Portrait of Ottoman Statesman Hekimoglu Ali Pasha (1689-1758): Life, Career and Personality

Abstract

The article reconstructs unknown facts about life and administrative achieve- ments of Ottoman statesman Hekimoglu Ali Pasha who held the office of Grand Vizier three times and was famous for the victory at the battle of Banja Luka in 1737. Ali Pasha’s life also provides an insight into the trends of Ottoman administrative politics, which in his case deviated from the trends of the postclassical era of the Ottoman Empire. Also, Pasha’s merits in the cultural, architectural, intellectual and technological transformation of the Empire indicated a change that would be fully realized only a century later. Parallel to the downward trajectory of his career, one can observe the gradual change in his character which can be reconstructed through the archival correspondence with the Republic of Dubrovnik. The transformation of his character can be also seen through the prism of his political maturation in the period from the first to the last appointment in Bosnian eyalet (1736-1748).