ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴏ ɪ ᴀᴍ... ʙᴜᴛ ᴅᴏᴇꜱ ʜᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ ɪꜱ ᴍʏ ꜱᴜɴ? ᴍᴀʏ ʜᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴋɴᴏᴡ!

İbrahim Pasha had been born a Venetian subject at Parga, on the Ionian coast opposite Corfu, and after his capture by the Ottomans had served in Süleyman’s household in Manisa when he was prince-governor of Saruhan. Almost as soon as he became sultan, Süleyman publicly demonstrated the favour in which he held İbrahim by building him a magnificent palace on the Hippodrome in Istanbul. Having inherited his first grand vezir, Piri Mehmed Pasha, from his father, Süleyman appointed İbrahim to succeed him. Such promotion of someone who was not a vezir but a senior officer of the Sultan’s household was extraordinary. - Caroline Finkel, Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire

Among all viziers and servants of Süleyman, no one ever enjoyed the sultan’s favour as much Ibrahim. From the moment that he mounted the throne, Süleyman presented Ibrahim in public as his beloved friend, with whom he wanted to share all that he had, including his royal prerogatives. Described by the Venetians as the sultan’s “breath and heart”, Ibrahim was showered with myriad favours, including the most beautiful palaces horses, jewels, robes, slaves, and camels, which in splendour and magnificence matched only the sultan’s own. (...) No official from the imperial council, not even the grand vizier was allowed to enter the sultan’s private quarters. The council members were rather received by the sultan in the Chamber of Petitions (...) Ibrahim, however, continued to have immediate access to the sultan in the inner court, even after his elevation to grand vizierate. The Venetian bailo Pietro Bragadino noted in 1526 that Süleyman and Ibrahim would sleep in the same bed, their heads touching. - Ebru Turan, The Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha

Ibrahim was, according to the English writer Knolles, the most magnificent and powerful of all Ottoman grand viziers: "He in magnificence, power and authoritie farre exceeded all the rest of the Bassas." A royal document issued in 1526 granted him almost complete power as the sultan's alter-ego. Born in Parga, on Venetian territory, Ibrahim was a strong supporter of the Serenissima's Levantine trade. The bailo Pietro Bragadino reports that this pro-Venetian grand vizier was not only fond of reading the lives of classical heroes like Hannibal and Alexander the Great, but that he also avidly gathered intelligence about contemporary monarchs. Wearing many jeweled rings and dressed more lavishly than the sultan, he "bought almost every fancy object he could acquire." In 1530-31 he had insistently requested a unicorn horn from the Venetian Senate, a treasure that was presented ceremonially to the sultan as a token of the Serenissima's friendship with the Sublime Porte.- Gülru Necipoğlu, Süleyman the Magnificent and the Representation of Power in the Context of Ottoman-Hapsburg-Papal Rivalry

Happy (very belated) birthday @latristereina!