Khatun[a] (/xəˈtuːn/ khə-TOON) is a title of the female counterpart to a khan or a kagan of the Turkic Khaganates and in the subsequent Mongol Empire.
Before the advent of Islam in Central Asia, Khatun was the title of the queen of Bukhara. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, "Khatun [is] a title of Sogdian origin borne by the wives and female relatives of the Göktürks and subsequent Turkish rulers."[1]
According to Bruno De Nicola in Women in Mongol Iran: The Khatuns, 1206–1335, the linguistic origins of the term "khatun" are unknown, though possibly of Old Turkic or Sogdian origin. De Nicola states that prior to the spread of the Mongols across Central Asia, Khatun meant 'lady' or 'noblewoman' and is found in broad usage in medieval Persian and Arabic texts.[2]
Peter Benjamin Golden observed that the title qatun appeared among the Göktürks as the title for the khagan's wife and was borrowed from Sogdian xwāten "wife of the ruler"[3] Earlier, British Orientalist Gerard Clauson (1891–1974) defined xa:tun as "'lady' and the like" and says there is "no reasonable doubt that it is taken from Sogdian xwt'yn (xwatēn), in Sogdian xwt'y ('lord, ruler') and xwt'yn 'lord's or ruler's wife'), "which is precisely the meaning of xa:tun in the early period."[4]
In Uzbek, the language spoken in modern-day Bukhara, in Uzbekistan, the word is spelled xotin and has come to simply refer to any woman. In Turkish, it is written hatun. The general Turkish word for 'woman', kadın, is a doublet derived from the same origin.[5]
Valide Hatun was the title held by the "legal mother" of a ruling Sultan of the Ottoman Empire before the 16th century.
By the beginning of the 16th century, the title hatun for sultan's mother, princesses, and sultan's main consort was replaced by "sultan" and they started to carry it after their given names. This usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative.[6] Consequently, the title valide hatun also turned into valide sultan.
| Name | Maiden name | Origin | Consort | Became valide | Ceased to be valide | Death | Sultan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nilüfer Hatunنیلوفر خاتون | unknown | Greek | Orhan I | March 1362
son's ascension |
1363 | Murad I (son) | |
| Gülçiçek Hatunكلچیچك خاتون | Maria | Greek | Murad I | 16 June 1389
son's ascension |
c. 1400 | Bayezid I (son) | |
| Devlet Hatunدولت خاتون | unknown | unknown | Bayezid I | 5 July 1413
son's ascension |
23 January 1414 | Mehmed I (son) | |
| Emine Hatunامینہ خاتون | Emine | Dulkadirid | Mehmed I | 26 May 1421
son's ascension (first tenure) |
August 1444
(first tenure) |
Murad II(son) | |
| September 1446
son's reinstatement (second tenure) |
1449 | ||||||
| Hüma Hatun هما خاتون |
Stella or Esther | disputed | Murad II | August 1444
son's first ascension |
September 1446 | Mehmed II (son) | |
| Mara Despina Hatun | Mara | Serbian | Murad II | 1457
Her return to Ottoman's court on Mehmed's invite |
3 May 1481
Mehmed's death |
Mehmed II (stepson) | |
| Gülbahar Hatun
گل بھار مکرمه خاتون |
unknown | Pontic Greek origin | Mehmed II | 3 May 1481
son's ascension |
1492 | Bayezid II (son) | |