ABSTRACT
The Atik Valide was conceived and implemented to assert Nurbanu's exalted image as well as the legitimacy and prestige of the Ottoman dynasty. The affirmation of the grandeur of the imperial family by means of elaborate and frequent ceremonies was a defining Ottoman convention. True to the competitive nature of waqf-making specific to Ottoman female royal endowers, Nurbanu set out to surpass the legacies of her predecessors. Manifest at all levels of society, but especially prevalent among some ulema and bureaucrats, was the feeling that the key members of the Sublime Porte violated the time-honored practices of Ottoman statesmanship, jeopardizing the posterity of the empire. The political ideology behind the image-making enterprise is that the changes that were taking place in Ottoman state and society were not only natural and necessary, but also positive and conducive to the flourish of the Empire.
