Lutfi Pasha

Lutfi Pasha (Turkish: Lûtfi Paşa, born Abd al-Mu'in, ca. 893 AH/1488 - ) was an Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier.[1]

Life

As a devshirme youth, he entered Bayazid II's harem-i hass, where he received a thorough education in the Islamic sciences. He held the post of çuhadar before the accession of Selim I, when he graduated (taşra çıkmak) as a müteferrika with 50 akçe daily, and then held in turn the posts of çaşnigir, kapucı başı and mir-i 'alem.

His first appointment to service outside the palace was as sancakbey of Kastamuni, and he subsequently became beylerbey of Karaman. Lütfi pasha himself gives these details of his life in the introduction to his Asafname. However he does not give the dates of his appointments and omits all details of his life before entering the Palace. He may also have served as sancakbey first of Aydin and then of Yanya (Ioannina), since Feridun Bey mentions a Lütfi bey who served at the siege of Rhodes in 928-9 AH/1522 as a sancakbey of Aydin (Feridun Bey, Münşe'at al-selâtin, İstanbul 1274 AH/1857) and a Lütfi bey who served at the siege of Vienna in 936 AH/1529 as sancakbey of Yanya (ibid. I, 573). These references may well be to Lütfi Pasha, the future Grand Vizier since he himself claimed to have participated in both these campaigns (Lütfi Pasha, Tevârih-i 'Al-i Osman, ed. Ali, İstanbul 1341/1922-3, 3). In his book he laid stress on the question of whether the Ottoman sultans who were non Arab could assume the title of claiph or not .

In 941/1534-5 he became Third Vizier. By this time, he had, by his own account, served in Selim I's wars against the Safawids in Eastern Anatolia and against the Mamelukes in Syria and Egypt. Under Süleyman I, he took part in the campaigns of Belgrade in 927/1521, Rhodes in 928-9/1522.

See also

References

  1. ^ İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971 (Turkish)
Preceded by
Ayaz Mehmet Pasha
Grand Vizier
13 July 1539 – April 1541
Succeeded by
Hadım Süleyman Pasha