Hamza Bey

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Hamza Bey (died 1460) was a 15th-century Ottoman admiral of Albanian origin.[1][2]

Biography

Hamza Bey first appeared in 1421, when his brother,

Albanian origin, modern historian Uzunçarşılı wrote that he was born in Amasya as the son of Amasyalı Yahşi Bey, earning him the epithet Amasyalı, meaning "from Amasya," which implied he wasn't a convert.[3][4] This means their grandfather was an Albanian convert to Islam and joined the Ottoman conquest, settling in Amasya. Their troops defected to Mustafa, and Bayezid was executed; Hamza was spared because Junayd of Aydın took pity on his youth. Hamza avenged his brother when he was appointed Beylerbey of Anatolia
in 1424: he defeated Junayd, occupied his domains, seized Junayd and his family, and had them executed.

Hamza Bey came to prominence, as a commander in

siege of Thessalonica
, which in 1430 was ultimately successful.

In 1453 Hamza Bey was made commander of the Ottoman fleet during the

Byzantine defences, with those troops which managed to gain a foothold being easily repulsed. However, overall the Ottoman
assault was successful.

Hamza Bey was to remain

Knights of Rhodes, Hamza was unable to take the remainder of the Aegean, leaving Christian forces astride the Ottoman route from their new capital to the Mediterranean
proper.

Death

In 1460, as Bey of Nicopolis, Hamza was at the head of an army, tasked to protect an embassy to the Wallachians. En route back, he and his army were ambushed by Vlad the Impaler. Together with his men, Hamza was impaled by Vlad, being given the honour of having the highest stake in deference to his rank.[5][6] According to Laonikos Chalkokondyles, upon hearing this, Mehmed lost his temper with anger, that he struck on Mahmud Pasha, that brought the news.[6]

Monuments

Hamza's body was recovered by his sons, and was buried in a complex that he had built in Bursa. The complex, which still exists today, consists of a mosque and a number of tombs, including that of Hamza and his family.

For his part in the taking of Thessalonica in 1430, the Hamza Bey Mosque, was built there in his name. Following the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the mosque fell out of use as a place of worship. After being used for various commercial undertakings, most notably as a cinema, the mosque was bought by the Greek state in 2006 for restoration.

Personality

Bertrandon de la Broquiere, mentions Hamza as a "very valiant" man. According to him, Hamza's income was around 50 thousand ducats.[7]

In popular culture

In the movie Dracula Untold by Gary Shore, Hamza Bey was portrayed by Ferdinand Kingsley.[8]

References

  1. ISBN 9780860780328
    .
  2. ^ İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971, p. 9. (Turkish)
  3. ISBN 978-90-04-12106-5
    .
  4. ISBN 978-1-136-51318-3
    .
  5. ^ Franz Babinger (1978). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. p. 204.
  6. ^ a b Stavrides T (2001). The Sultan of Vezirs: The Life and Times of the Ottoman Grand Vezir Mahmud Pasha Angelovic (1453-1474) (Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage). Brill. pp. 140–141.
  7. ^ Charles Henri Auguste Schefer (1892). Le voyage d'outremer de Bertrandon de la Broquière: premier conseiller de Philippe le Bon, duc de Bourgogne (in French). Paris. p. 136.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ "Ferdinand Kingsley". Rotten Tomatoes.

External links

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