Smail Agha ÃÂengià(; 1780 â 23 September 1840) was an Ottoman Bosnian lord (with the title of aga) and general in the Ottoman Army. In 1831âÂÂ32, ÃÂengiàwas one of the Ottoman generals who fought against Husein Gradaà ¡ÃÂeviÃÂ, who was leading a rebellion in Bosnia against the central Ottoman government.
ÃÂengiàwas killed by Novica Ceroviàas revenge for killing the younger brother of the Prince-Bishop of Montenegro, Petar II PetroviÃÂ-Njegoà ¡. His death inspired the 1846 epic poem The Death of Smail-aga ÃÂengiàby Ivan Maà ¾uraniÃÂ.
The noble Turkoman ÃÂengiàfamily originates from EÃÂil, in present-day Turkey. Smail's father's name was Ibrahim. Smail was born in 1778 or 1780 in the village of Jelaà ¡ce in the Sanjak of Bosnia, 35 km from Kalinovik (in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina). His father died when he was young.
As a junior officer and young general, he fought against Serb insurgents between 1809 and 1813, during the First Serbian Uprising and the uprising in Egypt from 1809 to 1810.
Around 1814, Smail-aga came to Gacko and settled in area of Cernica, then FazlagiÃÂ Tower, and finally in Lipnik near Avtovac. Here in Lipnik, he established his residence and official captaincy by building a Tower of ÃÂengiÃÂ, a small mosque and several residential buildings. He also built several captaincy towers in the wider region of Gacko and Eastern Herzegovina, as well as many villas and houses in Mala GraÃÂanica, SrÃÂeviÃÂi, Lukovice, Fojnica and Cernica.
In 1835, Smail-aga and the pasha of Pljevlja agreed to murder the Drobnjak Serbian Orthodox priest Milutin CeroviÃÂ; he was killed by the Turks in the centre of the town, and beheaded. Milutin's son Novica, who was the leading Drobnjak chieftain, denounced the Ottomans alongside his fellow tribal chiefs.
In 1836, on Montenegro's northern border with Herzegovina, Serb tribesmen around the town of Grahovo, who were still feudatories of the Muslim lord of Herzegovina, refused to pay the haraç (land-tax for non-Muslims). Recognising the need for outside assistance, the tribesmen declared themselves subjects of Petar II PetroviàNjegoà ¡ and thus invoked the support of Montenegro. Determined to crush this insubordination, Ali-paà ¡a RizvanbegoviÃÂ, the vizier of Mostar, launched an assault against Grahovo at the beginning of August 1836. When the town fell to the Ottomans, the vizier ordered his forces to seize captives and to burn the town to the ground. As honour demanded, the Montenegrins, under the command of Njegoà ¡'s brother Joko and eight close kinsmen, gathered several hundred men to launch a counter-attack in an attempt to rescue the captives. Although initially successful in rescuing the local tribal chieftain and his men, the Montenegrins were quickly overrun by the cavalry of the feared Ottoman commander Smail-aga ÃÂengiÃÂ. At the same time, they skirmished with the combined forces of Rizvanbegoviàand Ali-paà ¡a Resulbegoviàof Trebinje. In total, nine members of the PetroviÃÂ-Njegoà ¡ clan perished in the battle, and it is believed that Smail-aga personally killed Njegoà ¡'s teenage brother, Joko. During the confrontation, the teenager was hacked to death by the Ottomans along with forty other warriors. ÃÂengiàhad Joko's severed limbs placed on display.
With the tribesmen of Grahovo being forced to take an oath of loyalty to the Ottomans to be permitted to return to their homes, they were thus prevented from avenging the death of the Montenegrins, including that of Njegoà ¡'s brother. The young Prince-Bishop's hopes of quick revenge were hence squandered. News of the defeat at Grahovo soon spread abroad and in 1837 Njegoà ¡ was forced to travel to St. Petersburg to defend his behaviour before the Russians. In 1838, Montenegro, under Russian pressure, signed a peace treaty with the Ottomans. The treaty, however, brought about the briefest of pauses as the clashes and beheadings continued soon afterwards.
Four years after the Montenegrin defeat at Grahovo, seeking revenge for the death of his brother, Njegoà ¡ plotted the assassination of Smail-aga with the assistance of the local Christians from Herzegovina who lived on the territory under Smail-agaâÂÂs control. Njegoà ¡ ordered a Montenegrin tribal leader, Novica CeroviÃÂ, to ambush Smail-aga ÃÂengiÃÂ, the Ottoman commander who was responsible for killing Njegoà ¡'s brother Joko.
In late September 1840, Montenegrins attracted ÃÂengiàand his army deep into their territory, organised an ambush and killed them by attacking their camp during the night. The assault occurred in the village of MljetiÃÂak, north of Nikà ¡iÃÂ. In the ensuing clash, Smail-aga was shot and killed, after which his severed head was brought to Cetinje. As a sign of his gratitude, Njegoà ¡ made Ceroviàa senator. The events are richly attested in Serb epic poetry.
Smail-aga ÃÂengiàis described by Ivan Maà ¾uraniàin his 1846 epic poem The Death of Smail-aga ÃÂengiàpublished in the almanac Iskra, as a major figure. However, his description of Smail-aga is very "biased and hypocritical", according to contemporary Austrian folklorist F. S. Krauss, and this poem does not show ÃÂengiàas he really was.
Krauss writes pretty harshly:
Vuk StefanoviàKaradà ¾iàwas contemporary of Smail, and he met him several times on his journeys across Bosnia and Herzegovina. Contrary to Ivan Maà ¾uraniÃÂ, Vuk Karadà ¾iàwrote quite positively about Smail-aga ÃÂengiÃÂ. For Vuk he wasn't just personification of Ottoman authority, instead primarily Smail was Bosnian Slav with tremendous prestige, respectability and influence among Bosnian Slavs, not only of Islamic but also Christian religious affiliation.
As ÃÂengiÃÂ's acquaintance Vuk Karadà ¾iàwrote more positive picture: