Telli Hasan Pasha

Telli Hasan Pasha, or Hasan Predojević, known formally as Gazi Hasan-paša Predojević (ca. 1530 - 22 June 1593), was the fifth Ottoman beylerbey of Bosnia and a notable Ottoman military commander, who led an invasion of the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia during the Ottoman wars in Europe.

Early life
He was born Nikola Predojević to an Orthodox Vlach family of shepherds, from the village of Klobuk near Trebinje in the Herzegovina region and was thus called Klobučarić. An Ottoman sultan wrote in a book that he had requested from a notable lord in Herzegovina, named Predojević, that 30 little Serbian children (including Predojević's only son Jovan, and his nephew Nikola) to be sent to Ottoman service (see devshirme). After his conversion to Islam he was given the name Hasan.

Ottoman service
During the rule of Murat III (1574–1595) he became Sanjak-bey of the Sanjak of Segedin, where he stayed until June 1591, when he was appointed Beylerbey (Governor-General) of Bosnia.

Invasion of Croatia


In 1591 and just after being appointed Beylerbey, Hasan, a bellicose and dynamic military leader, strengthened the army of the Eyalet equipping it with better horses and erecting a bridge at Gradiška with the purpose of more easily maneuver between Bosnia and Slavonia. After that, he launched a savage raid into the Kingdom of Croatia burning almost a hundred villages, taking some 35.000 captives and so much booty, and capturing a number of major Habsburg forts. However, he was unsuccessful in his attempts to occupy Sisak three times between that year and 1593. In 1592, during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Murad III, a force of approximately twenty-thousand janissaries invaded Croatia, which was then under the rule of the House of Habsburg, despite the fact that the two realms had signed a nine-year peace treaty in 1590. Led by the beylerbey of Bosnia, Telli Hasan Pasha, the army's goal was to seize the strategically important town of Senj and its port and to eliminate the Uskoci, Croatian soldiers in the service of the Habsburgs and pirates, who had engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Ottomans. In 1592 his provincial army of about 20.000, attacked and forcefully occupied the fortified town of Bihać. Records show that nearly 2.000 people died in defense of the town, and an estimated 800 children were taken for Ottoman servitude (see devshirme), to be educated in Islam and become janissaries, as Hasan himself.

At first, Telli Hasan Pasha met little resistance, allowing him to capture numerous Uskoci settlements, where they enslaved or slaughtered the entire population and burned the settlements. His forces soon besieged and captured Senj and exterminated the Uskoci population. As the Bosnian Ottoman regional invading force was advancing throughout the Croatian Frontier, Hasan settled a lot of Orthodox Vlach population, from which many men served in his army, as well some Turkish and Bosniak nobility, in the newly conquered territories. For his successes, the Pasha was awarded the title of "Vizier" by the Sultan. However, the following year, Telli Hasan Pasha decided to advance further into Croatia. His force of some twenty-thousand was soundly defeated in the Battle of Sisak and ultimately dispersed in a rout. "The brave Hasan Pasha himself also met with his fate, having fallen into the river with one of the bridges which had been cut to prevent the pursuit of the enemy. Such was the result of this terrible day." Hasan Pasha is generally reported to have died in the battle, as did his brother Džafer Bey, Mehmed Pasha, the sultan’s own nephew and governor of the Sanjak of Herzegovina, Opardi Bey, governor of the Sanjak of Klis-Livno,  Zefar Bey, governor of the Sanjak of Zvornik,  and many other Turkish and Bosniak Pashas, Beys and Agas, who accompanied the Vizier in his campaign. Indeed, after he had drowned in the river, his dress was taken as a trophy to Ljubljana where it was remade into the sacerdotal coat worn by the bishop during the celebration of the Thanksgiving mass.

Aftermath and legacy
A monastery was built on the location of his grave, after requests of a Predojević to Sultan Murad, who also granted Kolunić and Smiljan (metochion).

Name
Telli (or Deli ) Hasan Paşa, or Hasan Predojević, known formally as Gazi Hasan-paša Predojević.