tv: magnificent century

kosemsultans:

Pietro Bragadin, ambassador in the early years of Süleyman’s reign, reported that while both were still resident in the imperial palace in Istanbul, Mustafa was his mother’s “whole joy”. Mustafa was sent out to his princely post at Manisa in 1533. Describing his court at Kara Amid (Diyarbakır) near the Safavid border, Bassano wrote around 1540 that the prince had “a most wonderful and glorious court, no less than that of his father” and that “his mother, who is with him, instructs him in how to make himself loved by the people.”

The Ambassador Bernando Navagro, in a 1553 report, described Mahidevran’s efforts to protect her son: “[Mustafa] has with him his mother, who exercises great diligence to guard him from poisoning and reminds him every day that he has nothing else but this to avoid, and it is said that he has boundless respect and reverence for her.”

– The Imperial Harem by Leslie P. Peirce.