Osmanlı Mimarisinde Etkin Bir Kadın Bâni: Kethüdâ Canfedâ Hatun’un İmar Faaliyetleri
An Effective Woman in Ottoman Architecture: Kethudâ Canfedâ Hatun’s Construction Activities

Summary/Abstract: Construction is one of the ancient traditions of Turkish-Islamic civilization. At its heart is the desire to "do charity work." However, when evaluated in political and social aspects, the area of influence is quite wide. It is seen that benefactor women played an active role in different periods within the Turkic states. During the Seljuk era in Anatolia, the mothers and sisters of the sultans carried out various construction activities. Among the most important charitable works built by benefactor women in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are structures such as tombs and caravanserais. This ancient tradition is also seen in the Ottoman Empire. Since the fourteenth century, the importance of benefactor women, who contributed to the construction activities by constructing or renovating many different types of structures, increased exponentially in the coming centuries. Mosques are the center of charitable works, which the sultan's mother or sister mostly financed. However, it is seen that different types of structures such as fountains, schools, baths, bridges, free distribution of water, and libraries were also built. Although it is seen that more women from the dynasty did charitable works in the early periods, it is observed that some women who served in various statuses in the harem from the sixteenth century onwards engaged in similar activities. In the Ottoman Empire, the construction activities of benefactor women, not members of the dynasty increased from the second half of the sixteenth century. The charitable works carried out by Canfeda Hatun, the harem chamberlain during the period of Murad III (1574- 1595), was a breaking point in the formation of this situation.

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