Ali Pasha Rizvanbegović

Ali Pasha Rizvanbegović

Ali Pascha Rizvanbegović (born around 1783 in Stolac ; died at the end of March 1851 near Banja Luka , Ottoman Empire ) was Kapetan of Stolac from 1813 and 1833 and vizier of the Paschalik Herzegovina from 1833 to 1851 . Rizvanbegović promoted agriculture and endeavored to strengthen the independence of Herzegovina from Bosnia .

Live and act

Rizvanbegović came from an old noble family from Stolac, who therefore called themselves Stočević . He was the son of Zulfikar Rizvanbegović (died 1805) the Kapetan of Stolac. After a conflict with his father, he left his homeland as a teenager and only returned after his father's death.

Rizvanbegović's territory, the Paschalik Herzegovina around 1850.

In the years 1831/1832 there was an uprising of the Bosniaks under Husein Gradaščević against the military reform of the Sublime Porte . Rizvanbegović was loyal to the central government and fought against the insurgents. For this and for his military successes, after the suppression of the uprising, Sultan Mahmud II gave him the free choice of which realm he would like to dispose of as vizier from then on . Rizvanbegović demanded that Herzegovina be administratively detached from Eyâlet Bosnia and placed under him. The sultan made him Beylerbey and later vizier of the newly formed Paschalik Herzegovina , over which he ruled for almost two decades until his death.

Rizvanbegović had close relationships with the Franciscans and so Juro Kačić and Petar Bakula (1816–1873) were his personal physicians . He supported the Herzegovinian Franciscans, who in 1844 had decided to split off from the Bosnian mother province in the course of a dispute , in establishing their own Franciscan province. With its own Franciscan center, Rizvanbegović's territory would have been independent of Bosnia in this respect as well. He obtained a Ferman in Istanbul who allowed the Franciscans to build the monastery of Široki Brijeg near Mostar in 1846 . Rizvanbegović generously supported the initial equipment of the monastery with food, agricultural equipment and money. Thus a long-cherished wish of many Herzegovinian friars for their own monastery was realized.

Rizvanbegović later rebelled against the Ottoman central government, which is why the Ottoman general Omar Pasha had him captured in February 1851. At the end of March 1851 Rizvanbegović died in a military camp near Banja Luka , from an allegedly accidentally detached shot.

Construction activity

In Mostar , Rizvanbegović built a fortified residence ( saraji ), a tekke ( Pašina tekija na Luci ) and a large inn ( han ) in the Grad district . Near the mouth of the Buna and Neretva , he had a summer residence built on the right bank with gardens, plantations, kiosk, mosque, inn and school, which fell into disrepair after his death. At the source of the Buna he built a mosque, which later fell into disrepair. The Sheikh Abdurahman Sirrija (1774-1847) he built in 1848 a Turbe in Tekke Oglavak between Kiseljak and Fojnica . In Stolac he restored the mosque ( Pašina džamija ) and restored and expanded the castle, which was badly damaged by a powder explosion. He had the construction of a manor ( Alipašini saraji ) begin on the castle hill . In Foca , he had a Madrasah ( Pašina medresa ) with library building, which at the beginning of the 20th century only remnants were present. Around 1841 he had his administrator ( subaša ) Ibraga Bostandžić build a mansion with a defensive tower ( kula ) in Trebižat near Čapljina . For this he forced the six local Agas of the Čučkovići, Fazlagići, Hadžići, Jakirovići, Muratagići and Žagrovići to sell him the property. Farmers from all over Herzegovina, especially from the districts of Ljubuški , Mostar, and Stolac, had to clear and drain the land in the Trebižat valley, which at that time consisted of forest and swamp , without daily wages and meals . In Herzegovina, he announced that Kmeten (leaseholders) should report for the settlement Nova sela (Neudorf) to be built there. 25 Catholic families were settled and simple one-room colonist houses were built. The manor house was an Ottoman defense structure and consisted of a three-storey defense tower about 10 meters high, which was protected by a 30 by 30 meter and 4.50 meter high wall rectangle with loopholes and palisades. In the complex there were outbuildings such as a horse stable, kitchen, attic and a dungeon. The buildings were made of limestone and were built by wandering builders, the Popovci d. H. Inhabitants of the large Popovo basin, south of Stolac. Rizvanbegović only stayed here briefly twice, his son Hafis Pasha more often, the manor was usually inhabited by the manager. After Rizvanbegović's death, the manor was confiscated, later divided several times by inheritance (including the defense tower) and, after the beginning of decay, was also used as building material.

Agriculture

Rizvanbegović supported the development of agriculture in a planned and large-scale manner through the cultivation of rice and grapevines as well as the planting of olive and mulberry trees . For this he brought in well-paid experts such as B. from the Ottoman Empire and Dalmatia to Herzegovina, which trained the locals in product extraction and care.

family

Rizvanbegović's son Rustem Rifat Beg was a poet , as was his grandson Arig Beg Rizvanbegović (1839–1903) who assumed a leading position in the literary life of Istanbul under the name Hersekli Arif Hikmet . Rizvanbegović's daughter Habiba Hanuma was also a poet.

Sources and literature

• Smail Balić: Rizvanbegović, Ali Pascha . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 4. Munich 1981, p. 52 f.
• Carl Patsch: Southeast European sketches and studies: I. From Herzegovina's last feudal period . In: Communications from the Geographical Society in Vienna . tape 64 , no. 10-12 . R. Lechner (Wilh. Müller), Vienna 1921, p. 153-186 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hannes Grandits: Rule and Loyalty in Late Ottoman Society: The Example of Multi-Confessional Herzegovina . Böhlau, Vienna 2008, p. 461 f .