Hüseyin Pasha Boljanić (, "the Short"; died 1595) was an Ottoman statesman and government official who served many high-level positions in the Ottoman Empire, including governorship of

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

(1594–95), of

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

(1582–83), of Diyarbekir, of Budin, of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, of

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

, of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, and of Egypt (1573–74).

Early life

Husein was born in the village of

Boljanići Boljanići () is a small village in the municipality of Pljevlja, Montenegro. It was historically known as Bolehnići (). Demographics According to the 2003 census, the village had a population of 60 people, 48,33% declaring as Serbs and 46,66% as ...

close to the town of

Pljevlja Pljevlja (, ) is a town located in the Northern Montenegro, Northern Region of Montenegro, situated along Ćehotina, Ćehotina river. The town lies at an altitude of . In the Middle Ages, Pljevlja had been a crossroad of the important commercial ...

at the time part of the

Sanjak of Herzegovina The Sanjak of Herzegovina (; ) was an Ottoman administrative unit established in 1470. The seat was in Foča until 1572 when it was moved to Taşlıca (Pljevlja). The sanjak was initially part of the Eyalet of Rumelia but was administrated int ...

(now in

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

). The family was one of several notable recently converted families in the Herzegovina region. His father, known as Bajram-aga, was a petty lord in his village. He had three brothers, Sinan, Ali, and Daut, and two sisters, Maksuma and Zulkada.

Sinan Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name. Etymology The word is possibly stems from th ...

married the sister of

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 ...

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (; ; ; 1505 – 11 October 1579) was an Ottoman statesman of Serb origin most notable for being the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Born in Ottoman Herzegovina into an Orthodox Christian family, Mehmed was recruited a ...

and rose in the state hierarchy, becoming sanjak-bey of Bosnia in 1562. Owing to Mehmed Pasha, who had sent him to be educated at the Enderun, Husein also rose; beginning as the ''subaşi'' of the

Popovo field Popovo Polje ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Popovo polje, Попово поље, , is a ''polje'' (karstic field) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in a southernmost region of the country, near the Adriatic coast. Its size is . Popovo polje i ...

, he was the governor of the

from March 1567 to March 1569. He was described and nicknamed as ''bodur'', meaning "short" in

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

Career

After governoring Herzegovina, in March 1569 he became the governor (sanjak-bey) of the

Sanjak of Bosnia Sanjak of Bosnia (, / Босански санџак) was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire established in 1463 when the lands conquered from the Bosnian Kingdom were transformed into a sanjak and Isa-Beg Isaković was appointed its fi ...

. He then became the beylerbey of Diyarbekir in 1572. Before long, he became 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 ...

and 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 ...

in 1573. Succeeding

Koca Sinan Pasha Koca Sinan Pasha (, "Sinan the Great", ; c. 1506 – 3 April 1596) was an Albanian-born Ottoman Grand Vizier, military figure, and statesman. From 1580 until his death he served five times as Grand Vizier. Early life Sinan Pasha, also known ...

as the governor of Egypt and only holding the office for around a year, he was described by a European source as "affectionate to men of learning, of a mild and modest disposition, and highly averse to all cruelty."; however, such qualities were anachronistic for that time, as tensions in Egypt between the governor, 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 ...

s of the army, and the local

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

s were rising; the same source recounts that robberies and bandits ran abound during his term. He then returned to Istanbul in 1574. Little is known about his life for the ten years between 1575 and 1585, but in 1585, Husein Pasha was appointed the governor of

Baghdad Eyalet Baghdad Eyalet (, ) was an Iraqi eyalet of the Ottoman Empire centered on Baghdad. Its reported area in the 19th century was . History Safavid shah Ismail I took the Baghdad region from the Aq Qoyunlu in 1508. After the Safavid takeover, Sunn ...

. In 1594, he was made the beylerbey (or pasha) of the

Bosnia Eyalet The Eyalet of Bosnia (; By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters ; ), was an eyalet (administrative division, also known as a ''beylerbeylik'') of the Ottoman Empire, mostly based on the territory of the present-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. ...

. After retiring within a few months, he died in 1595.

Legacy

He had the famous

Husein-paša's Mosque Husein-paša's Mosque () is a well-known mosque in Pljevlja, Montenegro. It was built between 1573 and 1594. It was named after Husein-paša Boljanić who was born in the village of Boljanići, which is close to Pljevlja. It has one of the highe ...

built between 1573 and 1594, which still holds the distinction of being one of the largest mosques in

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

and having the highest minaret of any mosque in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, although that was a later addition after his original minaret was struck down by lightning in 1911.

Annotations

). S. Bašagić used the surname Bajramagić.

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huseyin Pasha Boljanic Ottoman governors of Egypt Ottoman governors of Damascus 16th-century Ottoman governors of Egypt 16th-century births 1595 deaths Year of birth missing Ottoman governors of Baghdad Ottoman governors of Aleppo Ottoman governors of Bosnia People from the Sanjak of Herzegovina Ottoman Bosnian nobility