- Sinan Pasha
Sinan Pasha (
1506 -April 3 ,1596 ) was an Albanian born Ottoman military commander ("pasha ") and statesman.In 1569, he was appointed governor of Ottoman Egypt, and was subsequently involved until 1571 in the conquest of Yemen. In 1574 he commanded the great expedition against
Tunis , which, in spite of the resistance of the Spanish garrison, was added to the Ottoman Empire.In 1580, Sinan commanded the army against the Safavids in the
Ottoman-Persian wars , and was appointedgrand vizier by SultanMurad III . He was, however, disgraced and exiled in the following year, owing to the defeat of his lieutenantMehmed Pasha , at Gori (during an attempt to provision the Ottoman garrison ofTbilisi ).He subsequently became governor of
Damascus and, in 1589, after the great revolt of the Janissaries, was appointed grand vizier for the second time. He was involved in the competition for the throne inWallachia betweenMihnea Turcitul andPetru Cercel , and ultimately sided with the former (overseeing Petru's execution in March 1590). Another revolt of Janissaries led to his dismissal in 1591, but in 1593 he was again recalled to become grand vizier for the third time, and in the same year he commanded the Ottoman army against the Habsburgs ("seeBattle of Sisak ").In spite of his victories he was again deposed in February 1595, shortly after the accession of
Mehmed III , and banished toMalghara ; in August, Sinan was in power again, called on to lead the expedition against PrinceMichael the Brave of Wallachia. His defeat in theBattle of Călugăreni and the series of unsuccessful confrontations with the Habsburgs (culminating in the devastating siege and fall of Ottoman-heldEsztergom ), brought him once more into disfavour, and he was deprived of the seal of office (November 19 ).The death of his successor,
Lala Mehmed Pasha , three days later, was looked on as a sign from heaven, and Sinan became grand vizier for the fifth time. He died suddenly in the spring of 1596, leaving behind a large fortune.Sinan Pasha is remembered with disdain by the
Serbs for ordering, in 1595, that the relics ofSaint Sava , the founder of the independentSerbian Orthodox Church in the 12th century, be taken from their depository and burned as a revenge for Serbs siding with theHabsburg s in the preceding border skirmishes. Only the saint's right hand which was kept elsewhere remains. Today there stands the grandioseCathedral of Saint Sava on the spot of the bonfire.References
*1911
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