1536: Pargali Ibrahim Pasha, Suleiman the Magnificent’s friend and grand vizier
March 15th, 2011 Headsman
On this date in 1536,* the Ottoman Empire’s mightiest Grand Vizier was strangled at the order of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
An Albanian [update: and/or Greek] Christian, Ibrahim Pasha — not to be confused with several other historical figures of that name, notably an Egyptian general — found his way into the Ottoman slave quarters and became a boyhood friend of the young Suleiman.
Thereafter the two would rise together: as Sultan, Suleiman rapidly promoted his trusted friend, and even married a sister to him.
So absolute was Ibrahim’s power that Italian diplomats** called him “Ibrahim the Magnificent”. At the Ottomans’ acme, his word was law as surely as his distinguished master’s. Ibrahim’s achievements in war, diplomacy, and as a patron of the arts attested his worthiness of the honors.
Unfortunately, he may have taken those honorifics a little too much to heart.
We do not know the precise cause of Ibrahim Pasha’s fall: only that it was precipitous. Two months after returning from a campaign against the Safavids that reconquered Baghdad, he was put to death, reputedly spurning an opportunity to flee and loyally submitting himself to the Sultan’s punishment. Much as this smacks of poetic amplification, Ibrahim’s last meal was said to be taken dining alone with Suleiman.
It’s impossible that in 13 years as Grand Vizier, this Islamic convert and upstart slave had not won himself powerful enemies — but he lived in Suleiman’s favor, and was destroyed when that favor reversed. One theory of Ibrahim’s fall has it that his self-awarded titles started getting a little bit, er, “magnificent” and Suleiman jealously snuffed out any potential for actual political rivalry. Another looks towards the Ukrainian slave girl who was taking over Suleiman’s harem — Roxelana, who would ruthlessly destroy all the political obstacles to her son’s eventual succession.
Between those two, or other palace machinations, or factors yet un-guessed, Suleiman was induced to destroy his boyhood companion and right-hand man. And in the thirty years the sultan had to outlive his vizier, who knows what pangs conscience held in store.
Dear Lord! Shower me with your grace
Whether there is any remedy other than You I do not know.
Help me, forgive my sins,
Please, help me, forgive my sins.-poetry by Suleiman the Magnificent, writing as “Muhibbi”
* There are some other March 1536 dates out there, but the Ides seems like the strongest.
** Very tight with the Ottomans.
Also on this date
- 1963: Victor Feguer, by the feds
- 1865: Marcellus Jerome Clarke, "Sue Mundy"
- 1990: Farzad Bazoft, journalist
- 1957: Burton Abbott, reprieved too late
- 1938: Seventeen former Bolshevik officials from the Trial of the 21
Entry Filed under: 16th Century,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Famous,History,Ottoman Empire,Politicians,Power,Slaves,Strangled,Treason,Turkey,Volunteers,Wrongful Executions
Tags: 1530s, 1536, istanbul, loyalty, march 15, pargali ibrahim pasha, politics, suleiman the magnificent
March 15th, 2011 at 5:24 am
Rather like an Ottoman Cardinal Wolsey.
May 21st, 2012 at 2:43 pm
i need information if Pargali Ibrahim Pasha had children
with sultans sister Sultana (Princess) Hatice
many thanks for informations
July 14th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Would like to know if the Sultan’s sister married to Ibrahim pasha had any children
July 14th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Do you have any picture for Ibrahim pasha
October 9th, 2012 at 6:30 am
Ibrahim Pargali Pasha was not an Albanian Christian…He was Greek and he was born in Parga(a city in Epirus of Greece) and so he had the name Pargali(the one from Parga) .His real name was Theodoros.He brought his Greek parents Emmanouhl and Sofia with him and lived in his palace in Constantinople…They had not any children i think
October 22nd, 2012 at 4:33 am
they had two children
November 2nd, 2012 at 3:18 pm
What happened with sultana Hatice after her husband Damat Pargali Ibrahim Pasha has been executed. Does She returned to Suleiman’s court or went to exile as her sister before.
November 3rd, 2012 at 2:25 am
[...] (late 41 BCE) 57. Father Miguel Pro (November 23, 1927) 58. Henri Languille (June 28, 1905) 59. Pargali Ibrahim Pasha (March 15, 1536) 60. Nam Cam (June 3, [...]
November 24th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Accordingly to a Turkish site, Ibrahim had three children, one son and two daughters. His wife Hatice died in 1538, two years after his death. The conditions of his death remain mysterious, because there is a miniature that depicts his coffin carried in secrecy through a back door. The fact he was strangled is also curious as until then deposed Grand Viziers were beheaded. Strangling was reserved for members of the Osman family. His unmarked grave is supposedly located in the cemetery of the Mehlevi tekke in Galata. A rumor claims that his death was decided when Suleiman discovered Ibrahim had a lover, namely Gritti
November 29th, 2012 at 7:48 am
As dori sa aflu mai multe amanunte despre ”lupta” dintre Hurrem si Ibrahim . Oricum , bravo Hurrem!
January 20th, 2013 at 11:07 am
ibrahim married hatice sultan being her second husband .they hd 3 children one died at a young age the others were twins one girl one boy suleiman liked ibrahim a lot and was very sad about the decision he had made to kill ibrahim hurrem hada very big part in killing him also because ibrahim had named himself king at a war .they killed ibrahim while suleiman was sleeping in a room near by they killed ibrahim while suleiman was sleeping because he had promised that no one could harm ibrahim while he was still alive i personally beleive hurrem was not a good person but then again she was trying to make a better future for her sons.
February 5th, 2013 at 11:52 am
You said he was Albanian …???
You also dont say anything to support this state…
As far i know Ibrahim was a greek and he became Vizier in 1523…
It also common that even the greek languge was very common and helpful for the state . Im a Greek and im not saying this because i am….but at least read some history first….
February 5th, 2013 at 11:55 am
And please….if you think that im saying silly things , just look what his origin name means Pargalis ( ????????) and where he comes from….
February 6th, 2013 at 1:57 am
Our recent Greek partisan is being disingenuous with these perplexed question marks, as if he’s never heard anyone say such a queer thing what with all the history he reads.
There’s a running game of national football over this guy’s ethnic identity, a classic Balkan pastime. See, for instance, the rival unsourced comments in this post, which claims him for Greece:
http://diatribe-column.blogspot.com/2012/04/ibrahim-pasha-pargali-and-other-greeks.html
It’s been a few years and many hundreds of other entries so I don’t really remember, but I might well have taken the adjective “Albanian” without thinking too much about it from the then-current version of Wikipedia. As we all know, with Wikipedia, the most recent edit wins.
One can see from that page’s “talk” section (“Ethnicity, or whatever”) that the current entry has been revised to characterize our man as Greek (on the strength of every hit Google books produced when somebody once ran the phrase “Parga ibrahim Pasha greek”), and it remains a matter of tedious ongoing axe-grinding.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Pargal%C4%B1_Ibrahim_Pasha
I don’t know whether there exists a “real” answer that’s firmly supportable, but it is not of much consequence here. The point in the context of this post is that he was of western [west of Istanbul] Christian stock, and not a Turk or a man born into power.
The main text of the post has now been updated to reflect agnosticism on this point. Albanians and Greeks can sort the rest out amongst themselves … elsewhere.
February 6th, 2013 at 12:27 pm
I dunno Head man.
I’ve been eagerly awaiting the onslaught of comments from our Albanian readers defending “their” man.
February 9th, 2013 at 9:53 am
It is said that Suleiman regretted the decision which I believe it was much influenced by Hurrem Sultan.
And as for the origins of Ibrahim, yes he was from Parga and Parga today is located in Greece, but Parga is part of a formerly Albanian region Chameria, taken form Albania in the London’s Conference of Ambassadors, 1913. So there you have it!
Whether his parents were Greek or Albanian we don’t know that for sure but as far as I know his father was Greek and his mother Albanian.
April 24th, 2013 at 3:51 pm
In that time and up to 1912 Parga was an albanian region. Knowing that albanians had many benefit in Otoman Imperatory it might be that Ibrahim Parga was an albanian.
April 29th, 2013 at 4:03 pm
Ibrahim was an Albanian, because the place where he came from was an albanian territory, better say Cameria territory
But after indipendance Greek took Cameria. Hatice is the best personage in this mess. Hurrem is truly very mean! She is responsable for so many deaths. I want to know how did Hatice died?