Dukaginzade Mehmed Pasha
Dukaginzade Mehmed Pasha was governor of many provinces in the Ottoman Empire and undertook the massive construction project the Al-Adiliyah Mosque complex in his home base in Aleppo, Syria. Ottoman historian Mehmed Süreyya who studied meticulously primary sources of his era, describes him as a man "who was very charitable and generous and very close to religion".
He was the son of Dukaginzade Ahmed Pasha and Gevherşah Sultan, grand-daughter of Sultan Bayezid II. His maternal grandfather was Guveyi Arnavut ("the Albanian") Sinan Pasha, beylerbey of Anatolia. His career spanned the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent. He was governor (beylerbey) of Karaman where he built a mosque in Erigli, Konya. It's been listed as one of the works of the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan.
Dukaginzade Mehmed Pasha became governor of Aleppo on October 14, 1550. His waqf in Aleppo in his era was known as "Mehmed Paşa bin Ahmed Paşa bin Dukakin Vakfı" (waqf of Mehmed Pasha, son of Ahmed Pasha, son of Dukakin" in Ottoman Turkish. Dukakin and derivatives Dukakinzade and Dukakinoglu are alternative spellings which became more frequently used since Mehmed Pasha's era. His most prestigious construction project in the city is the Al-Adiliyah Mosque complex, designed by Mimar Sinan. The complex had five inns, five markets (bazaar) and two public baths among other buildings to serve the people of one of the largest districts of the city. Mehmed Pasha gave large amounts to charity and designated that if his family eventually had no heirs to manage his foundation, its management would pass to freed slaves and their descendants.
Mehmed Pasha's mother is buried in the Al-Adiliyah complex. She died in Aleppo in 1552 as she was returning from her pilgrimage in Mecca. The complex was completed 1565-66, many years after his death. His descendants placed an inscription on the front entrance of the mosque in 1567 as an honour to the memory of Mehmed Pasha. Evliya Çelebi, the great Ottoman chronicler of the 17th century, writes that the family graveyard of the Dukaginzade was located on the site of the complex.
From early 1554 to February 1556, he was governor of Egypt. He died on January 21, 1557. According to an anecdotal story, repeated in some modern sources, he was executed in 1546 in Egypt. This story is false. His grave has been recorded as a design by Mimar Sinan in Eyüp District, Istanbul. A Dukaginzade mausoleum complex exists in Eyüp, but his tomb is not part of the complex. Two of his children are buried on its grounds: Ahmed Bey and Nislishah Sultan.
Dukaginzade Mehmed was married to Ottoman Princess Gevherhan Sultan, daughter of Selim I. They had four children: Ahmed, Osman, Hasan and Nislishah Sultan. Dukaginzade Ahmed Bey, who was also known as Sultanzade because his mother stemmed from the Ottoman Imperial House, was governor of Razgrad in northern Bulgaria and supported the migration of Albanian Christian farmers and merchants in the area. He continued to be involved with the waqf of the Dukagjini family in Prizren. In ottoman literature, Dukaginzade Ahmed Bey is known as one of the main representatives of Sufi poetry which flourished in the empire in the 16th century. His son Dukaginzade Gazi Mehmed Pasha was sanjakbey of Shkodra (1570-1571). He endowed the building of the Bajrakli Mosque and its complex, where the League of Prizren Museum stands today. His türbe (mausoleum) was built on the grounds of the mosque, but he wasn't buried in Prizren as he died on campaign in Hungary.