Şah Sultan

Who was Şah Sultan?

Şah Sultan was an Ottoman princess, daughter of Sultan Selim I and sister of Suleiman the Magnificent.

She was raised in Manisa and married in 1523 to the future Grand Vizier and sufic Lutfi Pasha. Her spouse became Grand Vizier in 1539. The couple had two daughters named Esmehan Baharnaz Sultan and Neslihan Sultan. In 1541, she divorced her spouse, who was also deposed from his position. The divorce took place on her initiative, allegedly because of her husband's punishment for an adulterer. Lutfi Pasha ordered the cutting of an extremity of a female adulterer and this led to a dispute between the Pasha and Şah Sultan. As the argument got heated, Lutfi Pasha gave Şah Sultan a beating. Following the incident, Şah Sultan got the Pasha beaten by her servants and complained to his brother, Kanuni Sultan Suleiman, and requested a divorce. This led to the deposition of Lutfi Pasha from his position as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.

She had the Şah Sultan-mosque built in 1556.