Lala Mustafa Pasha – The Sanjakbey of Klis and the Endower of the Livno Mosque?

Abstract

One of the members of the Sokolović family who reached the most senior positions in the Ottoman state and who probably never returned to his homeland once he left for Istanbul was Lala Mustafa Pasha Sokolović. Our historiography has accepted the claim that he was the administrator of the sanjak of Klis in the period 1574-1577, and that in Livno, the unofficial centre of the sanjak, he commissioned a mosque, ascribe to him almost from the time of construction. Using primary sources, this paper demonstrates that none of these claims are true.