Stavrides|59Beyond the symbolic meaning of the practice of appointing members of
former elites to administrative positions, which signified the submission of the
Christian aristocratic families to the new Muslim emperor and suggested con -
tinuity with the Byzantine Empire, and leaving aside the pasha’s great personal
abilities for which he is unanimously extolled by both Greek and Ottoman
sources, that a man of Byzantine aristocratic descent was the first important Ot-
toman grand vizier after the conquest of Constantinople should not be seen as a
coincidence.
After 1453, Mehmed II planned a series of campaigns to bring the whole of
the Balkans and Anatolia under Ottoman rule. There was particular emphasis
on the Balkans, where the first objective was the conquest of Serbia and the an-
nexation of the former Byzantine dominions in the area. Mahmud Pasha had
relatives, sometimes very close ones, scattered throughout these lands, and this
must have been crucial for the sultan, who intended to use these connections to
facilitate the conquest of the area. I discuss two particular cases to illustrate how
these connections were put to use by the Ottomans.
Michael Angelović and Serbia
Mahmud Pasha had a brother, Michael Angelović, who had remained in Ser-
bia. Ottoman historian İbn Kemal mentions that “the elder brother of [Mahmud
Pasha] was from among [the Serbian despot’s] prominent men of state”; in fact,
there is information that Michael Angelović held important offices in the Serbian
Despotate in the 1440s and 1450s, before reaching the office of chief minister
(grand voyvoda) in 1457. In that year, after the death of Despot George Branković
(r. 1427–1456) and the accession of his son Lazar (r. 1456–1458), Michael Angelović
mediated a peace between the Serbian despot and the sultan. Ottoman sources
indicate that the conclusion of peace was facilitated by negotiations being carried
out by the two brothers: Michael Angelović for the Serbian side and Mahmud
Pasha for the Ottomans.
However, the real significance of this relationship became apparent after the
death of Despot Lazar, in January 1458, when, because of the lack of male heirs, a
regency was formed to rule Serbia, composed of Lazar’s wife, Helena Palaiologina;
his blind brother, Stephen Branković; and his grand voyvoda, Michael Angelović.
The regency had divided allegiances: Helena Palaiologina and Stephen Branković
favored the Hungarians, while Michael Angelović led the pro-Ottoman party.
The rivalry of these two parties soon erupted into open confrontation, and a fac-
tion of the Serbian nobility, fearing the subjugation of Serbia by the pope of the
Roman Catholic Church, attempted to elevate Michael Angelović to the position
of despot and to take over Smederevo, the capital of the Serbian Despotate. An
April 21, 1458, letter sent from Bosnia vividly describes the events: