Zübeyde Sultan

Zübeyde Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: زبیدہ سلطان; "soft-bodied" or "prime"; 28 March 1728 – 4 June 1756) was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Ahmed III (reign 1703 – 1730) and his consort Musli Kadın. She was the half-sister of Sultans Mustafa III (reign 1757 – 1774) and Abdul Hamid I (reign 1774 – 1789) of the Ottoman Empire.

Zübeyde Sultan was born on 28^[2] or 29 March^[3] 1728. Her father was Sultan Ahmed III,^[4][5] and her mother was Emine Musli Kadın (called also Muslıhe, Muslu or Musalli).^[6] She had a full elder sister named Ayşe Sultan.^[7]

Her father having been dethroned in 1730, she grew up at the Old Palace but was able to live in comfort,^[2] as he had had the farmstead of Dilsiz Mehmed Ağa, situated near Edirne, and thus its incomes, allocated to her.^[4][2]

Her cousin Mahmud I had a yalı, or waterfront manse, built for her at the precincts of Eyüp^[4] in around August 1747.^[5]

On 6 January 1748, during Mahmud's reign, Zübeyde was married firstly to Süleyman Pasha,^[5][8] Beylerbey (governor – general) of Anatolia and Vizier, who, though, died soon after, some six months into the marriage.^[9] Thus, she was married secondly, within the year, on 6 January 1749, to Numan Pasha,^[5][10] kapıcılar kethüdası, or head of the Imperial Palace Guards, Sanjak-Bey (provincial governor) of Thessaloniki and Kavala, and Vizier.^[4][9] Her husband would go on to serve in various other provincial posts, while Zübeyde continued to live at her house in Edirne.^[9]

She had no known children.

Turkish historian Mustafa Çağatay Uluçay describes the princess as a "philanthropist, protector of the poor, who read day and night".^[4]

Zübeyde Sultan died of natural causes at the age of twenty-eight,^[9] on 4 June^[5] 1756.^[11] She was entombed in the Imperial Ladies Mausoleum, located at Yeni Mosque, Istanbul.^[4][5][9]

• Sakaoğlu, Necdet (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak Yayıncılık. p. 303. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
• Târîh-i Râşid ve Zeyli (Râşid Mehmed Efendi ve Çelebizâde İsmaîl Âsım Efendi) (1071-1141/1660-1729) Cilt I-III. 2013. ISBN 978-6-055-24512-2.
• Haskan, Mehmed Nermi (2008). Eyüp Sultan tarihi – Volume 1. Eyüp Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları. ISBN 978-9-756-08704-6.
• Uluçay, Mustafa Çağatay (1985). Padışahların kadınları ve kızları. Türk Tarihi Kurumu Yayınları. p. 220.
• Şemʼdânî-zâde Fındıklılı, Süleyman Efendi (1976). Aktepe, M. Münir (ed.). Şemʼdânî-zâde Fındıklılı Süleyman Efendi târihi Mürʼiʼt-tevârih-Volume 1. Edebiyat Fakültesi Matbaası.