Although his exact date of birth is unknown—only the year, 1506—the life of Bajica Nenadić from Sokolovići took a new turn after he was taken away through the “blood tax.”
During the Ottoman Empire, there existed a system for collecting healthy and strong boys. Its name was “blood tax” or “devshirme,” and it involved taking Christian boys from newly conquered territories as a form of taxation to create infantry troops loyal to the Ottoman sultan.
These were usually boys between the ages of 14 and 18, although sometimes they were much younger. However, regardless of age, they had to be intelligent, strong, and healthy—which is why some mothers mutilated their sons. Over time, many shared the fate of being taken from their families and converted to Islam, after which they had to undergo certain training and adapt to a new way of life.
One of them was Bajica Nenadić from the village of Sokolovići in Herzegovina, a boy of Orthodox faith who would later become known as Mehmed Pasha Sokolović. At just 15 years old, he was taken through the “blood tax” into the Janissaries, and from that moment, his rise to the highest positions in the empire began.
After the death of Hayreddin Barbarossa in 1546, Mehmed Sokolović took his place and became the head of the navy, even though he had no previous maritime experience. Everything indicates that he had strong support from Rustem Pasha, as well as from the women of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent’s harem—most notably Suleiman’s wife Hürrem and their daughter Mihrimah, who was also Rustem Pasha’s wife.
There are Venetian sources that explain how he earned their trust:
“His reputation changed the moment he saved Sultan Hürrem from drowning thanks to his strong constitution, after her ship ran aground. The grateful sultana made sure from that moment on that he advanced from gatekeeper of the court to the position of grand vizier.”
It took him less than three years to assume the role of Beylerbey of Rumelia, although no one could dispute his ability to command or his skill in conduct and warfare during the campaign from Erzurum to Nakhchivan, as well as in capturing several fortresses along the way. After returning from the front, Sultan Suleiman granted him the title of third vizier in 1555, thus bringing him into the imperial council—the Divan.
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In the following years, he worked diligently to climb another step in the hierarchy, and after 1561 and the death of Rustem Pasha, he succeeded Semiz Ali Pasha as the second vizier, and shortly thereafter took his place as the first vizier.
He held this position during the reigns of two subsequent sultans, and his ability to transfer power smoothly after Suleiman’s death made him the most powerful man within the borders of the Ottoman Empire during the rule of Selim II.
However, as Selim proved to be an incapable ruler, and after Sultan Murad III came to power, Mehmed Pasha’s popularity drastically declined. He was replaced by Koca Sinan Pasha in 1579. Shortly afterward, an assassination was carried out against him, and he was buried in the türbe next to the Eyüp Mosque in Istanbul.
By the order of Mehmed Pasha Sokolović, the bridge in Višegrad was built in 1571, as well as several others in Bosnia and one in Montenegro. In Sokolovići, he built a mosque, and it is believed that he was also the benefactor of many fountains, the most famous of which is the one at Kalemegdan.
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Source: National Geographic Foto: Wikimedia Creative Commons