Gülfem Hatun was a member of the harem of Suleiman the Magnificent and allegedly the mother of Şehzade Murad.
Background
The Ottoman inscription (vakfiye) describes her as Hātun binti Abdllah (Daughter of Abdullah) but on her tomb in Üsküdar she is described as Hātun binti Abdurrahman (Daughter of Abdurrahman) which means that her father was possibly a Christian who converted to Islam.
Career
Her origin is undetermined. Some claim that she was Sicilian or Polish and originally named Rosalina (thus referred to as Sicilyalı Rosalina or Polonyalı Rozalina). Yılmaz Öztuna, an Ottoman historian, writes that she was married to Sultan Suleiman in 1511 but gives no indication of origin.
According to Leslie P. Peirce, Gülfem was perhaps the harem stewardess (the highest ranking administrative post), and during Suleiman"s reign she was receiving 150 aspers a day.
According to some interpretations, she was the mother of Şehzade Murad (b 1519 but died in October 1521 because of smallpox). However this is challenged by Peirce on the grounds that she is never mentioned as such in the historical sources and that she is not mentioned as a concubine in a list of Suleiman"s concubines while he was in Manisa.
In 1543 Gülfem, established the financial ground work to built a "timber frame mosque" now known as "" in Gülfem Hatun Neighborhood, Üsküdar district, Istanbul province built in the second half of the 16th century. Its construction was completed after her death in 1561 or 1562 and was buried here.
There are madrassa, tomb and Ottoman elementary-primary school next to This complex or külliye burned out in a fire in 1850, together with the whole neighborhood.
Nine years after this fire the mosque and Ottoman elementary-primary school was restored by the public in 1868-1869. But the madrassa and the tomb were not restored. So sepulcher of Gülfem Hatun was pulled down and only her tomb reached our day.
lieutenant was intended for the use of women and opened to men only in recent times.
According to a legend, Gülfem desired to build a mosque in Üsküdar, however she did not have enough money to complete the mosque and she took a loan from a few other women in the harem. Many of the concubines refused this because they were jealous of her being close to the sultan, only one woman who took advantage of her weakness said that she would give her the money if she allowed to go to the Sultan herself, instead of Gülfem.
Gülfem accepted her offer and allowed her to go to the sultan instead. This angered Suleiman and ordered his guards Gülfem Hatun had to be executed, when it was her turn to share his bed and she failed to turn up.
The next morning the dead body of a woman, Gülfem Hatun left the palace.
Afterwards he completed construction of the mosque which she had begun. In the 2003 television miniseries, Hürrem Sultan, Gülfem was played by Turkish actress Yasemin Kozanoğlu. In the 2011 television series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, Gülfem Hatun is played by Turkish actress Selen Öztürk.