not to meddle any more with the women till his master's return." The greatest crisis Safiye endured as a valide sultan stemmed from her reliance on her kira, Esperanza Malchi. A kira was a non-Muslim woman (typically Jewish) who acted as an intermediary between a secluded woman of the harem and the outside world, serving as a business agent and secretary. Malchi reportedly attempted to influence Safiye (and through her the sultan) negatively in their policy toward the Republic of Venice in conflict with the Venetian spy Beatrice Michiel, which on at least one occasion caused an open conflict at court. In 1600, the imperial cavalry rose in rebellion at the influence of Malchi and her son, who had amassed over 50 million aspers in wealth. Safiye was held responsible for this, along with the debased currency the troops were paid with, and nearly suffered the wrath of the soldiers, who brutally killed Malchi and her son. Mehmed III was forced to say "he would counsel his mother and correct his servants." To prevent the soldiers from suspecting her influence over the Sultan, Safiye persuaded Mehmed to have his decrees written out by the Grand Vizier, instead of personally signing them. Safiye was instrumental in the execution of her grandson Mahmud in 1603, having intercepted a message sent to his mother by a religious seer, who predicted that Mehmed III would die in six months and be succeeded by his son. According to the English ambassador, Mahmud was distressed at "how his father was altogether led by the old Sultana his Grandmother and the state went to Ruin, she respecting nothing but her own desire to get money, and often lamented thereof to his mother," who was "not favored of the Queen mother." The prince was therefore a serious threat to her and her son's reign. The sultan, provoked by her, suspecting a plot and jealous of his son's popularity, had him strangled. Mehmed III was succeeded by his son Ahmed I in 1603. One of his first major decisions was to deprive his grandmother of power—she was banished to the Old Palace on Friday, 9 January 1604. This was the end of her reign, which lasted for 19 years through her husband and son. When Ahmed I's brother Mustafa I became sultan in 1617, his mother Halime Sultan received 3,000 aspers as valide sultan although her mother-in-law Safiye was