Osman Pazvantoğlu
Osman | |
|---|---|
 Portrait | |
| Born | 1758 |
| Died | January 27, 1807 Vidin |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Kolari |
Osman Pazvantoğlu (
He is also remembered as the friend of Rigas Feraios, a Greek revolutionary poet, whom he tried to rescue from the Ottoman authorities in Belgrade. His father was a janissary agha of the 31st janissary orta.
Biography
His grandfather was originally from the
Having gathered a large army of mercenaries, he rebelled against the Ottoman sultan Selim III, and, acting as an independent ruler, he minted his own coins and had diplomatic relations with foreign states (including the French Republic). In 1798, he held territories which spread from the Danube to the Balkan Mountains and from Belgrade to Varna.[1] In 1793, he undertook a military expedition to the Pashaluk of Belgrade but was soundly defeated by the Serbs in Ottoman service at the Battle of Kolari.[2]
The 1797-8 military expedition of Hüseyin Küçük (having 100,000 soldiers)[1] failed in its goal to conquer Vidin and capture Pazvantoğlu partially due to the French invasion of Egypt, and indirectly resulted in the fall and execution of Prince Constantine Hangerli, after Küçük accused him of not having provided the Ottoman Army with enough funds.[3] His power had grown to the point that Napoleon and Talleyrand had hoped to have him become the Ottoman Sultan under French Protection.[4] He also attempted to annex the Sanjak of Smederevo but was stopped by Stanko Arambašić and his 16,000 Serbian soldiers in Ottoman service. In 1799, the Ottoman sultan forgave Pazvantoğlu's rebellion and agreed to make him a pasha.[1]
Pazvantoğlu often made violent raids in
In late January 1802,
In 1809, retaliation campaign of
Pazvantoğlu's incursions soon became infamous in all of Wallachia. The expression "as in the time of Pazvante Chioru' ", rather common in Romanian, was meant to indicate a time of trouble and ill-government; in time, it simply came to mean "extremely old".
Legacy
In Vidin, Bulgaria, the capital of Pazvantoğlu's domain, there are several landmarks built during his rule that still stand today. These include the military facility Krastata Kazarma (from Bulgarian: Cross-shaped Barracks), built in 1801, and a mosque (1801-1802) with a library building (1802–1803), dedicated to the pasha's father. All of them are classed as monuments of culture.
The mosque-library compound is thought to have also included a
Notes
- ^ a b c d Ionescu, p.242
- ^ Roger Viers Paxton (1968). Russia and the First Serbian Revolution: A Diplomatic and Political Study. The Initial Phase, 1804-1807. - (Stanford) 1968. VII, 255 S. 8°. Department of History, Stanford University. p. 13.
- ^ Djuvara, p.72-73
- ^ Stanford J. Shaw. Between Old and New: The Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim III 1789-1807. p. 254.
- ^ Ionescu, p. 254, citing Zilot Românul
- ^ Djuvara, p. 282
- ^ Djuvara, p.283
References
- Neagu Djuvara, Între Orient și Occident. Țările române la începutul epocii moderne ("Between Orient and Occident. The Romanian Lands at the beginning of the modern era"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995
- Ștefan Ionescu, Bucureștii în vremea fanarioților ("Bucharest in the Time of the Phanariotes"), Editura Dacia, Cluj, 1974
- Povestea lui Pazvante Chioru
- Pazvantoglu.com
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