Mehmed I with his dignitaries. Ottoman miniature painting, kept atIstanbul University.
Mehmed I (Turkish:I. Mehmed;c. 1386/87 – 26 May 1421), also known asMehmed Çelebi (Ottoman Turkish:چلبی محمد, "the noble-born") orKirişçi (Greek:Κυριτζής,romanized: Kyritzis, "lord's son"),[3] was thesultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. Son of SultanBayezid I and his concubineDevlet Hatun, he fought with his brothers over control of the Ottoman realm in theOttoman Interregnum (1402–1413). Starting from the province ofRûm he managed to bring firstAnatolia and then the European territories (Rumelia) under his control, reuniting the Ottoman state by 1413, and ruling it until his death in 1421. Called "The Restorer", he reestablished central authority in Anatolia, and he expanded the Ottoman presence in Europe through the conquest ofWallachia in 1415. Venice destroyed his fleet offGallipoli in 1416 when the Ottomans lost a naval war.[4]
Mehmed was born in 1386 or 1387 as the fourth son of SultanBayezid I (r. 1389–1402) and one of his consorts, the slave girlDevlet Hatun.[3] Following Ottoman custom, when he reachedadolescence in 1399, he was sent to gain experience as provincial governor over theRûm Eyalet (central northernAnatolia), recently conquered from itsEretnid rulers.[5]
On 20 July 1402, his father Bayezid was defeated in theBattle of Ankara by the Turko-Mongol conqueror and rulerTimur.[6] The brothers (with the exception ofMustafa, who was captured and taken along with Bayezid toSamarkand) were rescued from the battlefield, Mehmed being saved byBayezid Pasha, who took him to his hometown ofAmasya. Mehmed later made Bayezid Pasha hisgrand vizier (1413–1421).
The early Ottoman Empire had noregulated succession, and according to Turkish tradition, every son could succeed his father.[7] Of Mehmed's brothers, the eldest, Ertuğrul, had died in 1400, while the next in line, Mustafa, was a prisoner of Timur. Leaving aside the underage siblings, this left four princes—Mehmed,Süleyman,İsa, andMusa, to contend over control of the remaining Ottoman territories in the civil war known as the "Ottoman Interregnum".[7] In modern historiography, these princes are usually called by the titleÇelebi,[7] but in contemporary sources, the title is reserved for Mehmed and Musa. The Byzantine sources translated the title asKyritzes (Κυριτζής), which was in turn adopted into Turkish askirişçi, sometimes misinterpreted asgüreşçi, 'the wrestler'.[8]
During the early interregnum, Mehmed Çelebi behaved as Timur's vassal. Beside the other princes, Mehmed minted coin which Timur's name appeared asDemur Han Gürgân (تيمور خان كركان), alongside his own asMehmed bin Bayezid Han (محمد بن بايزيد خان).[9][10] This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest ofBursa after theBattle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself inRum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with thestatus quo in Anatolia.[9]
After winning theInterregnum, Mehmed crowned himself sultan in theThracian city ofEdirne 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 theByzantine Empire), becoming Mehmed I. He consolidated his power, made Edirne the most important of the dual capitals, and conquered parts ofAlbania, theJandarid emirate, and theArmenian Kingdom of Cilicia from theMamluks. Taking his many achievements into consideration, Mehmed is widely known as the "second founder" of the Ottoman Sultanate.
Soon after Mehmed began his reign, his brotherMustafa Çelebi, who had originally been captured along with their father Bayezid I during theBattle of Ankara and held captive inSamarkand, 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 ofThessaloniki, but after an agreement with Mehmed, the Byzantine emperorManuel II Palaiologos exiled Mustafa to the island ofLemnos.
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 byManuel 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 theBattle 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 led bySheikh Bedreddin (1359–1420), a famous Muslim Sufi and charismatic theologian. He was an eminentUlema, born of a Greek mother and a Muslim father in Simavna (Kyprinos) southwest ofEdirne (formerlyAdrianople). Mehmed's brotherMusa 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."[11] Successfully developing a popular social revolution andsyncretism 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'sgrand vizierBayezid Pasha and hanged in the city ofSerres, a city in modern-dayGreece, in 1420.[11]
His mausoleum,Green Tomb, inBursa1404 AD datedakçe of Mehmed citing Timur as overlord
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 andde facto ruler of most of the empire for nearly the whole preceding period of 11 years of theOttoman Interregnum that passed between his father's captivity atAnkara and his own final victory over his brotherMusa Çelebi at theBattle of Çamurlu.[12]
Before his death, to secure passing the throne safely to his son Murad II, Mehmedblinded his nephew Orhan Çelebi (son of Süleyman), and decided to send his two sons Yusuf and Mahmud to be held as a hostage byEmperor Manuel II, hoping to ensure the continuing custody of his brother Mustafa.[13]
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 glazed tiles, is called theGreen Mosque. Mehmed I also completed another mosque in Bursa, which his grandfatherMurad I had commenced but which had been neglected during the reign ofBayezid. 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.
Emine Hatun, daughter of Nasireddin Mehmed Bey, fifth ruler ofDulkadirids. She married Mehmed in 1403 and according to tradition she was the mother of Murad II.[14]
Şahzade Hatun, daughter of Dividdar Ahmed Pasha, third ruler of Kutluşah ofCanik.[14]
Ilaldi Sultan Hatun (? - 1444). In 1425 she marriedIbrahim II Bey,ruler of Karamanids (died 16 July 1464), son ofMehmed II Bey (son ofNefise Hatun, aMurad I's daughter), and had six sons, amongs themPiri Ahmed Bey,Kasim Bey, Kaya Bey (who married his cousinHafsa Hatun, daughter of Murad II) and Alaeddin Bey; but the marriage was unhappy and her husband hated her and their sons because their Ottoman blood.
Hatice Hatun (1408–1442). She married Karaca Pasha (died on 10 November 1444).
Hafsa Hatun (? - 1445, buried in Mehmed I Mausoleum, Bursa). She married Mahmud Bey (died in January 1444), son ofÇandarlı Halil Pasha. By him she had six sons and a daughter.
Incu Hatun. In 1427 she married Isa Bey (died in 1437), son ofMehmed II Bey.
Ayşe Sultan Hatun (1412–1469, buried in Mehmed I Mausoleum, Bursa). In 1427 she married Alaeddin Ali Bey,ruler of Karamanids, son of Mehmed II Bey.
Şahzade Sitti Hatun (1413– ?, buried in Mehmed I Mausoleum, Bursa). In 1427 she married Sinan Pasha (died in 1442).
Fatma Sultan Hatun. She married Kıvameddin Kazim Bey, son of Isfendyar Bey and brother of Selçuk's husband Ibrahim II Bey.
İnalcık, Halil (1991). "Meḥemmed I".The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume VI: Mahk–Mid. Leiden and New York: BRILL. pp. 973–978.ISBN90-04-08112-7.
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