Bayezid I Lightning (died March 8, 1403) — Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, son of Sultan Murad I.
Bayezid participated in the battle on the Kosovo field, where Sultan Murad died. After the defeat of the Serbs, the army declared him sultan. Serbian prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic was also killed in the battle. Lazar’s son Stefan became Bayazid’s vassal, and Lazar’s daughter Olivera was given to the sultan’s harem.
Bayezid waged wars in Anatolia and in the Balkans. Has grasped all beyliks of Asia Minor, has finished subjugation of Bulgaria and twice kept Constantinople in a siege. Byzantine emperor forced to become a vassal of Bayezid. Pushed the borders of the Ottoman Empire to the Danube and Euphrates.
In 1396 Bayezid defeated the crusaders at Nikopol. In Asia, Bayezid clashed with Tamerlane. The conflict led to the Battle of Ankara.
Life course
Early years
Born in Edirne. His mother was Gülçiçek-khatun. The year of birth is called 755 year of Hijra (1355).
The Turkish historian H. Inalcik considered Bayazid the eldest son of Murad, the American Ottomanist S. Shaw believed that before him was Yakub, the German orientalist F. Babinger called the eldest brother of Bayazid Savji.
Bayazid and Yakub often accompanied their father on trips.
Stung by the estrangement from their father, their brother Savji Bey concluded an alliance with the heir to the Byzantine throne Andronicus, and in 1376 rebellious princes took Constantinople, deposed Emperor John V. Murad I defeated his son. He was captured. Executed.
In XVI century the Ottoman historian Nishanji Feridun Ahmet-bey has found correspondence Bayazid and Murad. It was evident from it that Murad treated Bayazid well.
In 1381 Bayezid married the daughter of Emir Hermiyanogullara. Thus he received possessions on the coast of the Aegean Sea. Bayezid’s sister Nefise Melek-khatun was married to Alaeddin, the bey of Karaman. This allowed Murad I to gain a foothold in Anatolia.
Murad appointed Bayazid as the sanjakbey of Kütahya in the center of Anatolia. Bayazid’s task was to secure the eastern borders of the state during Murad’s stay in Rumelia. Things did not go well for the son. While his father was expanding his possessions in the Balkans, in the east Alaeddin Bey was annexing lands in Asia Minor. The latter was unhappy that the Hamidid beys had sold their beylik to Murad. Alaeddin captured Beyshehir from the Ottomans. Ottoman armies already under Murad’s command approached Konya, the capital of Karamanids. They defeated Alaeddin and only the request of Murad’s daughter allowed him to stay alive.
Death of Murad I
Murad I occupied Epirus and Albania, in 1385/1386 Sofia and Nish. Uniting against the Turks, the rulers of Serbia Lazar Hrebeljanovic and Bosnia Tvrtko won at Pločnik in 1388. Bosnian governor Vlatko Vukovic defeated the Ottoman beylerbey Lal Shahin Pasha at Bileć.
On June 15, 1389, in the Battle of Kosovo Field, Sultan Murad himself was killed by a Serbian knight. This did not affect the outcome of the battle, as Bayezid took command and defeated the Serbs. Lazar Hrebeljanovic was killed. According to the American historian S. Shaw, Bayezid, whose mother was Greek, wanted to see as sultan Christian vassals of the Ottomans. There were many of them. But he was thwarted by his brother Yakub. Bayazit ordered him strangled. As Sharaf-khan Bidlisi wrote, Bayazid «of the sovereigns of Usman’s family was the first to attempt on his brother’s life». Historian H. Inaljik confirms this.
Murad’s death on the Kosovo field. Personal Chronicle
Bayezid made an alliance with Stefan Lazarevic, son and heir of Lazar. Serbia became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Stefan undertook to pay tribute on the silver mined at Mount Rudnik. Stefan’s sister Olivera was given into Bayezid’s harem. Only Vuk Brankovic, the ruler of one of the Serbian principalities, resisted the Ottomans.
The conquest of Anatolia in 1389-1394
After Murad’s death in Kosovo (1389), the rulers of the beyliks tried to regain control of their territories. Karamanid Alaeddin bey made peace with the beys of Menteshe and Kadi Burhaneddin and advanced as far as Eskisehir. Kadi Burhaneddin captured Kırşehir.
Bayezid moved his troops into Anatolia. In his army are detachments of Bey Jandaroglu of Kastamonu and Manuel, son of the Byzantine emperor. The sultan reconquered Aydın, Sarukhan, Hermiyan, Menteshe and Hamid. Manuel even participated in the capture of Alasehir (Philadelphia), the last Byzantine enclave in Anatolia. Bayezid then marched on Karaman. But here Bey Jandaroglu cheated. Bayezid’s sister again asked her brother for mercy for her husband. Bayezid made peace with Alaeddin.
In 1391/1392, Manuel Paleologos, a vassal of the Sultan, joined the Ottoman naval expedition against the Jandarids. They annexed the beylik.
Bayazil had most of Anatolia under his hand. Seeing his growing power Alaeddin bey submitted to Tamerlane.
Tamerlane, Timur (April 9, 1336, Kesh, modern Uzbekistan — February 19, 1405, Otrar, modern Kazakhstan) — Central Asian Turkic-Mongol warlord and conqueror, who played a significant role in the history of Central, South and West Asia, as well as the Caucasus, Volga region and Russia
Conquests in the Balkans in 1390-1395
Beginning in 1390, Bayezid advances into southern Hungary. In Central Europe, the growth of the Ottoman Empire began to be accepted as a growing threat.
In 1393, the Ottomans seized the Bulgarian capital of Tarnovo, and Bayezid sent the Bulgarian tsar Ioann-Shishman to rule the fortress of Nikopol on the Danube. Soon he rebelled and was executed.
Bulgaria became the first province (pashalik) of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. Only in Vidin on the border with Hungary still ruled as a vassal Bulgarian Prince Ivan Sratsimir. In 1394 the Turks replaced the pro-Hungarian ruler of Wallachia Mircea with their vassal Vlad.
Siege of Constantinople
Concerned by the success of the Ottomans, the Romans rebuilt the walls of Constantinople.
Bayezid demanded from the Roman Emperor Manuel to establish in Constantinople the post of judge (kadi) for the Muslim population. In 1393 on east coast of Bosporus Ottomans have begun to erect fortress Anadoluhisar. Having constructed, have besieged Constantinople. Romans had to submit:
Year 797 (1394-1395): The Emperor of Constantinople expressed submission to Sultan Bayazid Khan and pledged to pay the Sultan’s divan 10,000 gold pieces annually. A Muslim qazi was appointed in one of the quarters of Constantinople, known as [the quarter of] Islamiye, and [it was decided] to build a cathedral mosque and a minaret to call [Muslims] to prayer — Sharaf Khan ibn Shamsaddin Bidlisi. Sharaf-nameh
Crusade against the Ottomans in 1396
In 1394, Bayezid’s army invaded Greece, capturing fortresses in Thessaly and Morea. King Sigismund announced a call for a crusade against the Ottomans.
In 1396, 35,000 crusaders gathered in Buda. At the head of the crusaders was Sigismund. Among them knights from France, England, Scotland, Flanders, Lombardy, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and Bohemia. Nish was captured.
At Nikopol the Crusaders met Bayazid’s Ottomans and the Serbian army of Stefan Lazarevic. In the ensuing battle on September 25, the Ottomans defeated the crusaders. Sigismund fled, in captivity were 10 thousand crusaders. The most noble among the 20 transferred to the French King Charles VI for a ransom of 200 thousand gold ducats. The rest were simply killed.
Battle of Nikopol. Hünernamme, H. 1523,
Tamerlane
After the defeat of the Crusaders, Bayezid, who not in vain bore the nickname Lightning conquered Karaman, executed the unruly son-in-law Alaeddin-bey. He spared his sister as a native and settled in Bursa with her children.
Alaeddin was a vassal of Tamerlane. This was the reason of the conflict with Bayezid.
At the battle of Ankara, the Central Asian warriors under Tamerlane’s hand defeated the Ottoman army. Bayezid was captured. When Tamerlane saw him, the following scene took place:
When Tamerlane saw Bayazet, he laughed. Bayazet, offended by this laughter, remarked to Tamerlane that it was unseemly to laugh at misfortune; then Tamerlane said: «It seems that fate does not value power and possession of vast kingdoms very highly when it gives them to cripples, you crooked and me lame» — Ivanin M. I. On the military art and conquests of the Mongol-Tatars and Central Asian peoples under Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. — SPb.: Public Utility, 1875. — 315 с.
Stanislaw Chlebowski. «Captivity of Bayazid by Timur,» 1878
Central Asian warriors marched across Anatolia with fire and sword, wreaking death and destruction. The power of the Ottomans was over for a long time. They are once again the small beylik from which they once began to expand.
Although the former Ottoman sultan was carried in a cage, he was treated quite tolerably. Tamerlane wanted to free Bayezid and put him back on the throne:
«The will of the sovereign was such that after the final conquest of the country, Ruma wanted to give it back again to Yildirim Bayezid and put him on the throne and return» — Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi. Zafar-name
But, a year later, Bayazid died of «suffocation and sore throat».
Bayazid’s advice to the rulers of the twenty-first century: Do not envy earthly glory, for you do not know the end of the one you envy.