Tiryaki Hasan Pasha

Tiryaki Hasan Pasha (Turkish); also called Alacaatlı Hasan Pasha (1530 ? – 1611), was a commander of the Ottoman army during the early 17th century. He trained in the Enderun school and was probably a devshirme. His title tiryaki ("addicted") refers to his coffee addiction.

Early years

He was one of the attendants of Prince (Turkish: Şehzade) Murat when Murat was the governor of Manisa. After Murat became sultan (Murat III), Hasan was promoted to provincial governor. Due to his command of foreign languages, he was usually appointed to border towns, or forts like Szigetvár (Turkish: Zigetvar) in Hungary.

Kanije defender

In 1600 during Long War, the Ottoman army occupied Kanije (modern Nagykanizsa in southwest Hungary). Tiryaki Hasan Pasha was appointed governor of the fort, with a contingent of 7,000. But the next year, Ferdinand II tried to regain the fort, with an army of 50,000. The siege began on 9 September 1601. During the siege and frequent clashes, the Austrians lost 18,000 men. In October, Ferdinand had to end the skirmish temporarily because of the coming winter. He constructed winter emplacements around the fort and continued the siege. As a last resort, on 18 November 1601, Hasan Pasha organized a surprise charge. The charge was successful; the Austrian army was driven back and 47 Austrian cannon were acquired.^[1] For the next 89 years Kanije was an Ottoman fort.

Later years

After the victory of Kanije, Hasan Pasha was promoted to beylerbey (high governor) of Bosnia, and later of Budin and Rumelia. He participated in Kuyucu Murat Pasha’s campaign against the Jelali revolts in Anatolia. In 1608 he returned to Budin, where he died in 1611.^[2]

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