Gülbahar Hatun (mother of Bayezid II)

Emine Gülbahar Mükrime Hatun (گل بھار مکرمه خاتون; "benign", "spring rose" and "hospitable"; died c. 1492) was a concubine of Sultan Mehmed II, and mother of Sultan Bayezid II.

Early life
The Ottoman inscription (vakfiye) describes her as Hātun binti Abdullah (Daughter of Abdullah), which means that she was a Christian slave converted to Islam. She was either of Greek or Albanian   origin.

Consort
Gülbahar entered in Mehmed's harem in 1446, when he was still a prince and the governor of Amasya. She had two children, a son, Şehzade Bayezid (future Bayezid II) born in 1447 in Demotika, and a daughter, Gevherhan Hatun, born in 1446, who married Ughurlu Muhammad, a son of Aq Qoyunlu Sultan Uzun Hasan in 1474.

In 1451, after Mehmed's accession to the throne, she followed him to Edirne. According to Turkish tradition, all princes were expected to work as provincial governors as a part of their training. In 1455 or 1456, Bayezid was appointed the governor of Amasya, and Gülbahar accompanied him, where the two remained until 1481, except for in 1457, when she came to Constantinople, and attended her son's circumcision ceremony.

Gülbahar was apparently quite concerned about the future of her son, and related to that, her own properties. In order to secure her properties, she endowed the incomes of certain villages and fields to the Enderun mosque in 1474. Among the endowed properties was the village of Ağılcık, which was turned back into a Timariot village in 1479 during the land reform.

In 1468, Mehmed gave the village of Bağluca to Gülbahar. After six years, in 1473, she sold the village to Taceddin Bey, son of Hamza Bali (died 1486), the book keeper of Bayezid's court. In 1478, the village's exemption was abolished and granted back to her probably as a result of the land reform. This order was reissued a year later at the request of Mevlana Şemseddin Ahmed according to which the village was not reverted to her, and she had likely become subject to a legal dispute.

Mother of the Sultan
Per custom, Gülbahar got the highest position in the imperial family after the sultan himself when her son, Bayezid ascended the throne in 1481 until her death in 1492. During her son's reign, she and the rest of the Imperial Family resided at the Old Palace (saray-ı atik) and were visited by the Sultan who on each visit used to pay his respect to his mother. In one case, Gülbahar complained of her son's rare visits and in a letter to her son wrote: ""My fortune, I miss you. Even if you don't miss me, I miss you ... Come and let me see you. My dear lord, if you are going on campaign soon, come once or twice at least so that I may see your fortune-favored face before you go. It's been forty days since I last saw you. My sultan, please forgive my boldness. Who else do I have beside you ... ?""

Gülbahar had a considerable influence over Bayezid, for she used to make evaluations about the situation of some statesmen. Bayezid also valued his mother's words. In a letter written to him, she advises him against Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha, but favours his tutor Ayas Pasha and Hizirbeyoğlu Mehmed Pasha.

In 1485, Bayezid endowed a mosque, and a school in Tokat in the memory of Gülbahar Hatun.

Death
Gülbahar Hatun died in 1492, and was buried in Fatih Mosque, Istanbul. The tomb was damaged in the 1766 Istanbul earthquake, and was rebuilt in 1767–1768.

Issue
By Mehmed II, Gülbahar Hatun had at least a daughter and a son:
 * Gevherhan Hatun (c. 1446 - c.  1514). Married at least one time, she had a son.
 * Bayezid II (3 December 1447 - 26 May 1512). 8th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

In popular culture

 * In the 2012 film Fetih 1453, Gülbahar Hatun is portrayed by Turkish actress Şahika Koldemir.
 * In the 2013 Turkish series Fatih, Gülbahar Hatun is portrayed by Turkish actress Seda Akman.
 * In the second season of Netflix's Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020-2022), Gülbahar Hatun is portrayed by actress Yasemin Eti.
 * In the 2024 Turkish historical fiction TV series Mehmed: Fetihler Sultanı, Gülbahar Hatun is portrayed by Turkish actress Esila Umut.