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{{short description|Kalfa of Nurbanu Sultan and Venetian spy}}
'''Chirana Kalfa''' or '''Chirana Hatun''' (born '''Chiara''', {{Floruit|1574|1595}}) was a [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] spy who worked at [[Constantinople]] during the reign of Ottoman Sultan [[Murad III]]. She was the personal servant of Sultan's mother, [[Nurbanu Sultan|Nurbanu]].
== Biography ==
Chiara was born in Venice during the XVI century. She was recruited by the [[Council of Ten]] as a spy and sent to Constantinople, where, thanks to the intercession of the brothers [[Gazanfer Agha|Gazanfer]] and [[Cafer Agha|Cafer Aga]], high-ranking spies close to Sultan [[Selim II]], she was brought into the [[Ottoman Imperial Harem|harem]]. With their help, Chiara, renamed Chirana, managed to rise through the ranks and in 1574 became the [[Kalfa|personal servant]] of [[Nurbanu Sultan]], wife of Selim II and mother of the newly ascended sultan, [[Murad III]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Iordanou |first=Ioanna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fMS4DwAAQBAJ&dq=Beatrice+Michiel&pg=PA178 |title=Venice's Secret Service: Organizing Intelligence in the Renaissance |date=2019-10-28 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-250883-6 |pages=177–178 |language=en}}</ref>
Together with [[Esther Handali]], Chirana formed a court faction with the aim of influencing Nurbanu towards a pro-Venetian policy, also exploiting the fact that Venice was Nurbanu's declared place of origin. Chirana achieved a high degree of influence and became very rich thanks to the bribes and gifts granted to her by the Venetian government.<ref name=":0" />
After Nurbanu's death in 1583, she continued her work with [[Safiye Sultan (mother of Mehmed III)|Safiye Sultan]], consort of Murad III and mother of [[Mehmed III]]. In 1591, in the harem arrived a new Venetian spy, [[Beatrice Michiel]], Gazanfer and Cafer's sister, who became a Chirana's ally versus [[Esperanza Malchi]], a close of Safiye Sultan and an anti-Venetian agent.<ref name=":0" />
== Note ==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Italian spies]]
[[Category:16th-century spies]]
[[Category:16th-century Venetian women]]
[[Category:16th-century women from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Courtiers from the Ottoman Empire]]