Gevherriz Hanım

Gevherriz Hanım was born in about 1863 in Sochi, Russia. She was Circassian and the daughter of Halil Bey. When the Circassians had to flee Russia, she was admitted to the Ottoman court, where she grew up and became a Kalfa (girl servant) before she was noticed by Murad.{{sfn|Brookes|2010|p=282}} She married Murad in 1876, during his accession to the throne.{{sfn|Brookes|2010|p=64}} She remained childless.{{sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=614}} After Murad ascended the throne on 30 May 1876 after the deposition of his uncle Sultan Abdulaziz,{{cite book|first=Victor|last=Roudometof|title=Nationalism, Globalization, and Orthodoxy: The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2001|pages=86–87|isbn=978-0-313-31949-5}} she was given the title of "Second Ikbal".{{sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=614}} After reigning for three months, he was deposed on 30 August 1876,{{cite book|first1=Augustus Warner|last1=Williams|first2=Mgrditch Simbad |last2=Gabriel|title=Bleeding Armedia: Its History and Horrors Under the Curse of Islam|publisher=Publishers union|year=1896|page=214}} due to mental instability and was imprisoned in the Çırağan Palace. Gevherriz also followed Murad into confinement.{{sfn|Brookes|2010|p=64}}

She spoke excellent French. She also taught French to young şehzades, Sultans (Ottoman imperial princes and princesses), and Murad's children.{{sfn|Brookes|2010|p=64}}

In her memoir, fellow consort Filizten Hanım reported that Gevherriz worked with Nakşifend Kalfa, the hazinedar Dilberengiz, the eunuch Hüseyin Ağa, and Hüsnü Bey (who had been Second Secretary of Murad) to allow for a British doctor to meet with Murad to ascertain Murad's mental fitness. When the doctor arrived, Gevherriz served as translator. It is not clear how true this story is, and it is possible the doctor was sent by freemasons rather than by the British.{{sfn|Brookes|2010|pp=68–72}}Şehsuvaroğlu, Haluk Yusuf, [http://earsiv.sehir.edu.tr:8080/xmlui/handle/11498/4656?show=full Çırağanın meşhur kadın simaları] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721212149/http://earsiv.sehir.edu.tr:8080/xmlui/handle/11498/4656%3Fshow%3Dfull |date=2019-07-21 }}, Taha Toros Arşivi, Dosya No: 120-Saraylar. Not: Gazetenin "Tarihten Sayfalar" köşesinde yayımlanmıştır.

She was widowed at Murad's death in 1904, after which her ordeal in the Çırağan Palace came to an end.{{sfn|Brookes|2010|p=17}} In widowhood, her stipend consisted of 1500 kuruş. However, later, during the reign of Sultan Mehmed V, it was reduced to only 500 kuruş.{{sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=614}} Afterwards, her step-daughter, Hatice Sultan, wrote to Mehmet Cavit Bey, member of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP),{{sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=55}} asking him to raise her stipend at least to 800 kuruş. Immediately after Murad V's death, she was sent to Bursa for a few years with Murad's other consorts Remzşinas Hanım, Nevdürr Hanım, and Filizten Hanım, but later she came back to Istanbul and remarried a certain Hüsnü Bey in 1915, but the second marriage was very sad.{{sfn|Bardakçı|1998|p=614}}

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Gevherriz as being the adjunct member of the family decided to stay in Istanbul, where she died in around 1940.

• Gevherriz is a character in Ayşe Osmanoğlu's historical novel The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus (2020).{{cite book | last=Osmanoğlu | first=Ayşe | title=The Gilded Cage on the Bosphorus: The Ottomans: The Story of a Family | publisher=Ayşe Osmanoğlu | date=May 30, 2020 | isbn=978-1-9163614-1-6}}

• Ikbal (title)
• Ottoman Imperial Harem
• List of consorts of the Ottoman sultans

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|first=Douglas Scott|last=Brookes|title=The concubine, the princess, and the teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem, based on Filizten's memoir, Twenty-Eight Years in Çırağan Palace: The Life of Murad V|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2010|isbn=9780292718425|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CGTaAAAAMAAJ}}
• {{cite book|first=Murat|last=Bardakçı|title=Şahbaba: Osmanoğulları'nın son hükümdarı VI. Mehmed Vahideddin'in hayatı, hatıraları, ve özel mektupları|publisher=Pan Yayıncılık|year=1998|isbn=978-9-757-65275-5}}

{{Ottoman Dynasty|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanim, Gevherriz}}

Category:1860s births

Category:19th-century consorts of Ottoman sultans

Category:20th-century deaths

Category:Circassian women

Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire