knowledge about the early history of kurdish women is limited by both the dearth of records and the near absence of research. in 1597 (16th century), prince sharaf ad-din bitlisi wrote a book titled sharafnama, which makes references to the women of the ruling landowning class, and their exclusion from public life and the exercise of state power. it says that the kurds of the ottoman empire, who follow islamic tradition, took four wives and, if they could afford it, four maids or slave girls. this regime of polygyny was, however, practiced by a minority, which included primarily the members of the ruling landowning class, the nobility, and the religious establishment. sharaf ad-din bitlisi also mentioned three kurdish women assuming power in kurdish principalities after the death of their husbands in order to transfer it to their sons upon their adulthood. while generally referring to women using degrading words, bitlisi extols the ability of the three women to rule in the manner of males, and calls one of them a "lioness". in the court of