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The “reluctant” admiral: Damad Halil Pasha and the Ottoman navy (1595-1598) 11

was the product of interaction between Ottoman domestic politics and
specific requirements of Ottoman policy in the Mediterranean. In ad-
dition, I argue that the absence of “noteworthy” activities during his
admiralty is not directly related to, in Braudelian terms, the disap-
pearance of the Mediterranean from the historical scene, but to certain
dynastic and patrimonial considerations that temporarily seden-
tarized the office of kapudan pasha, and to Halil Pasha’s reluctance to
sail with the armada.
In order to have a further understanding of Halil Pasha and his
relation with the Ottoman navy, I will first give a short overview of his
career in the context of the characteristics of Ottoman politics in the
late sixteenth century. Next, I will address the motives behind his ap-
pointment as grand admiral in its international and domestic context.
Thirdly, I will deal with the naval expeditions carried out during his
admiralty. In the fourth part, I will address the question of his patron-
age and network in the navy and the governing elite of the maritime
provinces and districts. Lastly, I will provide an analysis of his repu-
tation among his contemporaries, in the Ottoman Empire and abroad,
and his rivalry with his nemesis Cigalazade Sinan Pasha.

The rise and demise of Damad Halil Pasha: An overview of his career

Halil Pasha’s overall career encompasses most of Murad III’s reign
(1574-1595) and the entire reign of Mehmed III (1595-1603). Besides
being affected by every aspect of the economic, social, political and
military problems of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centu-
ries, Halil Pasha’s career was shaped in the context of the political
configuration of power after the death of Sokullu Mehmed Pasha in
1579. During his long years of grand vizierate since the final years of
Süleyman I and the entirety of the reign of Selim II, Sokullu Mehmed
Pasha had monopolized the control of the Ottoman state and patron-
age networks for appointments in all over the Empire . This had cre-
5
ated a strong sense of crisis during the initial years of Sultan Murad
III’s reign, against which the Ottoman court initiated a political-ad-
ministrative program aimed at reinforcing royal power and centralizing
the decision-making process in the hands of the sultan, his favourites

5 G. Börekçi, Factions and Favorites at the Courts of Sultan Ahmed I and His Imme-
diate Predecessors, unpublished PhD thesis, The Ohio State University, 2010, p. 61; U.
Dakic, The Sokollu Family Clan and The Politics of Vizierial Households in the Second
Half of the Sixteenth Century, unpublished MA thesis, Central European University,
2012.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XX - Aprile 2023
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)