58 honored by the glory of islamtears of grief.”^106 The Venetians had blocked Istanbul’s sea route to Egypt. Rice,coffee, and other products could not be sent to the capital.^107 The sultan fl ed to
the Asian side of Istanbul. He was not the only resident of the city to panic. Fear-
ing imminent foreign occupation, thousands of Istanbul residents also crossed
to the Anatolian side of the city. When, as a defensive measure, soldiers began
to demolish homes built on the city walls, terror struck the hearts of people and
caused them to uproot and seek a safe region of the city. Even the rich suffered
greatly as they too lost their means of livelihood and life-sustaining rations.^108
The grand vizier Boynueğri was ordered to “start a victorious campaign against
the enemies of religion and with the soldiers of Islam get rid of the enemies
by means of religious zeal and expel the wretched infi dels from the straits.”^109
But, as has been seen, he stated that he could not take that duty upon himself
and was dismissed.
Sipahis rebelled in Anatolia and Istanbul. Sipahi Gürcü Nebi, brother of
Grand Vizier Gürcü Mehmed Pasha, revolted to take revenge for the depos-
ing and executing of Ibrahim, the killing of his cavalry brethren at the Hip-
podrome and in Ahmed I’s mosque, and the dumping of their corpses in the
sea soon after Mehmed IV’s enthronement.^110 With “Satan whispering in his
ear tempting him to sin,” he joined ranks with other sipahis and irregular mi-
litias who had a reputation for looting and raping their way across Anatolia.^111
He asked a notorious highway robber to join him, a man who had previously
killed the governor-general of Anatolia, and began marching toward the impe-
rial capital. The threat was real: Janissaries crossed the Bosporus to Üsküdar
to dig trenches and set up cannons and artillery to defend Istanbul. Fifty thou-
sand soldiers gathered to battle a rebel force twice that number.^112
The rebel demands were typical for that era. They wanted tradition to be
maintained and for a role in institutions, to be included in military adminis-
tration, not to set up a counter one. These were not revolutionaries. Irked that
prayers had not been said over their fallen comrades in Istanbul, they demanded
the dismissal of the sheikhulislam. They desired provincial administrative-
military positions to be bestowed on them.^113 Although at fi rst the pasha sent
to suppress the revolt acted in an unhurried and nonconfrontational manner
because he was an old friend of the rebel leader, by the time the rebels actually
arrived in Istanbul, loyal forces battled them and defeated them in the vicin-
ity of Üsküdar. It was a massive battle, and up to a thousand Janissaries were
killed. Religious conversion helped the rebels’ second in command achieve his
desires. He became a pious Muslim, or “found the way of God” and “repented
of his evil ways.” Petitioning the sultan, he asked that his religious turn and
newfound devotion to God be recognized, and he was granted a provincial po-
sition with landholding. Karaçelebizade complains that “the bandit who tra-