From Byzantine Aristocracy

to Ottoman Ruling Elite

Mahmud Pasha Angelović and

His Christian Circle, –

Theoharis Stavrides

Mahmud Pasha Angelović was a Balkan Christian aristocrat who rose in the

Ottoman hierarchy to reach the office of grand vizier. The story of Mahmud Pa-
sha and his circle of Christian aristocrats took place in a period of transition and
reflects the ambivalence of Balkan Christian aristocracy toward the new Otto-
man order in the mid-fifteenth century. Mahmud Pasha best exemplifies this hes-
itation between rejection and integration: while being one of the most important
representatives of the new Ottoman order—warrior, diplomat, poet, and builder
of mosques, schools, and hospices—he also kept strong ties with his Christian
relatives and wrote a poem that provides an image unique in the Ottoman poetry
of his period:

Your curl, which by coiling holds upon it your ruby lip

is Mary, who took Jesus into her embrace.

The image of the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus in her embrace, an image
familiar in Byzantine iconography, constitutes a tiny subtle reminder that the
grand vizier belonged to two worlds.

Byzantine Aristocrats in the Ottoman Kul System

One of the most important strategies employed by the early Ottoman sultans to
strengthen their position was their use of converts as elite soldiers or state func-
tionaries. These men usually were prisoners of war, were hostages, or came from
regular levies of Christian children (devşirme) who, once at the Ottoman court,
underwent training before being appointed to administrative posts or used in the
Janissary army. This strategy, introduced sometime in the fourteenth century,
strengthened the sultan’s position, since these men had the social status of his
servants or slaves (kuls), who were expected to owe their allegiance only to him

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