Lala Kara Mustafa Paşa

Lala Mustafa Pasha ( – 7 August 1580), also known by the additional epithet Kara, was an Ottoman general and Grand Vizier from the Sanjak of Bosnia.

Life He was born around 1500, near Sokolac in the Glasinac Plateau in the Sanjak of Bosnia to the Eastern Orthodox Christian Sokolović family, the younger brother of Deli Husrev Pasha, who apparently helped him rise through the system's ranks more quickly.

Mustafa Pasha briefly served as kaymakam (acting governor) of Egypt Eyalet in 1549. He had risen to the position of Beylerbeyi of Damascus and then to that of Fifth Vizier.

The honorific "Lala" means "tutor to the Sultan"; he was tutor to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent's sons, including Şehzade Bayezid. He also had a long-standing feud with his cousin, Sokollu Mehmed Pasha.

He commanded Ottoman land forces during the Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) and the conquest of Venetian-held Cyprus (1570–71), and the Caucasian campaign (1578). During the Cyprus campaign, Lala Mustafa Pasha, who was known for his cruelty towards vanquished opponents, ordered the Venetian commander of Famagusta, Marco Antonio Bragadin, flayed alive and other Venetian military officers killed on sight or executed, even though he had promised safe passage upon surrendering the city to the Ottoman army. It also meant that Mustafa had indicated his aggressive intentions to the Sultan's court.

He was a Damat ("bridegroom") to the Imperial family through his marriage to Hümaşah Sultan, the only daughter of Şehzade Mehmed, son of Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sultan. The two together had a son named Sultanzade Abdülbaki Bey.

Following his succession of Semiz Ahmed Pasha as Grand Vizier, in the final three months of his life, he occupied the post from 28 April 1580 until his death. He is buried in the courtyard of the Eyüp Sultan Mosque in Istanbul. His tomb was designed by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan.

Death Lala Mustafa Pasha died in 1580 in Constantinople due to old age or a heart attack. He was succeeded as Grand Vizier by the famous Albanian Koca Sinan Pasha.

Issue Lala Mustafa Pasha was the second husband of Hümaşah Sultan, Ottoman princess, daughter of Şehzade Mehmed and granddaughter of Sultan Süleyman I and Hürrem Sultan. They married on 25 August 1575. By her, he had a son: Sultanzade Abdülbaki Bey. He married Safiye Hanımsultan, daughter of his mother's cousin Ismihan Sultan (daughter of Sultan Selim II and Nurbanu Sultan)

Legacy He has a street named after him in cities including Larnaca, Cyprus. He has a mosque named after him in Damascus, Syria. His invasion and brutal treatment of the Venetian leaders in Cyprus led to Pope Pius V promoting a Roman Catholic coalition against the Ottomans which turned into the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

The Ottoman-Safavid war of 1578–1590 led to the creation of several illustrated manuscripts describing the accomplishments of commanders. One of them is the Nuṣretnāme ("Book of Victory") of the Ottoman bureaucrat Muṣṭafa ʿĀlī (d. 1600), which was devoted to Lālā Muṣṭafa Paşa’s campaigns or the Şecāʿatnāme (Book of Valor) of Āsafī Dal Meḥmed Çelebi (d. 1597–98).

In popular culture

In the 2011–2014 TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, he is portrayed by Macit Koper.