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The “reluctant” admiral: Damad Halil Pasha and the Ottoman navy (1595-1598) 31

a son-in-law of Murad III and Safiye Sultan. Ibrahim was married in
1586 to Ayşe Sultan, Fatma Sultan’s elder sister, and like Halil Pasha,
he was appointed as grand admiral one year after his marriage 110 . Alt-
hough Ibrahim Pasha served three times as grand vizier to Mehmed III,
he could not win the affection of Safiye Sultan, who, according to Leo-
nardo Dona, “does not seem to like him [Ibrahim Pasha] very much” 111 .
Cappello further commented contrasting both viziers, that Halil Pasha
was “greatly loved by the Queen [Safiye Sultan]”, whereas Ibrahim Pa-
sha was “not esteemed by her mother-in-law” 112 .
Halil Pasha’s greatest rival was, naturally, Cigalazade Sinan Pasha,
from whom he took over the admiralty but to whom he had to give back
three years after. The mutual antipathy and intense rivalry that existed
between them was so elevated that their relation was resembled by the
contemporaries to that of “a cat and a dog” 113 . Indeed, ever since his ap-
pointment, Halil Pasha had raised difficulties with Cigalazade on many
occasions. In the takeover of the admiralty, Halil Pasha refused to take
charge of the arsenal without the custody of the defterdars (treasurers of
the sultan) in order not to be “blamed for having robbed something that
could be missing” 114 . According to Halil Pasha, although the arsenal was
well equipped when Cigalazade succeeded Hasan the Venetian, it was
now in a rather neglected and deficient state “for which Cigalazade will
have to account, perhaps to his great detriment” 115 . Such complaints re-
sulted in a double disgrace for Cigalazade when the sultan dismissed him
in late March from the vizierate and appointed him governor of the prov-
ince of Cezayir-i Garb (Algiers), a clear act of downgrading and banish-
ment from the court 116 . This was the greatest blow Halil Pasha could have
inflicted on his rival because it also meant that Cigalazade would have
been subjected to the obedience of Halil Pasha and to his arbitrary dis-
cretion to appoint him elsewhere 117 . In May 1595, the sultan allowed
Cigalazade to enter Istanbul and restored his status as vizier of the

110 Interestingly, the Ottoman chronicler Hasan Beyzade stated that Ibrahim Pasha was
dismissed because his condition as damad prevented him from sailing with the armada. E.
Türkçelik, Meritocracy, Factionalism and Ottoman Grand Admirals cit., p. 105.
111 «Che per rispetto della figlia lo sostenta assai, se ben non pare che lo ami molto».
Relazione di Leonardo Dona (1595) cit., p. 292.
112 «Tiene questo la seconda sorella del re et è grandemente amato dalla regina» and
«[Ibrahim] è manco stimato dalla suocera». Relazione di Girolamo Cappello (1600) cit., p. 405.
113 «Et perciò stanno tra di essì come il cane et la gatta». Relazione di Leonardo Dona
(1595) cit., p. 293.
114 «Non ha voluto Alil ricever alcuna cosa nell’Arsenal... se...no sono stati presenti i
Defterdari non volendo esser incolpato di haver robbato cosa che manchi». Marco Venier
to the Senate, Constantinople, 31 January 1595, Asv, Sdc, 40, f. 499r.
115 «Di che doverà render conto il Cigalla forse con suo gran danno». Ivi.
116 Selaniki, Tarih-i Selaniki cit., p. 462.
117 Marco Venier to the Senate, Constantinople, 5 April 1595, Asv, Sdc, 41, n. 9.

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