Hunat Hatun

Mahpari Khatun (; ), also known as Khwand Khatun, Huand Khatun or Hunad Khatun (; ) was the wife of Kayqubad I and the mother of Kaykhusraw II. She commissioned madrasas, soup kitchens, and many other works in various parts of Anatolia. A large complex bearing her name is located in Kayseri.

Life The ethnic origin of Mahpari Huand Khatun is disputed. Some historians believe that she was Greek, while others believe that she was Armenian. Huand Khatun's father was Kir Vard, the ruler of Kalonoros (Alanya) Castle near Antalya. Although some sources identify her father as the son of an Armenian notable named Adom, the title "Kir" (kyr) indicates that he was in Byzantine service. Her uncle was the ruler of Alara Castle.

In 1146, Byzantium, which had besieged but failed to capture Konya, withdrew its authority from Anatolia; following the Battle of Myriokephalon and the Fourth Crusade, its connection with the Mediterranean coast was severed, and cities that acted independently in the Mediterranean emerged. Kir Vard, who handed over the castle to him, was granted Akşehir and two villages as property. It is understood from a letter written by her son Kaykhusraw II to the Latin emperor Baldwin in Constantinople that she remained Christian after her marriage until her husband's death.

Hunad Mahpari Khatun, who spent most of her life at the Keykubadiye Palace in Kayseri, had a son named Kaykhusraw II from her marriage to Sultan Kayqubad I. Kayqubad contracted a second marriage with Malika Adila (Gaziye Khatun), daughter of the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt, al-Malik al-Adil, and had two daughters and two sons from this marriage; in 1237, he declared his middle son Izz al-Din Kilij Arslan heir. When the sultan suddenly died, allegedly by poisoning, shortly afterward, a major struggle took place between the two sultan's wives to place their own sons at the head of the state. With the assistance of the viziers and emirs of the period, especially Sa'd al-Din Köpek,

There is also a popular legend that attributes Hunat Khatun's conversion to Islam to Sheikh Turasan Veli, for whom she had a lodge built on Tekke Mountain in İncesu and to whom she donated the extensive surrounding land as a charitable endowment. Her tomb does not state her date of death. However, based on the inscription on her sarcophagus, which reads "...the late and martyred Ghiyath al-Din Kaykhusraw ibn Kayqubād's mother Mahpari Khatun," she is thought to have been alive in 1246, when her son was martyred. In addition, Ibn Bibi's accounts state that she was alive in 1254, when the vizier Jalal al-Din Qaratay died.

It is thought that she had the tomb within the complex in Kayseri built during her lifetime. Because of her former Christian identity and her husband's controversial death, she is thought to have acted cautiously politically and stayed away from the capital, Konya. She concentrated her construction activities not only in Kayseri but also around Tokat, Amasya, Yozgat, and Sivas. She had large-scale caravanserais built in these areas. Her title appears in inscriptions as "Safwat al-Dunyā wa’l-Dīn Mah-Peri Khātūn" (the pride of religion and the world). Such expressions were reserved for rulers; women's names did not follow the title "Safwat al-Dunyā wa’l-Dīn". The use of the name Mahpari Khatun with this title indicates that she wielded considerable power during her son's reign.