Person
Esther Handali—kyra of the Sultan's court אסתר חנדלי
the Jewess through whom the harem spoke to the world
A Sephardi woman, widow of the merchant Elia Handali. She served Nurbanu Sultan, then Safiye; from 1578 Venice's dealings with the sultana went through her—the Republic trusted her enough to give her a charter. To the community of Constantinople she was a generous benefactress.
She died in her bed in December 1588. The current "about 1590" is imprecise, and one confusion needs a plain word: the kyra Esperanza Malchi was killed in 1600, and her terrible end is often ascribed to Handali. They are two different women.
On the timeline
Places
Related
Sources
Documents of the period
- The Venetian dispatches and the charter of 1587 — the mediation between the Republic and the harem
Scholarship
- The standard reference works and encyclopedias — the years of service, the death in 1588 and the confusion with Esperanza Malchi
Basis: Talmud and midrash.