Population of the province was ethnically and religiously diverse and included Hungarians, Croats, Serbs, Slovaks, Muslims of various ethnic origins (living mainly in the cities)[3] and others (Jews, Romani, etc.). The city of Buda itself became majority Muslim during the seventeenth century, largely through the immigration of Balkan Muslims.[4]
History
The pasha of Budin receiving the envoy of the Ottoman SultanThe northern part of the Budin Eyalet in 1572
In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire had conquered the southern "line of fortresses" (végvár) of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the Battle of Mohács where the Kingdom of Hungary was heavily defeated, and the turmoil caused by the defeat, the influence was spread on the middle part of the Kingdom of Hungary. While Ottoman troops invaded Buda in 1526 and 1529, Suleyman I used the Buda area as a territory of the allied kingdom and did not annex it fully to the Empire.[5]
In 1541, Suleyman decided to consolidate the conquered Buda area and to set it up as an organic part of the Empire. He drove away the Austrian commander Wilhelm von Roggendorf, besieging the city, and on 29 August 1541 he took control of the city, together with the city on the other side of the Danube, Pest. He immediately organised the first Central European eyalet (province) with its capital in Buda (Budin in Turkish).[2]
The same year, several other cities fell under Ottoman rule: Szeged, Kalocsa and Szabadka (Serbian: Subotica). In the years 1543–44, the Ottomans conquered the fortresses of Nógrád, Vác, Fehérvár, Pécs and Siklós which were embedded into the new eyalet.[6]
In 1552 the eyalet was expanded with new territories in the North, and the new Eyalet of Temeşvar was established. Military control of the surrounding areas was driven from Budin.[7]
The following year, the advance of the Ottomans slowed down and the territory of the Budin vilajet did not change until the ending of the Fifteen Years War and the Peace of Zsitvatorok, where the Ottomans lost territories North of Nógrád. However Eğri and Kanije were captured during these wars and were shortly managed as sanjaks in this province.[6]
Between 1566-1578, the governorship of Budin was held by Sokollu Mustafa Pasha. He was the twelfth and most notable beylerybey of the province.[8] His tenure of twelve years was unprecedented and unsurpassed and saw numerous construction projects particularly in the provincial capital of Budin.[9] It marked a significant transformation of the capital of the medieval Hungarian kingdom into an Ottoman provincial stronghold at the frontier between civilizations.[10]
By the 1570s the financial situation of the eyalet improved, albeit temporarily, as for the first time since its creation tax revenues surpassed expenditures.[11]
The territory of the eyalet was significantly reduced in size with the establishment of the eyalets of Eğri (1596) and Kanije (1600).[12] Nevertheless, it remained the foremost Ottoman province in Central Europe, owing to the strategic importance of Budin as a major port on the Danube.[13]
Military clashes between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans were inevitable. They formed a border with one another, and although the European Eyalet had been established, there was a strong military presence in Buda.[16]
The number of the troops in the province at this time is difficult to estimate. There are documents to show 10,200 soldiers in the fortresses in 1546, and 12,451 soldiers in 1568. Auxiliary troops called sipahi[17] were also present. The cost of maintaining this large force put pressure on the budget of the province. In 1552, for example, the Porte sent 440,000 gold coins to Budin to provision the army.[18]
The Ottoman Empire put all efforts to strengthen the stronghold in Budin. They built several rings of defence around Budin and defended roads for supplies to Vienna, as their aim was to crush the capital of the Habsburgs, which they did not succeed.[22][23][24]
In the 145 years Ottoman era,[26] the city of Budin was not converted to the "Italian" type of defensive fortress, which was in the fashion at that time.[27] The old fortress was enlarged by the "Víziváros" walls and a small stronghold was built on the Gellért hill.
The Budin Castle was already standing on a Medieval castle, with more or less same walls as per now. Various towers were built by Ottomans i.e. "Murad pasha tower" (Turkish: Murat paşa kulesi)[28] between 1650 and 1653. The walls were enlarged in Gellért hill, in Rózsadomb, Nap-hegy and on the side of the Danube. The main castle was also walled inside, where they have made small openings so that the sentry could move easily.[29]
Administrative divisions
After 1541, province included following sanjaks:[30]
^Faroqhi, Suraiya (1994). "Crisis and Change, 1590-1699". In İnalcık, Halil; Donald Quataert (eds.). An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 440. ISBN0-521-57456-0.
^ abDr. Papp-Váry, Árpád (2005). Középiskolai történelmi atlasz. Budapest: Cartographia Kft. pp. 43–44. ISBN963-352-557-8.
^Fekete, Lajos; Nagy Lajos (1986). Budapest története a török korban (History of Budapest in Ottoman period). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN963-05-4394-X.
^Ozguven, Burcu. (1999) A Beylerbeyi from Budin: Sokollu Mustafa. In Fafescioglu, C. & Thys-Senocak, L. (ed). Aptullah Kuran Icin Yazilar: Essays in Honour of Aptullah Kuran. YKY Istanbul. pp. 253-263.
^Papp, Adrienn. (2011). Building and builder: Constructions under Sokollu Mustafa Pasha's reign in medieval Buda. In Biedronska-Slota, B.; Ginter-Frolow, M. & Malinowski, J. (ed). The Art of the Islamic World and the Artistic Relationships Between Poland and Islamic Countries. Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology & Polish Institute of World Art Studies. pp. 75-83.
^Andras Vegh. (2016). Hungarian Atlas of Historic Towns No. 4. Buda Part I to 1686. Archaeolingua. ISBN6155341222.
^Agostan, Gabor. (2000). The Costs of the Ottoman Fortress-System in Hungary in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. In Fodor, Pal & Geza, David. Ottomans, Hungarians, and Habsburgs in Central Europe. Brill. pp. 195-228.
