Atike Sultan (daughter of Ahmed I)

Burnaz Atike Sultan (عاتکه سلطان, "proof" and "the free one" or "the generous one"; c. 1614-1616?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - c. 1674, Constantinople) was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Ahmed I.

Birth
Burnaz Atike Sultan was born in Constantinople, in the Topkapi Palace, probably between 1614 and 1616. Her father was the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I.

The identity of her mother is controversial, due to the inaccuracy of her date of birth: she could be a daughter of Kösem Sultan and maybe the twin of Şehzade Kasim or one of her other children, or be born of an unknown concubine.

Life
After the death of her father in 1617, she resided in the Old Palace with her sisters and half-sisters, her mother and the other concubine mothers of children of the late sultan. She would have stayed there until her first marriage if she was the daughter of a concubine, or until the ascent of her brother Murad IV in 1623, if she was the daughter of Kösem.

In 1633, she married Musahıp Cafer Pasha (died 1647). Upon the death of her husband, she was married to Koca Kenan Pasha in 1648   By 1639, during the reign of her brother sultan Murad IV, her stipend was 330 aspers a day. After he in turn died in 1652, she was married to Doğancı Yusuf Pasha that same year. He died in 1670. In 1683, she commissioned a fountain (çeşme) between Salacak and Doğancılar.

It is unknown if she had children by these marriages, however she was the "spiritual mother" of the future Mihnea III of Wallachia and she cared for him while he stayed at Constantinople as an adoptive son.

Turhan Sultan, first Haseki Sultan of Ibrahim I, and the mother of Mehmed IV, who had been a gift from Atike to Valide Kösem Sultan, had been trained by Atike herself. She was called Turhan's and Mehmed IV's “governess” and she cared for them as if she was her mother and his grandmother.

Death
Atike Sultan died in 1674 circa. She is buried in his brother Sultan Ibrahim's mausoleum, in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople.

In popular culture
In the Turkish TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, Atike Sultan is portrayed by Turkish actress Ece Çeşmioğlu. She is represented here as the youngest daughter of Ahmed I and Kösem Sultan and twin of Ibrahim I.