The Çandarlı family (Ottoman Turkish : چاندارلی عائله سی; Turkish : Çandarlı ailesi) was a prominent Turkish political family which provided the Ottoman Empire with five grand viziers during the 14th and 15th centuries. At the time, it was the second most important family after the Ottoman dynasty itself.
In contrast to European monarchies, aside from the Ottoman dynasty, the Ottoman Empire had no aristocracy. There was no difference between the noble birth and the humble birth and everybody had equal chance to reach high ranks. The only prerequisite for an official appointment was conversion to Islam. However, families like the Çandarlı (or, for example, the Köprülü) were able to gain favor with the royal family, creating multi-generational political dynasties and amassing large amounts of wealth.
The roots of the family can be traced back to the village of Çandar (now called Cendere, part of Ankara Province, Turkey) in Central Anatolia. The family was of Turkoman nomadic Turkish origin. [1] After the foundation of the Ottoman beylik (the precursor to the Ottoman Empire), the family settled in İznik (ancient Nicaea; today in Bursa Province, Turkey). [2] They were the members of Ahi tradition and in the early years of the beylik, one member of the family became kadı (judge) of Bilecik in 1326. Between 1365 and 1499, five members of the family became grand viziers. In a period of 88 years (during the first four between 1365 and 1453), the Çandarlı family held the post for 64 years, a feat unparalleled in Ottoman history.
Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha was first judge of Bursa [3] and then the family's first Grand Vizier. [4]
In the early 15th century, Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger a member of the family, had a castle for sultan Murad II built in Aegean sideside town occupying the site of the ancient Greek city of Pitane, renaming it Çandarlı after his family. Çandarlı is now a resort town in İzmir Province of Turkey.
Sultan Mehmed II disliked his late father's grand vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger, whom he had inherited from his father Murad II upon his succession to the throne in 1451. After conquering Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, he had Halil executed, making him the first of many grand viziers to be executed. After Halil, four of his grand viziers were of devşirme (i.e. non-Turkish and non-Muslim) origin. There was indeed a rise in slave administrators, [5] [6] who were much easier to control. [6]
Although a fifth member of the Çandarlı family (Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha the Younger) was able to reach the post of grand vizier during the reign of Bayezid II in 1498, the family never fully recovered from the shock of 1453. In later years, two other members of the family also worked for the empire; İsa Pasha (d. 1549) and Halil Bey (d. 1568) served in the imperial bureaucracy, but they were unable to become part of the Sublime Porte, the central imperial government. [7]
Name | Term of office | Sultan(s) |
---|---|---|
Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha | 1364–1387 | Murad I |
Çandarlızade Ali Pasha | 1387–1406 | Murad I, Bayezid I, Süleyman Çelebi (Ottoman Interregnum) |
Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha the Elder | 1421–1429 | Murad II |
Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger [Note 1] | 1439–1453 | Murad II, Mehmed II |
Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha the Younger | 1498–1499 | Bayezid II |
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Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha was the first Grand Vizier of Murad I's reign. He was also technically the first in Ottoman history who held the title "Grand Vizier", the first who had a military background, and the first member of the illustrious Çandarlı family to hold high office. His family was to mark the rise of the Ottoman Empire between 1360 and 1450. He was a successful commander, setting the precedent for centuries of Ottoman presence in Albania after his victory at the Battle of Savra.
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Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha, sometimes called the Elder, was an Ottoman statesman who served as grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Murad II, from 1421 to 1429.
Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha (1429–1499), called the Younger, was an Ottoman statesman who served as Grand Vizier from 1498 to 1499.
Çandarlı may mean
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The Çandarlı family was, however, of Turcoman nomadic Turkish origin.
Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin, who came from the village of Cenderli and from a family of Turkish origin, was the judge of Bursa at the death of Orhan Gazi (1360).
The Çandarlı Family, of Turkish origin, took Çelebi Mehmed into its sphere of influence under the administration of the re-established Ottoman union. Turkishness and the Turkish phenomenon in the Ottoman Empire again
The disappearance of this dynasty [ Çandarlı family ] was symptomatic with the rise of the class of slave administrators, who were much easier for the sultan to control than free administrators of noble origin.