Domenico Ottomano

Domenico di San Tommaso (2 January 1642 – 25 October 1676), born Osman, also known as Domenico Ottomano or Padre Ottomano, was an Ottoman friar of the Dominican Order who was claimed to be the firstborn son of sultan Ibrahim. He was the son of Zafire Hatun, a woman in the Ottoman Imperial Harem, and whether or not he was actually fathered by Ibrahim remains unclear. During his early childhood, he and his mother were captured and taken to Hospitaller Malta, where he was raised, converted to Christianity and joined the Dominicans. In his adulthood, he lived in the Papal States and France and he travelled to other Italian states, where he was received as a prince by political and religious leaders despite his apparent desire to lead a modest monastic life.

During the late stages of the Cretan War – which had commenced as a result of his capture by the Hospitallers – Ottomano was at the centre of an ambitious political scheme devised in Venice and Rome which sought to use him as a pretender to the Ottoman throne in a bid to change the outcome of the Siege of Candia and to instigate a wider revolt with the goal of replacing the Ottoman Empire with a Christian empire. In 1668–1669, he traveled to Candia and Zante in an attempt to implement this scheme, but failed to secure any meaningful support and the plan fell apart. He lived the rest of his life in Rome and Malta, where he died at the age of 34.

Identity, parentage, and early life Osman as depicted in an engraving published in a 1707 edition of the Theatrum Europaeum.

Osman was born on 2 January 1642 in Constantinople to Zafire Hatun, a woman in the Ottoman Imperial Harem. Osman's mother was possibly of Georgian or Russian origin and she seems to have been presented to Ottoman sultan Ibrahim after having been purchased as a slave by chief eunuch Sünbül Ağa. Details of Osman's early life vary across sources, and while it has been claimed that Zafire was Ibrahim's favourite and that Osman was the sultan's firstborn son, whether or not this was actually the case has been disputed and remains unclear. After an incident in which Mehmed was injured by Ibrahim, in 1644 Sünbül Ağa left the harem with Zafire and Osman on the pretext of performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Some sources claim that they intended to circumcise Osman while in Mecca.

Capture by the Hospitallers and childhood in Malta

On 28 September 1644, while Osman, his mother, Sünbül Ağa and their retinue and slaves were en route to Alexandria on their way to the Hajj, their galleon was engaged by the galley squadron of the Knights Hospitaller in an hours-long naval battle off Rhodes Tensions from the capture of the vessel led to the outbreak of the decades-long Cretan War between the Ottomans and Venetians in 1645. Although the war was fought over Crete, during its early stages there were fears of an Ottoman attack on Malta, and Osman and Zafire were moved to the tower of the Grand Master's Palace in Valletta for security reasons. They were later moved back to Ribera's residence after these fears subsided; there they continued to be served by their retinue, were given fine clothes and tapestries retrieved from the captured galleon, and were guarded by a company of soldiers and two Hospitaller knights. Zafire's health deteriorated and she died shortly after their arrival in Malta, and the Ottomans reportedly made attempts to ransom Osman but these were refused.

On one occasion when Osman was invited to dine with Lascaris, the boy refused to eat unless he was served food on golden plates, and the Grand Master complied with these wishes.

On 27 January 1665, Ottomano went to Paris where he was received by King Louis XIV. He remained in the city for a couple of years, living at the Convent of the Annunciation. He was given an elaborate funeral at the Porto Salvo church, where he was also buried.