Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha

Contemporary representation of the Lala Mustafa Pascha

Tomb in Famagusta, 1908

Lala Kara Mustafa Pascha or Lala Mustafa Pascha (* around 1500; † August 7, 1580 ) was an Ottoman general and, however, only for a short time, Grand Vizier . His honorary title Lala means "tutor of the sultan"; for a long time he was the personal teacher of the sons of Sultan Selim II.

Lala Mustafa had risen to the Beylerbey of Damascus and then became fifth vizier , before he commanded the Ottoman land troops in the siege of Malta in 1565 and then the land troops who conquered Cyprus , which had been Venetian until then, in 1570-71 .

From April 28 to August 7, 1580 he was briefly Grand Vizier of the Empire (see list of Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire ). Mustafa was known for his cruelty towards defeated opponents, as evidenced by his treatment of Marcantonio Bragadin , the Venetian defender of Famagusta .

The Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque in Famagusta was named after him.

literature

• Uberto Foglietta: The Sieges of Nicosia and Famagusta. Waterlow & Sons, London 1903.
• Edward Hamilton Currey: Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean . London 1910.
• Ernle Bradford : The Great Siege. Malta 1565 , London 1961 (German: The Shield of Europe , Universitas-Verlag, 1978. Ullstein, Munich 1979 ISBN 3-548-34912-9 )
• Josef Matuz: Mustafa Pascha, Lala , in: Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . Vol. 3. Munich 1979, p. 278 f.
• Tim Pickles. Malta 1565. Last Battle of the Crusades . (= Osprey Campaign Series; 50). Osprey Publishing, 1998.
• Stephen C. Spiteri : The Great Siege. Knights vs. Turks, 1565 , self-published, Malta 2005.

predecessor	Office	successor
Semiz Ahmed Pasha	Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire April 8, 1580–7. August 1580	Koca Sinan Pasha