Hürrem Sultan

Born Aleksandra Lisowska in Rohatyn, Ruthenia (now Ukraine). Captured by Crimean Tatars as a teenager and sold into slavery. She ended up in the Ottoman harem. They called her Hurrem. "The Cheerful One."

Born around 1505, likely in Rohatyn, Ruthenia (present-day Ukraine). A Ruthenian Orthodox priest's daughter, according to some accounts. Captured by Crimean Tatar slavers during a raid and sold to the Ottoman court.

Caught the eye of Suleiman the Magnificent shortly after he became sultan. She went from concubine to favorite within months. She made him laugh. That was unusual in the harem.

Entered Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent's harem and quickly became his favorite concubine. Her given name in the harem was Hurrem, meaning "the cheerful one." She bore him six children, breaking the Ottoman custom of one son per concubine.

Suleiman freed her and made her his legal wife. Unprecedented. Ottoman sultans didn't marry their concubines. She became the first woman to hold the title of Haseki Sultan, fundamentally changing the dynasty's power structure.

Suleiman married her. A legal wife. No Ottoman sultan had done this in centuries. She was a former slave. She convinced him to free her first, then marry her.

Built charitable foundations across the empire. Soup kitchens, hospitals, schools, and bath houses in Istanbul, Jerusalem, and Mecca bore her name. Her political influence rivaled that of the Grand Vizier.

Funded mosques, bathhouses, hospitals, and schools across the empire. The Haseki Sultan Complex in Jerusalem still stands. She corresponded with foreign monarchs as a political figure in her own right.