Editing Kara Mustafa Pasha

{{Short description|Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1676 to 1683}}
{{Distinguish|Kara Mustafa Pasha (governor of Egypt)|Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Pasha}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{family name hatnote|Mustafa|Pasha||lang=Ottoman Turkish}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[wikt:kara#Turkish|Kara]]
| name                = Mustafa
| honorific-suffix    = [[Pasha]]
| image               = File:Portret van Kara Mustafa Pasha, RP-P-1894-A-18289.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| caption             = Imaginative portrait of Kara Mustafa Pasha,  1670-1724, [[Netherlands]]
| office1             = [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire]]
| monarch1            = [[Mehmed IV]]
| term_start1         = 19 October 1676
| term_end1           = 25 December 1683
| predecessor1        = [[Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha]]
| successor1          = [[Bayburtlu Kara Ibrahim Pasha]]
| office2             = 
| monarch2            = 
| term_start2         = 
| term_end2           = 
| predecessor2        = 
| successor2          = 
| office3             = 
| monarch3            = 
| term_start3         = 
| term_end3           = 
| predecessor3        = 
| successor3          = 
| office4             = 
| monarch4            = 
| term_start4         = 
| term_end4           = 
| predecessor4        = 
| successor4          = 
| birth_date          = 1634 or 1635
| birth_place         = Mırınca near [[Merzifon]], [[Rum Eyalet]] (today [[Karamustafapaşa, Merzifon|Karamustafapaşa]])
| death_date          = 25 December 1683
| death_place         = [[Belgrade]], [[Budin Eyalet]]
| nationality         = [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]
| blank1              = Origins
| data1               = [[Turkish people|Turkish]]
| party               = 
| spouse              = Köprülüzade ''Fülane'' Hatun<br/>Fatma Hatun<br/>Ayşe Hatun<br/>Emine Hatun<br/>Zeynep Hatun
| blank2              = Family
| data2               = [[Köprülü family]] (adoptive)
| relations           = [[Köprülü Mehmed Pasha]] (father-in-law)<br />[[Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha]] (brother-in-law)<br />[[Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha]] (brother-in-law)
| children            = Yusuf Pasha<br/>Mehmed Pasha<br/>Ali Pasha
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = 
| allegiance          = [[File:Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1844).svg|24px]] '''[[Ottoman Empire]]'''
| branch              = [[File:Fictitious Ottoman flag 4.svg|24px]] [[Ottoman Navy]] <br /> [[File:Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1844).svg|24px]] [[Ottoman Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1660s–1683
| rank                = [[Kapudan Pasha|Grand Admiral]] (1666–70)<br />Commander-in-Chief (1676–83)
| battles             = [[Polish–Ottoman War (1672–76)]]<br />[[Russo-Turkish War (1676–81)]]<br />[[Polish–Ottoman War (1683–99)]]<br />[[Great Turkish War]] (1683–99)<br />
* [[Battle of Vienna]] (1683)
* [[Battle of Párkány]] (1683)
| occupation          = 
| profession          = 
| religion            = 
| signature           = 
| footnotes           = 
}}
'''Kara Mustafa Pasha''' ({{langx|ota|قره مصطفى پاشا}}; {{langx|tr|Kara Mustafa Paşa}}; "Mustafa [[Pasha]] the Courageous"; 1634/1635 – 25 December 1683) was an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] nobleman, military figure and [[Grand vizier|Grand Vizier]], who was a central character in the [[Ottoman Empire]]'s last attempts at expansion into both [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]].

==Early life and career==
[[File:OttomanNorth.png|thumb|left|250px|The Ottoman northern frontier in the seventeenth century, where Kara Mustafa Pasha led his early campaigns.]]
Kara Mustafa Pasha was of [[Turkish people|Turkish]] origin.<ref name="Bérenger">{{cite book|author=[[Jean Bérenger|Bérenger, Jean]]|editor=Tollet, Daniel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FkQUWZEqppoC|title=Guerres et paix en Europe centrale aux époques moderne et contemporaine mélanges d'histoire des relations internationales offerts à Jean Bérenger|page=103|publisher=[[Paris-Sorbonne University|Paris-Sorbonne University Press]]|year=2003|isbn=9782840502586|quote=[[French language|French]]: Il [Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pacha] était d'origine turque et fut élevé dans la famille des Köprülü. ([[English language|English]]: He [Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha] was of Turkish descent and was brought up in the Köprülü family.}}</ref><ref name="veiga">{{cite book|author=[[Francisco Veiga|Veiga, Francisco]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3Vb5IKY7ecC|title=El turco diez siglos a las puertas de Europa|page=262|publisher=Debate|year=2006|isbn=9788483066706|quote=[[Spanish language|Spanish]]: A él le sucedería Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasa, de origen turco. ([[English language|English]]: He would be succeeded by Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasa, of Turkish origin.}}</ref><ref name="simsir">{{cite book|last=Şimşir|first=Nahide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yV3aAAAAMAAJ|title=Osmanlı araştırmaları makaleler · Volume 1|page=111|publisher=IQ Kültürsanat|year=2004|isbn=9789752550056|quote=Kara Mustafa Pasha, who was of Turkish origin and was brought up in the Köprülü family, was a passionate, ambitious and authoritarian person}}</ref><ref name="wheatcroft">{{cite book|last=Wheatcroft|first=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84c4DgAAQBAJ|title=The Enemy at the Gate Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe|page=|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|year=2009|isbn=9780786744541|quote=While the other Köprülü were all of Albanian origin, the first of them brought to Istanbul in the youth levy, Kara Mustafa was a pure Anatolian.}}</ref><ref name="sevinc">{{cite book|last=Sevinç|first=Necdet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bmBRAQAAIAAJ|title=Osmanlının yükselişi ve çöküşü sosyal ve ekonomik inceleme|page=111|publisher=Burak Yayınevi|year=1992|isbn=9789757645009|quote=Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha - Ethnicity: Turkish}}</ref><ref name="arslan">{{cite book|author=Emir Şekip Arslan, Selda Meydan, Ahmet Meydan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TSGDwAAQBAJ|title=Bir Arap aydının gözüyle Osmanlı Tarihi ve I. Dünya Savaşı Aruları|page=111|publisher=Çatı Kitapları|year=2005|isbn=9789758845163|quote=Kara Mustafa Pasha from Merzifon was Turkish, and those from Köprülü were Albanians}}</ref><ref name="dilek">{{cite book|last=Dilek|first=Zeki|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDNpAAAAMAAJ|title=Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa Uluslararası Sempozyumu 08-11 Haziran 2000, Merzifon|page=4|publisher=Merzifon Vakfı|year=2000|isbn=9789759744700|quote=Even later, Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, one of the Grand Viziers of Turkish origin in the Ottoman Empire [...]}}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=November 2023}} However, he was brought up in the [[Köprülü family]], of [[Albanians|Albanian]] origin.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdTriSqIW3AC|title=Friends and Rivals in the East: Studies in Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Levant from the Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Century|last1=Hamilton|first1=Alastair|last2=Groot|first2=Alexander Hendrik de|last3=Boogert|first3=Maurits H. Van Den|date=2000-01-01|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9004118543|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wl0PAQAAMAAJ|author=Evliya Çelebi (ed. by von Hammer-Purgstall)|title=The Travels of Evliya Efendi|language=en|page=156|date=1834-01-01}}</ref><ref name="arslan"/> He was born in the village of Mirince/Marınca near [[Merzifon]] (now called [[Karamustafapaşa, Merzifon|Karamustafapaşa]] after him), the son of a ''[[sipahi]]'', cavalry man.<ref name="kiel"/> His father is said to have served under [[Köprülü Mehmed Pasha]]. Possibly as a way to increase his possibilities to start an administrative career, he was introduced into the Köprülü household, where he was educated by Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, and married into the Köprülü family.<ref name=Stoye>''The Siege of Vienna'', John Stoye, p. 18.</ref> How he entered the family and the details of his marriage are unclear. Within the household's inner service (''enderun''), he held the positions of letter-carrier (''telhisci'', or assistant to the grand vizier)<ref name="brill1"/><ref name="kiel"/> to Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, and of ''silahdar'' (armourer). He then entered the household of the Sultan as ''mirahor-i-sani'' ([[master of the horse]]). It is said that while growing up, differently from his adoptive Köprülü brothers, he disliked alcohol, as well as Europeans and other non-Muslims.<ref name="wheatcroft"/> A contemporary French account says he had two children with the little Köprülü princess, who both died young, and that his wife died shortly after their death, at 31. He had four [[concubine|concubines]] (Fatma, Emine, Ayşe, Zeynep), and by them at least two sons, Yusuf and Mehmed. According to another contemporary report by Giovanni Benaglia, secretary of the Austrian ambassador in Istanbul, he divorced his "beloved Köprülü princess" after their engagement and after they had many children, and gave her to a French renegade, one of his favorites. An account by a contemporary who visited his household, Claudio Angelo di Martelli, reports of three sons who survived his death: Yusuf, Mehmed, and the youngest Ali.<ref name="kiel"/>

He conformed to the Islamic custom of not wearing silk, and never wore silver or gold, which was a largely unenforced requirement. Europeans who met him (with few exceptions, such as Colyer, who initially described him as a man of "most agreeable nature") variously described him as greedy, humorous but terse, avid, intransigent, perfidious, covetous, unwilling to accept bribes yet concerned with improving his own well-being, and completely devoted to the Ottoman state. Later accounts by Giovanni Morosini di Alvise, Venetian bailo of Istanbul from 1675 to 1680, speak of a man "born in an obscure place of Asia, in [[Trabzon|Trebisonda]], to castigate the nations," and describe him as "wholly venal, cruel and unfair." The English ambassador to Istanbul John Finch also describes him as greedy, and a "grievous oppressor of Christendom."<ref name="kiel">{{cite journal|title=The Must-Haves of a Grand Vizier. Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha's Luxury Assets|last=Reindl-Kiel|first=Hedda|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26449345|journal= Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes|year=2016 |volume=106 |pages=179–221 |jstor=26449345 |access-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=|archive-date=}}</ref><ref name="brill1">{{cite journal|title=«A Most Agreeable and Pleasant Creature»? Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa in the Correspondence of Justinus Colyer (1668-1682)|last=Merlijn|first=Orlon|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ormo/83/3/article-p649_6.xml?ebody=previewPdf-46504|journal=Oriente Moderno |year=2003 |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=649–669 |doi=10.1163/22138617-08303006 |access-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=|archive-date=}}</ref> He was particularly "unbearable to Europeans", especially for the heavy taxes he imposed (a "stream of ''avanias'' in the years 1676-1683"). Even though his adoptive siblings also imposed notable ''avanias'', their reputation with Europeans was not as bad.<ref name="kiel"/><ref name="brill1"/> Merlijn Orlon noted that his bad reputation doesn't do him justice. Orlon explains that he worked to maintain the House of Osman's supremacy in their own territories, clashing with ambitious foreign ministers. This resulted in his bad reputation. He dealt differently with the Dutchmen for political reasons, and this resulted in Colyer's more positive account of him. As the Franco-allied wars ended, a preferential treatment of the Dutch became useless, and, as a result, Mustafa's relationship with Colyer grew troubled.<ref name="brill1"/>

In 1659 he had become a governor of [[Silistria]] and subsequently held a number of important posts. Within ten years, he was acting as deputy for his brother-in-law, the [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire|grand vizier]] [[Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha]] when absent from the Sultan's court.<ref name=Stoye />

He served as a commander of ground troops in a war against [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]], negotiating a settlement with [[John Sobieski]] in 1676 that added the province of [[Podolia]] to the empire. The victory enabled the Ottomans to transform the Cossack regions of the southern [[Cossack Hetmanate|Russian Empire]] into a [[protectorate]]. When his brother-in-law [[Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha]] died that same year, Mustafa succeeded him as [[Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire|grand vizier]].<ref name=Stoye />

Kara Mustafa led several successful campaigns into Russian Empire, attempting to shore up the position of the Cossack state, then an Ottoman vassal. He established Ottoman garrisons in many of Ukraine's cities, and conquered the traditional Cossack capital of [[Chyhyryn]], which had been under Russian Empire occupation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kołodziejczyk |first=Dariusz |title=The Ottoman Survey Register of Podolia (ca. 1681) Part I: Text, Translation, and Commentary |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=2004 |chapter=Introduction |pages=3–10}}</ref>

==Battle of Vienna==
{{Main| Battle of Vienna}}
[[File:Kara Mustafa Pasha.jpg |thumb|left|Imaginative portrait of Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha]]

In 1683, he launched [[Battle of Vienna|a campaign northward]] into [[Archduchy of Austria|Austria]] in a last effort to expand the Ottoman Empire after more than 150 years of war. By mid-July, his 100,000-man army had besieged [[Vienna]] (guarded by 10,000 [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] soldiers), following in the footsteps of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] in 1529. By September, he had taken a portion of the walls and appeared to be on his way to victory.

But on 12 September 1683, a Polish army under King [[John III Sobieski]] took advantage of dissent within the Ottoman military command and poor disposition of his troops, winning the [[Battle of Vienna]] with a devastating flank attack led by Sobieski's [[Polish Hussars|Polish Winged Hussars]]. The Ottomans retreated into [[Ottoman Hungary|Hungary]], much of which was subsequently conquered by the Habsburgs and their [[Holy League (1684)|Holy League]] allies.

The defeat cost Mustafa his position, and ultimately, his life. On 25 December 1683, Kara Mustafa was executed in [[Belgrade]] at the order of [[Mehmed IV]]. He suffered death by [[Strangulation#Ligature strangulation|strangulation]] with a [[silk]] [[Cord (sewing)|cord]], which was the method of capital punishment inflicted on high-ranking persons in the Ottoman Empire. His [[last words]] were, "Am I to die?" and "As God pleases."<ref name=Stoye />

[[File:Kara Musztafa kivégzése a Selyemzsinórral.jpg|thumb|250px|Kara Mustafa Pasha's [[Garrote|strangulation by a silk cord]] on 25 December 1683.]]

==Legacy==

''The Foundation of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha'' was one of the largest foundations ever founded both in Ottoman Empire and Turkey. According to the official records, it was last managed by the descendants of Kara Mustafa Pasha. The last few managers of the foundation were Mustafa Pasha's descendant Ahmed Asım Bey (born 1844), his son Mehmed Nebil Bey (born 1888) (also known as Merzifonlu Karamustafaoğlu or Merzifonlu Karamustafapaşaoğlu), and his son, the Turkish painter Doğan Yılmaz Merzifonlu Karamustafaoğlu, better known as Yılmaz Merzifonlu (1928–2010), until 1976. The "Merzifonlu Karamustafaoğlu" family name ended with the marriage of Yılmaz Merzifonlu's only daughter, Abide Tuğçe Mit to Burak Mit from the house of noble Circassian Mit family .<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/planet/22788915.asp|title=Son Merzifonlu o filme karşı değil|website=www.hurriyet.com.tr|date=12 March 2013 |access-date=2016-03-24}}</ref> Kara Mustafa Pasha's family and descendant tree can be found via [[Directorate General of Foundations (Turkey)|Turkey's Directorate General of Foundations]].<ref>http://www.vgm.gov.tr/ {{in lang|tr}}</ref>

Kara Mustafa Pasha's legacy in modern Turkey is mixed. Whereas historians describe him either as a capable tactician or reckless commander, [[Kemal Atatürk]] held a sympathetic view of the man. It is said that, while attending a lecture at an Ankara institution in 1933, at which a professor spoke disparagingly of Kara Mustafa Pasha, Atatürk spoke up in favour of Kara Mustafa, arguing that marching an army of 173,000 men from Constantinople to Vienna, the "heart of Europe", was a colossal undertaking for any commander, and that the only other person who came close to such a feat was Sultan [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] himself.

Kara Mustafa's birthplace near Merzifon district was renamed [[Karamustafapaşa, Merzifon|Karamustafapaşa]] in his honour.

==In media==
In the 2012 Polish and Italian historical drama film ''[[September Eleven 1683]]'' about the Battle of Vienna, Kara Mustafa Pasha is portrayed by Italian actor [[Enrico Lo Verso]].

==See also==
* [[Köprülü era]] of the Ottoman Empire
* [[Köprülü family]]
* [[List of Ottoman grand viziers]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|Kara Mustafa Pasha}}
*{{cite journal |last=Olnon |first=Merlijn |title='A Most Agreeable and Pleasant Creature'? Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa in the Correspondence of Justinus Colyer (1668–1682) |journal=Oriente Moderno |date=2003 |volume=22 |series=New Series |issue=3 |pages=649–669|doi=10.1163/22138617-08303006 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire]]|years=19 October 1676 – 25 December 1683}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bayburtlu Kara Ibrahim Pasha]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Grand Viziers of Ottoman Empire}}
{{Seamen of the Ottoman Empire}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mustafa, Kara}}
[[Category:1630s births]]
[[Category:1683 deaths]]
[[Category:Köprülü family]]
[[Category:Pashas]]
[[Category:Turks from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Ottoman people of the Great Turkish War]]
[[Category:17th-century grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Executed people from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:17th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:People executed by ligature strangulation]]
[[Category:Kapudan Pashas]]
[[Category:People from Merzifon]]