Koca Musa Pasha

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Koca Musa Pascha (* in the 16th or 17th century ; † January 22, 1647 near Euboea ) was an Ottoman statesman. From 1645 to 1647 he was Kapudan Pasha Commander in Chief of the Navy of the Ottoman Empire , Provincial Governor of Eyâlet Egypt (1630/31), Governor of Eyâlet Budin (approx. 1636–1638 and 1640–1644) and Eyâlet Silistra (1644/45) . He was also a vizier .

Life

Musa Pascha was born in Eyâlet Bosnia and attended the Enderun School in the palace in Istanbul.

Governor of Egypt

1630/31 Sultan Murad IV appointed him governor of Eyâlet Egypt. Musa Pasha's tenure has been described as brutal by several sources. On the first day of his reign, he had a man beheaded and his property confiscated, and he crucified the son of a local sherif . After Musa Pasha had distributed various government offices to friends and servants and thus incurred the displeasure of the Sanjakbeys , he returned the offices to their previous owners, accused an ağa and confiscated his residence as an alleged punishment. During his tenure, Musa Pasha began reforming the pay system in his favor, trying to find ways to claim the legacy of wealthy locals.

In March 1631 the Sultan ordered Musa Pasha to send him troops for the campaign against the Persian Safavids . Musa Pasha handed over the command of these troops to Emir Kitas Bey, who came from Cherkessia, and levied a tax on the land to pay the camels for the transport of the troops to Persia. At some point he announced to Kitas Bey that the funds would not be sufficient for the campaign and that it was canceled. When Kitas Bey protested, Musa Pascha had him killed: On Wednesday, July 9, 1631, Arafa Day on the eve of the Feast of Sacrifice , a day on which the emirs traditionally visited the governor's house to wish him all the best, Kitas Bey was also present. Suddenly Musa Pasha had a group of men seize Kitas Bey, with one man beheading him with a single swing of an ax, while up to 40 others stabbed his body. The emirs stood by in horror.

After organizing a funeral for Kitas Bey, the Sanjakbeys, led by Kasım Bey, declared to the entire Egyptian garrison that whoever attended Musa Pasha's festivities for the sacrificial feast that day would be punished with death. In the meantime, Musa Pasha waited for the guests to arrive. When none came, he went to prayer in the Al-Nasir-Muhammad mosque. He then sat down for a meal with the members of his household and finally had the rest distributed among the poor in Cairo.

The leaders of the troops met at Kasım Bey's house and, after deliberations, decided to appoint the local Kazasker as their representative to talk to Musa Pasha. The Kazasker asked Musa Pasha on behalf of the troops why he had committed this murder on such a holy day and demanded that the men who had murdered Kitas Bey be surrendered. Musa Pasha replied that he had done nothing without orders from the Sultan and that none of the troops' demands could be complied with. Although this reaction caused displeasure among the troops, they left without doing anything. Only later was four of Musa Pasha's close confidants captured and killed.

Two days later, on July 11, 1631, the leading officers gathered again with all the sandjakbeys in the madrasa of the Sultan Hassan Mosque. The Kazasker, the Naqib al-Ashraf and the Mufti of the mosque were also present. These representatives were again sent to Musa Pasha with the same list of demands, this time also naming eight of the assassins and demanding that they be turned over to the troops. Musa Pasha replied that the responsibility rests with him and that the men only followed his orders. He offered to hand himself over and allow the soldiers to appoint a kaymakam in his place . The troop leadership was divided: some believed they did not have the authority to replace the governor, while others simply wanted to murder Musa Pasha and kidnap the eight men.

Eventually the troops agreed on an incumbent governor, the senior finance minister Hasan Bey. Musa Pasha immediately wrote to Sultan Murad IV to inform him of the coup. But the troops also informed the sultan and declared their actions in a petition. The soldiers wrote in Turkish, while the ulemas sent an Arabic version. Hasan Bey and the emirs demanded a large sum of money from Musa Pasha as a refund for the money he owed the state treasury. To settle the sum he had to sell a large part of his animals and belongings. The Sultan responded by approving the troops' decision and sending Halil Pasha to take Musa Pasha's place as governor. Halil Pasha's advisor arrived on September 13, 1631, while Hasan Bey was acting governor until October, when Halil Pasha finally arrived.

Provincial governor in other parts of the empire

Koca Musa Pascha became the third vizier in 1634/35 and the second vizier in 1635/36. In 1636/37 the Sultan appointed him governor of Eyâlet Budin , where he remained in office until 1637/38. In 1639/40 he was again governor of Budin. In 1644 he became governor of Silistra .

Kapudan Pasha and Death

In 1645 the Sultan appointed him Kapudan Pasha of the Ottoman Navy. Only two years later Musa Pascha died fighting a fleet of the Republic of Venice near the Greek island of Evia in 1647 during the war for Crete (1645–1669). His body was taken to the Üsküdar district in Istanbul and buried there.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France . Volume 2, R. Faulder, 1789, p. 70 ( digitized version )
  2. ↑ a b c d e Mehmet Süreyya: Sicill-i Osmanî . Türkiye Kültür Bakanlığı and Türkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı, Istanbul 1996, p. 1122
  3. ↑ Yılmaz Öztuna: Büyük Osmanlı Tarihi: Osmanlı Devleti'nin siyasî, medenî, kältür, teşkilât ve san'at tarihi . Volume 10, Ötüken Neşriyat AS, Istanbul 1994, ISBN 975-437-141-5 , pp. 412-416
  4. ↑ Prissse d'Avennes: Arab art as seen through the monuments of Cairo from the 7th century to the 18th . Le Sycomore, Paris 1983, ISBN 0-86356-000-8 , p. 61
  5. ^ Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France . Volume 2, R. Faulder, 1789, pp. 70f.
  6. ^ A b c Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France . Volume 2, R. Faulder, 1789, p. 71
  7. ^ A b c Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France . Volume 2, R. Faulder, 1789, page 72
  8. ↑ a b c d P. M. Holt, Richard Gray: Egypt, the Funj and Darfur . In: The Cambridge History of Africa . Cambridge University Press, Volume IV, 1975, pp. 14-57 ( doi : 10.1017 / CHOL9780521204132.003 )
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France . Volume 2, R. Faulder, 1789, p. 73
  10. ↑ a b c d e Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France . Volume 2, R. Faulder, 1789, p. 74

literature

  • İsmail Hâmi Dânişmend: Osmanlı devlet Erkânı: Sadr-ı-a'zamlar (vezir-i-a'zamlar), şeyh-ül-islâmlar, kapdan-ı-deryalar, baş-defterdarlar, reı̂s-ül-küttablar . (= Volume 5 of İzahlı Osmanlı tarihi kronolojisi ), Türkiye Yayınevi, Istanbul 1971, p. 192
personal data
SURNAME Koca Musa Pasha
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ottoman statesman and Kapudan Pasha of the Ottoman Navy
DATE OF BIRTH 16th century or 17th century
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1647
Place of death at Euboea