Ali Bey Evrenosoğlu or Evrenosoğlu Ali Bey, known simply as Ali Bey, was an Ottoman military commander in the 15th century. He was one of the sons of

Evrenos Evrenos or Evrenuz (1288–1417, Yenice-i Vardar) was an Ottoman military commander. He served as a general under Süleyman Pasha, Murad I, Bayezid I, Süleyman Çelebi and Mehmed I. Legends stating that he lived for 129 years and had an incr ...

, an Ottoman general. During the 1430s he was

sanjak-bey ''Sanjak-bey'', ''sanjaq-bey'' or ''-beg'' () was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a bey (a high-ranking officer, but usually not a pasha) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district (''sanjak'', in Arabic '' liwa’' ...

of the

Sanjak of Albania The Sanjak of Albania (, or ; or ) was a second-level administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire between 1415 and 1444. Its mandate included territories of modern central and southern Albania between Krujë to the Kalamas River in northwester ...

who, after initial defeats, suppressed the Albanian Revolt of 1432–1436 with help of the forces commanded by Turahan Bey. In 1440 he participated in the unsuccessful Ottoman Siege of Belgrade.

Origin

Ali Bey was a son of Ottoman commander Evrenos Bey. Οriginally, Evrenos Βey was a noble dignitary, a bey in the principality of Karasi, joining the Ottomans only after their conquest of the beylik in 1345. A Greek legend maintains that Evrenos' father was a certain Ornos, renegade

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

governor of

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

(Prusa) who defected to the Ottomans, and then on to Karasi, after the

Siege of Bursa The siege of Bursa occurred from 1317 until the capture on 6 April 1326, when the Ottoman Turks deployed a bold plan to seize Prusa (modern-day Bursa, Turkey). The Ottomans had not captured a city before; the lack of expertise and adequate sieg ...

, in 1326. The Evrenos family were certainly of non-Turkish origin. Stanford J. Shaw confirms this, stating that Evrenos was originally a Byzantine feudal prince in Anatolia who had entered Ottoman service following the capture of Bursa, converted to Islam, and later became a leading military commander under both Orhan and Murat.Stanford J. Shaw: History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Volume 1, Empire of the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1280–1808. Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Joseph von Hammer Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (; 9 June 1774 – 23 November 1856) was an Austrian orientalist, historian and diplomat. He is considered one of the most accomplished orientalists of his time. Life Born Joseph Hammer in Graz, Duchy of S ...

regarded Evrenos as simply a

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

convert to Islam.Joseph von Hammer: Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches. Zweite verbesserte Ausgabe Bd. I - IV. Hartlebens, Pesth 1836. (Serbo-Croatian edition by Nerkez Smailagić. Zagreb, 1979.)

Albania

Ali Bey was

sanjakbey ''Sanjak-bey'', ''sanjaq-bey'' or ''-beg'' () was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a bey (a high-ranking officer, but usually not a pasha) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district (''sanjak'', in Arabic '' liwa’' ...

of the

before 1432. When

Ishak Bey Ishak, Ishaq or Eshaq may refer to: * Ishak (name), list of people with this given name or surname * Isaaq, a Somali clan-family in the Horn of Africa * Ishaaq bin Ahmed, the forefather and common ancestor of the Isaaq clan-family * Atakapa, a Nat ...

captured

Dagnum Dagnum (, , ) was a town, bishopric and important medieval fortress located on the territory of present-day Albania, which has been under Albanian, Serbian, Venetian and Ottoman control and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. It is close to t ...

from

Koja Zaharia Koja Zaharia or Koja Zakaria () (? – before 1442) was an Albanian nobleman and a member of the Zaharia family. Name In Ragusan documents he is referred to as Kojčin or Gojčin. Because of that, many scholars like Nicolae Iorga, Ludwig Th ...

in 1430 it was attached to the territory controlled by Ali Bey. In the early phase of the Albanian Revolt, in the winter of 1432, Sultan

Murat II Murad II (, ; June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451. Early life Murad was born in June 1404 to Mehmed I, while the identity of his mother is disputed according to v ...

gathered around 10.000 troops under Ali Bey, who marched along the

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a contin ...

and reached the central valley of

Shkumbin The Shkumbin (; ), also known as Shkembi, is a river in Albania. It is long and its drainage basin is . Its average discharge is . Etymology It derives from Latin ''Scampinus'' (recorded alternatively as ), which replaced the Illyrian name o ...

, where he was ambushed and defeated by forces under Gjergj Arianiti. In 1435-6 he followed Turahan Bey's campaign, which restored Ottoman rule in the region.

Other campaigns

According to some legends Hunyadi was Evrenosoglu's groom. Hunyadi became intimate of the king of Hungary after he fled from Ali. Evrenosoglu commanded an army which was sent to weaken

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

and Transylvania in 1438. In 1440 Ali Beg participated in the unsuccessful siege of Belgrade where he built a wall around the city and used it to hurl stones. According to

Konstantin Mihailović Konstantin Mihailović, also known as Constantine of Ostrovica, born in 1430, was a Serbian soldier and author of a memoir of his time as a Janissary in the army of the Ottoman Empire. Mihailović was born in the village of Ostrovica, near Ru ...

, the title of bey and corresponding estate was promised to the Ottoman soldier who would wave Ottoman flag on the Belgrade walls. Although Evrenosoglu already had the title of bey at that time he decided to personally lead the assault to the walls of the Belgrade castle hoping to increase his already great reputation. When

Murad II Murad II (, ; June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451. Early life Murad was born in June 1404 to Mehmed I, while the identity of his mother is disputed according to v ...

died in 1451, Ali Bey was dispatched by

Mehmed II Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

to execute Murad's son, Şehzade Küçük Ahmed. Evrenosoglu was buried in the courtyard of the Gazi Evrenos mosque in Yenidje (modern

Giannitsa Giannitsa ( , in English also Yannitsa, Yenitsa) is the largest city in the regional unit of Pella and the capital of the Pella municipality, in the region of Central Macedonia in northern Greece. The municipal unit Giannitsa has an area of 2 ...

in Greece).

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Bey Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 15th-century Ottoman military personnel Military personnel of the Ottoman Empire Ottoman Albania People from the Ottoman Empire of Greek descent Governors of the Ottoman Empire by sanjak 15th-century governors 15th-century governors of the Ottoman Empire