Isa-Beg Ishaković


Isa-Beg Ishaković was an Ottoman Bosnian general and the governor of the Sanjak of Bosnia for most of his career. Of Bosnian noble origin, he was recruited after being held hostage by the Ottomans. He was a provincial governor during the 1450s and 1460s, first in charge of the Sanjak of Skopje, and then the Sanjak of Bosnia. He was instrumental in the Ottoman conquests in the region, and was one of the Sultan's most trusted generals.

Origin

There are two main theories about his identity:
Isa-Beg Ishaković was appointed as sanjak-bey of the Sanjak of Skopje in the spring of 1439, in place of his adoptive father, Ishak-Beg, who was sent to lead military actions in Serbia. He was then appointed the sanjak-bey of Bosnia, briefly in 1463, and then from 1464 to 1470.
As governor of the province of Bosnia, Isa-Beg assured its future prosperity. He founded Sarajevo in 1461 in the former Bosnian province of Vrhbosna. Between then and 1463 he built the core of the city's Old Town district, including a mosque, a closed marketplace, a public bath, a hostel, and the Governor's castle, which gave the city its present name. In much the same way and year he also founded Novi Pazar, rendered from Yeni Pazar, literally meaning "new marketplace", some eleven kilometers from the medieval settlement of Trgovište. There he built a mosque, a marketplace, a public bath, a hostel, and a compound. He is also responsible for establishing a number of other cities and towns in the region.
Ishaković built many important buildings part of the Old Bazaar in Skopje, like the Čifte Hammam, Kapan Han, Ishak Bey Mosque, the madrasa and library, and many other buildings that belonged to his endowment.
Ishaković participated in ransom slavery in 1470 when he ransomed a highly positioned Ottoman official named Mustafa by releasing the wife of Croatian nobleman Ivan Marković and paying 500 ducats to Ragusan Frančesko Micalović, the agent in this transaction.

Family tree

After Franz Babinger in the Encyclopedia of Islam:

Annotations