Summary: Ottoman Women Builders, by Lucienne Thys-Senocak

In her book “Ottoman Women Builders”, Lucienne Thys-Senocak examines how women in the Ottoman Empire used to assert themselves in this Islamic society. This analysis is done through the life of a royal woman, Hadice Turhan Sultan, queen mother of Mehmed IV. Thys-Senocak shows how the patronage of the arts, and especially architecture, helped this royal women to shape a representation of herself in politics and public life. Living in a conservative society like the Ottoman one, embracing Islam, and being the wife of the Protector of the Faith, Hadice Turhan had to find other ways to impose herself, unlike contemporary influent women such as Catherine de Medici or Elizabeth I who could have iconic representations and portraits of themselves. Through commissioning the building of mosques, public baths, houses for the pilgrims, and even military fortresses, she has been able to demonstrate both her piety and her political authority.
The book also deals with other Ottoman women, be them Muslims or non-Muslims and their role in diplomacy and the preparation of the ground for the male decision-making. As Lucienne Thys-Senocak acknowledges it, the correspondence between the Ottoman women of the Harem and other European women, as well as the facility of mobility and action of young women that have been drawn through the devshirme system had a lot of influence in political negociations.
At the heart of “Ottoman Women Builders” is the intersection between the gender, the artistic and political perspectives in regarding women in the Ottoman society.

Thys-Senocak, Lucienne. Ottoman Women Builders: The Architectural
Patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2006.