Welcome to our new article which is about ‘History Of Nilufer Hatun’. Nilufer 1285 – 1383, Bursa. Daughter of Yarhisar Tekfur, wife of Sultan Orhan Gazi and mother of Sultan Murad I.
Her real name is Holofira; She took the name “Nilufer” after she became a Muslim. Before being married to Orhan Gazi, she was engaged to the son of Bilecik Tekfur. It is said that during the Ottomans’ capture of Bilecik, she was taken prisoner during the raid on the nearby wedding convoy and was married to her son, Sultan Orhan Gazi, by Sultan Osman Gazi. He was very popular with the mosques he had built in Bursa and his charity works. A town in Bursa was named after him. His grave is in the Orhan Gazi tomb in Bursa. An almshouse was built in his name in Iznik. It is also named after Sultan Orhan Gazi’s own tomb, in Tophane in Bursa (Gümüşlü).
Nilufer Hatun was a Tekfur daughter. She was engaged to Bilecik Tekfuru’s son, but she fell in love with Orhan Gazi.
Söğüt is a district of Bilecik. This small district was the capital of the Ottoman Principality. The great Ottoman Empire, which ruled over three continents, was born in the bosom of Söğüt. The Seljuk State, which the Turks established in Anatolia, continued its existence for two hundred years, was shaken by the Mongol invasions from the east, weakened, and eventually divided into many small principalities.
Each of these principalities, whose number reached twelve, was trying to dominate in their own regions. The smallest of these was the Ottoman Principality in Söğüt. They were mostly dealing with the Byzantines around Bilecik and Eskişehir. Almost three sides of this principality were surrounded by Byzantine lands.
At the head of the Byzantine towns and cities were gentlemen called “tekfur”. They were subordinate to the Byzantine Empire located in Istanbul, but in reality they were in their own right. They collected taxes from the people and recruited soldiers. Most of them were very cruel. There would be no harm they did not do to their own people. Even though their religions are different. There were many Byzantines who accepted the Ottomans as a savior. Osman Bey, the head of the Ottoman Principality, and his men acted fairly and took care not to oppress the people.
Real History of Nilufer Hatun :
At that time, there was friendship between Osman Bey and the Tekfur of Bilecik, but the tekfur kept making insidious plans to trap Osman Bey. Bilecik tekfuru had engaged his son to Nilüfer, the beautiful daughter of Yarhisar tekfuru. The wedding was to be held soon. Tekfur invited Osman Bey and his men to this wedding. But another tekfur, Osman Bey, said, “Don’t attend the wedding. Bilecik tekfuru will ambush you and have you killed.” He sent word. Thereupon, Osman Bey prepared another plan to seize Bilecik Tekfur and Bilecik.
In this plan, the kidnapping of Nilufer, who will go to Bilecik as a bride, was also considered. Because it was whispered in Osman Bey’s ear that his son Orhan, who was only seventeen, had fallen in love with Nilufer. This is how it happened:
Orhan Bey, a handsome and daring young man, was passing by Yarhisar one day. At that time, a beautiful young girl was drawing water from the well in front of the fortress. They glanced at each other. At that moment, a spark ignited in both of their hearts.
Mr. Orhan:
“Beautiful girl,” he said, “what’s your name? Whose daughter do they call you?”
“My name is Olievaera. They call me the daughter of the Yakhisar tekfur.”
The young girl pulled up the wooden bucket she had released into the well. With a cute face:
“You found out who I am,” he said. “Let me find out who you are, if you let me.”
“My name is Orhan. I am the son of Osman Bey, who lives in Söğüt. ”
After this short acquaintance, Orhan Bey reared his horse and drove away. The dream of her young daughter has not been erased from her eyes. A few days after this event, Osman Bey received a wedding invitation from the Tekfur of Bilecik. Osman Bey sent the following letter without delay:
“O Bilecik Tekfuru, my dear friend, I received the wedding invitation. I wish you and your son happiness. Because of my important business, I will not be able to attend this happy wedding. But as per our custom, I send my gifts loaded on forty mules. Their mules will bring a few female drivers. My request from you is that your women should meet our women, not your men, and your women should be interested in them. Because our women do not see men. This is considered a sin in our religion.”
Extra History of Nilufer Hatun :
However, in the chests carried by the mules, there were forty warriors, not gifts. Bilecik tekfuru made the mule caravan meet with women. He opened the castle gate. When the mules came in, those who were hiding in the chest came out. They captured Bilecik fortress.
Meanwhile, the wedding procession had left Yarhisar and set off for Bilecik. Orhan Bey and his friends had set up an ambush on the road where the wedding procession would pass. The regiment attacked them and kidnapped the bride-to-be Olivera (Nilufer). To whom is the intention, to whom is the fate? Instead of Nilufer, Bilecik’s son, the bride came to Orhan Bey, whom he could not forget from the first day he saw her. She gave birth to the second ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Orhan Gazi, the conqueror of Rumelia, Süleyman Pasha, and a very valuable sultan, Murat I (Murad-ı Hüdavendigar).
History of Nilufer Hatun.
He was seventeen years old like Orhan Bey when he got married in 1298. She was a very charitable woman. He had mosques and lodges built in Bursa Iznik. He had a bridge built over the Nilufer river. This river became known as Nilufer after that day.
Famous Moroccan traveler Ibn Batuta met Nilufer Hatun in 1335 in İznik. In his travelogue he wrote, “She gave us a generous compliment, she is a very mature, pious woman.”
The foundation day of the Ottoman Empire is celebrated every year in Söğüt. Young people from Söğüt play the event we described above in their folk song called Söğütün erenler and act like a theater. We wrote this legend by using the narration of the young men from Söğüt.
Nilüfer Hatun Imaret (Iznik Museum) – Bursa :
The soup kitchen and hermitage built by her son Murat I (1362-1389) in memory of Nilufer Hatun in Iznik. Today, it functions as the Iznik Museum. There is a 0.48 x 1.51 meter marble inscription on the door on the east façade. The building consists of entrances and prayer rooms that follow each other in the east-west direction, two side wings adjacent to the entrance to the north and south, and the narthex in the east. The square planned entrance area is covered with a dome crossed by a triangular belt; In the middle of the dome there is a bright lighthouse skylight. The rectangular side wings in the north-south direction have been transformed into squares with mirrored arches. They are covered with a broken triangular dome. The rectangular planned narthex is left open up to half the width of the two side wings.
Nilufer Hatun :
Orhan Gazi’s wife, Murat Hudavendigar’s mother. She is the daughter of the Yarhisar tekfunun, which is a village in Yenişehir today. It is accepted that his real name was “Holophira”. In different manuscripts of Neşrî, his name is mentioned as Nilüfer, Lulufer or Ulufer (in some of the Orhaneli villages, the name of the Nilüfer Stream is still pronounced as “Ulufer”). Hammer suggests that the name Nilüfer may have been corrupted from “Oivera”. In his Seyahatname, Ibn Battuta also mentions Nilüfer, to whom he was admitted in Iznik, as “Baalım”, “Buyun” or “Beyün”.
Nilüfer was the fiancee of Belekome (Bilecik) Tekfum. Osman Gazi was also invited to his wedding, but he was ambushed and wanted to be killed. Harmankaya Tekfuru Köse Mihal learned and informed about this situation. Thereupon, Osman Gazi first raided and captured Bilecik, then returned and ambushed the wedding procession coming from Yarhisar in a place called Kaldirak and took many prisoners. He married Holophira, the daughter of Yarhisar Tekfuru and the fiancee of Bilecik Tekfuru, to his son Orhan Gazi, who was among the prisoners. Two sons, Süleyman (Paşa) and Murat (Murat I Hudavendigar) were born from this marriage.
In his famous work, the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta speaks of Nilüfer as “Buyun Hatun, Orhun Gazi’s wife living in Iznik.” She tells that she is a “sâliha and fâdıla” woman and that by accepting her in the presence, she offered treats and benevolence. However, the historian Babinger also drew attention to the possibility that the Büyükn Hatun mentioned here could be someone else.
Known for her benevolence and fondness for charity, Nilüfer Hatun had a kopili (Nilüfer Bridge) built on the stream (Nilüfer Stream) that borders the west of the Bursa plain and named after her, a lodge in the Kaplıcakapı part of the Bursa fortress, and a masjid in the Darphane neighborhood (Kamil Kepecioğlu Bursa Kütük). He claims that this masjid must belong to another Nilüfer Hatun, the daughter of Orhan Bey). His date of death is unknown. However, since the imaret (Iznik Museum) built in Iznik on behalf of his mother by his son Murat I Hudavendigar is dated 1388, it can be accepted that he died before this date. He lies in the Orhan Gazi tomb, next to his wife.
Holofira known as Nilufer Hatun was married to Orhan Bey. In history, she is known as the first sultan’s wife, who was a concubine. She is the mother of Gazi Süleyman Pasha and Murad I. Kurulus Osman She is also the sister of İpek Filiz Yazıcı, playing the character of Holofira in the TV series. Duru Printer it gives life. Well, Nilüfer Hatun actually who?
Who is Holofira (Nilufer Hatun)?
It is known that Holofira, named Nilifer Hatun, was engaged to Bilecik Tekfuru’s son before she was married to Orhan Gazi.
It is said that he was taken prisoner after the Ottomans captured Bilecik in 1299 and that he was married to his son Orhan Gazi by Osman Gazi. According to the reports, Nilüfer Hatun is the first sultan’s wife who was a concubine. She gave birth to the first princes who carried Greek genetics to the Ottoman Dynasty. She was the mother of Gazi Süleyman Pasha, who died in 1360, and Murad I, the third Ottoman sultan who was ten years younger than him.
She is the head lady of Orhan Gazi, whom the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta met in person in Iznik and introduced him as Beylun Hatun. The lotus means the sacred flower called “lotus”. This name of him is written in the inscription of his soup kitchen in Iznik. According to Ibn Battuta’s report, Beylun Hatun, who did not live in Bursa with Orhan Gazi, lived separately from her in Iznik, which was considered holy enough by Christians to be called the “Jerusalem of Anatolia” in those years.
Is Nilüfer Hatun a Muslim | Nilufer Hatun Religion?
He took advantage of the absence of Tekfur and conquered Bilecik Castle. The bridal procession was raided and the bride was taken prisoner. The daughter of the tekfur, who became a Muslim and took the name Nilüfer , was married to Orhan Gazi.
Is Nilüfer Hatun Turkish?
Nilüfer Hatun is of Greek origin and her real name is Holofira. The first of the foreign wives in the Ottoman Empire is also the first sultan of foreign origin. She yarhisar (bound to Bursa / Yenişehir) She is the daughter of Tekfuru Mihalis. After she married Orhan Bey and became a Muslim, she took the name Nilüfer and soon adopted Turkish traditions.
How many wives did Orhan Gazi have?
Orhan Gazi , the second sultan of the Ottoman Empire, was born in Söğüt. The wives and children of Orhan Gazi , who was born from Osman Bey’s second wife, Malhun, were also a matter of curiosity. Orhan Bey, who has 4 wives, has 8 children. After the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, he became the second Bey to become the sultan.
Nilüfer Hatun Origin?
Wife of Orhan Gazi, one of the Ottoman sultans, mother of Murat Hüdavendigar (XII.-XIV century). Nilüfer Hatun is of Greek origin and her real name is Holofira. The first of the foreign wives in the Ottoman Empire is also the first sultan of foreign origin.
What is the origin of the name Nilufer?
Nilüfer name Origin is Persian. The meaning of the name Nilüfer is “a flower that grows in the puddles, the flower that blooms on the water surface”.
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