Koca Mehmet Paşa
Koca Mehmet Paşa (full name Mehmed Nizâmeddin Paşa, son of Hızır Dânişmend) was an Ottoman statesman who served as grand vizier (vezîriâzam) for roughly a decade under Murad II. According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi’s entry on the “Koca Mehmed Paşa Mosque and Complex,” his hometown was Osmancık, where he left much of his mark through the buildings he had constructed.
Career
According to the TDV entry, based on research by historian Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin, Koca Mehmet Paşa became provincial governor (beylerbeyi) of Anatolia while Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed) was in Amasya, and was elevated to grand vizier in 832 AH (1429) under Murad II. His exact date of birth is unknown. That he was born in Osmancık, and remained attached to it throughout his life, is clear from his building activity there.
Works in Osmancık
Koca Mehmet Paşa’s most significant building in Osmancık is the İmaret Mosque (Koca Mehmed Paşa Mosque), which, according to a two-part Arabic inscription above its main entrance, he had built in 834 AH (1430-31). Early Ottoman sources, including the chronicle of Âşıkpaşazade, also state that Mehmet Paşa built an imaret (charitable soup kitchen) in Osmancık. The mosque was originally part of a larger complex including a mosque, imaret, bathhouse and covered market (bedesten); the imaret and market have not survived.
He also had two bathhouses built in Osmancık. One of these is known today as the Paşa Hamamı and remains in use; the fate of the other is unknown. A bathhouse of the same name, the Koca Mehmet Paşa Hamamı, stands in Mecitözü, but no source confirms a direct patron relationship between the two buildings.
Death
According to the TDV entry, Koca Mehmet Paşa died in his hometown of Osmancık in the month of Zilkade of 843 AH (April 1440) — a date that, once converted from the Hijri calendar, falls in the spring of 1440 rather than 1439, the year often cited in popular sources. His grave, known to have been east of the mosque, has since been lost; several stone sarcophagi from the cemetery — including those of his wife Cihan Hatun and his grandson Ömer Çelebi — survive, and some have been moved to the Çorum Museum.