Bayezid I
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Bayezid I Ottoman Period |
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| Preceded by Murad I |
Ottoman Sultan 1389–1402 |
Succeeded by Interregnum |
Bayezid I (Ottoman: بايزيد اول, Turkish: Beyazıt, nicknamed Yıldırım (Ottoman: ییلدیرم), "the Thunderbolt"; 1354–1403) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1389 to 1402. He ascended to the throne following the death of his father Murad I in the first Battle of Kosovo and immediately had his younger brother Yakub strangled to prevent him from staging a coup.
One year later, faced with a Hungarian threat from the North, the Serbs agreed to become his vassals and he took as a wife Olivera Despina, the daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia, allying himself with Serbs and enabling his offspring to claim Serbia as a dynastic privilege. He recognized Stefan Lazarević, the son of Lazar, as the new Serbian leader, with considerable autonomy. After this victory he started drinking alcohol but stopped after social unrest about his conduct.
In 1394 Bayezid crossed the Danube river attacking Wallachia, ruled at that time by Mircea the Elder. The Ottomans were four times superior in number[citation needed], but on October 10, 1394 (May 17, 1395 ?), in the Battle of Rovine, which featured a forested and swampy terrain, the Romanians won the fierce battle[citation needed] and threw Bayezid out of the country[citation needed].
In 1391 Bayezid laid siege to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine empire. On the urgings of the Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus a new crusade was organized to defeat him. This proved unsuccessful: in 1396 the Christian allies, under the leadership of the Hungarian King and future Holy Roman Emperor (in 1410) Sigismund, were defeated in the Battle of Nicopolis. Bayezid built the beautiful Ulu Camii in Bursa, to celebrate this victory.
Thus, the siege of Constantinople continued, lasting until 1401. At one point, the Emperor even fled from the city. Salvation for the Byzantine empire, assaulted by Bayezid's Ottomans, came unexpectedly from the declaration of war on Bayezid by the Mongols.
In 1400, the Central Asian warlord Timur Lenk (or Tamerlane)had succeeded in rousing the local kingdoms that had been conquered by the Turks to join him in his attack on Bayezid. In the fateful Battle of Ankara, on July 20, 1402, Bayezid was captured by Timur. His sons, however, escaped, and fled to Serbia until Timur died. Some contemporary reports claimed that Timur kept Bayezid chained in a cage as a trophy. Likewise, there are many stories about Bayezid's captivity, including one that describes how Timur used him as a footstool. Another one describes how Timur made Bayezid's wife dance naked at his court. However, these accounts are thought to be false, as writers from Timur's court reported that Bayezid was treated well, and that Timur even mourned his death. Likewise, Timur's own history with other rulers demonstrated that he was true to his word when he later claimed to have aimed at re-establishing Bayezid on the Ottoman throne. One year later, Bayezid died — some accounts claim that he committed suicide by smashing his head against the iron bars of his cage. Others claimed that he had taken the poison concealed in his ring.
[edit] Marriages and Progeny
Marriages of Bayezid I:
- (m. 1381) Devlet Shah Hatun - Daughter of Suleyman Shah of Germiyan.
- Devlet Hatun - Daughter of Yakub Shah of Germiyan. Descendant of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi through his son Sultan Veled's daughter Mutahhara Hatun who was an ancestor of Yakub Shah.
- Hafsa Hatun - Daughter of Isa Bey of Aydinoglu.
- Sultan Hatun - Daughter of Suleyman Shah of Dulkadir.
- Olivera Despina - Daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia.
Progeny of Bayezid I:
- Ertugrul - son
- Emir Suleyman (d.1411) - son
- Musa Celebi (d.1413) - son of Devlet Shah Hatun
- Sultan Mehmed I Celebi (b.1389-d.1421)- son of Devlet Hatun
- Kasim - son
- Isa - son of Devlet Shah Hatun
- Mustafa (d.1401) - son of Devlet Shah Hatun
- Hundi - daughter
- Fatma - daughter
[edit] References
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This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. It may be using the words or ideas of other publications in its text, without citing the source(s) of the information. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. This article has been tagged since January 2007. (help) |
- Goodwin, Jason - Lords of the Horizons (book)
[edit] See also
| Sultans of the Ottoman Empire | |
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| Rise (1299–1453) | Osman I - Orhan I - Murad I - Bayezid I - Mehmed I - Murad II - Mehmed II |
| Growth (1453–1683) | Bayezid II - Selim I - Suleiman I - Selim II - Murad III - Mehmed III - Ahmed I - Mustafa I - Osman II - Murad IV - Ibrahim I - Mehmed IV |
| Stagnation (1683–1827) | Suleiman II - Ahmed II - Mustafa II - Ahmed III - Mahmud I - Osman III - Mustafa III - Abdul Hamid I - Selim III - Mustafa IV - Mahmud II |
| Decline (1828–1908) | Abdülmecid - Abdülâziz - Murad V - Abdul Hamid II |
| Dissolution (1908–1923) | Mehmed V - Mehmed VI |
