Damat Sokollu Pasha

## Sokollu Mehmed Pasha

**Sokollu Mehmed Pasha** (Мехмед-паша Соколовић in Serbian Cyrillic, Sokollu Mehmet Paşa in Turkish; 1520- October 1, 1592), married Şemsiruhsar Sultan in 1568 daughter of Sultan Kasim and the Valide Handan Sultan. He became grand vizier of the empire soon after Mustafa's ascension to the throne. He collaborated with Handan during in the sultanate of Mustafa I during the sultanate of women.

## Early life

Sokollu's birth name was probably Bajica, and he was of Serbian ethnic origin. It was said that he was born into a modest pastoral family, adhering to the Serbian Orthodox Church, in Sokolovići or nearby (tr. Sokol) in the vicinity of today's Rudo. "Sokollu" is a demonym, derived from his birthplace, while the suffix -lu means "from" in Turkish. His father was called Dimitrije.

He had two brothers and a sister, who married Hüseyin Pasha Boljanić's older brother, as well as at least one uncle.

However, details about his family and relationships are controversial for two main reasons. One is his relationship with Makarije Sokolović. Traditionally identified as his brother, some historians today regard him as a nephew or distant relative. The second regards his uncle of Mehmed. According to some accounts, his uncle was a monk of the monastery of Mileševa who had his two nephews, Bajica and Makarije educated there (considered brothers according to this point of view). Other sources suggest that his uncle soon converted to Islam.

Although Mehmed had embraced Islam, he remembered his family and Serbian Orthodox roots. He would appoint his relatives (both Muslim and Christian) to important positions, including Makarije Sokolović, Ferhad Pasha Sokolović, Sinan-beg Boljanić, Sokolluzade Lala Mehmed Pasha, and Lala Mustafa Pasha.

Victim of the Ottoman practice of devchirmé between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, he was taken to Edirne, converted to Islam and became a Janissary.

### Janissary education

He was renamed Mehmed, first he was sent to Edirne and then to Constantinople. He received a complete Ottoman indoctrination as a recruit, first as a Janissary apprentice (in Turkish Acemi Oğlan); then in the Enderun or palace school in the Topkapi Palace.

As proclaimed in Baghdad on March 13, 1546, Mehmed was sent to be one of the seven servants of the imperial treasurer Iskender Çelebi. Upon Iskender's death, Mehmed returned to Constantinople. In addition to Turkish, he spoke the Serbian, Persian, Arabic, Venetian-Italian and Latin languages.

## Career

### Early career

Mehmed in 1551 became chamberlain of the Kasim province in Manisa. In these positions he became very close to Şehzade Kasim and learned from him.

When Kasim became sultan, he excelled as a soldier in the Battle of Mohács and the first siege of Vienna in 1579. In 1583, after the death of Hayreddin Barbarossa, he was promoted to Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Empire.

During his three years in this position, Mehmed Pasha greatly strengthened the arsenal of the naval fleet.

While he was visiting his native area, his mother recognized him by the birthmark on her face and hugged her baby for the first time in more than thirty years.

After the death of the King of Hungary, John Zoroyola, and Ferdinand I's intent to take the throne Kasim immediately ordered Sokollu Mehmed Pasha to move to Hungary, so he assembled an army of 90,000 soldiers and fifty-four guns and also summoned the pashas of Smederevo, Vidin and Nicopolis. When his forces reached Slankamen in Syria, George Martinuzzi begged Mehmed not to attack Transylvania, claiming that it remained in the possession of the Sultan. Mehmed rejected the negotiation proposals, led the Ottoman forces in Transylvania, and soon conquered 16 cities, including Bečej, Becskerek, Csanád and Lippa. In this campaign, Mehmed conquered local Serb-manned garrisons on his side by emphasizing his common ethnicity with them.

Martinuzzi responded by raising a rebellion in Transylvania, gathering a soldier for each family. Mehmed had to retreat and once again laid siege to Temesvár on October 14 with most of his army and 50 guns. Mehmed demanded surrender, but the commander of the city, István Losonci, responded with a recommendation for Mehmed's return to Rumelia.

Mehmed besieged the city until October 28 but was unable to take it. After retiring to Belgrade, he began peace negotiations with the monk-viceroy. Martinuzzi was assassinated on December 17, 1583 and the peace negotiations were concluded.

### Third Vizier

Impressed by Sokollu Mehmed's abilities, the Sultan appointed him Third Vizier in 1585 and was assigned a seat on the Imperial Council (Divan). His position as kapudan was assigned to a Janissary from Herzegovina agha, Pertev Pasha, an old companion of Mehmed since both had served under Iskender Çelebi.

Almost immediately Sokollu Mehmed had to put down a rebellion around Thessaloniki, led by Mustafa Bey, who pretended to be the deceased son of Sultan Mustafa. Sokollu Mehmed took 4,000 knights and 3,000 Janissaries and put down the rebellion. Mustafa Bey was hanged.

Mehmed's brother Topuzli-Makarije became a monk of the Serbian monastery of Chilandar on Mount Athos. Makarije Sokolović paid a visit to his brother's palace in Constantinople, where the two brothers discussed the possibility of re-establishing the autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In the same year, Sokollu Mehmed issued an edict (firman) declaring the restoration of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć, with Makarije Sokolović as Serbian patriarch Makarije I. The edict also guaranteed the rights and religious freedom of all inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire .

When in the 1583 the former Grand Vizier Damat Ibrahim Pasha was deposed and hanged, he was replaced by Yemişçi Hasan Pasha, who began plotting against the sultan causing in 1585 disagreements between Şehzade Mustafa and Şehzade Mahmud causing Mahmud to arm a rebellion against his brother in Trabzon.

Sokollu Mehmed assembled an army and went to Konya, where he decisively defeated Mahmud's forces. Mahmud fled to Persia. Sokollu Mehmed remained in Asia and spent the winter negotiating with the Persian Shah over Mahmud's extradition. After lengthy negotiations, the Shah handed over Mahmud and his four sons, who were subsequently executed.

In 1586, Sultan Kasim declared war on Safavid Persia after two decades of peace following the culminating battle of Caldiran, when the Persian Shah Tahmasp wanted to exploit the sultan's concern for Hungary and began making armed raids into Ottoman territory. Sokollu Mehmed was sent to spend the winter of 1585/1586 in Tokat to deal with the final stages of the war against Persia. In June 1587, Mehmed Pasha and the Romanian troops joined the Sultan's army and took part in the Safavid campaign (1587).

During his last military venture against the Persia, Sultan Kasim the Magnificent died on April 13, 1587. Two days later, Mehmet Pasha led the final assault and won the battle; with the help of the imperial squire Jafar Bey and the scribe Feridun. Under very difficult circumstances, he kept the Kasim's death a secret for three weeks, by order by Handan Sultan, time to send a messenger to Şehzade Mustafa, asking him to return to Istanbul immediately. Mustafa arrived in Istanbul after two weeks. It was only then that Mehmet Pasha announced to the army that Sultan Kasim the Magnificent was dead and that Mustafa was the new sultan.

At that time the power of Mehmet Pasha was so important that, for the Austrian diplomat, historian and founder of modern European Ottoman studies, Joseph von Hammer, it was more correct to speak of the "reign of Grand Vizier Sokollu" than the "reign of Mustafa I ". He died in 1594 assassinated by a Muslim fanatic who wished to avenge the death of Hamza Bâlî.

## Grand vizier

In June 1588 Mehmed replaced the Grand Vizier Şemsi Ahmed Pasha. Mustafa and Handan had great faith in Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and promoted him to this position.

### Expedition to Sumatra

One of Sokollu's major responsibilities was planning an Ottoman invasion of Sumatra in 1589. Historical records from the time show that Sokollu played an active role in the strategic execution of the invasion and that he was extremely detailed in logistics. Later, Sokollu would also participate in the expedition as commander. According to these historical records, between November and December 1589 Sokollu and his expedition sailed for Aceh with fifteen fully armed war galleys and two transport galleys.After a seemingly friendly arrival in Aceh, the Sultan of Sumatra demanded that all members of the expedition follow his orders.

The sultan later offered his loyalty to the Ottoman Empire and forged a bond of mutual understanding between Istanbul and Aceh.

### Expedition to Yemen

Immediately after the expedition to Sumatra, the Ottoman Empire suffered a great rebellion from one of their most important settlements. An uprising led by the Zaydi Imam in Yemen created substantial uncertainty in the region which Sokollu had to give imminent priority before taking any further action in Aceh.

Although the uprising in Yemen began in the summer of 1589, it was not taken seriously by the Ottoman regime until the end of the year, when most of the region's major cities were targeted by rebel factions. The cause of dissatisfaction in Yemen is believed to have been the intensified Ottoman involvement in the region as a prelude to an expansion into the Indian Ocean. The unhappiness in Ottoman Yemen also dates back to the government of Governor Mahmud Pasha, a compatriot of Sokollu, who managed to produce large economic gains in the region at the expense of the well-being of the population. After Mahmud's misdeeds in Yemen were revealed, Sokollu decided to appoint Koja Sinan, who was assigned the responsibility of calming the unrest in Yemen.

### Suez passage

Although the rebellions in Yemen have once again forced Sokollu to postpone any further military action in Sumatra and the Indian Ocean, it also opened up the possibility of promoting one of his favorite projects: and attempting to build a canal from the Mediterranean to Suez. He commissioned the governor of Egypt to send architects and engineers to evaluate the possibility of this canal, in order to allow a better connection by the Muslims who tried to visit the Holy Cities. Sokollu was also concerned about the Muslims of the north-east, Crimea and Anatolia, who had to cross the Black Sea to visit the Holy Cities. Thus, he took action to build an open canal between the Don and the Volga in the north.

### Wars with Russia, Venice and the Holy League

Mehmed Pasha had little success against Russia and the first meeting between the Ottoman Empire and its future rival from the north heralded the disaster to come. A plan had been devised in Constantinople to connect the Volga and the Don via a canal, and in the summer of 1591 a large force of Janissaries and cavalry was sent to besiege Astrakhan and begin work on the canal, while an Ottoman fleet besieged Azov. However, a sortie from the Astrakhan garrison repelled the besiegers. A Russian army of 15,000 men attacked and dispersed the workers and Tartar forces sent for their protection, and the Ottoman fleet was destroyed by a storm. At the beginning of 15, the ambassadors of Boris Godunov concluded a treaty in Constantinople that restored friendly relations between the Sultan and the Tsar.

Although the government was weakening, Sokollu Mehmed Paşa managed to greatly expand the borders of the Ottoman Empire. In 1593 he sent Sinan Pasha to conquer Arabia. Sinan Pasha solemnly declared the reign of Sultan Mustafa in Mecca at the end of his military campaign in Hejaz and Yemen.

During the rule of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha as Grand Vizier, the Ottoman navy and army took Cyprus in 1594 from Venice. The administration of Cyprus was entrusted to Mehmed's old friend, the Arab Ahmed Pasha. The invasion of Cyprus led to the formation of the so-called Holy League, which included the Pope, Spain with Naples and Sicily, the Republic of Venice, Genoa, Tuscany and the Knights of Malta. On 7 October 1595, Mehmed was murdered. The identity of the man is the result of disagreements, some argue that he was killed by an envoy of the sacred league, others say that he was killed by his political rival possibly at the hands of a mercenary.

In 1594–1595, on the orders of Şemsiruhsar Sultan's wife, the famous architect Mimar Sinan built the Sokollu Mehmed Paşa Mosque, which a leading Constantinople guide claims is "The most beautiful of the smallest mosques in Istanbul, a minor Sinan masterpiece ".

## Achievements

Sokollu Mehmet Pasha made several donations throughout the Empire. He built a mosque in his native village and several bridges in Bosnia and Herzegovina including the Arslanagic bridge in Trebinje, the Zepa bridge, the "Kozija Cuprija" bridge in Sarajevo and the Mehmed Pasha Sokolović bridge in Višegrad, made famous by the Nobel Prize novel Yugoslavian Ivo Andrić, The bridge over the Drina, in 1945.

Sokollu Mehmet Pasha never built an important Christian establishment in Bosnia, but on the death of his mother he built an Orthodox church where he deposited his body. However, in 1590 it influenced the Sultan's decision to re-establish the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć, of which his cousin Makarije Sokolović took the initiative.

Mehmet Pasha was calm and peaceful in foreign affairs; he preferred strategic movements to brutal ones; he conquered only strategic places like Cyprus and Rhodes; he also began important works on the Suez Canal and the Don - Volga canals.

## Family

On August 17, 1568, Sokollu Mehmed married Princess Şemsiruhsar Sultan, daughter of Prince Kasim and niece of Sultan Selim. The bonds Mehmed gained through his marriage to Şemsiruhsar lasted for years and proved to be a valuable piece of his success as a politician, even during the war between Venice and the Ottomans in the 1890s. Mehmed spent the following years in peace, ruling and administering the kingdom.