Ballaban Badera

Ballaban Badera (also known as Ballaban Pasha or Ballaban Badheri) was an Ottoman military officer from Albania. A conscript of the Devshirme system, he became a Pasha. Ballaban Badera was said to be the first climbing the walls of Constantinople and proved instrumental in the Ottoman Conquest of the Balkans. He held a position of sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Ohrid in 1464 and 1465.

Ballaban Badera was born in Mat, Albania as a Catholic with the name Michael, the son of Milosh and Helena. Conscripted through the Devshirme system he rose to the rank of Pasha in the Ottoman Army under Sultan Mehmed II.

Ballaban fought Skanderbeg in April 1465 close to Ohrid. The Albanians were victorious, but many officers were captured, including Moisi Arianit Golemi of Dibra. They were sent to Constantinople, where they were executed in Istanbul for treason.

Milosh had served in the army of the Wallachian Prince Mircea I, fighting against the Ottoman Turks. Michael, son of Milosh and Helena, was kidnaped during the Ottoman Turkish raids. Ballaban Badera's mother, Helena, was killed during the Turkish raids and most probably raped. Milosh, father of Ballaban Badera, and brother Constantine escaped and survived the raids. Michael was raised as a Janissary and named Ballaban Badera, or Ballaban Pasha; he was a product of the Devshirme system, just as the entire troop of Janissaries was, and one of the best generals of the Ottoman Army under Sultan Mehmed II. George Kastriota (Skanderbeg), with whom Ballaban Badera would cross paths of history, was raised as a Janissary as well, under the same Devshirme system Ballaban Badera was developed.

...
Wikipedia