Sanjak of Kruševac


The Sanjak of Kruševac or the Sanjak of Alaca Hisar was one of the sanjaks in the Ottoman Empire with Alaca Hisar as its administrative centre. Its Turkish name Alaca Hisar means a colorful town.

Background

Despot Stefan Lazarević, who was childless, had arranged for his nephew Đurađ Branković to succeed the Serbian throne and enter an alliance with Hungary, however, after his death, Murat invaded Serbia in 1428 claiming the land for himself. Murat took the Serbian capital Kruševac and forced Branković to continue the Ottoman vassalage. In 1451, when Mehmed II became Sultan, Despot Đurađ recaptured Kruševac and its surroundings. Mehmed II campaigned in Serbia from 1454 until 1459, when he conquered and annexed the Serbian Despotate. Kruševac was taken in 1455 and immediately organized into an Ottoman subdivision.

Administrative division

Eyalets

In period between 1455 and 1541 the Sanjak of Kruševac belonged to the Rumelia Eyalet. After the establishment of the Budin Eyalet in 1541 the Sanjak of Kruševac was merged into it together with several other sanjaks including the Sanjak of Smederevo, Sanjak of Pojega, Sanjak of Vučitrn, Sanjak of Zvornik etc. In 1558 the Sanjak of Kruševac was added to the Temeşvar Eyalet At the beginning of the 17th century the Sanjak of Kruševac was again part of Rumelia Eyalet.

Nahiyahs

The town of Aleksinac was mentioned for the first time in 1516 defter of the Sanjak of Alaca Hisar. In the same year there were 1,000 voynuks registered in Kruševac.
In the 16th century the Sanjak of Alaca Hișar had following nahiyahs: Kruševac, Medveđa, Ürgüp, Zagrlata, Dubočica, Koznik, Kurşunlu, Petrus, Bovan, Poljanica, Kislina and Izmornik. In the 17th century this sanjak had the following kadilıks: Kruševac, Prokuplje, Medveđa, Bovan, Paraćin and Koznik.

Sanjak-beys

In 1493 the sanjak-bey of Kruševac was Ismail Bey, who participated in the Battle of Krbava Field.
Deli Hasan-pasha Suljobašić was a sanjak-bey of Kruševac since the 1720s until 1739. He managed to merge numerous small chifliks into one large estate by killing many local sipahis and zaims without being sanctioned, despite many official investigations. In 1793 he was transferred to Prizren and then to Ohrid.
In 1789, during the Russo-Turkish War, Şehsuvar Abdi Pasha from İşkodra was appointed sanjak-bey of the Sanjak of Kruševac. In period between 1794 and 1830 the sanjak-bey was Sašit-pasha.

Demographics

In 1455, the sanjak had 170 timars, out of which 27 were in the hands of Christians.
Ottoman sources emphasize that a wave of Vlachs settled in the Sanjak of Smederevo and a large part of the Sanjak of Kruševac and Sanjak of Vidin.