Köprülü Muhammad Pasha

Köprülü Muhammad Pasha (1578?-1661), grand vizier (chief minister) of the Ottoman Empire (1656-1661), who revitalized the fading power of the empire. Born in Albania, Köprülü was taken into the service of the sultan at a young age and educated at the palace in İstanbul. In his 40s he was sent to the town of Köprü in Anatolia as a member of the provincial cavalry. This became his base and he took the name of the town for his own (Köprülü is Turkish for “from Köprü”).

As a client of powerful patrons, he rose in the military hierarchy to become a provincial governor and a member of the inner circle of viziers. Through the workings of some of his friends within the palace he was appointed grand vizier in 1656. This was a time of internal and external troubles for the empire. The 18-year-old Muhammad IV was sultan, although real power was in the hands of his mother, Turhan Valide. Köprülü took the office on condition that she and her son not listen to accusations against him and that they refrain from interfering in appointments he might make. Köprülü then rebuilt the navy and restored order to the Janissaries, the Ottoman elite military corps. Despite his advanced age he campaigned with the troops, fighting off a Venetian attack on the Dardanelles and then fighting to restore Ottoman control in Transylvania and elsewhere in the empire. As Köprülü’s death approached, the sultan and his mother agreed to the succession of his son, Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed, to the grand vizierate in order to continue the program of revitalization he had instituted.