Grand Vizier

Koprulu Fazil Ahmed Pasha (1635-1676) served fifteen years as Ottoman grand vizier, the longest tenure of the era. Trained as a scholar, he took Candia in 1669 after a 24-year war, won Podolia from Poland, and secured favourable terms from the Habsburgs after losing a battle.

Koprulu Mehmed Pasha (c. 1575-1661) became Ottoman grand vizier in 1656 on the condition of unrestricted authority. He broke the factions of the capital by mass execution, cleared the Venetian blockade of the Dardanelles, and founded a family that supplied five grand viziers.