Hürrem's Ring

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Who is Hürrem?

We in the west know her as Roxelana. Remember my post a while back about her? She's the Sultan's wife with an amazing story - a real life Scheherezade.

Kidnapped by the Tatars and sold into the Ottoman harem, Aleksandra Lisowska fell in love with the Sultan, changed her religion, and changed her name to Hürrem.  (Roxelana means 'the Ruthenian/Russian'.) Suleiman the Magnificent legally married her, deposing his first son in favor of Hürrem's child. The scenario caused quite a stir.

With the rise of Otto-mania and the TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century), Hürrem has found a new following. The storyline about the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent is the equivalent of the The Tudors for Turkey.

Even if some think portraying Ottoman court rivalry is unbecoming, there's great stuff coming out of this show, especially the jewelry. Example: Hürrem's ring. Lots and lots of girls are wishing for that one. (I'm one of them.) Don't like green? They have a purple one too. You can probably find one in every color, if you try hard. Wow rings are in this year. ;)

The series story behind the ring is interesting, even if I'm not sure how much of it is historically accurate. Hürrem's ring is symbolic of her status.

Suleiman was in the process of making the ring himself before he was decreed as the Sultan. His first Haseki Sultan ('commonlaw wife') assumed he was making it for her. Then Suleiman is called to Topkapi Palace to fulfill his birthright. Aleksandra is brought to the harem, and she hatches a plan to become the favorite. (Not hard, since she was beautiful and smart.) The first wife, Mahidevran, arrives with the Sultan's first born son. She thinks she's the favorite, but it's already clear Aleksandra is taking the lead. Guess who gets the ring.

Mahidevran is furious and manipulates some girls into stealing the ring from Aleksandra - now officially named "Hürrem" (my joy) by the Sultan. In the power struggle, Hürrem gets tossed in a dungeon and beaten to a pulp, but Mahidevran is banished in the end.

 Meryem Uzerli plays Hürrem. Uzerli is half Turkish, half German. Her hair is not naturally red, but it looks good on her, don't you think?

She co-stars with Halit Ergenç, a popular star from the other TV series Binbir Gece. I should write something about him one of these days. He really deserves his own post.


Here's a trailer clip for you.:

Cercis Siliquastrum aka Erguvan, or in other words...Redbud Tree

via sinanbaslas.com

The other day, Anonymous stopped by and left a comment on my post about Boğaziçi University. (For newcomers, BU is the setting for my novel.) Anonymous pined for the lovely campus of his/her alma mater and reminded me of how beautiful the erguvan trees are in the spring. Of course, I'm a sucker for flowering anything, and Istanbul in bloom is just breathtaking. How could I not mention it in my writing someplace? (It's in chapter two of Burnt Amber, btw.)

So what is an erguvan tree? Cercis siliquastrum, aka the redbud tree. The Bosphorus strait is dotted with redbuds for a few weeks in late April/early May. Some areas, Bebek included, have pockets of the trees like the one in the picture. It's no wonder that Roxelana's favorite color was erguvan mauve. There was nothing the Ottomans didn't have in that color.

Here in the Carolinas, we have its cousin, native cercis canadensis, blanketing our hillsides. Dainty blooms, ornamental seed pods and pretty heart shaped leaves make an attractive tree, so redbuds are popular in gardens of the southeast and all the way up into southern New England. When my grandmother passed away I planted a dwarf weeping variety called "Covey" at my old house in New Haven. I also have several of the burgundy leaved "Forest Pansy" variety in my new backyard. Currently, I'm coveting a new variety borne of "Forest Pansy" and "Covey", "Ruby Falls", which both weeps AND has beautiful burgundy foliage. I just need to find that sweet spot for it.

Fun note:

Green twigs have been used in southern Appalachia to season venison for years, so the tree is also known as spicewood up in the mountains. Native Americans ate the buds raw or boiled and roasted the seeds. I haven't tried any of these recipes, but some buds might look pretty on top of a salad...

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Roxelana

Image via WikipediaAs part of the Notable Eastern Women series this month, we've done a mythical woman, Scheherazade and we've done a modern woman, Tansu Çiller. Today we'll move along to a historical figure Hürrem Sultan, more commonly known as Roxelana. Cool name, don't you think?

Her story is a complex tale of tragedy and triumph. Neé Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, she was the Ukranian wife of  Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent and an influential woman. There are no known official portraits of her, but there is plenty of documentation of her beauty and power.

Born into an educated family, the daughter of an orthodox priest, her early life was disrupted when the Tatars captured her in one of their raids and sold her off as a slave. Her beauty eventually landed her in the sultan's harem in Istanbul, which was a mixed blessing, especially when the jealous favorite wife had her beaten when the sultan started visiting too often.

But the sultan was angered and sent the favorite wife away with her son, the heir apparent. Roxelana took top position in the Harem. Amazingly, she managed to have the Sultan free her and then even married him, legitimizing her own son as the next heir in the process. Their love story has inspired artists and composers all over Europe.


via un.org


I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention Queen Noor of Jordan here. She's a modern equavalent of Roxelana in my eyes, a brilliant foreigner in the king's bedroom and an influential women who actively promotes world understanding of the Middle East and many other worthy causes. 


Here's some more classical music for you, since many enjoyed the clip last week. Haydn's Symphony No. 63 "La Roxelane" presented by Philharmonia Hungarica