Süleyman Çelebi (1377–1411) was an Ottoman prince (Turkish: şehzade) and a co-ruler of the empire for several years during the Ottoman Interregnum. (Çelebi is an honorific title meaning "gentleman".)
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Süleyman Çelebi was a son of Beyazid I. His mother's name is not known. He fought both in the Battle of Niğbolu (1396) (against Crusades) and the Battle of Ankara (1402) (against Temur ). In the later, he was in the command of Ottoman left flank. But when the Ottoman army was defeated, he fled to European portion of the empire, also called Rumeli, with Çandarlı Ali Pasha.(Çandarlı Ali was the grand vizier during Beyazit's reign).
He signed the treaty of Gelibolu with the Byzantine regent John VII Palaiologos in 1403. (Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos was in West Europa). By this treaty he gave up certain territories (Marmara coast) to Byzantine Empire in return for Byzantine support in interregnum. He declared himself as the sultan of the empire in Edirne, the co capital in Rumeli of the Ottoman Empire. But the Asiatic side of the empire, so called Anatolia, was under the control of his two brothers İsa Çelebi and Mehmet Çelebi (future Mehmet I). Süleyman supported İsa against Mehmet. But Mehmet defeated İsa in several battles in 1406. Afraid of Mehmet's increasing power, Süleyman crossed the straits to reunite the empire. He captured Bursa, the Anatolian capital. But before fighting against his brother, he marched to Aegean Region to intimidate the small Turkmen principalies (Beyliks of Aydin and Menteşe) which had been annexed by Süleyman's father, but broke free after the battle of Ankara. He then captured the city of Ankara from Mehmet.[1] But he didn't advance further. He returned to Bursa which gave Mehmet a chance of relief. By a clever plan, Mehmet supported his brother Musa Çelebi who sailed to Rumeli over Wallacia (moden Romania then under partial control of Ottoman Empire). By this plot, Süleyman had to fight in two fronts. Süleyman returned to Rumeli leaving Anatolia to Mehmet again. Musa attacked the forces of Süleyman. Musa had the support of Wallachians and Serbs and Süleyman had the support of Byzantines. But the Serbs changed sides and Musa was defeated.[2] in the Battle of Kosmidion on 15 June 1410. However, Suleyman was not a determined prince and to the dismay of his partizans, he began living in extravagance. Especially after the death of his able vizier Çandarlı Ali Pasha, insouciance to state affairs caused him to lose supporters. Thus in 1411 when Musa marched to Edirne, Süleyman saw almost nobody at his side. He tried to escape to Byzantine territories. But on his way, he was murdered on 17 February 1411. [3]
After Suleyman's death Musa became the ruler of the Rumeli. The alliance between Mehmet and Musa broke and the two brothers continued to fight up to 5 July 1413. Finally Mehmet became the sole ruler of the empire.
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