Mehmed's financial measures had resulted in widespread…

May 1481 CE

Mehmed's financial measures had resulted in widespread discontent throughout the country toward the end of his reign, especially when he distributed as military fiefs about twenty thousand villages and farms that had previously belonged to pious foundations or the landed gentry.

The economic stringencies imposed to finance Mehmed's campaigns had led during the last year of his reign to a virtual civil war between the major factions in Istanbul, the devsirme party and the Turkish aristocracy.

After the conquest of Constantinople and the execution of grand vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha, Mehmed had preferred to appoint grand viziers of devsirme origin instead of ethnic Turks to avoid possible crises caused by over-powerful grand viziers.

Having executing his last Turkish grand vizier, his next four grand viziers have been of devsirme origin.

Karamani Mehmet's appointment as grand vizier in 1476 therefore marks a notable exception, for he is a Turk from the recently conquered Karamanid territory in Anatolia.

In his short term in the office, Karamani Mehmet has tried to reform the Ottoman administration.

Born in Karaman, he had traveled to Constantinople to study in the medrese founded by Mahmud Pasha Angelovic.

Later on, he had worked as a teacher in the medrese.

Being a man of letters, in various occasions he had acted as a consultant to sultan.

He had been appointed as the court calligrapher and he has contributed to the kanunname of Mehmed II, a series of laws regularizing the Ottoman Empire.

He had also helped the sultan in writing letters of high literary value to Ak Koyunlu sultan Uzun Hasan.

At the death of Mehmed on May 3, 1481, his son Bayezid is the governor of Sivas, Tokat and Amasya, and his son Cem rules the provinces of Karaman and Konya as governor.

During Mehmed's last years, his relations with his eldest son Bayezid had become very strained, as Bayezid, who holds the governorship of Amasya, did not always obey his orders.

Contrary to Islamic law, which prohibits any unnecessary delay in burial, Mehmed II's body is transported to Constantinople, where it lies three days.

The grand vizier—believing himself to be fulfilling the wishes of the recently deceased Sultan—attempts to arrange a situation whereby the younger son Cem, whose governing seat at Konya is closer than his brother Bayezid's seat at Amasya, will arrive in Constantinople prior to his older sibling and be able to claim the throne.

In spite of Karamanlı Mehmet Pasha's attempts at secrecy, the Sultan's death and the grand vizier's plan are discovered by the Janissary corps, who support Bayezid over Cem and had been kept out of the capital after the Sultan's death.

As a result, the Janissary corps rebels, harassing Christians and Jews, entering the capital and lynching the grand vizier.

After the death of Karamanlı Mehmet Pasha, there is widespread rioting among the janissaries in Constantinople as there is neither a sultan nor a grand vizier to control the developments.

Understanding the danger of the situation, former grand vizier Ishak Pasha takes the initiative of beseeching Bayezid to arrive with all due haste.

In the meantime, Ishak Pasha takes the cautionary measure of proclaiming the latter's eleven-year-old son, Sehzade (prince) Korkut, as regent until the arrival of his father.

Prince Bayezid arrives at Constantinople on May 21 and, after promising amnesty and increased salary to the janissaries, is declared Sultan, initiating a reaction against Mehmed's policies.