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