Mustafa II, 1695-1703 the Ottoman Sultan Welcome Mary Wortley Montagu, born January 19, 1718! I have to say, giving birth wasn’t half as mortifying here as it is in England. No one bothers laying in for an entire month and I was up and visiting friends again in three weeks time!
Just a few days ago, I went to visit Sultana Hafise, the favorite kadin of the last Emperor, Mustapha, who was deposed by his brother and died shortly after (they think he was poisoned!). The Sultan then forced her to marry, even though she begged him not to make her as she had vowed she would never sleep with another man. To prove her point, when she was forced to choose, she picked the secretary of state who was over 80 years old. Beyond his age, she chose him because he was the one who brought her to the former emperor. She is still in mourning today and could not talk about him without tearing up...
She was quite beautiful, though not nearly as beautiful as Fatima. It was her dress was what really stood out. She wore a vest called a dualma, which has longer sleeves than the caftan. It was purple and lined with pearls, with large gold loops as buttons. The whole things was tied with two large tassels of smaller pearl and the arms were lined with diamonds. She had three long necklaces on, one of pearl with a an emerald as big as a turkey egg! Her earrings eclipsed everything else though—two pear shaped diamonds the size of hazelnuts. She had four strings of pearls each as large as the Duchess of Marlborough’s! And her rings were the largest diamond rings I’ve ever seen (except for Mr.Pitt’s of course).
Just a few days ago, I went to visit Sultana Hafise, the favorite kadin of the last Emperor, Mustapha, who was deposed by his brother and died shortly after (they think he was poisoned!). The Sultan then forced her to marry, even though she begged him not to make her as she had vowed she would never sleep with another man. To prove her point, when she was forced to choose, she picked the secretary of state who was over 80 years old. Beyond his age, she chose him because he was the one who brought her to the former emperor. She is still in mourning today and could not talk about him without tearing up...
She was quite beautiful, though not nearly as beautiful as Fatima. It was her dress was what really stood out. She wore a vest called a dualma, which has longer sleeves than the caftan. It was purple and lined with pearls, with large gold loops as buttons. The whole things was tied with two large tassels of smaller pearl and the arms were lined with diamonds. She had three long necklaces on, one of pearl with a an emerald as big as a turkey egg! Her earrings eclipsed everything else though—two pear shaped diamonds the size of hazelnuts. She had four strings of pearls each as large as the Duchess of Marlborough’s! And her rings were the largest diamond rings I’ve ever seen (except for Mr.Pitt’s of course).
Not quite as nice as the Sultana's but you get the idea!
We had a beautiful dinner, and the display on the table was equally as lovely as her dress. The napkins were so nice; I didn’t even want to wipe my hands on them! After dinner, we had coffee in gold soucoupes. Her home was equally as richly decorated as the table. Even her servants were dressed in gold.
Now I know you’re going to say that this sounds made up, like I copied right out of the Arabian tales, but this is what I actually saw! We travel bloggers have a hard time, we we only say what’s been said before we’re boring, but if we say anything new, suddenly we’re exaggerating and romanticizing what we see, so much so that should I come home, I won’t even discuss what I’ve seen with anyone.
I went to see Fatima yesterday as well, and if you don’t believe my descriptions above, you’ll never believe what I’ve seen in her palace! The Sultana was nice, but the grace and manners of court come so naturally to Fatima, she immediately inspires respect and tenderness and now that I am learning her language and can talk to her, I find her wit equally as charming! The servant I had with me couldn’t believe she was a Turkish Lady and thought she must be a Christian (and as it turns out, her mother is). I had to tell her what a stir her beauty would cause in London! And she, in her infinite sweetness, replied that if England valued beauty as much as I say they'ed never have let me leave!
This blog is getting way too long, so I’ll stop here before a turn into a downright storyteller. It may be a proverb that knowledge is no burden, but knowing too much will still most likely make us troublesome to other people…
Now I know you’re going to say that this sounds made up, like I copied right out of the Arabian tales, but this is what I actually saw! We travel bloggers have a hard time, we we only say what’s been said before we’re boring, but if we say anything new, suddenly we’re exaggerating and romanticizing what we see, so much so that should I come home, I won’t even discuss what I’ve seen with anyone.
I went to see Fatima yesterday as well, and if you don’t believe my descriptions above, you’ll never believe what I’ve seen in her palace! The Sultana was nice, but the grace and manners of court come so naturally to Fatima, she immediately inspires respect and tenderness and now that I am learning her language and can talk to her, I find her wit equally as charming! The servant I had with me couldn’t believe she was a Turkish Lady and thought she must be a Christian (and as it turns out, her mother is). I had to tell her what a stir her beauty would cause in London! And she, in her infinite sweetness, replied that if England valued beauty as much as I say they'ed never have let me leave!
This blog is getting way too long, so I’ll stop here before a turn into a downright storyteller. It may be a proverb that knowledge is no burden, but knowing too much will still most likely make us troublesome to other people…
Gold encrusted with diamonds, composte service, Topkapi Museum.
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