Karamanlı or Karamani Mehmet Pasha (died May 4, 1481) was an
Ottoman statesman who served as
Grand Vizier from 1477 to 1481.
Early years
Karamani was born in
Konya
Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it ...
and was a descendant of
Rumi. He traveled to Constantinople (present day
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
) to study in the
medrese
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
founded by
Mahmud Pasha Angelovic
Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''.
Siam Mahmud
*Mahmood (singer) (born 1 ...
. Later on, he worked as a teacher in the medrese. Being a man of letters, in various occasions he acted as a consultant to
sultan. He was appointed as the court calligrapher (
nisanci, tr, nişancı) and he contributed to the ''kanunname'' of
Mehmed II, a series of laws regularising the Ottoman Empire. He also helped the sultan in writing letters of high literary value to
Aq Qoyunlu sultan
Uzun Hasan
Uzun Hasan or Uzun Hassan ( اوزون حسن; fa, اوزون حسن; 1423 – January 6, 1478; where ''uzun'' means "tall" in Oghuz Turkic) was a ruler of the Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu state and is generally considered to be its strongest ruler. ...
.
As a grand vizier
After
conquering Constantinople and the execution of grand vizier
Çandarlı Halil Pasha, Mehmed II had preferred to appoint grand viziers of
devsirme
Devshirme ( ota, دوشیرمه, devşirme, collecting, usually translated as "child levy"; hy, Մանկահավաք, Mankahavak′. or "blood tax"; hbs-Latn-Cyrl, Danak u krvi, Данак у крви, mk, Данок во крв, Danok vo krv ...
origin instead of
Ethnic Turks
The Turkish people, or simply the Turks ( tr, Türkler), are the world's largest Turkic ethnic group; they speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic ...
to avoid possible crises caused by over-powerful grand viziers. After executing his last Turkish grand vizier, his next four grand viziers were of devsirme origin. Karamani Mehmet's appointment as grand vizier in 1476 therefore marks a notable exception, for he was a Turk from the recently conquered
Karamanid
The Karamanids ( tr, Karamanoğulları or ), also known as the Emirate of Karaman and Beylik of Karaman ( tr, Karamanoğulları Beyliği), was one of the Anatolian beyliks, centered in South-Central Anatolia around the present-day Karaman Pr ...
territory in
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
. In his short term in the office, Karamani Mehmet tried to reform the Ottoman administration.
Death of Mehmed II and Karamani Mehmet
In 1481, Mehmed II died. In the Ottoman Empire, it was the duty of the Grand Viziers to delay the announcement of a Sultan's death before the claimant to throne arrived in the capital, in order to avoid chaos. However, in this case, the sultan's sons were far away; Bayezid (later
Bayezid II) was in
Amasya
Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey and is the capital of Amasya Province, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ...
and
Cem Sultan
Cem Sultan (also spelled Djem or Jem) or Sultan Cem or Şehzade Cem (December 22, 1459 – February 25, 1495, ; ota, جم سلطان, Cem sulṭān; tr, Cem Sultan; french: Zizim), was a claimant to the Ottoman throne in the 15th century.
Ce ...
was in
Karaman
Karaman, historically known as Laranda (Greek: Λάρανδα), is a city in south central Turkey, located in Central Anatolia, north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the capital district of the Karaman Province. According t ...
, Karamani Mehmet's home town. Karamani Mehmet sent messengers to both princes, but as Karaman was nearer to the capital, Cem had a better chance to reach it before his elder brother. Nevertheless, the
Janissaries who were supporting Bayezid learned about the Sultan's death and they further suspected that Karamani Mehmet was backing Cem. They revolted and killed Karamani Mehmet a few days after the death of the Sultan.
[Lord Kinross: ''The Ottoman Centuries'' (trans.Meral Gaspıralı), Altın Kitaplar, İstanbul, 2008 p 160]
See also
*
List of Ottoman Grand Viziers
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehmed, Karamani
15th-century Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire
Pashas
1481 deaths
Turks from the Ottoman Empire
People from the Ottoman Empire of Iranian descent
Assassinated people from the Ottoman Empire
Nişancı
Grand Viziers of Mehmed the Conqueror
Year of birth unknown
People from Konya