The Sanjak of Kruševac or the Sanjak of Alacahisar (Turkish: Alacahisar Sancağı, Serbian: Крушевачки санџак) was one of the sanjaks in the Ottoman Empire with Alacahisar (modern-day Kruševac) as its administrative centre. Its Turkish name, Alacahisar, means colorful fortress.[3]
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.[4] Murat took the Serbian capital Kruševac and forced Branković to continue the Ottoman vassalage.[4] In 1451, when Mehmed II became Sultan, Despot Đurađ recaptured Kruševac and its surroundings.[5] Mehmed II campaigned in Serbia from 1454 until 1459, when he conquered and annexed the Serbian Despotate. Kruševac (now known as Turkish Alacahisar) was taken in 1455 and immediately organized into an Ottoman subdivision.
The town of Aleksinac was mentioned for the first time in 1516 defter of the Sanjak of Alaca Hisar.[8] In the same year there were 1,000 voynuks registered in Kruševac.[9]
In the 16th century the Sanjak of Alaca Hișar had following nahiyahs: Kruševac (Alaca Hisar), Medveđa, Ürgüp, Zagrlata, Dubočica, Koznik, Kurşunlu, Petrus, Bovan (near modern Aleksinac), Poljanica, Kislina and Izmornik.[10] In the 17th century this sanjak had the following kadilıks: Kruševac, Prokuplje, Medveđa, Bovan, Paraćin and Koznik.[11]
Deli Hasan-pasha Suljobašić was a sanjak-bey of Kruševac since the 1720s until 1739.[13] He managed to merge numerous small chifliks into one large estate by killing many local sipahis and zaims (leaders) without being sanctioned, despite many official investigations.[14] In 1793 he was transferred to Prizren and then to Ohrid.[14]
In 1455, the sanjak had 170 timars, out of which 27 were in the hands of Christians.[18]
Ottoman sources emphasize that a wave of Vlachs herdsmen settled in the Sanjak of Smederevo and a large part of the Sanjak of Kruševac and Sanjak of Vidin.[19] After the Ottomans conquered territories in Pannonian Plain many families from the central Balkans move to that area which affected Vlach population of Sanjak of Kruševac and Smederevo who lost their earlier privileges. From the beginning of 16th century, the Muslim population in Kruševac, Prokuplje and Leskovac made up 68% of the total population while until the end of the century it increased to almost 85% due to islamisation of Serbs. In smaller urban settlements such as Kuršumlija, Paraćin, Medveđa and Bovan, the Christians made up the majority of the population up until 1536. This ratio changed only by the end of the century, when these groups equalised in terms of their numbers.[20]
In 1516, the Kruševac Sanjak had 320,000 inhabitants, and in 1536 due to depopulation it had 160,000-190,000 inhabitants[21]
^Leskovački zbornik. 1973. p. 27. Retrieved 8 March 2013. Умро је 1830. годи- не, таман када је догорело постојање ха- лаџа хисарског санџака
^Nikola Konstandinović (1970). Beogradski pašaluk. p. 6. Retrieved 8 March 2013. Крушевачки санџак који је образован још 1455 г., пре Смедерев- ског санџака, ...
^Drustvo Istoricara Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo (1950). Godisnjak. p. 178. Retrieved 10 March 2013. Санџак Крушевац (А1аса Шзаг) Град Крушевац, некадању престоницу кнеза Лазара, Турци су~ дефинитивно посјели г. 1455, дали му име Алаџа Хисар (Шарен град) и претворили га у средиште истоименог санџака.
^Radovan Samardžić (1981). Istorija srpskog naroda. Srpska književna zadruga. p. 51. Retrieved 10 March 2013. Кад је 1541. основан Будимски ејалет, овој области је придружено неколико санџака Румелијског ејалета, »и то Вучитрн, Крушевац, Смедерево, Зворник, Срем, Пожега и др.« Санџак Крушевац је 1558. издвојен из Будимског
^NIN. nedeljne informativne novine. Vol. 2795–2806. Politika. 2004. Retrieved 6 March 2013. „Алексинац се први пут спомиње 1516. године.у дефтеру за крушевачки санџак,
^Starine. Akademija. 1937. p. 139. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
^Leskovački zbornik. 1971. p. 9. Retrieved 10 March 2013. ...може се открити да је њихов родоначелник Дели Хасан-паша, ко- ји је био крушевачки санџакбег до 1739. го- дине.
^ abMilosav M. Đorđević (2000). Razbojna. Kulturno prosvetna zajednica Srbije. p. 79. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
^Milosav M. Đorđević (2000). Razbojna. Kulturno prosvetna zajednica Srbije. p. 79. Retrieved 8 March 2013. У току рата 1789, Крушевачки санџак је додељен Шехсувар Абди паши, сину Арслан Али Паше Дели Хасанпашићу, унуку горе поменутог Дели Хасана. Управо тај Шехсувар Абди паша је у ствари Шашит паша лесковачки.
^Antonije Isaković; Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti. Međuodeljenjski odbor za proučavanje Kosova (1998). Kosovsko-Metohijski zbornik. Srpska Akademija nauk i umetnosti. p. 60. ISBN9788670251052. Retrieved 8 March 2013. ...нарочито под крушевачким саниакбегом Шехсувар (Шашит пашом) пореклом из Скадра
^Ljubiša Đidić; Života Radojičić (1988). Kruševac. Bagdala. p. 78. ISBN9788670870673. Retrieved 10 March 2013. У току руско-турског рата у Крушевцу се налази Шехсувар Абди паша. Године 1794. санџакбег је Сашит паша који на овом положају остаје до 1830. го- дине.
^Hamzaoǧlu 2004, p. 62: "1455 yılında Alacahisar Sancağı'nda varolan 170 tımardan 27'si Hıristiyanların elinde bulunuyordu"
^Balkan Studies. The Institute. 1986. p. 10. Retrieved 10 March 2013. Turkish sources declare that a wave of Vlah herdsmen flowed into Smederevo sandzak and a large part of Krusevac and Vidin sandzak
^Dragana Amedoski, Vladeta Petrović; (2018) Urban settlements of the Sanjak of Kruševac(15th–16th centuries) p. 251; Historical Institute Belgrade, [1]
Olga Zirojević: Kruševački sandžak u svetlosti turskog popisa 1530/31 godine [Sanjak of Kruševac in light of Turkish defter of 1530/31], Leskovački zbornik, VIII, 1968, 221—228