Honored by the Glory of Islam. Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe

a decade of crisis 45

the idealization by a disaffected member of the elite of a golden age of justice

and military success that never was, nor was ever conceived as such.^18 But Ka-

raçelebizade put his fi nger on real problems of the age.

A Sorry Parade of Grand Viziers and Power

Struggles between Royal Women

Larger causes of such unrest were administrative, economic and fi nancial, and

military. Some authors emphasize the weaknesses of the leading administra-

tors in the empire: a string of twelve incapable, feeble, and often senile grand

viziers served terms of one to twelve months in offi ce between 1 648 and 1 656.

Other writers emphasize larger structural reasons greater than the frailities of

any one man. Katip Çelebi points out that these grand viziers were appointed

or dismissed not due to their weaknesses, for some were actually courageous,

but because “the Janissary commanders predominated, the administration of

state was in their hands, and appointments were made according to their ap-

proval.”^19 This sentiment was echoed by contemporary western Europeans as

well. Sir Thomas Roe wrote, “The Turkish emperor is now but the Janizaries

treasurer.”^20 It is not accidental that when Kurdish Preacher Mustafa, employed

as one of the sultan’s imams beginning in 1 664, writes in the mid- 1 670s of the

grand viziers who served between 1 648 and 1 656, he spills more ink describing

their deaths than their lives.

Ottoman chroniclers focus on the succession of grand viziers who held

offi ce during the fi rst eight years of Mehmed IV’s reign, whose names be-

come a blur before the reader. Representative was Melek (Angel) Ahmed Pasha

( 1 650–5 1 ), who became grand vizier on condition that the Janissary command-

ers would not meddle in the affairs of state.^21 But Melek Ahmed Pasha had his

hands tied since the grand vizier had no infl uence whatsoever. Symbolic of the

affairs of state at the time, Melek Ahmed Pasha desired to build an immense

sailing galleon for himself. It was constructed near Garden Gate, the most

crowded and visible public square in the city. People gathered in awe to watch

the enormous hulk of the ship rise above the harbor and proclaimed that “such

a galleon had never been built before.”^22 When it was ready to be set afl oat, a

great crowd gathered to view the launch of the magnifi cent galleon, presided

over by the leading men of state. After the ropes were loosened the ship was let

down on runners into the Golden Horn. When the ship entered the sea, it im-

mediately began to take on water. It capsized, and then “the grand vizier’s boat

sank in the sea with a sigh.”^23 The grand vizier cried “and the immense crowd

was speechless from shock.”^24 Crews of other boats could not pull the galleon