Ibrahim Pasha: Grand Vizir of Suleiman the Magnificent

by Hester Donaldson Jenkins

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[ERRATA]

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CONTENTS

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INTRODUCTION
PAGE
Origin of the Turks—their advance from Central Asia to Europe	[11]
Dominating qualities of the Turk	[12]
Early political ideals	[12]
Rise and fall of the Seljouk kingdom	[14]
Rise of the Ottoman power	[14]
National characteristics	[15]
CHAPTER I
Ibrahim’s Rise
Ibrahim’s origin, birth and childhood	[18]
He becomes the property of Prince Suleiman	[18]
His care for his parents and brothers	[19]
His rapid promotion	[20]
His protests against such speedy honors	[20]
The personal servants of the Sultan	[21]
Ibrahim’s education and early training	[22]
Ibrahim a eunuch—some account of the institution and duties ofblack and white eunuchs	[23]
This was no bar to advancement or marriage	[24]
Slavery in Turkey different from that in the Occident	[25]
The advice of the Prophet and the laws of the Koran on the treatmentof slaves	[26]
Loyalty and obedience the two great virtues in the eyes of the Turks	[32]
Ibrahim a slave, which was of advantage in opening a career for him	[33]
Ibrahim’s love of magnificence	[33]
Ibrahim becomes Grand Vizir—his power and greatness	[34]
The history of the vizirate	[35]
The marriage of Ibrahim Pasha	[37]
Ibrahim’s relations to the Sultan	[42]
CHAPTER II
Ibrahim the Administrator
Revolt of Ahmed Pasha	[43]
Ibrahim goes to Egypt	[44]
Revolt is quieted and order restored	[45]
Appointed head of the army	[47]
The Cabyz affair	[49]
Ibrahim zealous in cause of commerce	[50]
Receives envoys in great state	[51]
Characterization of Ibrahim as an administrator	[52]
CHAPTER III
Ibrahim the Diplomat
Turkish foreign relations	[54]
Ragusa—Venice—Russia	[55]
The Holy Roman Empire	[56]
France—the Popes	[57]
Embassies to the Porte	[59]
The Hungarian campaign—siege of Vienna	[61]
Contest of Ferdinand and Zapolya	[61]
Commercial treaty with France	[64]
Second Hungarian campaign	[65]
Treaty with Ferdinand	[67]
War with Persia—conquest of the Mediterranean	[68]
The Protectorate of France in the Levant	[69]
Diplomatic relations between the Porte and Europe	[70]
Ibrahim’s preparation as diplomat	[71]
Ibrahim’s reception of ambassadors	[72]
Ibrahim’s importance and influence	[82]
Object and accomplishments of Turkish diplomacy	[87]
First entrance of Turkey into European diplomacy	[87]
Ibrahim’s influence over Suleiman	[88]
Characterization of Ibrahim as diplomat	[89]
CHAPTER IV
Ibrahim the General
Campaign against Belgrad	[90]
Siege of Rhodes	[90]
Ceremonial of preparation for war	[90]
Organization of the Turkish army	[91]
Capture of Peterwardein	[95]
Battle of Mohacz	[96]
Capture of Buda and end of campaign	[97]
Campaign of Vienna	[100]
Suleiman’s first defeat	[102]
Siege of Güns—practical defeat	[103]
War with Persia	[105]
Advance to Bagdad and end of campaign	[106]
Characterization of Ibrahim as general	[107]
CHAPTER V
Ibrahim’s Fall
Death of Ibrahim	[108]
Charges against Ibrahim	[110]
Said to favor the Christians	[110]
Quarrel with Iskender Chelebi	[112]
Suleiman evades his oath	[113]
Uncertainty of life near the Ottoman throne	[114]
Was Ibrahim a traitor?	[115]
Ibrahim’s importance in Turkish history	[118]

INTRODUCTION

The life of Ibrahim Pasha, as full of strange events as the most highly‐colored romance, paradoxical, and to western students of society almost incomprehensible in its rapid changes, is very difficult to place soberly before Occidental readers; yet its very strangeness is typical of the Orient, and if we could understand this romantic life we might find we held a key to much in Turkish life and thought. But our only chance of understanding it is to banish from our minds western conceptions and accept as facts what seem like wild imaginings. Ibrahim Pasha was not of the Turkish race, a fact which accounts for some of the paradoxes of his career, but his life was passed in a Turkish environment, one of whose notable characteristics is that it has always at once included and modified so many alien elements. In any consideration of the Turkish people, the most important thing to hold in mind is that the Turks are neither Aryan nor Semitic, being unrelated to Persians, Arabs, Greeks, or Hebrews. When ethnologists dare not speak definitely of race distinctions, the layman cannot venture to place the Turk in the “Touranian” or other group, but he can accept the fact that the Turks came into Europe from Central Asia and are in some way related to the Tatars and Mongols in the East, and probably to the Magyars and Finns in the West. The Turks of Central Asia during the period from the eighth to the eleventh centuries seem to have possessed qualities which characterize Turks of the period we are studying, and even mark the Turk of the present day.