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Lady-in-waiting
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===Ottoman Empire=== In the [[Ottoman Empire]], the word ''lady-in-waiting'' or court lady has often been used to describe those women of the [[Imperial harem|Imperial Harem]] who functioned as servants, secretaries, and companions of the consorts (concubines), daughters, sisters and mothers of the [[Ottoman Sultan]]. These women originally came to the Harem as slaves, captured through the [[Crimean slave trade]], the [[Barbary slave trade]] and the [[White slave trade]].<ref name="books.google.se">Madeline Zilfi: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=oo_AetRkC9UC&dq=Cariyes&pg=PA223 Women and Slavery in the Late Ottoman Empire: The Design of Difference] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414214634/https://books.google.com/books?id=oo_AetRkC9UC&dq=Cariyes&pg=PA223 |date=14 April 2023 }}''</ref> When they entered the Harem, they were given the position of ''[[Cariye]]'' and were all formally available as concubines to the Sultan, but if they were not chosen to share his bed, they served in a position similar to lady-in-waiting, serving the mother, concubines, sisters, and daughters of the Sultan.<ref name="books.google.se"/> The (enslaved) ladies-in-waiting of the Ottoman Imperial harem were collectively known as [[kalfa]], of different ranks. Each royal and royal concubine had their own household staff of kalfa; a kalfa serving as the servant of the sultan himself was titled ''Hünkar Kalfalari''.<ref>Brookes, Douglas Scott (2010). ''The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem''. University of Texas Press. {{ISBN|978-0-292-78335-5}}. s. 293–301</ref> A ''[[Hazinedar]]'' or ''Hazinedar Usta'' was a kalfa with special assignments rather than just an ordinary attendant, and was ranked under the ''Hazinedar Usta''.<ref name="Brookes, Douglas Scott 2010">Brookes, Douglas Scott (2010). ''The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem''. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78335-5. s. 293–301</ref> All kalfa belonging to the same household within the court were ranked under their ''Daire Kalfasi'', who was the supervisor of the kalfa's belonging to a specific royal person.<ref name="Brookes, Douglas Scott 2010"/> All ''Daire Kalfasi'' of the harem were rankend under the ''Büyük Kalfa'', who in turn was the supervisor of all the ''Daire Kalfasi'' of the court.<ref name="Brookes, Douglas Scott 2010"/> The highest ranked kalfa was the ''Saray Ustas'', who supervised all the kalfa of the entire court (harem).<ref name="Brookes, Douglas Scott 2010"/>
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