Mahidevran - Sultan - one of the most famous concubines of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. For a long time it was believed that she was of Albanian or Montenegrin origin and ended up in a harem, being captured during the next military raid of the Turks on her native lands.
But, every day, history reveals the veils of secrecy to us, new archival documents emerge and new facts are added on various events.
It has already been proven by historians that Makhidevran belonged to the noble princely Besleney family of Kanukovs and was donated to the harem by the future sultan for political reasons.
But, today we will not talk about her, but about her brother.
Maashuk Kanukov, the younger brother of Mahidevran, was born around 1510.
In Russian archival documents, he was first mentioned in the Nikon Chronicle. According to this source, in November 1552, “the Cherkasy princes Maashuk prince and prince Ivan Ezbozlukov and Tanashuk prince came to the sovereign tsar to beat with their foreheads so that the sovereign would grant them, stand up for them, and take them with their lands to himself, and defend them from the Crimean king” .
That is, Maashuk Kanukov with other compatriot princes came to Tsar Ivan the Terrible to ask for citizenship and protection from the Crimean Khan Devlet Gerai. An interesting fact is that Devlet Giray is the cousin of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
Ivan the Terrible takes on the service of the Cherkasy princes and endows them with his mercy. Maashuk Kunakov becomes very close to the king and is baptized, receiving the new name Ivan. According to some sources, Ivan the Terrible himself becomes his godfather.
1552. Shehzade Mustafa is still alive - the son of Mahidevran and Suleiman - the main heir to the Sultan's throne. A year later, in 1553, he was executed on charges of preparing a coup d'état.
Shehzade Mustafa hurried and made several fatal mistakes that led him to the death penalty.
He underestimated his father and, most likely, could not even imagine that his own father would decide to kill him.
If the native nephew of Maashuk Kanukov, shehzade Mustafa, had taken the Ottoman throne, then Ivan the Terrible would certainly have taken advantage of the kinship of his subject. At a minimum, trade and military ties between Russia and Turkey would improve.
But history does not tolerate the subjunctive "if". And fate would have it so that everything turned out in this way.
And at this time, Ivan, and not Maashuk Kanukov, accompanies Ivan the Terrible to Kolomna, and later the tsar sends him to fight in the advanced regiment in the city of Tula. The advanced regiment at the beginning of the battle always formed the first line, which took the first blow of the enemy. This only says that Ivan Kanukov was a strong and brave warrior, and these talents were noted by the Russian Tsar.
According to the Discharge Book, in 1558 Ivan Kanukov served in Vyshegorod. When active operations began in Livonia in the autumn of the same year, he was sent with an advanced regiment to Pskov, from where an offensive was launched against the city of Rakovor in Estonia.
Military successes in this military campaign ensured the temporary annexation of the east of Estonia to the Muscovite state.
Ivan Kanukov proved himself to be a brave and skillful warrior, and his fame spread throughout many cities.
The success of the Russian troops in military operations against the Crimean Khanate and Turkey prompted the Western Adyghe princes to turn to Moscow with a request that the tsar give them his governor to control the troops. In 1560, Ivan the Terrible sent them the governor Dmitry Vishnevetsky and Prince Ivan Kanukov.
Ivan Kanukov died in 1562 in a battle with the Turks. In the memorial book for the murdered, an entry was preserved about him: “To the blessed prince Amashuk Cherkassky, who was killed by the wicked Turks for the Orthodox faith, eternal memory.”
And in 1565, the Joseph-Volotsky Monastery received from Ivan the Terrible a contribution in the amount of 30 rubles for the commemoration of Ivan Amashuk, Prince of Cherkassky.
This was the fate of his brother Mahidevran Sultan.