In his quality as judge, he settled disputes and arranged wills to the apparent satisfaction of the interested parties. Every envoy to the Porte, whether on state, commercial, or personal business, was first presented to the grand vizir, who might take complete charge of his affair, or he might refer him to the sultan. The grand vizir received in great state and the Venetian letters are full of advice as to how to conciliate the great minister. There seems to be little disagreement among his critics as to Ibrahim’s ability. He is pronounced by all to be a wise and able man; but he had at least one severe critic among the Venetians, who felt that his power was too arbitrary. Daniello di Ludovisi in 1534 wrote thus:[85]
Suleiman gave his administration of the empire into the hands of another. The sultan, with all the pashas and all the court, would conduct no important deliberation without Ibrahim Pasha, while Ibrahim would do everything without Suleiman or any other advisor. So the state lacked good council, and the army good heads. Suleiman’s affection for Ibrahim should not be praised, but blamed.
And again:
Another evil existed in the Turkish army, and was caused, first, by the negligence of the sultan (who, to tell the truth, is not of such ability as the greatness of the empire demands), and secondly, by the actions of Ibrahim Pasha, who by the same means as those used to raise and maintain himself—namely, to degrade, and even to kill, all whose ability aroused his suspicion—deprived the state of men of good council and the army of good captains.
For instance, he decapitated Ferad Pasha, a valiant captain, and was the cause of the rebellion of Ahmed Pasha, who was beheaded at Cairo, and he caused Piri Pasha to leave office, an old man and an old councillor, and some even accused him of causing his death by poison. And it followed, also, that Rustem, a young fellow, master of the stables of the Grand Seigneur, became familiar with the latter, and Ibrahim, warned of this, and being then in Aleppo, sent him to be governor in Asia Minor, a long distance away. Rustem, feeling very badly, asked the Grand Seigneur not to let him go, who replied, “When I see Ibrahim, I will see that he causes you to return near me.” For this reason the army was without council except Ibrahim alone, and men of learning and force, from fear and suspicion, hid their knowledge and ability. So the army was demoralized and enervated. I feel certain that Ibrahim Pasha realized this (for he was a man of good parts, but not of such merit as to find a remedy for such evils), but he loved himself much more than he did his lord, and wished to be alone in the dominion of the world in which he was much respected.
This criticism of Ibrahim Pasha was later repeated in a more general form by one Kogabey, who presented to Sultan Mourad IV a memorial on the decadence of the Ottoman state. The two first reasons that he assigned for the deterioration were the sultan’s ceasing to preside over the divan in person, and the placing of favorites in the office of grand vizir, the latter custom having been started by Suleiman I, who raised his favorite Ibrahim from the palace to the divan. Such vizirs, Kogabey explained, had no insight into the circumstances of the whole nation. They generally were blinded by the splendor of their position and refused to consult intelligent men on affairs of government, and so the order of the state was destroyed through their carelessness.[86]
The custom of appointing favorites to the most important office in the empire was certainly a bad one, but Ibrahim was a more efficient administrator than could have been expected from his training, and ranks among the great vizirs of the Ottoman Empire.
CHAPTER III
Ibrahim the Diplomat
We must now turn from Turkey’s internal affairs to her foreign relations. Turkish political history during the sixteenth century was so interwoven with that of the European states, the influence of Ottoman interference upon the wars and negotiations of Christian princes was so marked, that a study of Suleiman’s foreign relations becomes almost a study of contemporary Europe.[87] The two sultans who succeeded Mohammed the Conqueror had not extended Turkish power in Europe, Bayazid having failed in his attempts at conquest, and Selim having turned his attention from Europe to the East. This caused a period of transition and preparation for the great events of Suleiman’s reign.