Lalas and chief viziers of Sultan Mehmed II, Zagan Pashaand Shehabeddin Pasha.*Lalá (Lalé or Lelé fr

Lalas and chief viziers of Sultan Mehmed II, Zagan Pashaand Shehabeddin Pasha.*Lalá (Lalé or Lelé from Persian: Lelê لله - teacher) thetitle for teacher-mentor of ottoman princes.Historical facts:1. Zaganos Pasha name is recorded in the books as “Zaganpasha Pasha bin Abdullah” and that speaks of his foreign origin, mostlikely he was an Albanian. Zaganos from Turkish means “eagle owl”(the same name referred to other hunting and game birds).He entered the service of the Sultan Murad  by devşirme (blood-tax recruits). Initially,he worked in the palace treasury, and in 1439 was promoted to the third vizieroffice. In 1446 when Mehmet was deposed from the throne as regent, Zagan faithfullyfollowed his prince.Zagan pasha took an active part in the siege ofConstantinople. About him write Byzantine chronicles:“One of the tyrant’s viziers, Zaganos by name, who hadhelped him to organize the battle and was therefore favored by Mehmed ” (MichaelDoukas)Accodring to Critoboulos, Mehmed addressed him before thebattle for Constantinople:“And you yourself, Zaganos, cross the bridge quicklyand attack the Golden Horn wall very vigorously. Take with you the ships insidethe harbor, which are assigned to you for this purpose, and be a hero!”Zaganos had three sons and two daughters. One of them, HaticeHatun, he gave to Mehmed in 1451, but after the siege of Constantinople Mehmed hasdivorced with her, apparently they did not have any relationship (speaking of this,it is the only divorce of Sultan, whereas with the other wives his marriage hasremained lasting). According to the myth of Chalkokondiles he married Hatice,because he fell in love with her beauty, and her “ugly” Selçuk Hatunhe gave to Vizier Mahmud Pasha. The history is anachronistic, counting that MahmudAngelovič came into the service of the Sultan only in 1456 when Mehmed  was long ago divorced with the daughter ofZaganos. It is obvious that Zagan married his daughter to Sultan as a politicalplan to unite their families with the Osman House, and there are no any talesabout the charm of anyone’s beauty. Yet Zaganos plan has failed because Mehmed hasdismissed him from the post of vizier in 1456 (due to an unsuccessful siege ofBelgrade, for which he was most of all responsible), but still, he remained afavorite Sultan, and continued to execute the military campaigns.In 1460, Zagan Pasha received Anna Comnenus, PrincessTrebizond, as his wife, (she is erroneously attributed as the wife of Mehmed, onlybecause she stayed for a while in the imperial harem and after was married toZaganos. Again, not all women who lived in a harem, belonged to the Sultan.Now, the sultan divorced Zaganos with Anna because the other insisted his faithon her, and Mehmed ordered her to be given to another ottoman official.Zaganos died in 1460-1461. So reads the inscription in histomb in Balikesir (a city in north-western Turkey): “865 AH.” Duringhis lifetime, he was a fierce and brave soldier, although he was was interestedin architecture and charity.2. Shehabeddin PashaOr Kula Shahin “servant of the Shah”, he was a eunuch“Aq Hadim” got that nickname due to his fanatical devotion to SultanMurad II, he actively participated in military campaigns as the commander ofthe troops.His name is Turkish variation of Arabic Sihab al-Din (Starof faith).Ethnically he was a Georgian (Kemalpashazade, a contemporaryhistorian said of him “gurchu”). Apparently, Shehabeddin entered theservice in Ottoman court before the time when Murad came to the throne in 1421,since he was also his Lala.Shehabeddin owned lands in Rumelia (Western Turkey) being aBeylerbey (ruler), contemporary historian Ashikpashazade names him “KavalaShahin”;  kephal - from the Greek means“head”,  and tjefals in Serbia werethe city or land administrators.In 1441 Shehabeddin commanded the siege of Novo Brdo(fortress in Kosovo) and he also seized the fortress Zrnov, then, heparticipated in the Battle of Varna in 1444 against the Hungarians for thevictory of the Ottoman Empire. In this crusade Vlad Dragul II (father of VladTepes and Radu the Handsome) has also fought. According to the chronicles, Shehabeddinfought fiercely. Hungarian chronicles call him Szabatinész.In 1451, when Murad died and Mehmed ascended the throne,Shehabeddin became the first vizier, as tells the inscription on the bridge builtby him across the river Sarachane in Edirne:“855 AH, Has built this prosperous, blessed bridge thebenefactor, the greatest vizier and exalted minister, he who is noted andcalled by [the name of] Sihabuddin Pasa —may God continue [to bestow upon] himwhatever He wants”.The bridge is large, with twelve spans and stands on elevenpillars.Shehabeddin also participated in the conquest ofConstantinople. Most historians agree to the opinion that he is real the heroof the siege along with Zagan pasha. Even their names are often writtentogether because they acted together. Many advices to Mehmed were given byShehabeddin, including case with the execution of Luke Notaras and Halil Pasha.Even after the siege Shehabeddin advised Mehmed such decisions as issuing adecree of free land ownership for Turkish immigrants, he wanted to “turkicize”the Bysantine city. And Mehmet followed him, in 1457 he issued a firman.Shehabeddin was removed from the post of vizier in the sameyear that Zagan pasha (1456) was dismissed. Perhaps he resigned it because hewas old, and died at about the same period (no later than 1457). His turbe -tomb, is in Plovdiv (in turkish Filibe, originally Philipopolis - a city builtby Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great) right next to the mosqueImaret he founded in the years 1444-1445, he also sponsored its construction,in Bulgaria it is called “Shehabeddinova Imaret-camii”.Curiously these two teachers of Mehmed are always together. Bythe way they are the real heroes of the Battle of Varna, and they insistedMehmed to conquer Constantinople as quuick as possible. Both supported Mehmed’saccession to the throne, against the vizier Halil Pasha - and both succeeded intheir aims. -- source link

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