Malkoçoğlu family explained

Surname:Malkoçoğulları
Titles:ghazi ("warrior")
akıncı ("raider")
Founded:14th century
Dissolution:1604

The Malkoçoğlu family (Turkish: Malkoçoğulları, Malkoçoğlu ailesi) or Yahyali was one of the ghazi families of Serbian origin that led the akıncı corps in the Ottoman Empire between the 14th-16th centuries. They served mainly in the Balkan conquest of the empire. The members of the family usually served as beys, sanjak-beys, beylerbeys, pashas, and castle commanders. Later on, they joined the ranks of the Ottoman Army in various missions, and one of the descendants became a Grand Vizier.

History

The Battle of Maritsa (1371) was a disaster for the Serbian Empire, which resulted in several Serbian and Bulgarian lords becoming Ottoman vassals.[1] The Malkoçoğlu (Serbian: Malković) was a warrior family of Christian Serb origin, which became Muslim.[1] [2] Malkoç, the eponymous founder, is alleged to have been one of the commanders of Sultan Murad I and Bayezid I, fighting at Kosovo (1389) and at Nicopolis (1396).

The further Ottoman expansion to the European frontiers was shared with semi-independent warriors, with the most notable being the four families of Evrenosoğulları, Mihaloğulları, both of which were of Anatolian Christian origin, Turahanoğulları of Turkish origin, and the Malkoçoğulları.[1] These four families made up the gazi (warrior) nobility.[3] Unpaid they lived and operated as raiders on the frontiers of the Ottoman Empire, subsisting totally on plunder.

Members

Genealogy known
Genealogy unknown

Legacy

There is a Bosnian Muslim epic tradition about an Ottoman hero named Malkoč-bey.

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Finkel 2012, p. 21
  2. Book: Gemil, Tahsin. Românii și otomanii în secolele XIV-XVI. Romanian. 59. Malkocogullari, tot comandanţi de acingii, erau descendenţii unui feudal sirb Malkovic).. 1991. Editura Academiei Române . 9789732701980.
  3. Encyclopedia: Mélikoff . I. . Ewrenos . . 2nd . II . 720 . . Leiden . 1991 .
  4. Book: Yılmaz Öztuna. n.d.. Türkiye tarihi: baslangicindan zamanimiza kadar. Hayat Kitaplari. 152.
  5. Book: Donald Edgar Pitcher. An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire: From Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century. 1968. Brill Archive. 92–. GGKEY:4CFA3RCNXRP.