The Influence of Powerful Eastern Women in England’s Relationship with the East during the Early Modern Period (1570 – 1673)

Abstract

The Influence of Powerful Eastern Women in England's Relationship with the Ea... Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare , Ressources et prix du mémoire 1 Western male's gaze on Oriental women. Through this comparative study, I hope to show that the imperialist and orientalist prejudices of the British Empire in the nineteenth century had only just started to emerge in the English imagination of the time. Consequently, Said's argument, when applied to the early days of English incursions into the East, fails to take into account the ways English actors and writers acknowledged these women's individual influence and agency. The Influence of Powerful Eastern Women in England's Relationship with the Ea... Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare , Ressources et prix du mémoire The Influence of Powerful Eastern Women in England's Relationship with the Ea... Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare , Ressources et prix du mémoire The Influence of Powerful Eastern Women in England's Relationship with the Ea... Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare , Ressources et prix du mémoire 9My first case study is Sultana Safiye (c. 1550-1605), the wife of Murad III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 to 1595, and the mother of Mehmed III, Sultan from 1595 to 1603. Contemporary records identify Safiye as a native of Albania, brought to the harem at age thirteen, probably after being kidnapped and sold as a slave, as was the case for most of the non-Ottoman concubines in the palace. 9 Safiye was the Ottoman name she was given upon her conversion to Islam and her real name is still unknown today. 10 Safiye was a very influential figure in Constantinople: she was Murad's favorite concubine and mother to his heir, which gave her a preferential position as hasseki, and when her son Mehmed took the throne, she became known as valide Sultan, that is to say Queen Mother and head of the royal harem. 11 Thanks to these privileged positions, Safiye also played a part in Ottoman foreign affairs and she was solicited by English ambassadors in Constantinople during the early years of Anglo-Ottoman diplomatic relationships. Though Safiye never became Murad's wife and remained a concubine all her life, the fact that English agents in the Levant called her "Sultana" highlights her image in England as a powerful figure close to a queen. Most notably, Safiye kept a correspondence with Elizabeth I from 1593 to 1599 and exchanged gifts with the English Queen on several occasions. Though there are no copies of Elizabeth's letters to the Sultana, three letters written by Safiye have been found today, the first one of which became widely known in early modern England when it was published in Richard Hakluyt's Principal Navigations (1598-1600). Safiye and Elizabeth's correspondence gives us an example of two powerful women corresponding between East and West, raising the question of the role of female friendship in foreign diplomacy, a subject that is only recently coming into light in gender stu...