Mahmud Pasha Angelović

After the Ottoman conquest of Thessaly in 1394, the ruling Angeloi[2][3] Philanthropenoi family took refuge. The grandchildren of either Alexios or Manuel were Mahmud Pasha and his brother Mihailo Anđelović. He may have also been related to the Albanian noblemen Alessio and Peter Spani through Alexios III Angelos, who was possibly their ancestor. [4] Although the contemporary Byzantine sources and Ibn Kemal calls him Serbian, some late Ottoman sources call him Croatian or Albanian.^[b]

It is estimated that Angelović was born in the early 1420s.[5] Most historians accept that Angelović was born in Novo Brdo in the Serbian Despotate, and that his father Mihailos was the son of either Alexios Angelos Philanthropenos or his son/nephew/brother Manuel, rulers of Thessaly.[6] T. Stavrides views it more probable that Manuel was his grandfather.[5] The only information on his father is that he lived in Serbia in the 1420s.[5] His mother's ancestry is the matter of debate. Chalkokondyles (1430–1470) called her Serbian, Kritoboulos (1410–1470), Greek, while there are various theories on her noble ancestry.[7] Angelović had a brother, Mihailo Anđelović, later a prominent Serbian statesman.[8]

According to Tahsin Yazici / Encyclopædia Iranica, Angelović was "born to a Greek or Serbian family".[9]

Chalkokondyles mentions that Angelović was captured by Ottoman horsemen while traveling with his mother from Novo Brdo to Smederevo (the Serbian capital), and taken to the Ottoman court.[10] It is assumed that this took place in 1427, when the Ottomans attacked Serbia.[11] Furthermore, it is unconcluded whether he was captured according to the devşirme practice, the regular practice of taking children of conquered noble families, or as a prisoner of war.[12] Taşköprüzade (d. 1560) and Aşık Çelebi (1520–1572) name two other boys led with Angelović on horseback to Edirne, Molla Iyas and Mevlana Abdülkerim, the latter which reached the rank of kadıasker (chief judge) and şeyhülislam (Islamic scholar).[13] Upon conversion to Islam, he received the name Mahmud.

Little is known about his activities before 1453. According to T. Stavrides, Angelović and his companions were educated in the palace, probably as içoğlan, and Mahmud then entered service in the Enderûn, later serving prince Mehmed, the future sultan.[14] Sources do not agree on which posts he held at the palace.[15]

Remains of Mahmud Pasha hamam at Lower Town of Golubac Fortress.

Mahmud Pasha was a capable soldier. After distinguishing himself at the Siege of Belgrade (1456), he was raised to the position of Grand Vizier as a reward, succeeding Zaganos Pasha.[16] Throughout his tenure he led armies or accompanied Mehmed II on his own campaigns.[17]

In 1458, the Serbian Despot Lazar Branković died. Mahmud's brother Mihailo became member of a collective regency, but he was soon deposed by the anti-Ottoman and pro-Hungarian faction in the Serbian court. In reaction, Mahmud attacked and seized Smederevo Fortress, although the citadel held out, and seized some additional strongholds in its vicinity. Threatened by a possible Hungarian intervention however he was forced to withdraw south and join the forces of Sultan Mehmed II at Skopje.[18] In 1461, he accompanied Mehmed in his campaign against the Empire of Trebizond, the last surviving fragment of the Byzantine Empire. Mahmud negotiated the surrender of the city of Trebizond with the protovestiarios, the scholar George Amiroutzes, who was also his cousin.[19]

In 1463, Mahmud led the invasion and conquest of the Kingdom of Bosnia, even though a peace treaty between Bosnia and the Ottomans had just been renewed. He captured the Bosnian king, Stephen Tomašević, at Ključ, and obtained from him the cession of the country to the Empire.[18]

Angelović accompanied Mehmed II when he attacked Albania Veneta in the summer of 1467, and ravaged the lands. For 15 days he pursued Skanderbeg, who was a Venetian ally at the time, but failed to find him, as Skanderbeg retreated into the mountains and then succeeded in fleeing to the coast.[20] According to Tursun Beg and Ibn Kemal, Angelović swam over Bojana, attacked Venetian-controlled Scutari, and plundered the surrounding area.[21]

Mahmud was dismissed in 1468 due to the machinations of his successor, Rum Mehmed Pasha, ostensibly due to irregularities regarding the resettlement of the Karamanids in Constantinople following the conquest of Karaman earlier in that year.[22] He was reinstated in 1472, but his relations with the Sultan were now strained. He was dismissed and executed in 1474, allegedly because of Mehmed's son, prince Mustafa. Mahmud had been at loggerheads with Mustafa after divorcing his second wife for spending a night in the same house as Mustafa during Mahmud's absence on campaign in 1473. Mustafa's death later in 1474 was even attributed by later accounts to poisoning by Mahmud.[23]

Mahmud Pasha wrote works in Persian and Turkish with "Adni" as his nom de plume.[9] The divan he composed includes 45 ghazals and 21 mofrads in Persian, as well as "some rather successful naziras on the ghazals of Zahir Faryabi and Hafez".[9] Tahsin Yazici / Encyclopædia Iranica adds that Mahmud Pasha "also wrote a number of official letters in Persian".[9]

He married Selçuk Hatun, daughter of Zaganos Pasha, by his wife Sitti Nefise Hatun, and had a son named Ali Bey and a daughter named Hatice Hatun.

• Babinger, Franz (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Bollingen Series 96. Translated from the German by Ralph Manheim. Edited, with a preface, by William C. Hickman. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09900-6. OCLC 716361786.
• Finkel, Caroline (2006). Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300–1923. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-6112-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Stavrides, Théoharis (2001). The Sultan of Vezirs: The Life and Times of the Ottoman Grand Vezir Mahmud Pasha Angelovic (1453–1474). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-12106-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Tekindağ, Şehabeddin (2003). "Mahmud Paşa" (PDF). İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Vol. 27 (Kütahya Mevlevihânesi – Manisa) (in Turkish). pp. 376–378.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Yazici, T. (1983). "ʿADNĪ, MAḤMŪD PĀŠĀ". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 5. p. 470.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)