In a Relazioni by Ragazzoni in 1571, Ragazzoni mentions that Selim “formally” married Nurbanu “against Ottoman customs, as a great sign of his love, … ,and to surpass his father, who had paid his mother, … ,only (!) 100,000 ducats” 

Her legal marriage to Selim took place, Ragazzoni mentioned it was “against” Ottoman tradition, but Haseki Hurrem Sultan was the first slave concubine to eventually marry an Ottoman Sultan and Nurbanu wasn’t the first woman to become Haseki. However, she received 110,000 ducats, an increase from the 100,000 ducats that Hurrem had received when she married Suleyman. With this slight monetary difference, Nurbanu was planting the seeds of her future as the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. 

Nurbanu’s transformation to Valide Sultan was gradual. While Selim was still alive, she adopted this “twin title” identity, and started to openly refer to herself as “Selim’s Favorite and Murad’s Valide”, therefore making Prince Murad a core part of her identity and title. 

Cavalli’s relazione in Cronaca Lippomano: mentioned, he highlights Nurbanu was flaunting **her twin titles, “Wife of the Signor” and “Mother of Sultan Murad”**

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>!“!<>!Cecilia Venier Baffo!<>!”!< 

>!Marino Cavalli, a prominent Venetian patrician, served multiple diplomatic missions and was stationed as bailo in Istanbul in 1566, sending vital dispatches through 1567. Cavalli’s diplomatic correspondence is among the first to note that the Sultana \*herself\* openly spoke of her “noble” Venetian descent. However, her exact lineage or her noble childhood identity has never been proven. Nurbanu may or may not have created this “Venier Baffo” identity to legitimize her legal status.!< 

>!In his report, (presented to the Venetian Senate in 1568 after his mission to Istanbul): Cavalli admitted the impossibility of coming to a consensus about whether Nurbanu hailed from Corfu or Paros, or whether she was a descendant of the noble Venetian Venier family.!< 

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As the years passed, she abandoned her title as Haseki to focus exclusively on the role of Valide, this identity shift was also documented in the Ottoman imperial archives. 

This transformation is clearly illustrated in an entry from 23 Ramadan 973 (1570) involving the supply of marble to be used in the construction of Nurbanu’s religious architectural project, the **Atik Valide Mosque**. (A. Refik, Altınay On Altıncı Asırda Istanbul Hayatı) In this document Nurbanu refers to herself exclusively as “**mother of my son, the honorable Murad**” (“*ferzendi ercümend oğlum Murad validesi.*”) **while it was her husband, Sultan Selim II was the ruling Sultan**, not her son. 

Selim, acting on behalf of the Valide Sultan, ordered the kadis of Sabancı and İznikmid to swiftly collect the marble required for the construction from the fields, meadows, and dilapidated buildings. He also instructed them to fully compensating the owners if necessary, and asked them to be cautious of disturbing any occupied residences. The imperial decree issued by him in 1570 for Nurbanu’s mosque project orders the construction workers to: 

“by no means have a person’s home or possession demolished under the pretext of obtaining the marble, hence refrain yourselves from going against the Holy Law.”

He had issued a number of imperial decrees for the construction of Nurbanu’s “Atik Valide Mosque Complex” and referred to as “Valide Sultan” Selim II, with these imperial decrees seems to **strengthen the position of Murad III as his heir and elevate the status of Nurbanu to the mother of his successor**. Even tho he was not monogamous with Nurbanu, and had fathered a number of children, see https://www.reddit.com/r/sultanateofwomen/s/3XoejBF1vo Selim seems to respect and promote Nurbanu’s status as the mother of his eldest son and heir. 

Bailo Soranzo had depicted Nurbanu’s arrival to the capital as Selim’s favorite after he ascended the throne in 1566:

“*The most Serene Signor’s Haseki has arrived, that is, his most favored woman, Sultan Murat’s mother, who is said to be extremely loved and honored by His Majesty, both for her extreme beauty and rarest intellect…*”

In this sense, we can say **Selim paved the way for Nurbanu’s eventual success as the first Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire**, and laid the building blocks of her power and influence which would tremendously increase after 1574. Compared to Haseki Hurrem Sultan’s role and gift exchange during the Polish Ottoman Alliance for instance (I think it’s a bit unfair to compare anyone to Hurrem anyway), Nurbanu stayed behind the scenes during Selim’s reign due to Sokollu’s absolute dominance of state politics, and didn’t exert power on a similar level to her predecessor Hurrem while she was still Haseki, she wasn’t simply waiting for her fate to change, but building her way up with this pious architectural project and identity shift and also forming relationships and making connections with her Kira Esther and Jewish prominent figure Joseph Nassi. Within a year following Selim’s accession to the throne, Joseph Nasi was promoted Duke of Naxos with the combined power and Selim and Nurbanu. 

Nurbanu’s “twin titles”: Her shift from “Selim’s wife” to “Murad’s mother”