the

Imperial Harem wielded considerable political power in Ottoman affairs

Empress of the east

 Suleyman, by contrast, was a more frequent visitor, at least in the very first years of his reign. No
doubt he sought the counsel of his mother Hafsa, whom he had come to rely on during the years of
his princely apprenticeship

(All palace women of status received a daily stipend and a separate “kitchen” budget.

o children were born to Suleyman with any other concubine during his entire reign. If he slept with
any during his long absences from Istanbul or during Roxelana’s pregnancies, care was taken that no
child issued from these encounters. Five children with one concubine in seven years and none with
any other was a revolutionary break with tradition. An Ottoman sultan had become monogamous

Roxelana’s Istanbul foundation was the first of the philanthropic efforts that would punctuate the
rest of her career. By the time of her death, major charitable institutions existed in her name in the
holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem and in the Ottoman capitals of Istanbul and Adrianople,
while smaller endowments were scattered across the empire in regional capitals and towns. [1] Works
she built or supported financially included hostels for wayfarers, pilgrims, and religious devotees, as
well as additional mosques and soup kitchens. Roxelana also attended to the second face of
Ottoman piety, the mystical, by building sufi lodges and mosques for revered spiritual leaders. [2] But
her 

 Roxelana’s mosque complex would recognize—and respect—an intentional act of piety. At the same
time, both subjects and foreign observers of the sultanate understood that her foundation was a
display of power