Love, Duty and Sacrifice: The Letters of Pargalı İbrāḥīm to Muḥsine Hanım

Year 2025, Issue: 9, 365 - 392, 23.10.2025

Nilab Saeedi

https://doi.org/10.64957/nesir.1796290

Abstract

This paper examines eleven letters exchanged between Grand Vizier İbrāḥīm Pasha and his wife Muḥsine Hanım. The collection consists of ten letters from İbrāḥīm and one from his wife. The examination unfolds across three themes: political reporting, emotional support, and separation. The argument is put forward that, while the content of the letters is personal, they also serve a broader purpose. İbrāḥīm likely uses these letters to apprise his wife of military victories and to communicate with a broader audience, reflecting his dual role as a statesman and family man. The analysis demonstrates how these letters assert political legitimacy while concurrently strengthening emotional bonds, thus revealing the complex intersection of power, faith, and personal devotion in the life of a high-ranking Ottoman statesman. By foregrounding the emotional side of a Grand Vizier, this article contributes to the history of emotions in the early modern Ottoman world and offers a rare analysis of epistolary material that blends personal devotion with political self-fashioning.

Keywords

Love , history of emotions , early modern Ottoman history , longing , epistolary culture

Supporting Institution

The author declares that no specific funding was received for this research.

Thanks

I am grateful to Dr. Mehmet Şakir Yılmaz and Dr. Stefano Poggi for reviewing the initial drafts of this article and providing their invaluable feedback. In this work, AI-assisted tools were used to a limited extent, exclusively to assist in rephrasing certain sentences, within the acceptable boundaries specified in the Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies Artificial Intelligence Usage Policy. All content was carefully reviewed and finalized by the author, ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the work.

Aşk, Görev ve Fedākārlık: Pargalı İbrāhīm’in Muḥsine Hanım’a Mektupları

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Sadrazam Pargalı İbrāḥīm Paşa ile eşi Muḥsine Hanım arasında yazılmış on bir mektubu analiz etmektedir. Mektup koleksiyonu, İbrāḥīm Paşa’ya ait on mektup ve eşi Muḥsine Hanım’a ait bir mektuptan oluşmaktadır. Çalışma, üç temel tema etrafında şekillendirilmektedir: Siyasi raporlama, duygusal destek ve ayrılık. Mektupların içeriğinin kişisel bir nitelik taşımakla birlikte, aynı zamanda daha geniş bir amaç taşıdığı savunulmaktadır. İbrāḥīm Paşa, bu mektupları yalnızca eşiyle askeri zaferlerini paylaşmak için değil, aynı zamanda daha geniş bir kitleye hitap etmek amacıyla da kullanmaktadır. Bu durum, onun hem bir devlet adamı hem de bir aile reisi olarak iki farklı rolünü yansıtmaktadır. Çalışma, mektupların siyasi meşruiyetin pekiştirilmesi ve duygusal bağların güçlendirilmesi işlevlerini nasıl yerine getirdiğini göstererek, Osmanlı elitinin yaşamında güç, inanç ve kişisel bağlılık arasındaki karmaşık kesişimi ortaya koymaktadır. Bir sadrazamın duygusal yönünü ön plana çıkararak, bu makale erken modern Osmanlı dünyasında duyguların tarihine katkı sağlamakta ve kişisel bağlılık ile siyasi kendilik inşasını harmanlayan, az incelenmiş bir mektup kaynağını nadir bir analizle ele almaktadır.

Keywords

Aşk , duyguların tarihi , erken modern Osmanlı tarihi , hasret , mektup kültürü

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