Bayezid I, also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1389 to 1402. He adopted the title of Sultan-i Rûm, Rûm being the Arabic name for the Eastern Roman Empire. In 1394, Bayezid unsuccessfully besieged Constantinople. Bayezid vanquished all the Beyliks and proceeded to conquer and vassalize the entirety of Anatolia. In 1402, he once more besieged Constantinople, appearing to find success, but he ultimately withdrew due to the invasion of the Mongol conqueror Timur. He defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Nicopolis in what is now Bulgaria in 1396. He was later defeated and captured by Timur at the Battle of Ankara in 1402 and died in captivity in March 1403, which triggered the Ottoman Interregnum.
Murad I was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1362 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan Gazi and Nilüfer Hatun. Murad I came into the throne after his elder brother Süleyman Pasha's death.
Mehmed I, also known as Mehmed Çelebi or Kirişçi, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. Son of Sultan Bayezid I and his concubine Devlet Hatun, he fought with his brothers over control of the Ottoman realm in the Ottoman Interregnum (1402–1413). Starting from the province of Rûm he managed to bring first Anatolia 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 by the conquest of Wallachia in 1415. Venice destroyed his fleet off Gallipoli in 1416 as the Ottomans lost a naval war.
Murad II was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451.
The Ottoman Interregnum or Ottoman Civil War was a civil war in the Ottoman Empire between the sons of Sultan Bayezid I following their father's defeat at the hands of Timur in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Although Timur confirmed Mehmed Çelebi as sultan, Mehmed's brothers İsa Çelebi, Musa Çelebi, Süleyman Çelebi, and later, Mustafa Çelebi, refused to recognize his authority, each claiming the throne for himself. This resulted in civil war. The Interregnum would last a little under 11 years, culminating in the Battle of Çamurlu on 5 July 1413, when Mehmed Çelebi emerged as victor, crowned himself Sultan Mehmed I, and restored the empire.
The Germiyanids were a prominent Anatolian beylik established by the Oghuz Turkish tribes after the decline of the Sultanate of Rûm. While the beylik was always mentioned as being ethnically Turkoman or Oghuz Turkish, the population consisted of Turks and Yezidi Kurds, brought by the Seljuks from the east of Malatya to western Anatolia as militia guards against the threatening Turkish tribesmen.
Gediz is a town in Kütahya Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is the seat of Gediz District. Its population is 26,662 (2022). The town was founded in 1970 after the old town, now called Eskigediz, was destroyed in an earthquake. The old town dates back to ancient times and was historically known as Kadoi in Greek and Gedüs in older Turkish.
Çandarlızade Ali Pasha was the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1387 until 1406, first under sultan Murad I, then sultan Bayezid I and, during the Ottoman Interregnum, Süleyman Çelebi.
Bayezid Pasha or Beyazid Pasha was an Ottoman-Albanian statesman who served as grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. He was the first Albanian and first Muslim from Balkans to become Grand Vizier of the Ottoman state.
İsa Çelebi was an Ottoman prince and a co-ruler of the empire during the Ottoman Interregnum.
Küçük Mustafa was an Ottoman prince who fought to gain control of the throne of the Ottoman Empire in 1422. It was used by the Ottoman chroniclers to distinguish him from his uncle Mustafa Çelebi, who also fought for the throne.
Nasiraeddin Mehmed II of Karaman, also Mehmed Beg, Mehmed Beg II or Nasir al-Din Mehmed Beg was the Bey ruler of Karaman. His mother was Nefise Hatun, a daughter of Ottoman Sultan Murad I.
Alaeddin Ali II of Karaman was the bey of Karamanids in what is now modern Turkey in the 15th century. He was the second son of Alaattin Ali of Karaman and Nefise Melek Sultan Hatun, Ottoman Sultan Murad I's daughter.
Juneyd or Junayd Bey was the last ruler (bey) of the Aydınid principality in what is now central western Turkey. His exact relationship with the Aydınid dynasty is unclear. His father was a long-time and popular governor of Smyrna under the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I. This allowed Junayd to consistently rely on the loyalty of the area's populace.
Nefise Melek Sultan Hatun was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Murad I of the Ottoman Empire. She was the wife of Alaeddin Ali Bey of Karaman, the ruler of Karamanids, the mother of the next Karamanid ruler, Mehmed II of Karaman and the first political active Ottoman princess known.
Yakub I was the founder of the beylik of Germiyan, located in western Anatolia around Kütahya. Although Germiyan revolted against Mesud II, the Sultan of Rum, Yakub accepted vassalage under Kayqubad III. The Sultanate of Rum disintegrated shortly after. At that point, Yakub's realm extended as far east as Ankara and incorporated various towns taken from the Byzantine Empire and the Catalan Company. Yakub was the suzerain of many of his neighbors, and his reign was described as economically prosperous by contemporary historians. He was succeeded by his son Mehmed, nicknamed Chakhshadan.
Suleiman Shah, also known as Shah Chelebi, was Bey of Germiyan in western Anatolia from 1361 until his death. His reign was initially peaceful, but he was eventually involved in a conflict with the Karamanids, which forced him to seek an alliance with the Ottoman state. He arranged the marriage of his daughter Devletşah Hatun and Murad I's son and future successor, Bayezid. Although he secured an alliance with the Ottomans, Germiyan lost considerable land as Suleiman left numerous towns and smaller settlements for them to seize, including the capital Kütahya, as part of the dowry payment. Suleiman relocated to Kula and died there in 1387.
The Battle of Kırkdilim was fought in July 1391 or 1392 between the Ottoman Ertuğrul Çelebi son of Bayezid I, and Kadi Burhan al-Din, ruler of northeastern Anatolia. The details of the battle are debated: Burhan al-Din's court poet Ibn Ardashir presents Bayezid's campaign being ended by a major victory for his master, which temporarily halted Ottoman expansion in Anatolia, but the contemporary letters of Manuel II Palaiologos, who accompanied Bayezid on his Anatolian campaigns, contain no indications of a major clash, and point to the expedition having been an Ottoman success overall.
Mihaloğlu Mehmed Bey was a member of the Mihaloğlu family and one of the most important frontier warlords of the Ottoman Balkans during the last phase of the civil war of the Ottoman Interregnum (1403–1413), and during the early years of Murad II's reign.
Nasir al-Din Mehmed Beg was the ruler of Dulkadir, a state in southern Anatolia, from 1399 until his death. After his father, Ghars al-Din Khalil, died, Mehmed repudiated the reign of his uncle, Shaban Suli and clashed with him on several occasions, relying on the support of the Mamluk Sultanate that ruled Egypt and Syria. Following Suli's murder, his son, Sadaqa, rose to the throne. Mehmed succeeded in claiming power shortly after with the intervention of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I. During the Ottoman Interregnum (1402–13), Mehmed supported Bayezid's son Mehmed Chelebi, who became the new sultan. While Nasir al-Din Mehmed was involved in sporadic skirmishes with the Mamluks, he enjoyed peace with them towards the end of his reign, marrying his daughter to the Mamluk Sultan Jaqmaq and commissioning the construction of madrasas and other buildings in Mamluk-controlled regions, such as Jerusalem.
