period of service and training was known as acemilik (novitiate) before they were eligible to gain promotions within the system. There was a strict hierarchical system of status and role within the harem and s. They were promoted according to their capacities, intellect, and skill. The harem was broken down into two main groups: those who directly served the sultan as consorts and those who worked in the service of the sultan, the dynasic family, and other high-ranking members of the harem. All women and girls would enter the harem as acemi cariyes, and work their way up to acemilik, then sakird (apprentices), in hopes of eventually being promoted to the role of a gedikli (directly waited on the sultan), usta (mistress), or even kadin (consort) if they were lucky enough. The s with whom the sultan shared his bed became a member of the dynasty and rose in rank to attain the status of ('the favorite'), ikbal ('the fortunate') or kadin ('the woman/wife'). The highest position was the , the legal mother of the sultan, who herself used to be a wife or a concubine of the sultan's father and rose to the supreme rank in the harem. No court lady could leave or enter the premises of the harem without the explicit permission of the . The power of the over concubines even extended to questions of life and death, with eunuchs directly reporting to her. The court ladies either lived in the halls beneath the apartments of the consorts, the and the sultan, or in separate chambers. The s, who numbered up to four, formed the group who came next in rank to the . Right below the s in rank were the s, whose number was unspecified. Last in the hierarchy were the s. During 16th and 17th centuries, chief consort of the sultan received the title haseki sultan or sultana consort. This title surpassed other titles and ranks by which the prominent consorts of the sultans had been known (hatun and kadın). When the position of was vacant, a could take on the 's role, have access to considerable economic resources, become chief of the Imperial Harem, become the sultan's advisor in political matters, and even have an influence upon foreign policy and international politics. Such cases happened during the eras of the Hürrem Sultan and Kösem Sultan. Royal concubines of non- status In the