Evrenos or Evrenuz (1288–1417, Giannitsa) was an Ottoman Empire military commander.
He served as a general under Süleyman Pasha, Murad I, Bayezid I, Süleyman Çelebi and Mehmed I. Legends stating that he lived for 129 years and had an incredibly long career are inaccurate. These sources of confusion may be linked to the deeds of his descendants becoming intertwined with his own achievements in historical retellings.[ Abbé Raynal (Guillaume-Thomas-François), Histoire philosophique et politique des établissemens et du commerce des Européens dans l'Afrique septentrionale, Paris, 1826, vol.2, p. 361]
Biography
Οriginally, Gazi Evrenos was a noble dignitary, a bey in the
Karasids, joining the Ottomans only after their conquest of the beylik in 1345.
A Greek legend
maintains that Evrenos' father was a certain Ornos, renegade
Byzantine Empire governor of
Bursa (Prusa) who defected to the Ottomans, and then on to Karasi, after the Siege of Bursa, in 1326.
Stanford J. Shaw states that Evrenos was originally a
Byzantine Greeks feudal prince in Anatolia who had entered Ottoman service following the capture of Bursa, converted to Islam, and later became a leading military commander under both Orhan and Murat.
Joseph von Hammer regarded Evrenos as simply a
Byzantine Greeks convert to Islam.
considers the family to be of Greek origin as well.
Turkish sources report that the family was of Turkish origin.
However, others dismiss this, noting that the Evrenos family were certainly of non-Turkish origin.
Evrenos led many crucial Ottoman campaigns and battles in Bulgaria, Thessaly, and Serbia. After having participated in the Ottoman conquest of Adrianopolis in 1362, Evrenos was appointed uc beği (frontier warlord) of Thessaly.
The most famous battle Evrenos participated in was the shattering victory of the battle of Maritsa,[Shaw and Shaw, pages=20, 31] Komotini, Feres, Xanthi, Maroneia, Bitola, and in 1397, Corinth.[Machiel Kiel, "Yenice Vardar (Vardar Yenicesi-Giannitsa): A forgotten Turkish cultural centre in Macedonia of the 15th and 16th century", Studia Byzantina et Neohellenica Neerlandica 3 (1973): 303.]
Gazi Evrenos died at an advanced age in Yenice-i Vardar. He was buried in a mausoleum there in 1417. The mausoleum survives but was badly mutilated in 19th century and served for a time as an agricultural store.
Legacy
As one of the most successful Ottoman commanders, Evrenos acquired considerable wealth and founded numerous endowments (
waqf). Several monuments attributed to him survive in southeastern Europe. Of primary importance is his
türbe (mausoleum) with its accompanying epitaph in Giannitsa.
A
Turkish bath of Evrenos stands to the south of the mausoleum. Two other monuments stand in Greek Thrace.
[Machiel Kiel, "The Oldest Monuments of Ottoman-Turkish Architecture in the Balkans: The Imaret and the Mosque of Ghazi Evrenos Bey in Gümülcine (Komotini) and the Evrenos Bey Khan in the Village of Ilıca/Loutra in Greek Thrace" Sanat Tarihi Yıllıġı, Kunsthhistorische Forschungen 12 (Istanbul, 1983): pp. 117-138.]
Heritage & descendants
Some argue that the name Evrenos (also Evrenuz)
is not Turkish. Heath Lowry theorized that the father of Hayreddin Barbarossa perhaps was a
Sipahi cavalry served under Evrenos.
What is certain is that Gazi Evrenos was from Ottoman Anatolia and first appears as
bey.
Lapavitsas even put forward that the founder, Piranki (Prangı)
Isa Bey, might've been descended from the mercenaries of the
Catalan Company, who razed the coasts of Asia Minor in the early 14th century.
But modern historians generally reject these views. In light of a newly discovered vâkfiye (pious endowment charter) drawn up in 1456-1457 by İsa Beğ (one of Evrenos' seven sons), it posits a new explanation for the ethnic origins of the family. In this regard it advances the hypothesis that to his contemporaries 'Evrenos' was actually known as 'Evreniz/Evrenüz' or 'Avraniz/Avranüz.' Further, according to Heath W. Lowry, that his father's actual name was Branko/Pranko Lazart, which, according to Lowry, raises the possibility of a
Serbians origin for the family.
Others, such as Stanford J. Shaw,
Dimitri Kitsikis,
Peter Sugar, and Joseph Von Hammer propose a
Greeks origin for the family,
[Δ. Κιτσίκης, Ιστορία της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας: 1280-1924, Αθήνα 1988, p. 55-56.] with Shaw noting that he was a Byzantine feudal prince in Anatolia who converted to Islam and entered Ottoman service following the capture of Bursa.
Îsâ "Prangi" Bey, Evrenos' father, was, according to some sources, the son of Bozoklu Han, who joined Süleyman Pasha in his conquest of Rumelia. He is said to have been martyred in the village of Prangi (also known as Sırcık or Kırcık in Ottoman sources), a busy ferry-place on the Maritsa river about east from Didymoteicho, and that his tomb was built by his son Evrenos (Evrenuz) Bey.
Gazi Evrenos Bey was father of seven sons (Khidr-shah, Isa, Suleyman, Ali, Yakub, Barak, Begdje) and several daughters.
Together with the Mihaloğulları (from the Beylik of Karasi ), Malkoçoğulları (from Serbia), Ömerli/Ömeroğlu, and the Turahan Bey, Evrenos' descendants, the Evrenosoğulları, constitute one of the Byzantine families that effectively formed the early Ottoman warrior nobility.
See also
-
Lala Shahin Pasha
-
Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha
-
Umur the Lion
Notes
External links
