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As far as I have learnt there was a princess named Ayesa (Hatun), daughter of Meñli I Giray of Crimean, who was first married off to Shehzade Mehmed, brother of Sultan Selim 1. After the death of the prince she was married off to Sultan Selim 1. So, we can say, marriage was not totally forbidden for Ottoman dynasties.

So why is it always said that Sultan Suleiman broke the marriage rule for Hurrem Sultan?

Ref-Breaking with Ottoman tradition, Suleiman married Hurrem, making her his legal wife (Wikipedia)

Walida Hafsa Sultan had 3 children-Sultan Suleiman and two more daughters and Sultan Suleiman was the eldest of them. So we can say that the one son - one mother rule had been broken before Hurrem came. So why is it said that Hurrem Sultan was the first Sultana who gave birth to more children even after giving birth to a son?

Ref-Hurrem was allowed to give birth to more than one son which was a stark violation of the old imperial harem principle, "one concubine mother — one son," Wikipedia

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    Thank you for the question and welcome to the site. To help us to do research, can you clarify: Who said that Sulieman broke the marriage rule? Which marriage rule? In what context? When did this happen? You say "as far as I have learnt" - can you provide citations? history without citations is like physics without units.
    – MCW
    Dec 1, 2020 at 12:20
  • Does Wikipedia answer the question? I can't tell because it isn't clear to me which rule is being violated. Clearly Ayesa was a formidable woman and "Never before was a former slave elevated to the status of the sultan's lawful spouse, much to the astonishment of observers in the palace and in the city." - could that be the source of the controversy?
    – MCW
    Dec 1, 2020 at 12:27
  • Breaking with Ottoman tradition, Suleiman married Hurrem, making her his legal wife , i learnt this from Wikipedia Dec 1, 2020 at 13:08
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    thanks for the edit - it helps.
    – MCW
    Dec 1, 2020 at 13:10
  • Hurrem was allowed to give birth to more than one son which was a stark violation of the old imperial harem principle, "one concubine mother — one son," I got this also from Wikipedia Dec 1, 2020 at 13:10

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Prior to Hurrem, an arrangement known as the Sultanate of Women prevented the Sultan from marrying and designating a wife. Instead, beautiful women from the kingdom were placed in the Sultan's harem and designated as "concubines," which made them potential mothers for the Sultan's children. The official reason was that many women were unable to bear sons that lived, so this arrangement was designed to keep the sultan from "committing" to one woman. Instead, the idea was that each concubine would have at most one son, and then the mother-son teams would fight it out for the sultanate after the current sultan died, with the mother of the successful sultan being the second most powerful person in the kingdom after the sultan himself. For instance, Suleiman had only one surviving son, Mustafa, by an earlier consort, Mahidevran.

As noted in your first paragraph, the rule had already been "frayed" in favor of a woman named Ayesa, who was married "in steps" first to the Sultan's brother, and later the Sultan himself. But it was Suleiman who abolished the rule permanently.

Hurrem caused Suleiman to revise this rule. (Details in the next paragraph.) The reasons are 1) she was extremely beautiful 2) she bore more than one surviving son 3) She won extreme favor with the sultan, to the point where he was willing to defy his own people, and 4) She was extremely astute politically, and capable of acting as Suleiman's "co-ruler," a role usually played by the sultan's mother. Finally, the sultan in question was "Suleiman the Magnificent" whose successes abroad gave him more "leeway" at home.

Because of the above, Suleiman broke or changed the conditions of his marriage, and made Hurrem a full "wife" (in the western sense of the word), elevating her above all other concubines in the harem. Her new title was Haseki Sultan, which gave her a monopoly on bearing potential heirs to the throne (at least after the execution of Mustafa). This effectively made her "second in command" to the sultan, a status not generally enjoyed by queens consort in Europe and Asia.

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