Egy előkelő albán család megkapaszkodása és felemelkedése a magyar végvidéken: az Aranidok
The Rise of an Aristocratic Albanian Family on the Hungarian Frontier: the Aranids

Summary/Abstract: During its expansion, the Ottoman Empire conquered countries and peoples one after another. Their elites had different reactions to the conquest: they either fled or made their compromises, finding a place for themselves in this empire “above nations”. This was true to the Aranits of Albania as well: after several failed rebellions one half of the family fled to Italy, while the other half became Muslims and took on leadership positions in Albania as Aranids. One branch of the family tried to find their fortune on the Hungarian frontier and managed to rebuild their position of power with great success. A prominent member of the family, Mahmud settled in Szolnok, and the city remained the headquarters of the family. While he “only” reached the position of sanjak bey, his protégé, Sehsuvar, who was a member of the clan but was of Hungarian origin, succeeded in becoming a pasha; and his son, Bektas acquired the most important position of the region, the title of Beylerbey of Buda. This is an especially remarkable feat considering that it happened during the final years of the long war at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Ottomans managed to improve their previously quite unfavourable results. However, Bektas was slain during a raid, and to our knowledge this spelled the end of the family’s sharply ascending career in Ottoman Hungary.

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