19. Kosem sultan was a Bosnian slave who became one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history
Kosem Sultan was a Greek-born slave who became a concubine of sultan Ahmed I. Named “Mahpeyker” or “moon-face” for her beauty; she was also called “kosem” because of her smooth complexion. She so charmed the sultan that by the time she was just 15, she had risen to become Ahmed’s chief consort. Kosem gave birth to four sons and three daughters, which gave her an advantage over Ahmed’s other wives. However, she was also a canny manipulator who became a political force in the seventeenth-century Ottoman court. After Ahmed’s death, Kosem acted as regent to her sons Murad IV and Ibrahim I and later her grandson Mehmed IV. After a forty-year career in politics, Mehmed’s mother assassinated her.