Mehmed-Pasa Sokolovic was born in Sokolovici village, by Rudog, as Bajo Nenadic, and his father's

name was Dimitrije. He was from an Ortodox family. He had at least two brothers (one was named
Makarije), one sister, and one uncle. Sokolovic was taken into janissaries as blood tax in 1516, for their
training adtami-oglan. After that, he passed military training in janissaries' barracks in Istambul, and
became a Muslim. After military training, as an exceptionally inteligent cadet, he continued his
schooling. As a janissary, Sokolovic distinguished himself in battles at Mohac in 1526 and during the
first siege of Vienna in 1529. During the rule of sultan Suleiman I the Great, he performed various
duties in the sultan's seraglio. From 1543 to 1546, he was a janissary commander of the Palace Guard
(kaptidzibasa), from 1546 to 1551, he was kapudan-pasa (admiral). Afterwards he was a Beglerbeg
(general governer) in Rumelia (1551-1555), for his military merit in the wars in the East and the
Persian front, he received position of a third vizier (1555-1561), and after that, he rose to the position
nd
of 2 vizier, from 1561 to 1565.
He married Ismihan (or Esma Han), granddaughter of sultan Suleiman I, which appears to also have
helped him rise to high positions. Sokolovic rose to the highest possible position on 28 June 1565 - he
became Grand Vizier of Suleiman I the Great. He was the Grand Vizier of three sultans: Suleiman I,
Selim II and Murat III, for full 14 years.
In the year 1571, he ordered that a bridge be built on Drina in Visegrad. Since he came from an
Orthodox family, he was the first vizier to allow restoration of the Pec Patriarchate.
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Sokolovic especially excelled during the Siege of Sziget in 1566, when suddenly, on 4 of September,
Sultan Suleiman the Great died. For three weeks, with help of king's squire Dzafer-beg and secret
scribe Feridun, Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic hid the death of Suleiman I from the army and other
imperial dignitaries, so that the army's moral would not fall. There are also stories which claim that he
ordered the murder of all witnesses to Sultan's death and sultan's absence, he explained by his illness.
At that point, the fate of the battle, and the empire, was practically in his hands, and three days later the
Janissaries took the fortress Siget by storm. Croatian ban Nikola Subic Zrinski tried to break out of the
hoop, but was wounded and captured, and immediately executed. Sokolovic sent his head to Budim's
governer, his nephew Gulab-aga, so that he could forward it to Vienna royal court.
Sokolovic headed back to Istanbul with the army, and it was only near Belgrade three weeks after
leaving Siget, on 24 September that he announced to the army that Suleiman I was dead, during
morning prayers with the Koran.
Next Sultan, Selim II, was a weak ruler, so Sokolovic actually ruled alone, it was then that the Ottoman
navy occupied Cyprus in 1571 and chased out the Venetians. Sokolovic also concealed the death of his
next Sultan, Selim II in 1574, until his oldest son, Murat, returned from Manise. New sultan kept
Sokolovic on the position of Grand Vizier, but gradually started narrowing the circle of his allies in the
royal court, who were eliminated one by one. It would appear that Sokolovic accumulated a large
number of enemies in 14 years of power who are secretly working on his head. He was killed in a
seemingly innocuous incident, when 11 October 1579, he was stabbed by mentally deranged dervish,
who just before the incident asked to be seen. After 3 hours, Sokolovic died. There are still a number of
theories around this incident according to which it was an organized conspiracy, but there are no
written sources that would confirm it. He was buried in his own grave (burial chamber) at the Mosque
of Sultan Ejup in Constantinople, which his wife Ismihan already pre ordered from the then famous
architect Mimar Sinan around 1572.