Ahmed smiled down at them, and silently turned his horse back towards Constantinople.
HISTORICAL NOTES
TOLERANCE IN TURKEY
Bezm-i Alem did indeed bear Mahmud II two sons, Abdulmecid and Abdulaziz. Abdulmecid became the first Sultan to grant equal status to Christians and to publicly deplore the slave markets.
“It is a shameful and barbarous practice,” said Sultan Abdulmecid, “… for rational beings to buy and sell their fellow human creatures. Are these poor creatures not our equals before God?”
Sultan Abdulmecid protected the Jews from the persecution of the Christians. He declared that the “Jewish nation will be protected and defended.” The Sultan decreed a Kosher kitchen and a Sabbath leave be instituted in the Imperial Medical School so as to encourage Jews to study to become doctors.
Most importantly, he wanted to unite people under the banner of humanity and the Turkish nation. The Sultan pronounced, “In one word… to nationalize all these fragments of nations who cover the soil of Turkey, by so much impartiality, gentleness, equality, and tolerance that each one finds its honour, its conscience and its security interested to cooperate in maintaining the empire.”
Never had anyone dreamed that such equality and altruism could have been championed by an Ottoman Sultan.
It was whispered in the Bazaar that the unprecedented kindness of the young Sultan was due to his mother and that the bloodshed of the Janissaries had at last dried and faded from the conscience of Topkapi. Bezm-i Alem became one of the most benevolent of all Valides in Ottoman history, aiding the poor and particularly the women of Constantinople.
Esma Sultan retired to her palace outside the Imperial City. On June 29, 1839, Sultan Mahmud II died in Esma Sultan’s house in Camlica, at the age of fifty-four. On July 15, only a month after the Sultan’s death, Kaptan Pasha Ahmed, a former officer in the Imperial Navy, sailed into the port of Alexandria, leading most of the Ottoman navy over to Muhammed Ali of Egypt. Europe sided with the Ottomans and came to their rescue, though parts of the Empire were lost forever.
And the drowning guard? He is a fictional character, not traceable in the Ottomans’ meticulous records of history. But, as the novel would say…
Some say he led a rebellion in Serbia that finally freed the territory from the yoke of Ottoman rule. Still others say he lived out his life in a northern village at the edges of the Empire, where he entertained a mysterious veiled woman on the new moon of certain months.
There were many in the Bazaar who swore they had seen a phantom giant riding the seven hills of Constantinople atop a grey-dappled horse every full moon, and that the dogs howl at his presence.
But then everyone loves a legend.
AN OTTOMAN GLOSSARY
ABLUTIONS: In respect to Islam, the ritual bathing of Muslims in preparation for entering a mosque or before seeing the Sultan. The Koran also requires bathing before and after sexual relations.
AGA: The master or gentleman; also the head of an organization such as the aga of the Janissaries.
AKCE: A silver coin.
ALLAH: The word for God among the Muslim people.
BASTINADO: Punishment, by beating the soles of the victim’s feet with a cudgel or truncheon.
BEKTASHI: A liberal order of Sufis who were attached to the Janissary Corps.
BEZM-I ALEM: Jewel of the Universe.
BOSPHORUS: The strait that divides Europe from Asia, connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which then joins the Mediterranean. The Bosphorus provided Constantinople the sea access that made it the major trade city of the world.
CAVUS: The official who starts the cirit game and announces the players and their accomplishments before the start of the match.
CIRIT: An equestrian sport used to sharpen cavalrymen’s war skills. Two teams line up on opposite sides of the field and one member of Team A throws a javelin or spear (jeered) at a member of Team B, trying to hit the rider. Once the jeered has left the hand of Team A’s player, another opposing rider on Team B gallops out with a jeered of his own and tries to hit Team A’s player as he wheels around and races back to the safety of his team’s line.
CONSTANTINOPLE: The ancient capital of Byzantium, and later the home of the Ottoman Empire. The name of the city was officially changed to Istanbul in 1930. During Ottoman times it was also known as Istanbul, Islambol, Stambul, Estambol, Kushta, Tsarigrad, Rumiyya al-kubra, New Rome, New Jerusalem, the City of Saints, the Gate of Happiness, the Eye of the World, the Refuge of the Universe, the Polis, and the City.
CORBACI: A janissary title, equivalent to “captain” of a unit or “orta.” Corbacis were normally identified by a soup ladle tied to the sash of their tunic, which indicated that they were not only the orta’s leader, but saw to it that ample food was provided to their fighting men. Each “kazan” or copper pilaf cauldron was marked with the banner of an individual orta.
DERVISH: A member of a Sufi order.
DEVSHIRME: The “gathering” of children from Christian families to serve as palace servants and in the Sultan’s army.
DJINN: An evil spirit, especially associated with still water and death.
EFENDI: Title of honor, equivalent to master or sir.
EFRIT: A spirit, usually malevolent.
EUNUCH: A castrated man and a servant to the harem and to the Sultan himself. Purchased in the Sudan or other parts of North Africa, boys would be castrated by a Copt, as castration was strictly forbidden by the Koran. They were then transported to Constantinople. Some white captives were also castrated and served as eunuchs in the Ottoman Empire.
FATWA (ALSO FETWA): A written reply or order by a Mufti concerning Islamic law.
GOLDEN HORN: An inlet of the Bosphorus, dividing the city of Constantinople. The ancient walled city of Byzantium is located on the southern shore while the Christian and Jewish settlements of Pera and Galata was located on the northern shore.
HAMAM: The bath or bathhouse; often a socially important gathering place for women during idle time, where news is exchanged.
IMAM: A leader of prayers and often a teacher.
JANISSARY: A member of the Sultan’s main army, composed of 196 ortas or divisions. The Janissaries were primarily non-Muslims who either volunteered or were drafted into the corps as young children. They were circumcised and converted to Islam.
KADIN: a woman or wife, in the novel used as the wives of the Sultan.
KADI: A judge administering the law of the Koran (Sheriat) and Ottoman law.
KAPIKULU: The highest echelon of the Janissary soliders, picked by the Agas and Sultan to be educated at Topkapi palace. The best were trained as elite cavalrymen.
KAYIK: Boat, usually narrow and streamlined for gliding across the Bosphorus.
KAYMAK: Heavy cream.
KORAN: The holy book of Islam.
KUCUK: Small or little; a term of endearment, “little one.”
LALA: Tutor.
MAHMUD II: The son of Sultan Abulhamid and half brother to both Sultan Mustafa (who tried to murder him) and Esma Sultan. Sultan Selim III was his cousin.
MEHMED II OR MEHMED THE CONQUEROR: The Ottoman Sultan whose forces conquered the kingdom of Byzantium and captured Constantinople in 1453.
MINARET: A mosque tower from which a muezzin calls the faithful to prayers.
MUEZZIN: The man who calls the faithful to prayers five times a day from a minaret.
MUFTI: The highest religious official who interprets the Koran and metes out punishment (including fatwas).
MULLAH: A title of respect for a man learned in the Koran and Islamic law.
ORTA: A unit of the Janissary army, usually approximately one hundred soldiers. There were 196 ortas in the Sultan’s army.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE: The vast state founded in 1299 by Osman Bey, which became a true Empire in 1453 under Mehmed II. The Empire at its height encompassed the modern states of Romania, Hungary, Egypt, parts of Greece including Macedonia, Anatolia, Syria, Libya, Armenia, Geor
gia, Ukrania, and Persia. Mehmed the Conqueror captured the prized jewel of Europe and the Orient, Byzantium, and its capital, Constantinople.
PALACE OF TEARS: Palace where harem women are retired, either because they are too old or because they belonged to a prior sultan.
PASHA: An Ottoman title for officers or governors of high rank. The relative rank of pashas was indicated by horsetails, displayed as a symbol of rank (three horsetails was the highest).
PERI: A benign spirit or fairy.
PERSIA: The former Empire that now is Iran. Persians were admired for their grace and culture, fine literature, language, poetry, and art.
SERAIL: The French word for harem; also seraglio in Italian. Both terms used in novel.
SERBO-CROAT: A language or dialect that served as a common tongue in communicating among the conquered people of Eastern Europe (especially Croatia and Serbia).
SHERIAT: The law of the Koran and Islam as administered by the Kadis (appointed judges by the Sultan).
SIMIT: A pretzel-shaped bread.
SOLAK: The Topkapi guards (and archers) who formed the 60-63rd ortas of the Janissaries. They served as palace guards and were fiercely loyal to the Ottomans.
SUFI: A member of a Muslim order; one who searches for higher level of spirituality. Sufis are sometimes known as “gentle Muslims” and have more tolerant and diverse views on women, prohibitions, etc.
SULTANE: An Ottoman princess.
TOPKAPI: The Royal Palace of the Ottoman Sultans, located on the shore of the Golden Horn, its eastern walls flanking the shore of the Bosphorus.
TURSU: Pickle or pickled vegetables.
ULEMA: Muslim legal scholars and learned men of a mosque who are the arbiters of sharia law.
VALIDE: The mother of a Sultan.
WHITE SEA: The Mediterranean.
YALI: A waterside residence.
YASMAK: A veil, usually of fine gauze.
AUTHOR’S NOTES ON
The Drowning Guard
Visiting Istanbul in the summer of 2001, I was swept away by the vibrant history of Constantinople—the rich mix of cultures and religions, and the continuing sense, even now, of the tremendous world influence this city has possessed across the centuries. Constantinople has been referred to as the “Jewel of the Universe” and certainly its location on the Bosphorus at the junction of Europe and Asia, its ancient cathedrals and mosques, its massive walls and soaring towers and bustling Bazaars are beyond compare.
I have woven this tale as a skein of fiction around a core of truth. There was an Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II, who was an extremely handsome and powerful ruler, who had an older half sister named Esma Sultan. She was indulged beyond all others and her father Abdulhamid I gave her a palace when she was only ten. (Visitors to Istanbul can stay in one of her palaces, which has been converted into an elegant hotel.)
And her life was indeed a scandal. Philip Mansel, author of Constantinople: City of the World’s Desire, 1453-1924, wrote that Esma would haunt the countryside and the Christian neighborhoods looking for lovers. It was rumored that the physically spent young men were subsequently dispatched into the Bosphorus, after she had her way with them. (Drowning was a common way of disposing of enemies and other inconvenient people in the time of the Ottomans.)
Ottoman princes who were in line to the throne were a constant threat to any reigning Sultan—even though he often was their father—and so they were “caged” (in extreme hedonistic luxury) until the Sultan’s death and their own ascension to the throne. At that time, the warden would approach the cage and announce the prince’s liberty and impending coronation. There is a story of a male pretender who tried to hide and refused to leave the cage when the guard approached him, thinking that surely it was a trick and he was not chosen as the new Sultan, but the next victim of strangling.
Not all Sultans were as deeply paranoid about their progeny usurping the throne and many princes were allowed to spend time outside the cage and attend ceremonies and celebrations. However, they still had to return to the cage when the occasion was finished.
Mahmud II is reported to have drowned over two hundred women from his half brother Mustafa’s harem. Drowning, strangulation, and poisonings were common in the Sultans’ time.
As to bisexuality, this was a way of life in Constantinople during that era. While Esma Sultan did in fact introduce her brother Mahmud to Nazip and Bezm-i Alem, women from her own harem, she also introduced him to a man, Mustafa Efendi, who became the Sultan’s personal secretary and one of Mahmud’s many lovers. (And it is true that Nazip, happy living in the palace of Esma Sultan, thrice refused him, as was her right as Esma Sultan’s adopted daughter.)
And, yes, Esma Sultan, although a princess, had her own harem—as did many important and powerful eunuchs. A harem was a sign of status and wealth. In Esma Sultan’s case, her harem may have been largely a matter of housing slaves, servants, and female companions. She also had a female orchestra.
The massacre of the Janissaries was, regrettably, very true. Many of the aspects of that sad event were as I have portrayed them and the Bektashi Sufis were banished from Constantinople for their affiliation with the Janissary Corps.
Although there is no record of women’s polo in Constantinople itself, the neighboring lands in Persia and Armenia did indeed have women polo players in the royal court. Turkey has pre-Islamic legends of strong women riders who challenged men on horseback.
Nakshidil, or Aimée, was a young French girl of Martinique who was captured by the Barbary Pirates and sold into slavery. (She was the protagonist of Janet Wallach’s novel, Seraglio, Nan A. Talese Books, Doubleday.) Aimée was delivered to the Sultan Abdulhamid and named Nakshidil after his favorite wife, who had recently died and left a young son, Mahmud. The new Nakshidil took the place of the dead mother and raised Mahmud as her own son. She later became Valide Sultan when Mahmud II ascended the throne. (Mahmud himself just narrowly escaped death during the same struggle, when a servant woman threw ashes into the eyes of Mustafa II’s men and the young prince hid silently in a pile of laundry.)
Mustafa II was in power for only a few years before the political tide turned against him, and his younger half brother, Mahmud, was installed as the new Sultan.
Nakshidil always maintained that she was Empress Josephine’s cousin and she brought French music, language, and culture into the Serail and Topkapi. When she lay on her deathbed, her devoted son Mahmud II allowed a Christian priest to enter Topkapi and administer the last rites to his beloved mother.
The Greek doctor, Stephane Karatheodory, was the Sultan’s personal physician during the lifetime of Esma Sultan. Said to be able to read the Bible in eighteen languages, he was an intellectual who began a dynasty of court physicians to Mahmud’s sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons.
Research indicates that the people of Mecca did worship the moon, Al-ilah, before the coming of the Prophet, Mohammed. The passages that are commonly called “the Satanic Verses” are the same benign words that invite the intercession of women—specifically the gentle Al-Lat, the daughter star that borders the crescent moon—into man’s decision making. What is so terrible about inviting the feminine into the world? Here is an example of the Yin and Yang of the Near Orient and we realize that there was a time when the male and female—the moon and the sun—played a part in divinity and, arguably, everyday life in the Middle East.
And yet, the term “Satanic Verses” sounds so malevolent—such a misnomer for those few words in the suras, so beautiful and forgiving, so full of hope. The message was, and still is, an urgent prayer for equality and a universe that appreciates the feminine nature, with its gentle intercession and compassion.
The sons of Bezm-i Alem (also named Irena/Sophie in the novel) ascended the Ottoman throne. Abdulmecid (1839-61) became the benevolent Sultan who was known for his reforms of the strict Ottoman rule, his openness and benevolence toward other religions and cultures, and his love of women and wine (which, as alcohol, is forbidden unde
r Islamic law). I believe that his reign may have set the groundwork for the intellectual aspirations and accomplishments of progressive politics to come decades later—specifically for the democratic achievements of the great leader of the Turkish people, Mustafa Kemal or Ataturk.
And the Drowning Guard? When each lover was drowned, there had to be someone—an assassin—to carry out the murderous deed. I began to wonder what kind of man he would have been, the nightmares and regrets he would have endured, and started to write.
My gratitude to Philip Mansel for his exquisite and learned work about the Ottomans, for it was his account of Esma Sultan that inspired this novel.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Philip Mansel’s book Constantinople, City of the World’s Desire 1453-1924 was a major fount of information and inspiration for The Drowning Guard. Not only were his sections on the life of Esma Sultan critical to my novel but so were his descriptions of the Janissary Corps and their rebellion against the sultan in 1826.
Thank you to the country and people of Turkey and in particular, Istanbul.
The splendor of the city and the legends of Constantinople dazzled me. How could I not write about such a magical place?
My sister Nancy Elisha has read every page published and unpublished of my novels. Had she not given me early and steady encouragement, I may not have become a writer. I love you, Nancy.
Along the way there were friends who were early readers of this novel, long before it was published. Thanks to Sarah Kennedy Flug, Lucia Caretto, Nancy Kuhn, Ted Diamandopoulos, Anne Fitzgibbon Shusterman, and John and Susan Boslough. Thank you for keeping me afloat when my spirits dipped, enduring so many years without a publisher.
Editor and screenwriter Lindsay Guzzardo discovered my novels and believed in me. Eternal gratitude to you, Lindsay. I’ll never forget you.
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