Kameriye Malhun Hatun[3] ("moon" and "wealth"; also called Mal Hatun or Mala Hatun; died after 1326)[1] was the second legal wife of Osman I,[4][5] the leader of the Ottoman Turks and the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire. She was the mother of Sultan Orhan.[1]
Biography
According to some historians, she was the daughter of the Anatolian Turkish Bey, Ömer Bey.[2] In the past there have been many speculations that she was the daughter of Sheikh Edebali, as most of the historians during the Ottoman period accept that she was indeed his daughter, although her name has been a subject of conflict to this date, but now it is known that Edebali's daughter was Rabia Bala. Other sources say that she was the daughter of Ömer Abdülaziz Bey, SeljukVizier of Anatolia.[6][better source needed][1]
The 1324 endowment deed for a DervishMonastery built by Sultan Orhan suggests that his mother was not, as popular historical tradition maintains, Edebali's daughter but rather Mal Hatun, the daughter of one "Umar Bey or Ömer Bey". The title "Bey", used by the princely dynasties of Anatolia, suggests that Mal Hatun's father was a person of some status and authority. One possibility is that he was the eponymous ruler of an "Amouri" (Umeri) Principality, which was located northeast of the emerging Ottoman State and disappeared in the late 13th or the early 14th century.[citation needed]
The Amouri are described by the 13th century Byzantine historian George Pachymeres, who says that a son of Umar fought with Osman in one of his first raids against local Byzantine lords (the victory of Baphaion). The Ottomans, according to Pachymeres, went on to assume the role played by Amouri until their demise as the principal aggressor against the Byzantines in the northwest Anatolia. If Pachymeres's report is correct, the timing and the political context are appropriate for a marriage between Osman and Umar Bey's daughter.[7]
Bahadıroğlu, Yavuz, Resimli Osmanlı Tarihi, Nesil Yayınları (Ottoman History with Illustrations, Nesil Publications), 15th Ed., 2009, ISBN978-975-269-299-2 (Hardcover).