Frederic P Miller

Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha Frederic P Miller

Publisher Marketing: Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha (c. 1545-1605), meaning son of Cigala, was an Ottoman statesman of Italian background, who held the office of Grand Vizier for forty days between 27 October to 5 December 1596, during the reign of Mehmed III. He was born in Messina in Sicily around 1545, a member of the aristocratic Christian Genoese family of Cicala. His Christian name was Scipione Cicala. His father, a Viscount (di Cicala), was, according to Gerlach, a corsair in the service of Spain, while his mother is said to have been a Turk from Castelnuovo (Herceg Novi today). The Visconte and his son, captured at the Battle of Djerba by the Ottoman navy in 1560 or 1561, were taken first to Tripoli in North Africa and then to stanbul. The father was in due course ransomed from captivity and, after living for some time at Beyo lu (Pera), returned to Messina, where he died in 1564. His son, Scipione, was not released, but was inducted into the Ottoman corps of young boys to be trained for imperial service. He converted, as was required, to Islam and was trained in the Imperial palace, rising to the rank of silahtar.