they were pardoned by Sultan's decree, and they immediately suspended the Serbian autonomy and drastically increased taxes, enforcing martial law in Serbia. On 15 December 1801 Hadži Mustafa Pasha, the Vizier of Belgrade Pashaluk was killed by Kuchuk Alija, one of four dahiyas (renegade jannissary leaders). This resulted in the Sanjak of Smederevo being ruled by these renegade janissaries independently from the Ottoman government. Several district chiefs were murdered in the Slaughter of the Knezes on 4 February 1804, by the renegade janissaries. This sparked the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13), the first phase of the Serbian Revolution. The title continued its use by the Serbian revolutionary government. The knežina (кнежина) has a modern equivalent of municipality, as the sizes of the knežine were close to modern municipalities. List See also Kodjabashis Obor-kapetan Annotations It was less commonly spelt ober-knez (обер-кнез). It is derived from German ober ("upper"), and Slavic knez ("duke"). The Turkish equivalent, sometimes used, was baš-knez (баш-кнез, "head knez"). References Sources Ottoman Serbia Ottoman titles Titles in Serbia 18th century in Serbia Serbia under Habsburg rule