Rank sanjakbey Name Ali Evrenosoglu | Parents Gazi Evrenos Allegiance Ottoman Empire | |
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Buried at courtyard of the Gazi Evrenos mosque in Yenitsa (Larisa in Greece) Battles/wars Albanian Revolt of 1432–1436
Siege of Belgrade (1440) Battles and wars Albanian Revolt of 1432–36, Siege of Belgrade | ||
Evrenos-oğlu Ali Bey or Ali Bey Evrenosoğlu, known simply as Ali Bey, was an Ottoman military commander in the 15th century. He was one of the sons of Evrenos, an Ottoman general. During the 1430s he was sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Albania who, after initial defeats, suppressed the Albanian Revolt of 1432-1436 with help of the forces commanded by Turahan Bey. In 1440 he participated in the unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Belgrade.
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Origin
Ali Bey was a son of Ottoman commander Evrenos Bey. Evrenos was a Byzantine convert. The family, known in Turkish as Evrenosoğulları, hailed from Anatolia and was one of four leading warrior (ghazi) families that were instrumental in the late-14th-century Ottoman conquests.
Albania
Ali Bey was sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Albania before 1432. When Ishak Bey captured Dagnum from Koja Zaharia in 1430 it was attached to the territory controlled by Ali Bey.
In the early phase of the Albanian Revolt, in the winter of 1432, Sultan Murat II gathered around 10.000 troops under Ali Bey, who marched along the Via Egnatia and reached the central valley of Shkumbin, where he was ambushed and defeated by forces under Gjergj Arianiti. In 1435-6 he followed Turahan Bey's campaign, which restored Ottoman rule in the region.
Other campaigns
According to some legends Hunyadi was Evrenosoglu's groom. Hunyadi became intimate of the king of Hungary after he fled from Ali.
Evrenosoglu commanded an army which was sent to plunder Wallachia and Transylvania in 1438. In 1440 Ali Beg participated in the unsuccessful siege of Belgrade where he built a wall around the city and used it to hurl stones. According to Konstantin Mihailović, the title of bey and corresponding estate was promised to the Ottoman soldier who would wave Ottoman flag on the Belgrade walls. Although Evrenosoglu already had the title of bey at that time he decided to personally lead the assault to the walls of the Belgrade castle hoping to increase his already great reputation. When Murad II died in 1451, Ali Bey was dispatched by Mehmed II to drown Murad's son, Küçük (Little) Ahmed Çelebi.
Evrenosoglu was buried in the courtyard of the Gazi Evrenos mosque in Yenidje (modern Giannitsa in Greece).