Mere Hüseyin Pasha (died July 1624) was an Ottoman statesman of

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

origin.Uzunçarsılı, İsmail Hakkı, (1954) ''Osmanlı Tarihi III. Cilt, 2. Kısım, XVİ. Yüzyıl Ortalarından XVII. Yüzyıl Sonuna kadar'', Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu (Altıncı Baskı 2011 ) p. 380 He was two times

Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire The grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire ( or ''Sadr-ı Azam'' (''Sadrazam''); Ottoman Turkish language, Ottoman Turkish: or ) was the ''de facto'' prime minister of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, sultan in the Ottoman Empire, with the absolute p ...

in 1622 and 1623,İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971 (Turkish) and previously the Ottoman governor of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

between 1620 and 1622. His epithet "Mere!" comes from the word for "Take it!" in

; he was nicknamed so because of the many times he ordered his men to "take he heads of his opponents, i.e. execute them. He was purportedly the only grand vizier who did not speak

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

or Osmanlica.

Life

Hüseyin Pasha was an

from the region of

İpek Peja or Peć, ), is the fifth most populous city in Kosovo and serves as the seat of the Peja Municipality and the District of Peja. It is located in the Rugova region on the eastern section of the Accursed Mountains along the Peja's Lumbardh ...

, in present-day

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. He may have been a progenitor of the Begolli family. It is purported that he never learned to speak Turkish, a very rare occurrence in the Turkish-controlled

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. He began his government career as the ''aşcıbaşı'' (chief cook) of Satırcı Mehmed Pasha, soon becoming a member of the

sipahi The ''sipahi'' ( , ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk Turks and later by the Ottoman Empire. ''Sipahi'' units included the land grant–holding ('' timar'') provincial ''timarli sipahi'', which constituted most of the arm ...

corps. He then took on a series of increasingly high level government posts, until July 1620, when he was appointed the governor of

Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a Eyalet, province (''eyalet'') of their empir ...

and made a

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

. As the governor of Egypt, Hüseyin Pasha's manners were described as "rough and unpolished." He was ill for the first few months of his term, but when he recovered, he threw a feast for his children and received many gifts, although he sent most of the gifts given to him by the wealthy back. While he was governor, the

flooding of the Nile The flooding of the Nile (commonly referred to as ''the Inundation'') and its silt Deposition (geology), deposition was a natural cycle first attested in Ancient Egypt. It was of singular importance in the history and culture of Egypt. Governments ...

caused widespread drought in Egypt, leading to his dismissal from the office in March or April 1622. His ''defterdar'' (finance minister) Hasan, having become the acting governor (''kaymakam'') after Hüseyin Pasha's removal, accused him of having embezzled money from the treasury and crops from the granary and prevented him from leaving Cairo. Hüseyin Pasha paid 25,000 gold pieces (

dinar The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

s; half of the claimed amount) and claimed that a local, who had disparaged him after his removal from office, should pay the rest, claiming that the Money Lender was indebted to Hüseyin Pasha in the same amount, with this obtaining permission to leave. However, when the authorities went to the Money Lender to demand payment of the money that Hüseyin Pasha had said he owed him, the Lender claimed that he had already paid Hüseyin Pasha. When this response was made known to Hüseyin Pasha, he claimed that he was not at fault and the Lender was lying, but agreed to pay the remaining 25,000 gold pieces in exchange for the Lender being brought to him. The acting governor accepted this proposal and delivered the Lender to Hüseyin Pasha, who tortured and killed him and took the 25,000 gold pieces by force. After these events, Hüseyin Pasha traveled to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Rumelia, not to be confused with modern-day Romania. A few months later, on June 13, 1622, Hüseyin Pasha was appointed

grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

for the first time, serving for less than a month until July 8, 1622, under sultan

Mustafa I Mustafa I (; ‎; ; 1600/1602 – 20 January 1639) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 22 November 1617 to 26 February 1618, and from 20 May 1622 to 10 September 1623. He was the son of sultan Mehmed III and Halime Sultan. Earl ...

. The next year, the sultan appointed him grand vizier once more, from February 5, 1623, to August 30, 1623.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huseyin Pasha, Mere Year of birth unknown 16th-century births 1624 deaths Burials at Karacaahmet Cemetery Ottoman governors of Egypt 17th-century grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire 17th-century Ottoman governors of Egypt 17th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire Albanian grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire Albanian people from the Ottoman Empire Executed people from the Ottoman Empire Executed Albanian people Politicians from Peja 17th-century Albanian people

Life

See also

References