During the reign of Selim I, which means some time between the 1510s to 1520, Crimean Tatars kidnapped her during one of their Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe. The Tatars may have first taken her to the Crimean city of Kaffa, a major centre of the Ottoman slave trade, before she was taken to Istanbul. In Istanbul, Valide Hafsa Sultan selected Hurrem as a gift for her son, Suleiman. Hurrem later managed to become the Haseki Sultan or "favorite concubine" of the Ottoman imperial harem. Michalo Lituanus wrote in the 16th century that "the most beloved wife of the present Turkish emperor – mother of his first who will govern after him, was kidnapped from our land".