Gazi Evrenos

Evrenos (Gazi Hadji Evrenos Bey; d. 17 November 1417 in Yenice-i Vardar) was an Ottoman military commander. He served as general under Süleyman Pasha, Murad I, Bayezid I, Süleyman Çelebi and Mehmed I.cite encyclopedia | last=Reinert | first=Steven W. | title=Evrenos | encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | volume=2 | pages=765 | publisher=Oxford University Press | location=New York/Oxford | year=1991 ]

Byzantine sources mention him as Ἀβρανέζης, Βρανέζης, Βρανεύς (?), Βρενέζ, Βρενέζης, Βρενές. cite encyclopedia | author=Trapp, Erich | coauthors=Walther, Rainer; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja | title=Ἐβρενέζ | encyclopedia=Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit | volume=3 | pages=207–208 | publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften | location=Wien | year=1976–1996 ] A persistent Greek legend maintains that Evrenos' father was a certain Ornos, renegade Byzantine governor of Bursa who defected to the Ottomans after the city fell in 1326. [P. Voutierides, “Neai Ellenikai Poleis-Yenitsa” "Panathinaia 25" (1912-13), p. 210.] He was known as Isa Bey Prangi, buried in the village of Prangi (also known as Sırcık or Kırcık in Ottoman sources), a busy ferry-place on the Evros river about six kilometres east from Didymoteicho.cite journal | last=Demetriades | first=Vasilis | title=The Tomb of Ghāzī Evrenos Bey at Yenitsa and Its Inscription | journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London | volume=39 | issue=2 | year=1976 | pages=328–332 | issn=0041-977X | url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0041-977X(1976)39%3A2%3C328%3ATTOGEB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G] Stanford J. Shaw and Joseph von Hammer regard Evrenos as a Byzantine/Greek convert to Islam. [Stanford J. Shaw: History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Volume 1, Empire of the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1280–1808. Cambridge University Press, 1977.] [Joseph von Hammer: Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches. Zweite verbesserte Ausgabe Bd. I - IV. Hartlebens, Pesth 1836. (Serbo-Croatian edition by Nerkez Smailagić. Zagreb, 1979.)]

Evrenos was originally a Beg of Karesi, joining the Ottomans after their conquest of the beylik in 1359. He led many crucial Ottoman campaigns and battles in Rumelia, Thrace, Thessaly, Macedonia and Serbia. After having participated in the Ottoman conquest of Adrianopolis in 1362, Evrenos was appointed to Ucbeyi (Marcher Lord) of Thessaly. He and his akincis fought in the Battle of Kosovo (1389) and the Battle of Nicopolis (1396). Evrenos conquered Keşan, İpsala, Gümülcine, Feres, Xanthi, Maronea, Serres, Monastir, and, in 1397, Corinth. cite encyclopedia | last=Mélikoff | first=I. | title=Ewrenos | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam | edition=2nd ed. | volume=II | pages=720 | publisher=E. J. Brill | location=Leiden | year=1991 ] He founded the town Yenice-i Vardar, modern Giannitsa. [Machiel Kiel, "Yenice Vardar (Vardar Yenicesi-Giannitsa): A forgotten Turkish cultural centre in Macedonia of the 15th and 16th century,” "Studia Byzantina et Neohellenica Neerlandica 3" (1973): 303.]

Evrenos was father of seven sons (Khidr-shah, Isa, Suleyman, Ali, Yakub, Barak, Begdje) and several daughters. cite encyclopedia | last=Mélikoff | first=I. | title=Ewrenos Oghullari | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam | edition=2nd ed. | volume=II | pages=720 | publisher=E. J. Brill | location=Leiden | year=1991 ] Together with the Mikhal-oghullari, Malkodj-oghullari and the Turakhan-oghullari, Evrenos' descendants, the Ewrenos Oghullari ("Evrenosoğulları"), constitute one of the four ancient families of the Ottoman warrior nobility.

Gazi Evrenos died at an advanced age in Yenice-i Vardar. He was buried in a mausoleum there in 1417. The mausoleum survives but was badly mutilated in 19th century and served for a time as an agricultural store.

As one of the most successful Ottoman commanders, Evrenos acquired a considerable amount of wealth and founded numerous endowments (awqaf). Several monuments attributed to him survive in southeastern Europe. Of primary importance is his mausoleum, or türbe, with its accompanying epitaph in Giannitsa. A hammam of Evrenos stands to the south of the mausoleum. Two other monuments stand in Greek Thrace. [Machiel Kiel, “The Oldest Monuments of Ottoman-Turkish Architecture in the Balkans: The Imaret and the Mosque of Ghazi Evrenos Bey in Gümülcine (Komotini) and the Evrenos Bey Khan in the Village of Ilıca/Loutra in Greek Thrace” "Sanat Tarihi Yıllıġı, Kunsthhistorische Forschungen 12" (Istanbul, 1983): pp. 117-138.]

References

External links

* [http://www.pella.gr/gianitsa-gaziengl.htm Mausoleum of Gazi Evrenos] in Giannitsa (Giannitsa, Yenitsa), Greece.

See also

* Lala Shahin Pasha
* Kara Timurtaş Paşa
* Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha
* Hacı İlbey
* Ece Bey
* Fazıl Bey
* Umur the Lion