The Kadin - Bertrice Small [120]
The kadins had agreed on one thing—never again would they accompany their lord on campaign. They had missed Constantinople, they had missed Firousi and Sarina, but most of all, they had missed the children. With the death of three of Selim’s sons, the family became more important to them than ever before.
For a time, the sultan’s mood was as of old The treasury building, begun in the time of Selim’s grandfather, Mohammed the Conqueror, had been completed to the sultan’s satisfaction. It was ready to receive the vast treasure he had brought with him from Persia. The gold was put in huge iron coffers, which were then placed in a vault beneath the treasury. The jewels and other booty were placed in the main rooms. The silver was dispersed among the various palace treasuries for the payment of accounts. A register was made, listing everything brought back, and finally the door of the treasury was sealed with the imperial seal of Selim I.
Selim said on that day, “I have filled the treasury with gold. If any of my successors fills it with copper, let the treasury be sealed with his seal If not, let them continue to seal it with my seal.”
The sultan now turned his mind to other matters, the first of which was his eldest son. Suleiman, Gulbehar, and their court were being sent to Magnesia, where the prince would govern the province for his father. It was to be a test of the heir and his abilities.
Prince Mohammed would go to Erzurum in the same capacity. Prince Murad, Cyra’s third son, who was now sixteen, and Sarina’s thirteen-year-old son, Bajazet, were sent to a distant army barracks for further training.
Of the sultan’s living sons, there were but three left in Constantinople. Prince Karim, the baby, would remain with his mother; but Firousi’s Hassan and Zuleika’s Nureddin, aged eleven and ten, were removed from the harem and given their own households.
The kadins were not happy at this last of the sultan’s orders. They did not trust the morals of the younger eunuchs, and both princes were fresh-faced children. Spies from the harem were quickly introduced into the boys’ quarters so their mothers might be kept fully informed and be able to protect their sons should the need arise.
The sultan’s next move was in the direction of his daughters. Hale and Guzel were now sixteen and practically past marriageable age. However, in this area Selim was pliable. The girls would marry, but not a foreigner, and the choice would be theirs.
Selim, ever indulgent toward his twin daughters, allowed them, heavily veiled and concealed behind a viewing screen, to see the selection of prospective husbands. Half a dozen were picked from the chosen list, and the others dismissed. The twins were then informed in detail of each man’s qualifications. Finally the sultan announced that his daughters would marry the eighteen-and nineteen-year-old sons of Pasha Ismet ben Orman, a valued servant and soldier of the Ottoman Empire.
The marriages were celebrated almost immediately. Pasha Ismet had grown rich in the service of the Ottoman government, and in his delight at having as daughters-in-law not just one princess but two, he provided his sons with adjoining white marble palaces overlooking the Bosporus.
Each palace—of one hundred rooms—was set in a garden filled to overflowing with flowering shrubs and trees of every known kind. There were simulated streams, ponds, and tiled pools. The mother of the bridegrooms obtained an audience with Firousi Kadin so she might learn the decorative preferences of the princesses. They must be happy.
At the marriage ceremony, Hale and Guzel were represented by the aging agha kislar, who took their vows for them. The wedding feast, which was held in a hall of the Yeni Serai, lasted three days. It was here that the sons of Pasha Ismet first met their brides.
After the feasting ended the first night, the two girls quietly left the hall with the other women of the harem. Only the kadins and the brides’ personal slaves