In the Name of the Sultan: Haci Mustafa Pasha of Belgrade and Ottoman Provincial Rule in the Late 18th Century

Abstract

This article examines the administration of Hacı Mustafa Pasha, the military governor of Belgrade from 1793 to 1801. His appointment to this strategically located post was at odds with the contemporary trend in Ottoman provincial politics. Unlike most high-ranking provincial officials at this time, especially in the Balkans, Mustafa Pasha was not among the wealthy and militarily powerful ayan (local notables) but rather a career bureaucrat. His tumultuous and ultimately tragic administration reveals that his appointment was part of the attempt by Sultan Selim III (r. 1789-1807) to recentralize provincial governance. This study also provides a sociopolitical portrait of Belgrade and the surrounding region during the 18th century, as well as a brief look at the dangerous alliance of ayan and the janissaries.Since the Ottoman state's expansion into the Balkans in the mid-14th century, it was engaged in the difficult balancing act of developing a system of provincial administration that would represent the will of the sultan while maintaining the good will of the subject population. This effort became increasingly difficult in the 18th century, when ayan (local notables) and other provincial forces, such as members of the Janissary Corps, emerged as a source of provincial leadership at the expense of central government control. Faced with this new challenge, the Ottoman state vacillated between two often contradictory paths: recognizing ayan as the administrators of the region they inhabited or appointing an individual whose loyalty and sole source of legitimacy resided with the sultan.The challenges faced by both the central government and centrally appointed provincial officials are illustrated clearly in late 18th-century Belgrade. This article examines the attempt by Sultan Selim III (r. 1789III (r. -1807 to circumvent the various obstacles to centralized rule in the paşalık (district) of Belgrade by appointing Filibeli Ş inikzade Hacı Mustafa Pasha, a relatively untested administrator, as the muhafız (military governor) of the paşalık. The threats of neighboring ayan, attempts to reclaim political and economic power by the janissaries, the growing dissatisfaction of the Serbian population with the Robert W. Zens is an Associate Professor in the