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The “reluctant” admiral: Damad Halil Pasha and the Ottoman navy (1595-1598) 17

Halil Pasha as grand admiral, which, along with other appointments,
indicates a conscious policy to bestow ever more offices on the figures
close to the dynasty . In the appointment of Halil Pasha, admiral offi-
32
cially by 29 January 1595 , it was more than evident the patronage
th
33
of Safiye Sultan, who should not have had any trouble in convincing the
sultan to dismiss Cigalazade and instead promote a member of the fam-
ily, his sister’s husband. Venetian sources make clear the great affec-
tion shown to Halil Pasha by Mehmed III and Safiye Sultan: when Halil
Pasha presented a petition to the sultan to be given the revenues of the
district of Galata, Mehmed III granted him these revenues for lifetime at
the request of Safiye Sultan and Fatma Sultan . A few months later,
34
having received a petition that asked him to restore Cigalazade back to
the admiralty, Mehmed III tore apart the petition and bestowed two
robes of honour to Halil Pasha as a reconfirmation of his favour on
him .
35
Thus, in Halil Pasha’s career as kapudan pasha, dynastic politics
and foreign policy interests converged, allowing us to analyse his ad-
miralty from the perspective of domestic and international politics.

Halil Pasha and the Ottoman armada

Although Halil Pasha’s appointment to the admiralty might seem
incompatible with his previous professional background, it fits into the
increasingly common Ottoman practice to choose a kapudan pasha
from among the elite who were educated in the Palace instead of ex-
perienced sailors . Nevertheless, besides the suspicions that he was
36
the right person to have such a responsibility , Halil Pasha himself
37

32 In the first reunion with the Imperial Council, Sultan Mehmed III appointed his
tutor Mehmed Pasha as vizier and gave him a seat in the divan. Shortly after, he pro-
moted Ferhad Pasha, second vizier and ally of Safiye Sultan, to the grand vizierate.
Selaniki, Tarih-i Selaniki cit., pp. 437-438; F. Emecen, III. Mehmed, in İslâm Ansiklope-
disi, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, Istanbul, 2003, vol. 28, pp. 409-410.
33 «Kapudanlık: vezîr Halil Paşa hazretlerine girü vezâretle virülüb [admiralty is given
to Halil Pasha back with vizierate]». BOA, A.NŞT.d 1141, 18 Cemâziyelevvel 1003 (29
January 1595), p. 62.
34 Marco Venier to the Senate, Constantinople, 4 January 1595, Asv, Sdc, 40, f.
396r. The fact that Galata belonged to the official revenues of Halil Pasha can also be
confirmed by the findings of an important study on Galata. K.İ. Bulunur, Osmanlı Ga-
latası (1453-1600), unpublished PhD thesis, Sakarya Üniversitesi, 2013, p. 223.
35 Marco Venier to the Senate, Constantinople, 21 July 1595, Asv, Sdc, 41, n. 39.
36 E. Türkçelik, Meritocracy, Factionalism and Ottoman Grand Admirals in the context
of Mediterranean Politics, in R.G. Cuerva and A. Koller (ed.), A Europe of Courts, A Europe
of Factions. Political Groups at Early Modern Centres of Power (1550–1700), Brill, Leiden,
2017, pp. 88-108.
37 Selaniki, Tarih-i Selaniki cit., p. 438.

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