Mehmed II

Mehmed II
Ottoman Sultan
Reign	1444–46
Reign 2	1451–81
Period	Rise of the Ottoman Empire
Full Name	Fatih Sultan Mehmet
Ottoman Turkish	محمد ثانى
Predecessor	Murad II
Successor	Murad II
Predecessor 2	Murad II
Successor 2	Bayezid II
Royal House	House of Osman
Dynasty	Ottoman Dynasty
Valide Sultan	Hüma Hatun

Mehmed II (March 30, 1432 – May 3, 1481) (Ottoman Turkish: محمد ثانى Meḥmed-i s̠ānī, Turkish: II. Mehmet), (also known as el-Fātiḥ (الفاتح), "the Conqueror" in Ottoman Turkish, or, in modern Turkish, Fatih Sultan Mehmet; Known as Mahomet II^[1][2] in early modern Europe) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Rûm until the conquest) for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople, bringing an end to the Byzantine Empire. Mehmet continued his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian reunification, and in Europe, as far as Belgrade. Administrative actions of note include amalgamating the old Byzantine administration into the Ottoman state. Beside Turkish, he spoke French, Latin, Greek, Serbian, Persian, Arabic and Hebrew.^[3][4]

Contents 1 Wives and children 2 Early reign 3 Conquest of Constantinople 4 Conquests in Asia 5 Conquests in Europe 6 Administrative actions 7 Details 8 Death 9 Legacy 10 Freedom of the Bosnian Franciscans 11 See also 12 Further reading 13 References 14 External links

Wives and children

He had several wives: Valide Sultan Amina Gul-Bahar, a Christian Albanian, who died in 1492,^[5][6] and Gevher Sultana; Gulshah Hatun; Sitti Mukrime Hatun;^[7] Hatun Çiçek; Helene Hatun, who died in 1481, daughter of Demetrios Palaiologos, the Despot of Morea; briefly Anna Hatun, the daughter of the Emperor of Trebizond; and Hatun Alexias, a Byzantine princess. Another son of his was Djem Zizim, who died in 1495.

Early reign

Mehmed II was born in Edirne, the then-capital city of the Ottoman state, on March 30, 1432. His father was Sultan Murad II (1404–51) and his mother Valide Sultan Hüma Hatun, born in Devrekani county of Kastamonu province, was a daughter of Abd'Allah of Hum Although the area of origin of his mother is known, his ethnicity is debatable. Huma meaning a girl/woman from Hum, her fathers name, Abd'Allah, meaning Servant of God, is an anonym that was used in the Ottoman period to describe the Christian males who converted to Islam, indicating most possibly a Greek descendant since that was the origin of the Christian population in the area at the time.

When Mehmed II was 11 years old he was sent to Amasya to govern and thus gain experience, as per the custom of Ottoman rulers before his time. After Murad II made peace with the Karaman Emirate in Anatolia in August 1444, he abdicated the throne to his 12-year-old son Mehmed II. Sultan Murad II had sent him a number of teachers, but did not comply with the ordered, and did not read anything, so he did not complete the Quran, which was considered of great importance, Sultan requested a hotheaded man with sublimity, recalled him Lord "Ahmad Bin Ismail Gorani, "made him a teacher for his son and gave him a rod to beat him if he broke his command. teacher went to him and entered with the rod is in his hand, he said:" I was sent by your father's to educate you and i will beat you if you violate my orders, " Sultan Mehmed II laughed at that speech,then struck and severely beaten by the teacher , consequently sultan Mehmed II feared Ahmad Bin Ismail , and the finished the Qur'aan easy.^[8]

This Islamic education had the greatest impact in composing the personality of Mehmed the Conqueror, and makes him an Muslim believer, committed to the limits of Sharia, restricted commands and prohibitions, venerated it and advocate for the procedures for its application, influenced by scientists, particularly his mentor, Lord, "Gorani" and he followed their approach. the role of Sheikh, "Aq Shams al-Din" became significant in the composition of Muhammad's personality since a young age specially in two things: the Jihad and inspiring Muhammad since he was young that he would be the prince intended in Islamic Hadith to conqueror of Constantinople , he hoped to apply the Hadith of the Prophet of Islam.^[9]

In his first reign, He prevented the crusade lead by János Hunyadi and the Hungarian incursions into the country breaking of the conditions of the truce Peace of Szeged. Cardinal "Julian Cesarini" the representative of the pope, convinced the king of Hungary breaking the truce with Muslims is not a betrayal.^[10] Srosadi Mehmed II asked his father Murad II to reclaim the throne, but Murad II refused. Enraged at his father, who had long since retired to a contemplative life in southwestern Anatolia, Mehmed II wrote: "If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and lead my armies." It was upon this letter that Murad II led the Ottoman army and won the Battle of Varna in 1444.

It is said Murad II's return to the throne was forced by Chandarli Khalil Pasha, the grand vizier at the time, who was not fond of Mehmed II's rule, since Mehmed II's teacher was influential on him and did not like Chandarli. Chandarli was later executed by Mehmed II during the siege of Constantinople on the grounds that he had been bribed by or had somehow helped the defenders.

During his early reign he married a Christian Albanian Valide Sultan Amina Gul-Bahar mother of his successor Bayezid II.^[5][6]

Conquest of Constantinople

When Mehmed II ascended the throne in 1451 he devoted himself to strengthening the Ottoman navy, and in the same year made preparations for the taking of Constantinople. In the narrow Bosporus Straits, the fortress Anadoluhisarı had been built by his great-grandfather Bayezid I on the Asiatic side; Mehmed erected an even stronger fortress called Rumelihisarı on the European side, and thus having complete control of the strait. Having completed his fortresses, Mehmet proceeded to levy a toll on ships passing within reach of their cannon. A Venetian vessel refusing signals to stop, was sunk with a single shot.^[11]

Sultan Mehmed II moved to Manisa, western Anatolia, after the coup of Janissaries ,Janissary. Sultan Murad II had returned to his isolation again after the victory over Hungary in Varna battle , but sooner after that he got out of it, because the soldiers Janissaries spurned the king,"the boy" Mohammed II, looted the city of Edirne, capital of the state. Sultan Murad II returned to them in early 1445 and put down the sedition.

In 1453 Mehmed commenced the siege of Constantinople with an army between 80,000 to 200,000 troops and a navy of 320 vessels, though the bulk of them were transports and storeships. The city was now surrounded by sea and land; the fleet at the entrance of the Bosphorus was stretched from shore to shore in the form of a crescent, to intercept or repel any assistance from the sea for the besieged.^[11]

In early April, the Siege of Constantinople began. After several fruitless assaults, the city's walls held off the Turks with little difficulty, even with the use of the new Orban's bombard, a cannon similar to the Dardanelles Gun. The harbor of the Golden Horn was blocked by a boom chain and defended by twenty-eight warships. On April 22, Mehmed transported his lighter warships overland, around the Genoese colony Galata and onto the Golden Horn's northern shore; eighty galleys were transported from the Bosphorus after paving a little over one-mile route with wood. Thus the Byzantines stretched their troops over a longer portion of the walls. A little over a month later Constantinople fell on May 29 following a fifty-seven day siege.^[11] After this conquest, Mehmed moved the Ottoman capital from Adrianople to Constantinople.

It is said that when Mehmed stepped into the ruins of the Boukoleon, known to the Ottomans and Persians as the Palace of the Caesars, probably built over a thousand years before by Theodosius II, he uttered the famous lines of Persian poetry:

The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars;

the owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab.

After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed claimed the title of "Caesar" of Rome (Kayser-i Rûm), although this claim was not recognized by the Patriarch of Constantinople, or Christian Europe. Mehmed's claim rested with the concept that Constantinople was the seat of the Roman Empire, after the transfer of its capital to Constantinople in 330 AD and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Mehmed also had a blood lineage to the Byzantine Imperial family, as his predecessors like Sultan Orhan I had married a Byzantine princess. He was not the only ruler to claim such a title, as there was the Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, whose emperor, Frederick III, traced his titular lineage from Charlemagne who obtained the title of Roman Emperor when he was crowned by Pope Leo III in 800 - although never recognized as such by the Byzantine Empire.

Steven Runciman recounts a story by the Byzantine historian Doukas, known for his colorful and dramatic descriptions,^[12] in which Mehmed II, upon the conquest of Constantinople, was said to have ordered the 14-year old son of the Grand Duke Lucas Notaras brought to him for his personal pleasure. When the father refused to deliver his son to such a fate he had them both decapitated on the spot.^[13] Another contemporary Greek source, Leonard of Chios, professor of theology and Archbishop of Mytilene, tells the same story in his letter to Pope Nicholas. He describes Mehmed II requesting for the 14 year old handsome youth to be brought "for his pleasure".^[14]

Reference is made to the prospective conquest of Constantinople in an authentic hadith, attributed to a saying of the Prophet Muhammad. "Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!"^[15] Ten years after the conquest of Constantinople Mehmed II visited the site of Troy and boasted that he had avenged the Trojans by having conquered the Greeks (Byzantines).^[16]

Conquests in Asia

The conquest of Constantinople allowed Mehmed II to turn his attention to Anatolia. Mehmed II tried to create a single political entity in Anatolia by capturing Turkish states called Beyliks and the Greek Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia and allied himself with the Golden Horde in the Crimea. Uniting the Anatolian Beyliks was first accomplished by Sultan Bayezid I, more than fifty years earlier than Mehmed II but after the destructive Battle of Ankara back in 1402, the newly formed Anatolian unification was gone. Mehmed II recovered the Ottoman power on other Turkish states. These conquests allowed him to push further into Europe.

Another important political entity which shaped the Eastern policy of Mehmed II was the White Sheep Turcomans. With the leadership of Uzun Hasan, this Turcoman kingdom gained power in the East but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers like Empire of Trebizond and the Republic of Venice and the alliance between Turcomans and Karamanoğlu Tribe, Mehmed saw them as a threat to his own power. He led a successful campaign against Uzun Hasan in 1473 which resulted with the decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Otlukbeli.

Conquests in Europe

After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed would also go on to conquer the Despotate of Morea in the Peloponnese in 1460, and the Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia in 1461. The last two vestiges of Byzantine rule were thus absorbed by the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Constantinople bestowed immense glory and prestige on the country.

Mehmed II advanced toward Eastern Europe as far as Belgrade, and attempted to conquer the city from John Hunyadi at the Siege of Belgrade in 1456. Hungarian commanders successfully defended the city and Ottomans retreated with heavy losses but at the end, Ottomans occupied nearly all of Serbia.

In 1463, after a dispute over the tribute paid annually by the Bosnian kingdom, Mehmed invaded Bosnia and conquered it very quickly, executing the last Bosnian king Stjepan Tomašević.

He also came into conflict with and was defeated by Prince Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia in 1462 at the Night Attack. Then, Mehmed II helped Radu Ţepeş, the brother of Vlad, to take the revenge of the Ottoman military losses. Very soon Radu and his battalion of Romanian Janissary as a single force managed to defeat Vlad III Dracula north of the Danube after months of lingering fighting, Radu also managed to take the control of Wallachia and was honored the title of Bey in the same year. His brother Vlad (the Dracula) lost all his power and escaped from his country.

In 1475, the Ottomans suffered a great defeat at the hands of Stephen the Great of Moldavia at the Battle of Vaslui. In 1476, Mehmed won a victory against Stephen at the Battle of Valea Albă and nearly destroyed all of the relatively small Moldovian army. Then, he sacked the capital of Suceava, but could not take the castle of Târgu Neamţ, nor the citadel of Suceava. With a plague running in his camp and food and water being very scarce, Mehmed was forced to retreat as Stephen was reinforcing his army and Dracula, turning from exile, was marching with a 30,000-strong army to aid the Moldavians.

Mehmed II invaded Italy in 1480. The intent of his invasion was to capture Rome and "reunite the Roman Empire", and, at first, looked like he might be able to do it with the easy capture of Otranto in 1480 but Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481 after the death of Mehmed.

The Albanian resistance in Albania between 1443 and 1468 led by George Kastrioti Skanderbeg (İskender Bey), an Albanian noble and a former member of the Ottoman ruling elite, prevented the Ottoman expansion into the Italian peninsula. Skanderbeg had united the Albanian Principalities in a fight against the Empire in the League of Lezhë in 1444. Mehmed II eventually reversed the momentum of Skanderbeg, by creating an autonomous Albanian Muslims force under the leadership of Iljaz Hoxha, Hamza Kastrioti and the Albanian Janissary battalion, the new force eventually captured Kruje and was indeed loyal to the Sultan and the entire Ottoman Empire.

These military conflicts between the Ottomans and the European forces showed that the Ottoman presence in Europe was not a temporary situation. During the reign of Mehmed II, the Balkan forces were not completely surpassed by the Ottoman war machine, but could not stop it either.

Administrative actions

Mehmed II amalgamated the old Byzantine administration into the Ottoman state. He first introduced the word Politics into Arabic "Siyasah" from a book he published and claimed to be the collection of Politics doctrines of the Byzantine Caesars before him. He gathered Italian artists, humanists and Greek scholars at his court, kept the Byzantine Church functioning, ordered the patriarch to translate the Christian faith into Turkish and called Gentile Bellini from Venice to paint his portrait. He was extremely serious about his efforts to continue the Roman Empire, with him as its Caesar, and came closer than most people realize to capturing Rome and conquering Italy. Mehmed II also tried to get Muslim scientists and artists to his court in Constantinople, started a University, built mosques e.g. the Fatih Mosque, waterways, and the Topkapı Palace.

Mehmed II's reign is also well-known for the religious tolerance with which he treated his subjects, especially among the conquered Christians, which was very unusual for Europe in the Middle Ages. However, his army was recruited from the Devshirme. This group took Christian subjects at a young age. They were split up: those regarded as more able were destined for the sultans court, the less able but physically strong were put into the army or the sultan's personal guard, the Janissaries.

Within the conquered city, Mehmed established a millet or an autonomous religious community, and he appointed the former Patriarch as essentially governor of the city. His authority extended only to the Orthodox Christians of the city, and this excluded the Genoese and Venetian settlements in the suburbs, and excluded the coming Muslim and Jewish settlers entirely. This method allowed for an indirect rule of the Christian Byzantines and allowed the occupants to feel relatively autonomous even as Mehmed II began the Turkish remodeling of the city, eventually turning it into the Turkish capital, which it remained until the 1920s.

Details

It is notable that Mehmet II is not considered the first ruler of Constantinople of Turkic origin.^[17][18] Before him, the Christian Leo IV the Khazar was a de jure Roman Emperor.

Mehmed II spoke eight languages (including Turkish, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, French, Latin and Serbian) when he was 21 years old (the age at which he conquered Constantinople).^[3][4] After the fall of Constantinople, he founded many universities and colleges in the city, some of which are still active. Mehmed II is also recognized as the first Sultan to codify criminal and constitutional law long before Suleiman the Magnificent (also "the Lawmaker" or "Kanuni") and he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan (padishah). Mehmed II's tomb is located at Fatih Mosque in Istanbul.

Mehmed II's portrait was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 1000 lira banknotes of 1986-1992.^[19]

Mehmed II is the eponymous subject of Rossini's 1820 opera Maometto II.

The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, one of two bridges spanning the Bosphorous strait, is named for him.

Death

Mehmed'd primary doctor, "Jacob Pasha" was possibly a Venitian spy and assassin and sent to Constantinople that to assassinate sultan Mohammad. Jacob was born in Italy and converted to Islam some time later. It was said that Jacob began to administer poison to Mehmed over a period of time. Mehmed died on May 3, 1481, at the age of fifty-three.

Jacob was later suspected of assassination and executed. It is beliefed that Jacob administered poison Mehmed under demand of his son Bayezid II because of his desire to assume the throne. Mehmed was buried in a cemetery established in one of the mosques that was founded in Constantinople.

Legacy

The news of Mehmed's death reached Venice after 16 days, the news came to Venice from the Venitian Embassy in Constantinople. The message contained on this sentence "He died, the great hawk." The news spread in Venice and then to the rest of Europe, the churches in Europe rang their bells for three days by order of the pope.

During his thrity-one year rule, he waged several wars expanding the Ottoman Empire. The conquest Constantinople, and all the Turkish kingdoms and territories of Asia Minor, Bosnia, Kingdom of Serbia, and Albania. He carried out many internal administrative restructurings that put his country on the path to prosperity and paved the way for subsequent sultans to focus on expanding the State and the expansion into new territories. he also put the first principles of civil law and the Penal Code, changed corporal punishment, that was completed through Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent later.

Mehmed left behind an imposing reputation in both the Islamic and Christian worlds. The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge was named after him that stratles the Bosbours Straights in Istanbul in the twentieth century. His name and picture appears on the paper currency of the Turkish thousand Lira note, which was in circulation between 1986 to 1992.^[20]

Freedom of the Bosnian Franciscans

Mehmed II's Firman on the freedom of the Bosnian Franciscans

"I, the Sultan Khan the Conqueror,

hereby declare the whole world that,

The Bosnian Franciscans granted with this sultanate firman are under my protection. And I command that:

No one shall disturb or give harm to these people and their churches! They shall live in peace in my state. These people who have become emigrants, shall have security and liberty. They may return to their monasteries which are located in the borders of my state.

No one from my empire notable, viziers, clerks or my maids will break their honour or give any harm to them!

No one shall insult, put in danger or attack these lives, properties, and churches of these people!

Also, what and those these people have brought from their own countries have the same rights...

By declaring this firman, I swear on my sword by the holy name of Allah who has created the ground and sky, Allah's prophet Mohammed, and 124,000 former prophets that; no one from my citizens will react or behave the opposite of this firman!"

This oath firman, which has provided independence and tolerance to the ones who are from another religion, belief, and race was declared by Mehmed II the Conqueror and granted to Angjeo Zvizdovic of the Franciscan Catholic Monastery in Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina after the conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 28 of 1463.^[21][22] The firman has been recently raised and published by the Ministry of Culture of Turkey for the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Ottoman State. The edict was issued by the Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror to protect the basic rights of the Bosnian Christians when he conquered that territory in 1463. The original edict is still kept in the Franciscan Catholic Monastery in Fojnica.

It is one of the oldest documents on religious freedom. Mehmed II's oath was entered into force in the Ottoman Empire on May 28, 1463. In 1971, the United Nations published a translation of the document in all the official U.N. languages.

See also

General

Sultan, Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire

Events

Expansion of the Ottoman Empire, Decline of the Byzantine Empire, Fall of Constantinople, Battle of Varna

Locations

Turkey, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge

Other

Cem (His younger son)

Further reading

• Philippides, Marios. Emperors, Patriarchs, and Sultans of Constantinople, 1373-1513: An Anonymous Greek Chronicle of the Sixteenth Century. Archbishop Iakovos library of ecclesiastical and historical sources, no. 13. Brookline, Mass: Hellenic College Press, 1990.
• Dwight, Harrison Griswold. Constantinople, Old and New. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1915.
• Hamlin, Cyrus. Among the Turks. New York: R. Carter & Bros, 1878.

References

General information

• Lord Kinross (1977). The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise And Fall Of The Turkish Empire. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-688-08093-6. 
• Murr Nehme, Lina (2003). 1453: The Fall of Constantinople. Aleph Et Taw. ISBN 2868398162. 
• Silburn, P. A. B. (1912). The evolution of sea-power. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
• Dyer, T. H., & Hassall, A. (1901). A history of modern Europe From the fall of Constantinople. London: G. Bell and Sons.
• Fredet, Peter (1888). Modern History; From the Coming of Christ and Change of the Roman Republic into an Empire, to the Year of Our Lord 1888. Baltimore: J. Murphy & Co. Page 383+

Footnotes

External links

• Biography page at OttomanOnline
• Contemporary portraits
• Chapter LXVIII: Reign Of Mahomet The Second, Extinction Of Eastern Empire by Edward Gibbon

Mehmed II House of Osman Born: March 30, 1432 Died: May 3, 1481[aged 49]
Regnal titles
Preceded by Murad II	Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1444–1446	Succeeded by Murad II
Preceded by Murad II	Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Feb 3, 1451 – May 3, 1481	Succeeded by Bayezid II
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Murad II	— TITULAR — Caliph of Islam 1444–1446	Succeeded by Bayezid II

Ottoman Empire Ottoman Sultans/Caliphs Dynasty · Detailed family tree · Simplified family tree Rise (1299–1453) Osman I · Orhan · Murad I · Bayezid I · Mehmed I · Murad II · Mehmed II · Murad II Growth (1453–1606) Mehmed II · Bayezid II · Selim I · Suleiman I · Selim II · Murad III · Mehmed III Stagnation (1606–1699) Ahmed I · Mustafa I · Osman II · Mustafa I · Murad IV · Ibrahim · Mehmed IV · Suleiman II · Ahmed II Decline (1699–1808) Mustafa II · Ahmed III · Mahmud I · Osman III · Mustafa III · Abdülhamid I · Selim III · Mustafa IV Tanzimat (1808–1908) Mahmud II · Abdülmecid I · Abdülaziz · Murad V · Abdülhamid II Dissolution (1908–1922) Mehmed V · Mehmed VI Republican Caliphate (1922–1924) Abdülmecid II Category · Commons