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

enjoining good and forbidding wrong 77

attacked Topkapı Palace, and even allegedly ate the fl esh of their enemies; yet

against foreign soldiers they failed to fi ght well, and, because their salaries

could not be paid, caused offi cials to oppress people to collect the money. Mus-

lim, Christian, and Jewish commoners then took the dire step of fl eeing to Iran

or western Europe, which harmed the empire further. Accordingly, Köprülü

Mehmed Pasha, a wise old man who knew of their treachery fi rsthand, had to

wipe the Janissaries out: “He killed so many sipahis and Janissaries in Edirne

that the Tunca River was fi lled with corpses.”^72 These actions allowed him to

take credit for putting the empire in order and making the state sound.^73 Play-

ing on the name of the grand vizier, Kurdish Preacher Mustafa notes that he

became renowned for building “a strong and sound, fortifi ed bridge [köprü]

across the waters of the kingdom.”^74 Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was successful

in recapturing the seas, retaking the islands, reconquering outlying provinces,

and ridding the countryside of rebels. Forced loans, improved tax collection,

the raising of new levies, limiting expenses, and increasing the tribute of prov-

inces enabled him to refi ll the treasury and balance the budget.^75 One problem

he did not solve, however, was Crete.

Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, Conquest, and Conversion

With Köprülü Mehmed Pasha as grand vizier, we witness a brief period of con-

quest and conversion of sacred space abroad. This became signifi cant when

Ottoman writers during Mehmed IV’s majority connected these prior con-

quests to the conversion of the religious geography of the imperial capital dur-

ing the 1 660s. The Ottoman navy defeated the Venetian navy and reconquered

the islands of Bozca and Limni in 1 657. Karaçelebizade notes that this caused

“unbounded joy for the warriors of the religion,” but “grief and sorrow to the

damned and disappointed.” He adds that the entire Muslim world had been des-

perate to hear cheerful news, especially word of conquest and victory, so when

it arrived, their joyous celebration in Istanbul “lit up the dark night like a spring

day.”^76 The victory also caused relief because it opened the straits to Ottoman

ships, ending the threat of starvation in the capital. The Ottoman soldiers who

took the island found that the Venetians had expended great effort building a

deep trench, a great wall, a well-fortifi ed tower, and numerous bastions. If the

formidable defense network had been completed, it would have ensured that the

island would be all but unconquerable. Istanbul would truly have been cut off

because provisions would not be able to reach it from the Mediterranean via the

Dardanelles. With the imperial capital’s only accessible water being the Black

Sea, its inhabitants would have been robbed of peace.