Ali Bey Mihaloğlu

Ali Bey Mihaloğlu or Gazı Alauddin Ali Bey Mihaloğlu, (1425—1507)[1] was an Ottoman military commander in 15th century and the first sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Smederevo. He was one of the descendants of Köse Mihal, a Byzantine governor of Chirmenkia and battle companion of Osman Gazi. Some historians believed that epic figure of Alija Đerđelez was inspired by Ali Bey Mihaloglu.[2]

In 1459 he raided Transylvania, province of Hungary but was beaten by Transylvanian voivode uncle of King Matthias and former Regent of Hungary Michael Szilágyi at Futak and thus was forced to retreat.[3]

In 1460 when he was able to capture the small advancing army of Szilágyi at Pojejena. He transferred the prisoner to Istambul to have him decapitated by the orders of the Sultan.[3]

In 1460 Ali Bey was subasi of the Güvercinlik (Golubac, today in Serbia) and sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Vidin later that year. He was appointed for sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Smederevo in 1462/1463.[4]

In 1462 already the bey of Smederevo he was constantly harassing the Torontál County of Hungary but withdrew southwards after the reinforcements of Micheal of Szokoly and Peter of Szokoly arrived into the area.[5]

In 1463 he assisted Mehmet II in his attack on Bosnia with a distraction attack on King Matthias in Syrmia, but was pushed back by Andrew Pongrácz high cup-bearer of Hungary. He suddenly made a flanking move to the heart of Hungary until he reached Temesvár, where he ran into John Pongrácz Voivode of Transylvania and was defeated in a close battle.[5]

On February 7, 1474, Ali Bey Mihaloğlu unexpectedly attacked the town of Várad. Ahead of his 7 000 horsemen, he broke through its wooden fences and pillaged the town, burned the houses and took the population as prisoners. Their goal was to rob the treasury of the episcopate, but were resisted by the refugees and clergy in the bishop's castle (at the time the bishop's rank was absent, and no records mention the identity of a possible Hungarian captain). The town fell but the castle stood, forcing the Ottomans to give up the fight after one day of siege. While retreating, they devastated the surrounding areas.[6]

In 1476 Ali was joined by his brother Skender Pasha as he departed Smederevo and crossed the Danube ahead of 5000 spahis making a second attempt to reach Temesvár. He was confronted by the Hungarian nobility at Pančevo. He suffered an utter defeat and barely escaped in a small boat. The Hungarians chased him to valley on the opposite bank of the Nadela where they released all the previously captured Hungarian prisoners and also took 250 Ottoman captives. [7]

In 1478 he joined Ömer Bey Turahanoğlu when he attacked Venetian possessions.[8]

In 1479 Ali Bey launched his biggest attack on the Kingdom of Hungary. He led his army over the Szászsebes region, pillaged Gyulafehérvár, but was stopped by Pál Kinizsi in the Battle of Breadfield.[9]

In the end of 1492 Wallachian voivode Vlad Călugărul had already warned the Hungarians of a possible Ottoman offensive from Transylvania. In an attempt to dispose the pro-Hungarian voivode Bayezid II marched through Wallachia to enter into Hungary. They passed through the Rotenturm passage and trun to inner Transylvania along the Olt River. At the time the region lacked a legitime voivode, but the vice-voivode Stephen Telegdy took up the arms and blocked the passage to face the unaware Ottomans on their way back. They manage to recuperate the plunder and captives and caused the Ottoman forces heavy losses (a couple thousand casulties). However after the death of his father Vlad, pro-Ottoman Radu IV the Great replaced him in 1495.[10]

References

  1. ^ Popović, Tanya (1988). Prince Marko: the hero of South Slavic epics. http://books.google.com/books?id=ok93aZ27r-oC&pg=PA163&dq=Ali+Beg+Mihaloglu&hl=en&ei=N_4BToGqG8bDtAaovZWuDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 22 June 2011. "... Ali Beg Mihal Oglu (1425-1507)" 
  2. ^ Škrijelj, Redžep (2005) (in Serbian). Alamanah 31-32. Podgorica. p. 156. http://www.almanah.co.me/Ostale/PDF/casopis/Almanah%2031-32.pdf. Retrieved 22 June 2011. "Istoričari Stojan Novaković i Milenko Vukićević su postavili hipotezu da je Đerzelez Alija u stvari Ali-beg, prvi sandžak-beg Smedereva (Semendere) i Srbije po padu Despotovine (1459)." 
  3. ^ a b Gerő Lajos (1897). "Szilágyi" (in Hungarian). Pallas Nagylexikon [Grand Lexicon of Pallas]. Budapest, Hungary: Pallas Irodalmi és Nyomdai Rt. http://mek.niif.hu/00000/00060/html/097/pc009704.html. Retrieved June 27, 2011. 
  4. ^ Gradeva, Rositsa (2004). Rumeli under the Ottomans, 15th-18th centuries: institutions and communities. Isis Press. p. 26. ISBN 9789754282719. http://books.google.com/books?id=SiNpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ali+Bey+Mihaloglu+was+the+subasi+of+the+district+residing+in+Giivercinlik%22&dq=%22Ali+Bey+Mihaloglu+was+the+subasi+of+the+district+residing+in+Giivercinlik%22&hl=en&ei=sUgETpmaEcqz8QOxn-jRDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA. Retrieved 24 June 2011. "In 1460, Ali Bey Mihaloglu was the subasi of the district residing in Giivercinlik [Golubac, Serbia]. Later during the same year he became the sancakbey of Vidin for the first time. In 1462-63, he became sancakbey of Semendire" 
  5. ^ a b Samu Borovszky; János Sziklay, Dezső Csánki (1898). "A mohácsi vésztől napjainkig [from the Battle of Mohács to present day]" (in Hungarian). Magyarország vármegyéi és városai [Countries and towns of Hungary]. Budapest, Hungary: Országos Monográfia Társaság,. ISBN 963 9374 91 1. http://mek.oszk.hu/09500/09536/html/0024/14.html. Retrieved June 27, 2011. 
  6. ^ Bunyitay Vincze, (in Hungarian). A váradi püspökség története (Epistolario di Pier Paolo Vergerio) [History of the episcopate of Várad]. Nagyvárad, Hungary: Episcopate of Várad. http://mek.niif.hu/04700/04735/html/57.html. Retrieved 20 October 2010. 
  7. ^ Franz Babinger (1978). "IX.". Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press. p. 349. ISBN 0 691 09900 6. http://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&pg=PA302&hl=hu&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 28 June 2011. 
  8. ^ Markus Köhbach, Gisela Procházka-Eisl, Claudia Römer, ed (1999). Acta Viennensia Ottomanica. Selbstverlag des Instituts für Orientalistik. p. 287. ISBN 9783900345051. http://books.google.com/books?id=7JRpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ali+Bey+Mihaloglu%22&dq=%22Ali+Bey+Mihaloglu%22&hl=en&ei=V3AETuGBBMm68gOWlJXaDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAw. Retrieved 24 June 2011. "In November 1477 Ömer bey Turahanoglu crossed the Venetian border and he repeated his attack the following year together with Ali bey Mihaloglu," 
  9. ^ László Makkai (2001). "The Hunyadi Family". History of Transylvania Volume I. From the Beginnings to 1606. New York, USA: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-88033-479-7. http://mek.niif.hu/03400/03407/html/1.html. Retrieved June 27, 2011. 
  10. ^ József Bánlaky (1929). "A törökök 1493. évi erdélyi betörése. [Turkish invasion in 1493 into Transylvania]" (in Hungarian). A magyar nemzet hadtörténelme [Military history of the Hungarian nation]. Budapest, Hungary: Grill Károly Könyvkiadó vállalata. ISBN 963 86118 7 1. http://mek.oszk.hu/09400/09477/html/0012/893.html. Retrieved June 16, 2011. 

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