Neshedil Kadinefendi (Turkish: Neşedil Kadınefendi)(Arabic: نشئة دل فادين افندی)(c. 1857 - 30 January 1924) was a consort to KhediveIsma'il Pasha of Egypt.
Turkish, also referred to as Istanbul Turkish, is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around ten to fifteen million native speakers in Southeast Europe and sixty to sixty-five million native speakers in Western Asia. Outside Turkey, significant smaller groups of speakers exist in Germany, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Greece, the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia. Cyprus has requested that the European Union add Turkish as an official language, even though Turkey is not a member state.
The term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha, the governor of Egypt and Sudan, and vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The initially self-declared title was officially recognized by the Ottoman government in 1867, and used subsequently by Ismail Pasha, and his dynastic successors until 1914.
Isma'il Pasha, known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, he greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanisation, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa.
Born in 1857 in Caucasus, Neshedil was a Georgian, whose early childhood had been spent in the mountains. Disaster overtook the clan when Neshedil was aged seven. She along with her brother were captured during the raid and were sold to a slave dealer. He took them to Istanbul, where they were separated, and she never again saw or heard of her brother. She herself was brought by the wife of a pasha, who educated her according to the custom of the time. The child was kindly treated, received careful religious instruction, and was taught to read but not to write, as the latter accomplishment might have been an inducement to her pen love letters. She also became an accomplished needlewoman and learned to make the finest lace, oya, and embroidery.
The Caucasus or Caucasia is an area situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and occupied by Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus mountain range, which has historically been considered a natural barrier between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
The Georgians or Kartvelians are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, United States, and throughout the European Union.
Istanbul, formerly known as Byzantium and Constantinople, is the most populous city in Turkey and the country's economic, cultural and historic center. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosporus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives in suburbs on the Asian side of the Bosporus. With a total population of around 15 million residents in its metropolitan area, Istanbul is one of the world's most populous cities, ranking as the world's fourth largest city proper and the largest European city. The city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Istanbul is viewed as a bridge between the East and West.
Life with the Khedive
At fifteen she was sold to the Khedive Ismail and went to Egypt. Together with other young Circassians she spent a year in the Guezireh Palace, being trained for a life for court, and was named Neshedil (meaning "joy of soul"). She was about sixteen Khedive Ismail gave her a separate establishment in the Zaaferan Palace, with fifty Circassian and thirty Abyssinian slaves of her own. Her clothes, lingerie, and house linen were ordered from Paris. After she had settled in her new surroundings, the Khedive said that it was time for her to go and visit his senior wives at the Abdin Palace. Trembling inwardly, she went dressed in the finest Brussels lace over a pale blue satin, with a necklace and earrings of rubies and diamonds. Outwardly she maintained her composure and her radiant beauty caused a sensation. Neither of them had expected so much grace and loveliness.
Abdeen Palace is a historic Cairo palace, and one of the official residences and the principal workplace of the President of Egypt, located above Qasr el-Nil Street in eastern Downtown Cairo, Egypt.
Ismail's unflagging devotion to her raised such a storm of jealousy that after the birth of her second child, during one of her visits to Abdin, she was served with poisoned coffee. Feeling desperately ill, Neshedil hurried home, nearly dying on the way. The efforts to save her were successful. She slowly came back to life, but never to her former health. After giving birth to a premature son, she was debarred from having other children. Neshedil Kadin Effendi never mentioned names and disliked to talk about the incident. Ismail was so enraged that he made over to her name the title deeds of the Insha and small Ismailieh Palaces, a gift such as he had never made to any of his former wives, and offered her a set of diamonds, comprising a tiara, with matching earrings, necklace, brooch, belt, bracelets, and rings. He also advised her never again to take food or drink outside her own house. Contrary to his expectations, on receiving his gift Neshedil burst into tears, fell on her knees, and implored him not to give her anything that might cause further jealousy. She firmly refused the jewels, and only when threatened with the Khedive's displeasure reluctantly accepted the palaces. In Zaaferan Palace two daughter had been born to her, Emina Aziza, in 1874, and Nimetullah, in 1875, both in September.
When Hoshyar Kadinefendi died in 1885, Neshedil and her daughters went to Naples to rejoin the Khedive Ismail. Four years later, in 1889, the whole family sailed to Emirgan, on the Bosphorus near Istanbul. At Emirgan Neshedil, Princess Emina Aziza and Princess Nimetullah occupied the yali on the Tokmakburnu promontory, one of the seven buildings on Ismail's estate. He himself lived in the largest of four yalis, the other houses being at the disposal of his married sons and daughters, who came to visit him during the warm season.
Later years
The tomb of Neshedil Kadinefendi
The Khedive's death in 1895 caused Neshedil, whose health had deteriorated after months of sick nursing, to fall seriously ill. She eventually recovered, but remained an invalid for the rest of her life. Henceforth she dedicated herself entirely to her daughters and, later, to her grandchildren. After both daughters were married and settled in their own homes, she used to live with either one or the other, but chiefly with the elder, who needed her companionship more. She traveled a great deal on the European continent, with one or both of her daughters, to various spas or towns famous for their doctors, notably in Switzerland. She and her daughter Emina were always under doctor's orders, seeking the health which eluded them.
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a country situated in western, central, and southern Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The sovereign state is a federal republic bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning a total area of 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8.5 million people is concentrated mostly on the plateau, where the largest cities are to be found: among them are the two global cities and economic centres Zürich and Geneva.
Death and burial
Neshedil Kadinefendi died in Nice, France, on 30 January 1924, and was buried at the Khedival Mausoleum, Al-Rifa'i Mosque, Cairo, Egypt. Neshedil's tomb sits in the center of the mausoleum flanked by the tombs of her two daughters.[1]
Nice is the seventh most populous urban area in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département. The metropolitan area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of about 1 million on an area of 721 km2 (278 sq mi). Located in the French Riviera, on the south east coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Alps, Nice is the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast and the second-largest city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region after Marseille. Nice is approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) from the principality of Monaco and 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the French-Italian border. Nice's airport serves as a gateway to the region.
France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.
Al-Rifa'i Mosque, is located in Cairo, Egypt, in Midan al-Qal'a, adjacent to the Cairo Citadel. The building is located opposite the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, which dates from around 1361, and was architecturally conceived as a complement to the older structure. This was part of a vast campaign by the 19th century rulers of Egypt to both associate themselves with the perceived glory of earlier periods in Egypt's Islamic history and modernize the city. The mosque was constructed next to two large public squares and off of several European style boulevards constructed around the same time.
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