Hussein Khodja ( ar, حسين خوجة; born Giuseppe Certa in

Favignana Favignana ( scn, Faugnana) is a ''comune'' including three islands (Favignana, Marettimo and Levanzo) of the Aegadian Islands, southern Italy. It is situated approximately west of the coast of Sicily, between Trapani and Marsala, the coastal ar ...

and died 1857 in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

) was a

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and a

mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

who rose to become Prime Minister of

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Early life

Captured on the island of Favignana by Tunisian corsairs, he was offered to the minister

Youssef Saheb Ettabaa Youssef Saheb Ettabaa ( ar, يوسف صاحب الطابع; born c. 1765, died 23 January 1815), was a Tunisian politician and a mameluk of Moldavian origin. He became a Prime Minister of the Beylik of Tunis. Early career He was enslaved as a ...

, brought up in the minister's seraglio and raised as a Muslim. He acquired a solid training under the renowned teachers who served his master, whose lieutenant he eventually became. The day after Youssef Saheb Ettabaa’s fall in 1815, he entered the service of crown prince Hussein, (the future Hussein Bey) as Bach-Mamluk, or head of his private mamluk guard. Hussein extended his favour by also granting him his daughter in marriage.

Prime Minister

Hussein's father Mahmoud Bey then chose him as principal minister in 1822 after the execution of Mohamed Arbi Zarrouk Khaznadar, and he was confirmed in his post by Hussein when he succeeded his father in 1824. He then appeared as a perfect courtier but a poor administrator, allied to the rich tax farmer of the State, Mahmoud Djellouli. Despite this, he remained an intellectual and spent a lot to stock his rich library which subsequently enriched that of the Zaytuna Mosque. The bey also entrusted him with the management of his personal property and the export operations in partnership with Djellouli but, during the drought which affected the country, he found himself at the mercy of the many European creditors who had bought him large quantities of oil in advance, through a very risky commercial process. He was removed from power in 1829 and replaced by the ambitious Keeper of the Seals,

Rashid al-Shakir Sahib al-Taba'a Shakir Sahib al-Taba'a ( ar, شاكير صاحب الطابع; born c. 1790–11 September 1837),Ibn Abi Dhiaf, ''Présent des hommes de notre temps. Chroniques des rois de Tunis et du pacte fondamental'', vol. VIII, éd. Maison tunisienne de l' ...

, whose influence became predominant. The bey confiscated Khodja's property and placed him under house arrest in one of the apartments of the

Bardo Palace In some schools of Buddhism, ''bardo'' ( xct, བར་དོ་ Wylie: ''bar do'') or ''antarābhava'' (Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese: 中有, romanized in Chinese as ''zhōng yǒu'' and in Japanese as ''chū'u'') is an intermediate, transitio ...

. He then remained without official function at court until his death in 1857.

References

{{reflist 1857 deaths Year of birth unknown Tunisian people of Italian descent Prime Ministers of Tunisia