Interregnum civil war, Mehmed I Summaries PDF

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HIST 3985: Ottoman Empire (1300-1800)
Professor Ebru Turan
Fall 2016
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Interregnum/civil war, Mehmed I Thursday, September 29, 2016

15:07

The Ottoman Interregnum, or the Ottoman Civil War - 1402-1413 - Turkish: Fetret Devri - Civil war in the Ottoman Empire between the sons of Bayezid I following the defeat of their father by the Central Asian warlord Timur at the Battle of Ankara in July of 1402 - Although Mehmed Çelebi was confirmed as sultan by Timur, his brothers İsa Çelebi, Musa Çelebi, Süleyman Çelebi, and later, Mustafa Çelebi, refused to recognize his authority, each claiming the throne for himself.[ ○ Civil war was the result: The Interregnum lasted for 11 years until the Battle of Çamurlu on 5 July 1413, when Mehmed Çelebi emerged as victor in the strife, crowned himself sultan Mehmed I, and restored the empire Civil War: - Isa and Mehmed: ○ Civil war broke out among the sons of Sultan Bayezid I upon his death in 1403 § His oldest son, Süleyman, with his capital at Edirne, ruled northern Greece, Bulgaria and Thrace § The second son, İsa Çelebi, established himself as an independent ruler at Bursa § Mehmed formed a kingdom at Amasya § War broke out between Mehmed and İsa, and following the battles of Ermeni-beli and Ulubad(March–May 1403), Isa fled to Constantinople and Mehmed occupied Bursa § The subsequent battle at Karasi between Mehmed and Isa resulted in a victory for Mehmed and Isa fleeing to Karaman. Isa was later killed in a bath by agents of Mehmed - Suleyman enters civil war: ○ Meanwhile, the other surviving son of Bayezid, Musa Çelebi, who was captured at the battle of Ankara, was released by Timur into the custody of Yakub of Germiyan § Mûsa was freed, after Mehmed made a request for his brother's release ○ Following Isa's death, Süleyman crossed the straits with a large army § Initially, Süleyman was successful. He invaded Anatolia, capturing Bursa (March 1404) and Ankara later that year.

Mehmed and Musa: ○ Manuel II Palaiologos, the Byzantine emperor, had been the ally of Suleyman; Mûsa therefore besieged Constantinople ○ Manuel called on Mehmed to protect him, and Mehmed's Ottomans now garrisoned Constantinople against Musa's Ottomans of Thrace. Mehmed made several unsuccessful sallies against his brother's troops, and was obliged to re-cross the Bosporus to quell a revolt that had broken out in his own territories ○ Mûsa now pressed the siege of Constantinople. Mehmed returned to Thrace, and obtained the assistance of Stefan Lazarevic, the Serbian Despot. ○ The armies of the rival Ottoman brothers met on the plain of Chamurli (today Samokov, Bulgaria) § Hassan, the Agha of the Janissaries of Mehmed, stepped out before the ranks and tried to get the troops to change sides. Mûsa rushed towards Hassan and killed him, but was himself wounded by an officer who had accompanied Hassan § Mûsa's Ottomans fought well, but the battle was won by Mehmed and his allies § Mûsa and his army fled, until he was shot from his horse and then killed by one of Mehmed's commanders § With Mûsa dead, Mehmed was the sole surviving son of the late Sultan Bayezid I and became Sultan Mehmed I § The Interregnum was a striking example of the fratricide that would become common in Ottoman successions Mehmed I: - Ottoman Sultan (Rum) from 1413-1421 - One of the sons of Bayezid I and Devlet Hatun - Mehmed's reign was marked by the Ottoman Interregnum, a civil war that divided the Sultanate - Mehmed I managed to reunite the Sultanate before his death in 1421 - Early Life: ○ Born in Bursa in 1390 to sultan Bayezid I and one of his wives, Devlet Hatun, Mehmed was the third oldest son of Bayezid. Along with his brothers from various mothers, including Süleyman Çelebi, İsa Çelebi, Mustafa Çelebi, and Musa Çelebi, Mehmed had the title Çelebi, meaning "gentleman." ○ On July 20, 1402, his father Bayezid was defeated in the Battle of Ankara by the TurkoMongol conqueror and ruler Tamerlane. The brothers (with the exception of Mustafa, who was captured and taken along with Beyazid to Samarkand) were rescued from the battlefield, Mehmed being saved by Bayezid Pasha, who took him to his hometown of Amasya. Mehmed later made Bayezid Pasha his grand vizier (1413–1421). ○ After the battle, Mehmed fought with his brothers Süleyman, İsa, and Musa in the civil war known as the Ottoman Interregnum from 1402 to 1413, emerging victorious with the other three brothers dead. His other brother Mustafa would later emerge from hiding during Mehmed's reign and fight two failed rebellions against him and his son, Murat II. - Reign: ○ After winning the Interregnum, Mehmed crowned himself sultan in the Thracian city of Edirne that lay in the European part of the empire (the area dividing the Anatolian and European sides of the empire, Constantinople and the surrounding region, was still held by the Byzantine Empire) becoming Mehmed I § He consolidated his power, made Edirne the most important of the dual capitals , and conquered parts of Albania the Jandarid emirate and the Armenian Kingdom

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and conquered parts of Albania, the Jandarid emirate, and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from the Mamluks § Taking many of his achievements into consideration, Mehmed is widely known as the "second founder" of the Ottoman Sultanate. Soon after Mehmed began his reign, his brother Mustafa Çelebi, who had originally been captured along with their father Bayezid I during the Battle of Ankara and held captive in Samarkand, hiding in Anatolia during the Interregnum, reemerged and asked Mehmed to partition the empire with him. Mehmed refused and met Mustafa's forces in battle, easily defeating them. Mustafa escaped to the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki, but after an agreement with Mehmed, the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos exiled Mustafa to the island of Lemnos. However, Mehmed still faced some problems, first being the problem of his nephew Orhan, who Mehmed perceived as a threat to his rule, much like his late brothers had been § There was allegedly a plot involving him by Manuel II Palaiologos, who tried to use Orhan against Sultan Mehmed; however, the sultan found out about the plot and had Orhan blinded for betrayal, according to a common Byzantine practice. Furthermore, as a result of the Battle of Ankara and other civil wars, the population of the empire had become unstable and traumatized. A very powerful social and religious movement arose in the empire and became disruptive § The movement was by Sheikh Bedreddin (1359–1420), a famous Muslim Sufi and charismatic theologian. He was an eminent Ulema, born of a Greek mother and a Muslim father in Simavna (Kyprinos) southwest of Edirne (formerly Adrianople) § Mehmed's brother Musa had made Bedreddin his "qadi of the army," or the supreme judge □ Bedreddin created a populist religious movement in the Ottoman Sultanate, "subversive conclusions promoting the suppression of social differences between rich and poor as well as the barriers between different forms of monotheism." □ Successfully developing a popular social revolution and syncretism of the various religions and sects of the empire, Bedreddin's movement began in the European side of the empire and underwent further expansion in western Anatolia In 1416, Sheikh Bedreddin started his rebellion against the throne. After a four-year struggle, he was finally captured by Mehmed's grand vizier Bayezid Pashaand hanged in the city off Serres, a city in modern-day Greece, in 1420

Death: ○ The reign of Mehmed I as sultan of the re-united empire lasted only eight years before his death, but he had also been the most powerful brother contending for the throne and de facto ruler of most of the empire for nearly the whole preceding period of 11 years of the Ottoman Interregnum that passed between his father's captivity at Ankara and his own final victory over his brother Musa Çelebi at the Battle of Çamurlu. ○ He was buried in Bursa, in a mausoleum erected by himself near the celebrated mosque which he built there, and which, because of its decorations of green porcelain, is called the Green Mosque § Mehmed I also completed another mosque in Bursa, which his grandfather Murad I had commenced but which had been neglected during the reign of Bayezid. Mehmed founded in the vicinity of his own Green Mosque and mausoleum two

Mehmed founded in the vicinity of his own Green Mosque and mausoleum two other characteristic institutions, one a school and one a refectory for the poor, both of which he endowed with royal munificence....