Ottoman sultan had actually married any of his concubines for several generations, but Roxolana knew that Suleiman was sufficiently powerful to ignore this tradition if he so chose. She had already become a Moslem and had been doling out large sums of money to the mosques and religious leadership, thus getting its support. All Istanbul, and indeed, much of the Empire, gasped in disbelief when the wedding took place quietly before a judge of the law to whom Suleiman promised: "This woman I set free from slavery and make her a wife. All that belongs to her shall be her property.” A great week- long wedding celebration with feasts, processions, and much luxury and display followed. Gifts were sent to Roxolana from all over the Empire and European ob servers were greatly impressed. One of the clerks at the Genoese Bank of St. George wrote: “There is great talk all over this country about this marriage and no one can understand exactly what it means.” From the perspective of later events, however, the wedding’s meaning was quite clear; Roxolana was now a power to be reckoned with in the Ottoman Empire. Her power may even have extended beyond internal politics. Thus Ukrainian and Polish historians think that by this time, Roxolana was even influencing Ottoman 18 ’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ", ЖОВТЕНЬ 1995 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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