242 "... His assistant was a harem girl who rose up from slavery to become his wife..." According to late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century sources such as the Polish poet Samuel Twardowski, she was born in the town which was then part of the Kingdom of Poland. She was captured by Crimean Tatars during one of their frequent raids into this region and taken as a slave, probably first to the Crimean city of Kaffa, a major centre of the slave trade, then to Istanbul, and was selected for Süleyman's harem. Suleiman was infatuated with Hurrem Sultana harem girl of Ruthenian origin. In the West foreign diplomats, taking notice of the palace gossip about her, called herb Russelazieb orb Roxolana, referring to her Slavic origins. The daughter of an Orthodox Ukrainian priest, she was captured and rose through the ranks of the Harem to become Suleiman's favorite. Breaking with two centuries of Ottoman tradition, a former concubine had thus become the legal wife of the Sultan, much to the astonishment of observers in the palace and the city. He also allowed Hurrem Sultan to remain with him at court for the rest of her life, breaking another tradition—that when imperial heirs came of age, they would be sent along with the imperial concubine who bore them to govern remote provinces of the Empire, never to return unless their progeny succeeded to the throne.
