Soyembika of Kazan
Encyclopedia
Söyembikä (1516 – after 1554) was a Tatar
Volga Tatars
The Volga Tatars are the largest subgroup of the Tatars, native to the Volga region.They account for roughly six out of seven million Tatars worldwide....

 ruler, xanbikä.

She was the regent of her son Kazan khan Ütämeşgäräy in (1549–51), the daughter of Nogay
Nogais
The Nogai people are a Turkic ethnic group in Southern Russia: northern Dagestan and Stavropol Krai, as well as in Karachay-Cherkessia and the Astrakhan Oblast; undefined number live in Chechnya...

 nobleman Yosıf bäk and the wife of Kazan khans Canğäli (1533–35), Safagäräy
Safa Giray of Kazan
Safa Giray was khan of Kazan Khanate between the years 1524-1531, 1535-1546 and 1546-1549. He was the son of Sahib Giray from the Crimean Khanate, brother of Moxammat Giray....

 (1536–49) and Şahğäli (after 1553). In 1551, after the first partial conquest of the Khanate of Kazan
Khanate of Kazan
The Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar state which occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El,...

 by Ivan the Terrible
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...

 she was forcibly moved to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 with her son and later married to Şahğäli, Russia-imposed khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...

 of Qasim and Kazan Tatars.

She is the national hero of Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...

. Her name is associated first of all with Söyembikä Tower
Söyembikä Tower
Söyembikä Tower , also called the Khan's Mosque , is probably the most familiar landmark and architectural symbol of Kazan. Once the highest structure of that city's kremlin, it used to be one of the so-called leaning towers. By the early 20th century, its inclination was estimated at...

, that Ivan the Terrible wanted to marry her, so she agreed that if he built her a tower made with seven tiers (one for each day of the week) then she would marry him. Well Ivan the Terrible supposedly finished the tower within the week so Söyembikä went up to the top of the tower and after looking out at her beautiful home of Kazan she became so overwhelmed with emotion for her people that she couldn't bear to marry the tyrannical tsar and jumped off. She is the direct ancestress of Prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...

 Felix Yussupov.
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