The Slaughter of the Knezes (Serbian: Сеча кнезова, romanized: Seča knezova) was a campaign of organized murders and assaults of notable Serbs in the Belgrade Pashalik (Sanjak of Smederevo) in January–February 1804 by the renegade Janissaries known as "Dahije", who had seized power in a coup against the Vizier Hadji Mustafa Pasha in 1800–1801. Fearing Serbian plans of rebellion, they decided to execute leading Serbs throughout the pashalik. At least 95 notable Serbs were murdered, many of whose decapitated heads were put on public display. Among the notable victims were Aleksa Nenadović, Ilija Birčanin, Hadži-Ruvim. The event triggered the First Serbian Uprising, aimed at putting an end to the centuries of Ottoman occupation.
Background Following the Austro-Turkish War (1788–91), the Porte gave amnesty to participants on the Austrian side (including the Serbs) and banned the problematic Janissaries from the Belgrade Pashalik. The Janissaries had before been part of the backbone of Ottoman military power but had lost their importance in the 18th century, becoming a source of disorder, due to lack of discipline and bad morals. It was clear that military reforms according to European models were needed, thus the Porte decided to banish them. The Janissaries revolted and briefly occupied Belgrade, but they were expelled by the new Vizier Hadji Mustafa Pasha (t. 1793–1801), who is remembered positively in Serbian history, having improved the situation in the Pashalik through reforms. A well-trained Serbian militia supported Mustafa Pasha against the invading Janissaries and Vidin Pasha Osman Pazvantoglu, and as a reward the Pashalik's Serbs received self-governing privileges and better socio-economic status. Violence on Christians was strictly forbidden and measures were taken to distance the rural Muslims and Christians as to not make way for conflict. The Serbian militia continued to defeat Janissary rebels. The significant improvement to the Serbs' status did not last long, as new conflicts with Janissaries arose and external threats made the Porte allow for the return of the Janissaries in early 1799. The reign of Selim III (1789–1806) saw internal conflicts, with tumult among the pashas, ayans and kircalis. The Janissaries renewed terror against the Serbs, plundering and killing in the interior of the Pashalik, then proceeded to capture Belgrade and Mustafa Pasha in July 1801, murdered him in December, then ruled the Pashalik with a Vizier as their puppet. The Janissaries were led by Aganlija, Kučuk-Alija, Mula-Jusuf and Mehmed-aga Fočić. The Pashalik became a haven for Janissaries and other bandits, coming from Bosnia, Albania and elsewhere in Rumelia. They came into conflict with the Serbs, sipahi (noble cavalry) and ordinary "Turks". The Janissaries, called the Dahije, abolished the Serbs' rights, banished unsupportive sipahi and invited Muslims from nearby sanjaks which they used to control the Serbs.
The banished sipahi and imperial Muslims organized a rebellion against the Janissaries with the support of the Serbs in mid-1802, but it failed, resulting in further oppression. The Dahije learnt of a conspiracy between the Serbs and Mustafa Pasha's associates (who wanted revenge) to rise against the Dahije, forged in 1803, as well as a letter written by obor-knez Aleksa Nenadović in Valjevo nahiya to Austrian officer Mitesser in Habsburg Semlin (Zemun). Aleksa Nenadović in Valjevo and merchant Karađorđe in Šumadija, both Free Corps and militia veterans, planned for uprising. Nenadović believed and hoped for a new Austro-Turkish war and occupation of Serbia, however, there was no chance that this would happen due to the political landscape. Karađorđe met with Austrian Serb associates in Ostružnica where he bought gunpowder, then crossed the Morava to Resava, meeting with Milenko Stojković who was to rouse the people in the Požarevac and Smederevo nahiyas, then returned to Šumadija with a band of hajduks; these plans were made for supporting Hadji Mustafa Pasha's followers against the Dahije. The Dahije began to monitor Serbs more intensely after learning of Nenadović's letter, but they believed it was written by archimandrite Hadži-Ruvim and held him accountable, as he had left his monastery in the beginning of 1803 following a dispute with the prnjavor (monastery village) subaşı in 1802. The Dahije were initially concentrating more on the Valjevo nahiya and were less informed on Karađorđe's plans in Šumadija. Hadži-Ruvim soon returned, and Aleksa asked him to leave the pashalik as he was in danger, and the Dahije might think that his return was a signal for rebellion, but he refused as he "wanted to share the fate of the people". Kučuk-Alija's associate Maksim of Guberevac made a body search on a priest at Ostružnica and found a letter of correspondence between Serbian knezes and imperial Turks, while the Dahije likely received information from Semlin gun smugglers about plans in Šumadija, at the beginning of 1804, which made the Dahije decide to kill Serb leaders in order to thwart a rebellion against them, force the Serbs into total submission, and continue ruling the pashalik.
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