Muhtesem Yuzyil Imagines ♡

Mahidevran's Truth

With the guests, I learned astonishing new things: Mahidevran would have actually been the mother of three of Suleiman's children and his favorite before the arrival of Hurrem. It's funny, I thought that due to the fratricide law, the rule was that a concubine of the sultan could only have one son; and that Suleiman broke the rule by having more than one son with Hurrem.

Have our guests discovered evidence that this rule had already been broken before under the fratricide law? Or how did they demonstrate that Mahidevran had been the favorite for a time while having the lowest salary among the concubines? The continuation to clarify these surprisingly grotesque points more precisely will be in the next episode (or not), like this alleged physical fight between Hurrem and Mahidevran that never actually happened. Or Mahidevran's alleged repeated crying fits when we have no proof of that (even though justified given the stressful positions of the concubines, generally these women were chosen for their intelligence and ability to keep their composure among other things).

Let's move on to the more serious points: I was expecting the classic but false explanation that Hurrem influenced Suleiman to eliminate Ibrahim. In real life, even if Hurrem and Ibrahim dislike each other, Ibrahim was not executed for that. Moreover, it's strange, the guests of this emission say that Suleiman is not manipulable (which is totally true) and then contradict themselves. We know that Hurrem was his adviser, but she wasn't the sultan.

The most shocking (or funniest to adopt depending on your point of view): a guest explains that some rumors say that Hurrem was Ibrahim's mistress before she was introduced to Suleiman and that she tried to eliminate Ibrahim so that this part of the episode would be forgotten. The guest may claim that it's subject to caution, but it's mostly nonsense (euphemism)

I understand better now why some people dismiss Hurrem and Ibrahim if they've seen this mediocre show.

Finally, Mustafa's execution, I don't need to tell you anything, I imagine you would have guessed on your own which way the explanations of his execution go. I admit to having had false hope when they were finally explaining the laws of fratricide (finally a truth explained that it's not the mothers' fault if the Sultan's sons are enemies) and when a guest was explaining how he wondered how Suleiman could be manipulated to this extent (I thought the guest was going to break the grotesque stereotype that Hurrem had Mustafa assassinated and it's entirely her fault, yes, I had a completely stupid false hope). But in the end, no, false hope not more than that especially when the show says that Suleiman has a strong morality (oh really, the guy mistreats the mother of his son Mustafa and condemns her to poverty even though even his father Selim Yavuz, a man of terrible temperament, left BulBul Hatun, the mother of his half-brother enemy Sehzade Ahmed, alone, which demonstrates unnecessary cruelty on Suleiman's part; Suleiman refuses to give the necessary support to his son Mustafa to defend the province out of fear of his popularity and therefore is ready to sacrifice a part of his people because of it, we don't have the same conception of morality).

Finally, Sehzade Mehmed, son of Sehzade Mustafa, is renamed Sehzade Murad when the show talks about him ( new inaccury) and his assassination. It feels like Suleiman acted on a whim and the show doesn't explain that the rule in Ottoman Empire is that when a sehzade is executed by his father the Sultan, all his sons perish with him. Or maybe our guests were completely unaware of this, which wouldn't surprise me.

Finally, Bayezid's fate is barely mentioned and as usual, the black legend of Selim II is once again briefly mentioned by saying that he was a mediocre leader compared to his father (which is false, I think Selim II was more competent than his father and I say this while also liking historical Sehzade Mustafa). So, in summary, in this show, Hurrem is still in her black legend, even though she did charity and tried to alleviate the fate of the slaves (I'm not saying she's a saint, but nobody was if we had to take her position she was mostly the scapegoat of a system change just like Anne Boleyn was in England to avoid blaming the real leaders), but a man like Tallien who pillages, massacres, betrays for better interests and fills his pockets, a very bloody weathervane is seen as heroic (some will argue that this comparison is anachronistic given that Tallien started in the French revolution but that's the conclusion I draw from these shows). Wow, what magnificent morality.

Other people seeking much more accurate references have gone to read the comic book "Ils ont fait fait l'histoire Soliman le magnifique." I've read it and I'm critical (although the mistakes are less serious). Already in this collection, there are good volumes like Elizabeth I's, but others in which I disagree. There is also a big problem: the comic starts with Mustafa's assassination, which means that many important elements are left out (that's the problem some people have the right to a trilogy in this comic like Napoleon to my despair, while others only have one volume which is insufficient to understand how the character got there). It is made clear that it's Suleiman who is behind the execution even if Hurrem approves and is even relieved by Mustafa's death (natural given the law of fratricide), it's not she who had the upper hand in the execution. However, historical inconsistencies arise: first the story takes up the false legend of Cihangir who dies of grief for Mustafa when in reality they were not close at all ( maybe they didn't meet each other). Selim II is seen as incompetent and Sehzade Bayezid as more competent (still false). We see a somewhat ruthless Hurrem but not enough of her gentle side (and the comic implies that Mahi, although absent-minded, is arrogant, the black legend about these women is tenacious and frustrating). Mustafa only makes two pages of appearances, Mihrimah is absent, Cihangir doesn't appear, only Bayezid makes the most appearances.

A detail that the comic seems to forget: the stranglers are deaf-mutes, so they couldn't argue about the execution of the youngest son of Bayezid (I know it's to accentuate the horror but we must try to remain consistent in history plus it was already horrific to know that a child was going to be executed because of his father's rebellion).

In short, I understand better now why I encounter some people convinced they hold the truth if they've only seen this show or rely solely on this comic.