Filizten Hanımefendi
| Filizten Hanım | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Naime Filiz Çabalar-Çaabalurhva c. 1865 Pitsunda, Abkhazia, Russian Empire |
| Died |
c. 1945 (aged 80–81) Istanbul, Turkey |
| Burial | Yahya Efendi cemetery |
| House | House of Çaabalurhva |
| Father | Şahin Çaabalurhva |
| Mother | Adilhan Loo |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Filizten Hanım (c. 1865–1945; birth name Princess Naime Filiz Çabalar-Çaabalurhva) was a princess at the Ottoman court.
Early years
Filizten Hanım was born in 1865 in Pitsunda, Abkhazia, to an Abkhazian princely family, Çaabalurhva. Born as Naime Çaabalurhva, she was the daughter of Prince Şahin Bey Çaabalurhva and his Abkhazian wife Princess Adilhan Hanım Loo.[1][2] Through her father she was also related to Peyveste Hanım, ninth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, whose mother Hesna was a relative of her father.[2]
Naime came to Istanbul at a very young age. She was presented at the age of fourteen or fifteen to the entourage of Prince Şehzade Mehmed Murad shortly before his accession to the throne, which occurred 30 May 1876. She was a gift to the palace from her mistress at the time, a lady formerly in palace service herself in Murad's entourage, but who had left the palace and married one Tayyar Pasha.[3]
She was given the rank of Acemi (damsel), and was given the name Filizten (meaning "Tendril bodied"). Sometime later she went into palace training and was promoted to the rank of Şagird (novice). After Murad's deposition, she went into palace service and was promoted to the rank of Kalfa (apprentice).
She was interested in playing piano and oud. She was medium-tall, had hazel eyes and long chestnut coloured hair, and was incomparably beautiful. Filizten spent twenty eight years confined in the Çırağan Palace along with her husband, Sultan Murad V, and the other members Murad's entourage.[2]
After Murad's death in 1904, she moved to Bursa, where she was living in the palace of Princess Fatma Sultan. After the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate by the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey in 1924, Fatma Sultan went into exile in Nice, France. Filizten returned to Istanbul and settled in Erenköy.[2]
Memoirs
In her seventies, Filizten also wrote memoirs, which constituted the majority of the biography of Murad compiled by the journalist and avocational historian Ziya Șakir under the title Çırağan Sarayında 28 sene beşinci Murad'ın hayatı (Turkish for "Twenty-Eight Years in the Çırağan Palace:The Life of Murad V"). She was in excellent health, in complete command of her faculties, and aware of what Ziya Șakir called her responsibility to history in retelling the events she witnessed in Çırağan Palace. The memoir is an oral history by one who witnessed the events of many years earlier. In fact Filizten stated in her memoirs that she did not keep a diary.[3]
Death
Filizten died in around 1945 at Erenköy, and was buried in the royal Mausoleum of Yahya Efendi, Istanbul.[2][3]
Depictions in literature and popular culture
Ziya Șakir's idiosyncrasies notwithstanding, the authenticity of the memoir itself has never been in doubt. Immediately after publication it formed a primary source for the articles on Murad V published by the eminent historian İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, who directly identified the memoir's author as Filizten Hanım, Gözde of Murad V. Today it continues to form a primary source for the life of this Sultan in particular, and for life in the lat Ottoman palace harem in general.[3]
In the 2012 Movie The Sultan's Women Filizten is portrayed by a Turkish Actress Deniz Aylan.[4]
References
- ↑ Günay Günaydın (2006). Haremin son gülleri. Mevsimsiz Yayınları. ISBN 978-9944-987-03-5.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Harun Açba (2007). Kadın efendiler: 1839–1924. Profil. ISBN 978-975-996-109-1.
- 1 2 3 4 The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem. University of Texas Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-292-78335-5.
- ↑ "Cast of the 2012 movie "The Sultan's Women"". Retrieved 4 October 2014.