| Revision as of 01:43, 17 April 2013 edit77.4.193.214 (talk) DragonTiger, stop doing nonsense← Previous edit | Revision as of 01:48, 17 April 2013 edit undo77.4.193.214 (talk) unneccessary information. start own capitles for themNext edit → | ||
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| '''Mehmed II''' or '''Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror''' (30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481) ({{lang-ota|محمد ثانى}}, ''{{unicode|Meḥmed-i s̠ānī}}''; {{lang-tr|II. Mehmet}}; also known as ''{{unicode|el-Fātiḥ}}'', {{lang|ota|الفاتح}}, "the Conqueror" in ]; in modern ], ''Fatih Sultan Mehmet''; also called ''Mahomet II''<ref>"]", ]. ()</ref><ref>Related to the ''Mahomet'' ]s used for ]. See '']'' for more information.</ref> in ]) was ] of the ] twice, first for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he ] ] and brought an end to the ], transforming the Ottoman state into an empire. Mehmed continued his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian reunification, and in Europe, as far as ] and ]. Mehmed II is regarded as a national hero in ], and Istanbul's ] is named after him. | '''Mehmed II''' or '''Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror''' (30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481) ({{lang-ota|محمد ثانى}}, ''{{unicode|Meḥmed-i s̠ānī}}''; {{lang-tr|II. Mehmet}}; also known as ''{{unicode|el-Fātiḥ}}'', {{lang|ota|الفاتح}}, "the Conqueror" in ]; in modern ], ''Fatih Sultan Mehmet''; also called ''Mahomet II''<ref>"]", ]. ()</ref><ref>Related to the ''Mahomet'' ]s used for ]. See '']'' for more information.</ref> in ]) was ] of the ] twice, first for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he ] ] and brought an end to the ], transforming the Ottoman state into an empire. Mehmed continued his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian reunification, and in Europe, as far as ] and ]. Mehmed II is regarded as a national hero in ], and Istanbul's ] is named after him. | ||
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| In his first reign, he defeated the crusade led by ] after the Hungarian incursions into his country broke the conditions of the truce ]. Cardinal ], the representative of the pope, had convinced the king of Hungary that breaking the truce with Muslims was not a betrayal.<ref>تاريخ الدولة العليّة العثمانية، تأليف: الأستاذ محمد فريد بك المحامي، تحقيق: الدكتور إحسان حقي، دار النفائس، الطبعة العاشرة: 1427 هـ - 2006 م، صفحة: 157 ISBN 9953-18-084-9</ref> | In his first reign, he defeated the crusade led by ] after the Hungarian incursions into his country broke the conditions of the truce ]. Cardinal ], the representative of the pope, had convinced the king of Hungary that breaking the truce with Muslims was not a betrayal.<ref>تاريخ الدولة العليّة العثمانية، تأليف: الأستاذ محمد فريد بك المحامي، تحقيق: الدكتور إحسان حقي، دار النفائس، الطبعة العاشرة: 1427 هـ - 2006 م، صفحة: 157 ISBN 9953-18-084-9</ref> | ||
| At this time Mehmed II asked his father Murad II to reclaim the throne, but Murad II refused. Angry at his father, who had long since retired to a contemplative life in southwestern Anatolia, Mehmed II wrote, | At this time Mehmed II asked his father Murad II to reclaim the throne, but Murad II refused. Angry 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 only after receiving this letter that Murad II led the Ottoman army and won the ] in 1444. | ||
| {{quotation|"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 only after receiving this letter that Murad II led the Ottoman army and won the ] in 1444. | |||
| Murad II's return to the throne was forced by ], the ] at the time, who was not fond of Mehmed II's rule, because Mehmed II's influential ''lala'' (royal teacher), Akşemseddin, had a rivalry with Çandarlı. Çandarlı 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.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} | Murad II's return to the throne was forced by ], the ] at the time, who was not fond of Mehmed II's rule, because Mehmed II's influential ''lala'' (royal teacher), Akşemseddin, had a rivalry with Çandarlı. Çandarlı 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.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} | ||
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| == Conquest of Constantinople == | == Conquest of Constantinople == | ||
| {{Main|Fall of Constantinople}} | {{Main|Fall 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 ], the fortress ] had been built by his great-grandfather ] on the Asiatic side; Mehmed erected an even stronger fortress called ] 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 and all the surviving sailors beheaded.<ref name="Silburn1912">Silburn, P. A. B. (1912).</ref> | 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 ], the fortress ] had been built by his great-grandfather ] on the Asiatic side; Mehmed erected an even stronger fortress called ] 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 and all the surviving sailors beheaded.<ref name="Silburn1912">Silburn, P. A. B. (1912).</ref> | ||
| ], painting by ]]] | |||
| ] | |||
| 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.<ref name="Silburn1912"/> | 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.<ref name="Silburn1912"/> | ||
| In early April, the ] began. After several failed assaults, the city's walls held off the Turks with great difficulty, even with the use of the new Orban's bombard, a cannon similar to the ]. The harbor of the ] was blocked by a ] chain and defended by twenty-eight ]s. | In early April, the ] began. After several failed assaults, the city's walls held off the Turks with great difficulty, even with the use of the new Orban's bombard, a cannon similar to the ]. The harbor of the ] was blocked by a ] chain and defended by twenty-eight ]s. | ||
| On 22 April, Mehmed transported his lighter warships overland, around the Genoese colony of Galata and into 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.<ref name="Silburn1912"/> After this conquest, Mehmed moved the Ottoman capital from Adrianople to Constantinople. | On 22 April, Mehmed transported his lighter warships overland, around the Genoese colony of Galata and into 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.<ref name="Silburn1912"/> After this conquest, Mehmed moved the Ottoman capital from Adrianople to Constantinople. On his accession as conqueror of Constantinople, aged 21, Mehmed was reputed fluent in several languages, including ], ], ], ], ] and ].<ref name="Norwich 1995 413–416"/><ref name="Runciman 1965 56">{{Cite book|last=Runciman|first=Steven|authorlink=Steven Runciman|year=1965|title=The Fall of Constantinople: 1453|page=56|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=London|isbn =0-521-39832-0}}</ref> | ||
| ] and its ] and harbor.]] | ] and its ] and harbor.]] | ||
| Reference is made to the prospective conquest of Constantinople in a ] (a saying attributed to the Prophet ]): ''"Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!"''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnah.org/msaec/articles/Constantinople.htm|title=Conquest of Constantinople|accessdate=4 August 2006|author=GF Haddad|last=Haddad|first=GF|authorlink=Qasyoun@cyberia.net.lb}}</ref> Ten years after the conquest of Constantinople Mehmed II visited the site of ] and boasted that he had avenged the ] by having conquered the Greeks (Byzantines).<ref name=turks></ref> | |||
| ].]] | |||
| Reference is made to the prospective conquest of Constantinople in a ] (a saying attributed to the Prophet ]): | |||
| {{quotation|:"Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!"''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnah.org/msaec/articles/Constantinople.htm|title=Conquest of Constantinople|accessdate=4 August 2006|author=GF Haddad|last=Haddad|first=GF|authorlink=Qasyoun@cyberia.net.lb}}</ref>}} | |||
| Ten years after the conquest of Constantinople Mehmed II visited the site of ] and boasted that he had avenged the ] by having conquered the Greeks (Byzantines).<ref name=turks></ref> | |||
| When Mehmed stepped into the ruins of the ], known to the Ottomans and Persians as the Palace of the Caesars, probably built over a thousand years before by ], he uttered the famous lines of ]:<ref>The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare, Jim Bradbury, page 68</ref><ref>“The” Sultan of Vezirs:, Théoharis Stavrides, page 22</ref><ref>East and West in the Crusader States: Krijna Nelly Ciggaar,Adelbert Davids,Herman G. B. Teule, page 51</ref><ref>The Lord of the Panther-Skin, Shota Rustaveli, page xiii</ref> | When Mehmed stepped into the ruins of the ], known to the Ottomans and Persians as the Palace of the Caesars, probably built over a thousand years before by ], he uttered the famous lines of ]:<ref>The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare, Jim Bradbury, page 68</ref><ref>“The” Sultan of Vezirs:, Théoharis Stavrides, page 22</ref><ref>East and West in the Crusader States: Krijna Nelly Ciggaar,Adelbert Davids,Herman G. B. Teule, page 51</ref><ref>The Lord of the Panther-Skin, Shota Rustaveli, page xiii</ref> | ||
| :''The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars; | |||
| :the owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab. |
:''the owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab. | ||
| After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed claimed the title of "]" of ] (''Kayser-i Rûm''). The claim was not recognized by the ], or Christian Europe. Mehmed's claim rested with the concept that Constantinople was the seat of the ], after the transfer of its capital to Constantinople in 330 AD and the fall of the ]. Mehmed also had a blood lineage to the Byzantine Imperial family; his predecessor, Sultan ] had married a Byzantine princess, and Mehmed may have claimed descent from ].<ref name="Norwich 1995 413–416">{{Cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|authorlink=John Julius Norwich|year=1995|title=Byzantium:The Decline and Fall| pages=81–82|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=0-679-41650-1}}</ref> He was not the only ruler to claim such a title, as there was the ] in Western Europe, whose emperor, ], traced his titular lineage from ] who obtained the title of Roman Emperor when he was crowned by ] in 800 - although never recognized as such by the Byzantine Empire. | |||
| == Conquests in Asia == | |||
| After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed claimed the title of "]" of ] (''Kayser-i Rûm''). However this claim was not recognized by the ], or Christian Europe. Mehmed's claim rested with the concept that Constantinople was the seat of the ], after the transfer of its capital to Constantinople in 330 AD and the fall of the ]. Mehmed also had a blood lineage to the Byzantine Imperial family; his predecessor, Sultan ] had married a Byzantine princess, and Mehmed may have claimed descent from ].<ref name="Norwich 1995 413–416">{{Cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|authorlink=John Julius Norwich|year=1995|title=Byzantium:The Decline and Fall| pages=81–82|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=0-679-41650-1}}</ref> He was not the only ruler to claim such a title, as there was the ] in Western Europe, whose emperor, ], traced his titular lineage from ] who obtained the title of Roman Emperor when he was crowned by ] in 800 - although never recognized as such by the Byzantine Empire. | |||
| ] | |||
| {{further|List of campaigns of Mehmed the Conqueror}} | |||
| The conquest of Constantinople allowed Mehmed II to turn his attention to ]. Mehmed II tried to create a single political entity in ] by capturing Turkish states called ] and the Greek ] in northeastern ] and allied himself with the ] located north of the Black Sea. Uniting the Anatolian Beyliks was first accomplished by Sultan ], more than fifty years earlier than Mehmed II but after the destructive ] 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. | |||
| After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed would also go on to conquer the ] in the ] in 1460, and the ] in northeastern ] 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. | |||
| Another important political entity which shaped the Eastern policy of Mehmed II was the ]. With the leadership of ], this Turcoman kingdom gained power in the East but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers like Empire of Trebizond and the ] and the alliance between Turcomans and ], 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 ]. | |||
| Several contemporary chroniclers have also written that following the fall, Mehmed deliberately spared the sons of certain noblemen from execution<ref>], ''Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time,'' (ed. WC Hickman, translated from the original ] by R Manheim), Princeton University Press, 1992, pp 475, 426 - 428.</ref>. These youths had apparently caught his eye and were subsequently sent to his ], supposedly to be seduced. Most notable was the youngest son of Grand Duke ], who numerous contemporary sources say was “snatched from the arms of his parents”. The Byzantine historian ] described how after the fall of Constantinople, Notaros resisted attempts to deliver his son to the “pleasures” of the sultan and was summarily executed<ref>], ''The Fall of Constantinople 1453''. Cambridge University Press, 1965.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Crowley|first=Roger|year=2006| location=Oxford|title=Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453|publisher=]}}</ref><ref name="Andrews 2005 2">{{cite book| last=Andrews|first=Walter G.|coauthors=Mehmet Kalpaklı|title= − The Age of Beloveds: Love and the Beloved in Early Modern Ottoman and European Culture and Society|publisher= | |||
| − − Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-3424-0|year=2005|page=2}}</ref><ref>The Siege and Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Historiography, Topography, and Military Studies, Marios Philippides,Walter K. Hanak, 2011, page 609-611</ref>. ], related the same story in his letter to ]<ref>], "The Siege of Constantinople 1453: Seven Contemporary Accounts"</ref>. The young Notares later escaped the harem and fled overseas. | |||
| == Conquests in Europe == | |||
| Nor did this seem to be an isolated case. The son of Sphrantzes met the same fate; and later lost his life after a plot to kill the sultan failed. Nor were the detainees confined to Constantinople. ], (son of the duke of Wallachia), was also reported as being subject to Mehmed’s erotic advances. The academic ] describe how Mehmed “proposed toasts in his honour, and invited him to his chamber”. Radu at first resisted attempts by the king to kiss him, stabbed him in the thigh and fled up a tree. Thereafter Radu submitted to become the sultan’s lover and lived with him in the palace<ref>The Siege and Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Historiography, Topography, and Military Studies, Marios Philippides,Walter K. Hanak, 2011, page 609-611</ref>. | |||
| The suggestion of homo-erotic impulses has met, however, fierce criticism from modern-day Turkish historians, including ], noting that the events described were set out by hostile Byzantine or Greek chroniclers, and such tales are not to be found in Ottoman sources. Indeed there is a chance that the stories echoed polemic from Iberia in relation to ] who similarly resisted the advances of a muslim king<ref name="Andrews 2005 2"/>. Also, figures such as Notaras and other Christian dignitaries in the city were likely executed for purely political reasons<ref>Byzantinische Zeitschrift, Volume 88, Karl Krumbacher, page 281, 1995</ref><ref>The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Marios Philippides,Walter K. Hanak, page 641, 2011</ref><ref>Studies from history. Richard i. Mohammed ii, William Harris Rule, page 119, 1854</ref><ref>The Ottoman Empire: conquest, organization and economy, Halil İnalcıkpage, page 190, 1978</ref>. | |||
| == Conquest of Serbia (1454-1459) == | |||
| {{further|List of campaigns of Mehmed the Conqueror}} | {{further|List of campaigns of Mehmed the Conqueror}} | ||
| ] (in Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár) 1456. Hünername 1584]] | |||
| Mehmed II first campaigns after Constantinople were in the direction of Serbia who was an Ottoman vassal since the ]. The Ottomans had a royal marriage with the ], one of ] wives was ], and used this to claim some Serbian lands. That ] recently had made an alliance with the Hungarians and paid the tribute irregularly was probably the most important. When the Serbians refused these demands the Ottoman army left Edirne towards Serbia in 1454. ] was besieged and later captured and there were Ottoman and Hungarian counterattacks during the years till 1456. In that year the Ottoman army advanced toward ] as far as ], and attempted to conquer the city from ] at the ] in 1456. | |||
| Following Hunyadi's victory over the Mehmet II at the ] on 14 July 1456, a period of relative peace began in the region. The sultan retreated to Adrianople, and ] regained possession of Serbia. Before the end of the year, however, the 79-year old Branković died. Serbian independence survived him for only another year, when the Ottoman empire formally annexed his lands following dissension among his widow and three remaining sons. Lazar, the youngest, poisoned his mother and exiled his brothers, and the land returned to the sultan's subjugation.<ref name=Miller1>{{cite book |title=The Balkans: Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro |last=Miller |first=William |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1896 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |location=London |isbn= |page= |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=J98DAAAAYAAJ |accessdate=2011-02-08}}</ref> | |||
| After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed would also go on to conquer the ] in the ] in 1460, and the ] in northeastern ] 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. | |||
| == Conquests on the Black Sea coast (1460-1461) == | |||
| {{further|List of campaigns of Mehmed the Conqueror}} | |||
| Previous emperors of Trebizond made alliances by having royal marriages with various Muslim rulers. So did emperor ] by forging alliances. He gave his daughter to the son of his brother-in-law, ], khan of the ], in return for his promise to defend Trebizond. He also secured promises of help from the Turkish ]s of ] and ], and from the king and princes of ]. | |||
| The Ottomans were motivated to capture Trebizond or to get an annual tribute. In the time of ] they first attempted to take the capital by sea in 1442, but high surf made the landings difficult and the attempt was repulsed. While ] was away laying siege to ] in 1456, the Ottoman governor of ] attacked Trebizond, and although defeated, took many prisoners and extracted a heavy tribute. | |||
| After John's death in 1459, his brother ] came to power and misused these alliances. David intrigued with various European powers for help against the Ottomans, speaking of wild schemes that included the conquest of ]. Mehmed II eventually heard of these intrigues, and was further provoked to action by David's demand that Mehmed remit the tribute imposed on his brother. | |||
| Mehmed's response came in the summer of 1461. He led a sizeable army from ] from land and the Ottoman navy from the sea, first to ], joining forces with Ismail's brother Ahmed (the Red), he captured Sinop and ended the official reign of the Jandarid dynasty, although he appointed Ahmed as the governor of Kastamonu and Sinop, only to revoke Ahmed's appointment the same year. Various other members of the Jandarid dynasty were offered important functions throughout the history of the Ottoman Empire. | |||
| During the march to Trebizond ] send his mother Sara Khatun as an ambassador, while they were climbing the steep heights of ] on foot she asked sultan Mehmed why he was undergoing such hardship for the sake of Trebizond. | |||
| Mehmed replied: | |||
| {{quotation|''Mother, in my hand is the sword of Islam, without this hardship I should not deserve the name of ] and today and tomorrow I should have to cover my face in shame before ]<ref>Babinger, 193</ref>}} | |||
| Having isolated Trebizond, Mehmed quickly swept down upon it before the inhabitants knew he was coming, and ]. The city held out for a month before the emperor David surrendered on August 15, 1461. | |||
| == Conquest of Morea (1458-1460) == | |||
| The ] was bordering the southern Ottoman Balkan. The Ottomans had already invaded these areas under ], destroying the Byzantine defences—the ] at the ] in 1446. Before the final siege of ] Mehmed ordered Ottoman troops to attack the Morea, the despots, ] and ], brothers of the last emperor, failed to send any aid. Their own incompetence resulted in an ] against them, during which they invited in Ottoman troops to help them put down the revolt. At this time, a number of influential Moreote Greeks and Albanians made private peace with Mehmed.<ref></ref> After more years of incompetent rule by the despots, their failure to pay their annual tribute to the Sultan, and finally their own revolt against Ottoman rule, Mehmed came into the Morea in May 1460. Demetrios ended up a prisoner of the Ottomans and his younger brother Thomas fled. By the end of the summer the Ottomans had achieved the submission of virtually all cities possessed by the Greeks. | |||
| A few holdouts remained for a time. The island of ] refused to surrender and it was first ruled for a brief time by a Catalan corsair. When the population drove him out they obtained the consent of Thomas to submit to the Pope's protection before the end of 1460. The ], on the Morea's south end, resisted under a loose coalition of the local clans and then that area came under ]'s rule. The very last holdout was ], in the Morea's northwest. ] was the military commander there, stationed at ] (also known as Castle Orgia). While the town eventually surrendered, Graitzas and his garrison and some town residents held out in the castle until July 1461, when they escaped and reached Venetian territory. | |||
| == Conquest of Wallachia (1459-1462)== | |||
| The Ottomans were since the early 15th century trying to bring Wallachia under their control by trying to put their own candidate on the throne. The Ottomans regarded Wallachia as a buffer zone between them and the ] and for a yearly tribute did not meddle in their internal affairs. Between the two primary Balkan powers, Hungary and the Ottoman there was a enduring struggle to make Wallachia their own vassal. So in one of these struggles, in December 1447, ]s in league with the Hungarian regent ] rebelled against Vlad II Dracul and killed him in the marshes near Bălteni. Mircea, Dracul's eldest son and heir, was blinded and buried alive at ]. | |||
| To prevent Wallachia from falling into the Hungarian fold, the Ottomans invaded Wallachia and put young ], who had spent part of his childhood alongside Mehmed.<ref>http://www.exploringromania.com/young-dracula-childhood.html</ref> on the throne. However, this rule was short-lived as Hunyadi himself now invaded Wallachia and restored his ally ], of the ] clan, to the throne. | |||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] (in Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár) 1456. Hünername 1584]] | |||
| Vlad fled to Moldavia, where he lived under the protection of his uncle, ]. In October 1451, Bogdan was assassinated and Vlad fled to Hungary. Impressed by Vlad's vast knowledge of the mindset and inner workings of the Ottoman Empire as well as his hatred of the new sultan ], Hunyadi reconciled with his former rival and made him his advisor. | |||
| Mehmed II advanced toward ] as far as ], and attempted to conquer the city from ] at the ] in 1456. Hungarian commanders successfully defended the city and Ottomans retreated with heavy losses but at the end, the Ottomans occupied nearly all of ]. | |||
| In 1456, three years after the Ottomans had conquered Constantinople, they threatened Hungary by besieging ]. Hunyadi began a concerted counter-attack in ]: while he himself moved into Serbia and relieved the siege (before dying of the plague), Vlad led his own contingent into Wallachia, reconquered his native land and killed Vladislav II. | |||
| In 1462 Mehmed II came into conflict with Prince ] of ], who had spent part of his childhood alongside Mehmed.<ref>http://www.exploringromania.com/young-dracula-childhood.html</ref> Vlad had ambushed, massacred or captured several Ottoman forces, then announced his impalement of over 23,000 captive Turks. Mehmed II abandoned his siege of Corinth to launch a punitive attack against Vlad in Wallachia<ref>Mehmed the Conqueror and his time pp. 204-5</ref> but suffered many casualties in a surprise ] led by Vlad, who was apparently bent on personally killing the Sultan.<ref>Dracula: Prince of many faces - His life and his times p. 147</ref> Confronted by Vlad's scorched earth policies and demoralizing brutality, Mehmed II withdrew, leaving his ally ], with whom Mehmed seems to have maintained an homosexual relationship<ref>Radu R Florescu, Raymond McNally, ''Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times'' p.48</ref> and who was Vlad's brother, with a small force in order to win over local ] who had been persecuted by Vlad III. Radu eventually managed to take control of Wallachia, which he administered as ], on behalf of Mehmet II. Vlad eventually escaped to Hungary, where he was imprisoned on a false accusation of treason against ]. | |||
| Later that year, in 1459, ] ] Mehmed II sent envoys to Vlad to urge him to pay a delayed ]<ref name=mtcant> | |||
| {{cite book | |||
| | last1 = Babinger | |||
| | first1 = Franz | |||
| | title = Mehmed the Conqeror - And his Time| year = 1978| publisher = Princeton University Press | |||
| | isbn = 0691099006}}</ref> of 10,000 ducats and 500 recruits into the Ottoman forces. Vlad refused and had the Turkish envoys killed on the pretext that they had refused to raise their "hats" to him, by nailing their ]s to their heads. | |||
| In 1463, after a dispute over the tribute paid annually by the ], Mehmed invaded Bosnia and conquered it very quickly, executing the last Bosnian king ] and his uncle ]. | |||
| Meanwhile, the Sultan sent the ] of Nicopolis, Hamza Pasha, to make peace and, if necessary, eliminate Vlad III.<ref name=explore>{{cite web|url=http://www.exploringromania.com/vlad-the-impaler-3.html |title=Vlad the Impaler second rule [3] |publisher=Exploringromania.com |date= |accessdate=2012-08-17}}</ref> Vlad Țepeș planned to set an ambush the Wallachians had the Ottomans were surrounded and almost all of them caught and impaled, with Hamza Pasha impaled on the highest stake to show his rank.<ref name=explore/> | |||
| In the winter of 1462, Vlad crossed the Danube and devastated the entire Bulgarian land in the area between ] and the ]. Disguising himself as a ] ], he infiltrated and destroyed Ottoman camps. Vlad had ambushed, massacred or captured several Ottoman forces, then announced his impalement of over 23,000 captive Turks. In a letter to Corvinus dated 2 February, he wrote: | |||
| {{blockquote|I have killed peasants men and women, old and young, who lived at Oblucitza and Novoselo, where the Danube flows into the sea, up to ], which is located near Chilia, from the lower Danube up to such places as Samovit and Ghighen. We killed 23,884 Turks without counting those whom we burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were cut by our soldiers...Thus, your highness, you must know that I have broken the peace with him (Sultan Mehmed II).<ref name=Vlad>. by Adrian Axinte. ''Stanford University. ''</ref><ref name=nightattack>]</ref>}} | |||
| Mehmed II abandoned his siege of Corinth to launch a punitive attack against Vlad in Wallachia<ref>Mehmed the Conqueror and his time pp. 204-5</ref> but suffered many casualties in a surprise ] led by Vlad, who was apparently bent on personally killing the Sultan.<ref>Dracula: Prince of many faces - His life and his times p. 147</ref> Confronted by Vlad's scorched earth policies and demoralizing brutality and after Vlad fled to the mountains. The Ottomans captured the Wallachian capital ] and Mehmed II withdrew. Wallachia was left to his ally ] who became the new prince and ] behind who served with distinction and wiped out a force of 6,000 Wallachians and deposited 2,000 of their heads at the feet of Mehmed II. As a reward, he was reinstated in his old gubernatorial post in Thessaly.<ref>Babinger (1992), p. 207</ref> Vlad eventually escaped to Hungary, where he was imprisoned on a false accusation of treason against ]. | |||
| == Conquest of Bosnia (1463) == | |||
| ] | |||
| The despotate of Serbia ] died in 1458 after which a civil war broke out among his heirs that resulted in the in the Ottoman conquest of Serbia in 1459. ] son of the king of Bosnia, tried to bring Serbia under his control but Ottoman expeditions forced him to give up his plan Bosnia fled to Bosnia, seeking refuge at the court of his father.<ref name="A. Fine 1994 page 575-581">J. V. A. Fine, "The Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest" (1994), page 575-581</ref> After some battles Bosnia became tributary to the Ottomans. | |||
| On 10 July 1461, ] died. Stephen Tomašević succeeded him as King of Bosnia. In 1461, Stephen Tomašević made an alliance with the Hungarians and asked ] for help in the face of an impending Ottoman invasion. | |||
| In 1463, after a dispute over the tribute paid annually by the ] to the Ottomans, he sent for help from the ]. However, none ever reached Bosnia. In 1463, Sultan ] led an army into the country. The royal city of ] soon fell, leaving Stephen Tomašević to retreat to ] and later to ]. Mehmed invaded Bosnia and conquered it very quickly, executing the last Bosnian king ] and his uncle ] Bosnia officially fell in 1463 and became the westernmost province of the ]. | |||
| ==Ottoman Venetian War (1463-1479)== | |||
| According to the Byzantine historian ], hostilities broke out because of the flight of an Albanian slave of the Ottoman commander of Athens to the Venetian fortress of Coron (]) with 100,000 silver aspers from his master's treasure. The fugitive then converted to Christianity, and demands for his rendition by the Ottomans were therefore refused by the Venetian authorities.<ref name="Setton241">Setton (1978), p. 241</ref> Using this as a pretext, in November 1462, ], the Ottoman commander in central Greece, attacked and nearly succeeded in taking the strategically important Venetian fortress of Lepanto (]). On 3 April 1463 however, the governor of the Morea, Isa Beg, took the Venetian-held town of ] by treason.<ref name="Setton241"/> | |||
| The new alliance launched a two-pronged offensive against the Ottomans: a Venetian army, under the Captain General of the Sea ], landed in the Morea, while ] invaded Bosnia.<ref name="Finkel63">Finkel (2006), p. 63</ref> At the same time, ] began assembling an army at ], hoping to lead it in person.<ref name="Shaw65">Shaw (1976), p. 65</ref> Negotiations were also began with other rivals of the Ottomans, such as ], ] and the ].<ref name="Shaw65"/> | |||
| In early August, the Venetians retook ] and refortified the ], restoring the ] and equipping it with many cannons.<ref name="Setton248">Setton (1978), p. 248</ref> They then proceeded to besiege the fortress of the ], which controlled the northwestern Peloponnese. The Venetians engaged in repeated clashes with the defenders and with Ömer Bey's forces, until they suffered a major defeat on 20 October and were then forced to lift the siege and retreat to the Hexamilion and to Nauplia (]).<ref name="Setton248"/> In Bosnia, Matthias Corvinus seized over sixty fortified places and succeeded in taking its capital, ] ], on 16 December.<ref name="Setton250">Setton (1978), p. 250</ref> | |||
| Ottoman reaction was swift and decisive: Sultan ] dispatched his ], ], with an army against the Venetians. To confront the Venetian fleet, which had taken station outside the entrance of the ] Straits, the Sultan further ordered the creation of the new shipyard of Kadirga Limani in the ] (named after the "kadirga" type of ]), and of two forts to guard the Straits, ] and ].<ref name="Crusades326">Setton, Hazard & Norman (1969), p. 326</ref> The Morean campaign was swiftly victorious for the Ottomans they razed the Hexamilion, and advanced into the Morea. Argos fell, and several forts and localities that had recognized Venetian authority reverted to their Ottoman allegiance. | |||
| Sultan Mehmed II, who was following Mahmud Pasha with another army to reinforce him, had reached Zeitounion (]) before being apprised of his Vizier's success. Immediately, he turned his men north, towards Bosnia.<ref name="Crusades326"/> However, the Sultan's attempt to retake ] in July and August 1464 failed, with the Ottomans retreating hastily in the face of Corvinus' approaching army. A new Ottoman army under Mahmud Pasha then forced Corvinus to withdraw, but Jajce was not retaken for many years after.<ref name="Setton250"/> However, the death of Pope Pius II on 15 August in Ancona spelled the end of the Crusade.<ref name="Shaw65"/><ref>Setton (1978), p. 270</ref> | |||
| ] | |||
| In the meantime, for the upcoming campaign of 1464, the Republic had appointed ], he launched attacks against Ottoman forts, and engaged in a failed siege of ] in August–October. Small-scale warfare continued on both sides, with raids and counter-raids, but a shortage of manpower and money meant that the Venetians remained largely confined to their fortified bases, while Ömer Bey's army roamed the countryside. | |||
| In the Aegean, the new Venetians, tried to take Lesbos in the spring of 1464, and besieged the capital ] for six weeks, until the arrival of an Ottoman fleet under Mahmud Pasha on 18 May forced them to withdraw.<ref name="Setton251">Setton (1978), p. 251</ref> Another attempt to capture the island shortly after also failed. The Venetian navy spent the remainder of the year in ultimately fruitless demonstrations of force before the Dardanelles.<ref name="Setton251"/> In early 1465, Mehmed II sent peace feelers to the Venetian Senate in 1465. Distrusting the Sultan's motives, these were rejected.<ref>Setton (1978), p. 273</ref> | |||
| In April 1466, ] the Venetian war effort was reinvigorated: the fleet took the northern Aegean islands of ], ] and ], and then sailed into the ].<ref name="Setton283"/> On 12 July, Cappello landed at ], and marched against ], the Ottomans' major regional base. He failed to take the ] and was forced to retreat to ]. Patras, being the capital of Peloponnese and the seat of the Ottoman ], was being besieged by the joint forces of Venetians and ].<ref>], ''Istoria tis Ellinikis Epanastaseos'' (London, 1853–1857) Vol 2, p84-85</ref> Before Cappello could arrive there, and as the city seemed on the verge of falling, Ömer Bey suddenly appeared with 12,000 cavalry, and drove the outnumbered besiegers off. Six hundred Venetians and a hundred were taken prisoner out of a force of 2,000, while Barbarigo himself was killed.<ref name="Setton284">Setton (1978), p. 284</ref> Cappello, who arrived some days later, attacked the Ottomans, but was heavily defeated. Demoralized, he returned to Negroponte with the remains of his army. There Cappello fell ill and died on 13 March 1467.<ref>Setton (1978), pp. 284–285</ref> In 1470 Mehmed personally led an Ottoman army to besiege ], the Venetian navy was defeated and ]. | |||
| In spring 1466, Sultan Mehmed marched with a large army against the Albanians. Under their leader, ], they had long resisted the Ottomans, and had repeatedly sought assistance from Italy.<ref name="Finkel63"/> Mehmed II responded by marching again against Albania but ]. The winter brought an outbreak of plague, which would recur annually and sap the strength of the local resistance.<ref name="Setton283">Setton (1978), p. 283</ref> Skanderbeg himself died of malaria in the Venetian stronghold of Lissus (]), ending the ability of Venice to use the Albanian lords for its own advantage.<ref name="Finkel64"/> After Skanderbeg died, some Venetian-controlled northern Albanian garrisons continued to hold territories coveted by the Ottomans, such as ], ], ], and ]—the most significant. Mehmed II sent his armies but failed. Then he went personally to lead the ] of 1478-79. The Venetians and Shkodrans resisted the assaults and continued to hold the fortress until Venice ceded Shkodra to the Ottoman Empire in the ] as a condition of ending the war. | |||
| The agreement was established as a result of the Ottomans having reached the outskirts of ]. Based on the terms of the treaty, the Venetians were allowed to keep ], Antivan, and ]. However, they ceded ] (which had been ] for many months), as well as other territories on the ]n coastline, as well as relinquished control of the ] islands of ] (]) and ]. Moreover, the Venetians were forced to pay 100,000 ducat ]<ref>Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: Alexander Mikaberidze, page 917, 2011</ref> and agreed to a tribute of around 10,000 ]s per year in order to acquire trading privileges in the ]. As a result of this treaty, Venice acquired a weakened position in the ].<ref> ''The great war against the Turks (See 1463–79). Negroponte was lost (1470). The Turks throughout maintained the upper hand and at times raided to the very outskirts of Venice. In the Treaty of Constantinople (1479), the Venetians gave up Scutari and other Albanian stations, as well as Negroponte and Lemnos. Thenceforth the Venetians paid an annual tribute for permission to trade in the Black Sea.''</ref> | |||
| == Conquest of Karaman and conflict with the Akkoyunlu (1464-1473) == | |||
| During the post-] era in the second half of the ], numerous ] principalities which are collectively known as ] emerged in ]. Initially ] centered around the modern provinces of ] and ], was the most important power in Anatolia. But towards the end of the 14th century ] began to dominate on most of Anatolia, reducing the Karaman influence and prestige. | |||
| ] was the ruler of Karaman, during his last years, his sons began struggling for the throne. His heir apparent was ], the governor of ]. But, Pir Ahmet, a younger son declared himself as the bey of Karaman in ]. İbrahim escaped to a small city in western territories where he died in 1464. | |||
| ]]] | |||
| ] was at the time of his father's death a local governor in ]. When he tried to march to his capital ], he learned that his younger brother ] had also put a claim on the throne. This resulted in an integregnum in the beylik. Nevertheless with the help of ], the sultan of ] (White Sheep) ] he was able to ascend to the throne. However his reign was short. Because, Pir Ahmet appealed to ] sultan ] for help. He offered Mehmet some territory which İshak refused to cede. With Ottoman help, Pir Ahmet defeated İshak in the battle of ]. İshak had to content with Silifke up to an unknown date.<ref>Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: ''Türkiye tarihi'' Cilt I, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 pp 256-257</ref> He kept his promise and ceded a part of the beylik to Ottomans. But he was uneasy about the loss. So during the Ottoman campaign to west, he captured his former territory. However, Mehmet returned back and captured both ] (Larende) and ] two major cities of the beylik in 1466. Pir Ahmet berely escaped to east. A few years later, Ottoman ] (later ]) ] captured the coastal region of the beylik.<ref>Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: ''Türkiye tarihi'' Cilt I, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 pp 256-258</ref> | |||
| Pir Ahmet as well as his brother ] escaped to Uzun Hasan's territory. This gave Uzun Hasan a chance to interfere. In 1472, the Akkoyunlu army invaded and raided most of ]. (This was the reason behind the ] in 1473)Then Mehmed led a successful campaign against Uzun Hasan in 1473 which resulted with the decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire in the ]. Before that Pir Ahmet with Akkoyunlu help, had captured Karaman. However Pir Ahmet couldn't enjoy another term. Because immediately after the capture of Karaman, the Akkoyunlu army was defeated by the Ottomans near ] and Pir Ahmet had to escape once more. Although he tried to continue his struggle, he learned that his family members were transferred to ] by Gedik Ahmet Pasha and he finally gave up. Demoralized, he escaped to Akkoyunlu territory where he was given a ] (fief) in ] He died in 1474.<ref> {{tr icon}}</ref> | |||
| Uniting the Anatolian Beyliks was first accomplished by Sultan ], more than fifty years earlier than Mehmed II but after the destructive ] 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 ]. With the leadership of ], this Turcoman kingdom gained power in the East but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers like Empire of Trebizond and the ] and the alliance between Turcomans and ], Mehmed saw them as a threat to his own power. | |||
| == War with Moldavia (1475-1476)== | |||
| In 1456, ], agreed to pay the Ottomans a annual tribute of 2,000 gold ducats, in order to ensure his southern borders, thus becoming the first of the Moldavian rulers to accept the Turkish demands.<ref>The A to Z of Moldova, Andrei Brezianu,Vlad Spânu, page 273, 2010</ref> | In 1456, ], agreed to pay the Ottomans a annual tribute of 2,000 gold ducats, in order to ensure his southern borders, thus becoming the first of the Moldavian rulers to accept the Turkish demands.<ref>The A to Z of Moldova, Andrei Brezianu,Vlad Spânu, page 273, 2010</ref> | ||
| His successor ] rejected Ottoman suzerainty and a series of fierce wars ensued.<ref>The A to Z of Moldova, Andrei Brezianu,Vlad Spânu, page 242, 2010</ref> | |||
| His successor ] rejected Ottoman suzerainty and a series of fierce wars ensued.<ref>The A to Z of Moldova, Andrei Brezianu,Vlad Spânu, page 242, 2010</ref> Stephen tried to bring Wallachia under his sphere of influence and so supported his own choice for the Wallachian throne. This resulted in a enduring struggle between different Wallachian rulers backed by Hungarians, Ottomans and Stephebn. An Ottoman army under Hadim Pasha was sent in 1475 to punish Stephen for his meddling in Wallachia however, the Ottomans suffered a great defeat at the ]. After the disaster of the ], the Sultan ] assembled a large army and entered Moldavia in June 1476. Meanwhile groups of ] from the ] (the Ottomans' recent ally) were sent to attack Moldavia. Romanian sources may state that they were repelled,.<ref name="ir">M. Barbulescu, D. Deletant, K. Hitchins, S. Papacostea, P. Teodor, ''Istoria României (History of Romania)'', Ed. Corint, Bucharest, 2002, ISBN 973-653-215-1, p. 157</ref> Other sources state that joint Ottoman and Crimean Tartar forces "occupied Bessarabia and took Akkerman, gaining control of southern mouth of Danube. Stephan tried to avoid open battle with the Ottomans by following a scorched-earth policy."<ref name="shaw">Shaw, Stanford J. (1976) ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey – Vol 1: Empire of Gazis'', Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-29163-1 p.68</ref> | |||
| In 1475, the Ottomans suffered a great defeat at the hands of ] of ] at the ]. In 1476, Mehmed won a ] against Stephen at the ]. He besieged the capital of ], but could not take it, nor could he take the ]. With a plague running in his camp and food and water being very scarce, Mehmed was forced to retreat. | |||
| The ] in ] between 1443 and 1468 led by George Kastrioti ] (''İskender Bey''), an Albanian noble and a former member of the Ottoman ruling elite, prevented the Ottoman expansion into the ].{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} Skanderbeg had united the ] in a fight against the Empire in the ] in 1444. Mehmed II couldn't subjugate ] and ] while the latter was alive, even though twice (1466 and 1467) he led the Ottoman armies himself against ]. After death of ] in 1468, ] couldn't find a leader to replace him and Mehmed II eventually conquered ] and Albania in 1478. The final act of his Albanian campaigns was the troublesome ], the final siege that Mehmed II led personally and of which early Ottoman chronicler ] (1400–81) wrote, "All the conquests of Sultan Mehmed were fulfilled with the seizure of Shkodra."<ref>Pulaha, Selami. ''Lufta shqiptaro-turke në shekullin XV. Burime osmane''. Tirana: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë dhe Gjuhësisë, 1968, p. 72</ref> | |||
| Finally Stephen faced the Ottomans in battle it began with the Moldavians luring the main Ottoman forces into a forest that was set on fire, causing some casualties to the attacking Ottoman army in the forest. According to another battle description, the defending Moldavian forces repelled several Ottoman attacks with steady fire from hand-guns.<ref>{{Ro icon}} Akademia, '' (The special role of artillery in the larger Moldavian armies)'', April 2000</ref> The attacking Turkish ] were forced to crouch on their stomachs instead of charging headlong into the defenders positions. Seeing the imminent defeat of his forces, Mehmed charged with his personal guard against the Moldavians, managing to rally the Janissaries, and turning the tide of the battle. Turkish Janissaries penetrated inside the forest and engaged the defenders in man-to-man fighting. | |||
| An Ottoman army under ] invaded ] in 1480. The intent of this invasion was to capture ] and "reunite the Roman Empire", and, at first, it looked like it might be able to do it with the ] of ] in 1480 but after the death of Mehmed most of the troops returned and Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481. | |||
| The Moldavian army was utterly defeated (casualties were very high on both sides), and the ]s say that the entire battlefield was covered with the bones of the dead, a probable source for the ] (''Valea Albă'' is ] and ''Akdere'' ] for "The White Valley"). | |||
| == Administrative actions == | |||
| Ștefan cel Mare retreated into the north-western part of Moldavia or even into the ]<ref name="jn">{{Ro icon}} ], '' (Anniversaries on July 26, 2005.A historical moment)''</ref> and began forming another army. | |||
| The Ottomans were unable to conquer any of the major Moldavian strongholds (], ], ])<ref name="ir"/> and were constantly harassed by small scale Moldavians attacks. Soon they were also confronted with starvation, a situation made worse by an outbreak of the ] and the Ottoman army returned to Ottoman lands. However the threat of Stephen to Wallachia ceased. | |||
| ==Conquest of Albania (1466-1478)== | |||
| ], painting by ]]] | |||
| The ] in ] between 1443 and 1468 led by George Kastrioti ] (''İskender Bey''), an Albanian noble and a former member of the Ottoman ruling elite, prevented the Ottoman expansion into the ].{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} Skanderbeg had united the ] in a fight against the Empire in the ] in 1444. Mehmed II couldn't subjugate ] and ] while the latter was alive, even though twice (1466 and 1467) he led the Ottoman armies himself against ]. After death of ] in 1468, ] couldn't find a leader to replace him and Mehmed II eventually conquered ] and Albania in 1478. | |||
| In spring 1466, Sultan Mehmed marched with a large army against the Albanians. Under their leader, ], they had long resisted the Ottomans, and had repeatedly sought assistance from Italy.<ref name="Finkel63"/> For the Albanians, the outbreak of the Ottoman–Venetian War offered a golden opportunity to reassert their independence; for the Venetians, they provided a useful cover to the Venetian coastal holdings of ] and ]. The major result of this campaign was the construction of the fortress of ], allegedly within just 25 days. This strategically sited fortress, at the lowlands near the end of the old '']'', cut Albania effectively in half, isolating Skenderbeg's base in the northern highlands from the Venetian holdings in the south.<ref name="Finkel64">Finkel (2006), p. 64</ref> However, following the Sultan's withdrawal Skanderbeg himself spent the winter in Italy, seeking aid. On his return in early 1467, his forces sallied from the highlands, defeated ] and lifted the ] of the fortress of Croia (]) attacked Elbasan but failed to capture it.<ref name="Crusades327">Setton, Hazard & Norman (1969), p. 327</ref><ref name="Setton278">Setton (1978), p. 278</ref> Mehmed II responded by marching again against Albania. He energetically pursued the attacks against the Albanian strongholds, while sending detachments to raid the Venetian possessions to keep them isolated.<ref name="Crusades327"/> The Ottomans ] to take Croia, and they failed to subjugate the country. However, the winter brought an outbreak of plague, which would recur annually and sap the strength of the local resistance.<ref name="Setton283">Setton (1978), p. 283</ref> Skanderbeg himself died of malaria in the Venetian stronghold of Lissus (]), ending the ability of Venice to use the Albanian lords for its own advantage.<ref name="Finkel64"/> The Albanians were left to their own devices, and were gradually subdued over the next decade. | |||
| After Skanderbeg died, the final act of his Albanian campaigns was the troublesome ], the final siege that Mehmed II led personally and of which early Ottoman chronicler ] (1400–81) wrote, "All the conquests of Sultan Mehmed were fulfilled with the seizure of Shkodra."<ref>Pulaha, Selami. ''Lufta shqiptaro-turke në shekullin XV. Burime osmane''. Tirana: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë dhe Gjuhësisë, 1968, p. 72</ref> Some Venetian-controlled northern Albanian garrisons continued to hold territories coveted by the Ottomans, such as ], ], ], and ]—the most significant. Mehmed II sent his armies but failed. Then he went personally to lead the ] of 1478-79. The Venetians and Shkodrans resisted the assaults and continued to hold the fortress until Venice ceded Shkodra to the Ottoman Empire in the ] as a condition of ending the war. | |||
| ==Conquest of Genoese Crimea and alliance with Crimean Khanate (1475)== | |||
| {{Main|Crimean Khanate}} | |||
| A number of ], now collectively known as the ], have been inhabiting the peninsula since the early ]. After the destruction of the Golden Horde by ] in 1441, the Crimean Tatars founded an independent ] under ], a descendant of ]. | |||
| The Crimean Tatars controlled the steppes that stretched from the ] and to the ], however, they were unable to take control over the commercial ] towns called ]. Who were under Genoese control since 1357. After the conquest of Constantinople, the Genoese communications were disrupted and when the Crimean Tatars asked for help from the ], an Ottoman invasion of the Genoese towns led by ] in 1475 brought ] and the other trading towns under their control.<ref name="Subtelny">{{Cite book| title=Ukraine: A History | author=Subtelny, Orest | publisher=] | year=2000 | isbn=0-8020-8390-0 | authorlink=Orest Subtelny }}</ref>{{rp|78}} After the capture of Genoese towns, the Ottoman Sultan held ] captive,<ref></ref> later releasing him in return for accepting Ottoman suzerainty over the Crimean Khans and allowing them rule as ].<ref name="Subtelny"/>{{rp|78}}<ref name="blacksea-crimea/hist">{{Cite web|url=http://www.blacksea-crimea.com/history1.html |title=History |accessdate=March 28, 2007 |work=blacksea-crimea.com}}</ref> However, the Crimean Khans still had a large amount of autonomy from the Ottoman Empire while the Ottomans directly controlled the southern coast. | |||
| == Expedition to Italy (1480) == | |||
| An Ottoman army under ] invaded ] in 1480. The Ottoman army ] ] in 1480 but after the death of Mehmed most of the troops returned and Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481. | |||
| Because of lack of food ] returned with most of his troops to ], leaving a garrison of 800 infantry and 500 cavalry behind to defend Otranto. It was assumed he would return after the winter. | |||
| Since it was only 28 years after ], there was some fear that ] would suffer the same fate. Plans were made for the Pope and citizens of Rome to evacuate the city. ] repeated his 1471 call for a ]. Several Italian city-states, Hungary and France responded positively to this. The ] did not, as it had signed an expensive peace treaty with the Ottomans in 1479. | |||
| In 1481 an army was raised by king ] to be led by his son ]. A contingent of troops was provided by king ]. The city was besieged starting May 1, 1481. On May 3 the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, ], died, with ensuing quarrels about his succession. This possibly prevented the sending of Ottoman reinforcements to Otranto. So in the end the Turkish occupation of Otranto ended by negotiation with the Christian forces, permitting the Turks to withdraw to Albania. | |||
| ==Repopulation of Constantinople (1453-1478)== | |||
| {{Main|History of Istanbul}} | |||
| ] built by order of Sultan Mehmed II in Constantinople, was the first imperial Ottoman mosque built in the city after the Ottoman conquest]] | |||
| Finally, Christian Constantinople, the old thorn in the side of generations of Muslim ]s, was under Muslim Ottoman control. When ] finally entered Constantinople through what is now known as the ], he immediately rode his horse to the ], which he ordered to be protected. He ordered that an ] meet him there in order to chant the Muslim Creed: “I testify that there is no ] but ]. I testify that ] is the Prophet of ].”<ref>Lewis, Bernard. Istanbul and the Civilization if the Ottoman Empire. 1, University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. p. 6</ref> This act transformed the ] cathedral into a Muslim ], solidifying ]ic rule in Constantinople. | |||
| Mehmed’s main concern with Constantinople had to do with rebuilding the city’s defenses and repopulation. Building projects were commenced immediately after the conquest, which included the repair of the walls, construction of the citadel, and building a new palace.<ref name="Inalcik, Halil 1969, p. 236">Inalcik, Halil. “The Policy of Mehmed II toward the Greek Population of Istanbul and the Byzantine Buildings of the City.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23, (1969): 229–249. p. 236</ref> | |||
| To encourage the return of the Greeks and the Genoese of ] (the trading quarter of the city), who had fled, he returned their houses and provided them with guarantees of safety. | |||
| Mehmed issued orders across his empire that Muslims, Christians, and Jews should resettle the city; he demanded that five thousand households needed to be transferred to Constantinople by September.<ref name="Inalcik, Halil 1969, p. 236"/> From all over the Islamic empire, prisoners of war and deported people were sent to the city: these people were called "Sürgün" in Turkish ({{lang-gr|σουργουνιδες}}).<ref name="mw28">Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 28</ref> | |||
| He restored the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate (Jan. 6, 1454) and established a Jewish grand rabbi and an Armenian patriarch in the city. In addition, he founded, and encouraged his viziers to found, a number of Muslim institutions and commercial installations in the main districts of Constantinople. Such as the ] built by the Grand Vizier ]. From these nuclei, the metropolis developed rapidly. According to a survey carried out in 1478, there were then in Constantinople and neighbouring Galata 16,324 households and 3,927 shops, an estimated population of 80,000.<ref>The Ottomans and the Balkans:Fikret Adanır,Suraiya Faroqhi, page 358, 2002</ref> About 60% Muslim, 20% Christian and 10 Jewish.<ref>A History of Islamic Societies, Ira M. Lapidus, page 272, 2002</ref> | |||
| Fifty years later, Constantinople had become the largest city in Europe. | |||
| Two centuries later, Ottoman traveler ] gave a list of groups introduced into the city with their respective origins. Even today, many quarters of ], such as ], ], bear the names of the places of origin of their inhabitants.<ref name=mw28/> However, many people escaped again from the city, and there were several outbreaks of plague, so that in 1459 Mehmet allowed the deported Greeks to come back to the city.<ref name=mw28/> This measure apparently had no great success, since French voyager ] writes in the middle of 16th century that the Greek population of Constantinople was unable to mention any name of the ancient Byzantine churches transformed in mosques or abandoned. This shows that the population substitution had been total.<ref name=ma99>Mamboury (1953), p.99</ref> | |||
| == Administration and culture == | |||
| {{Main|Millet (Ottoman Empire)}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ]]] | ]]] | ||
| ] | |||
| Mehmed II amalgamated the old Byzantine administration into the Ottoman state.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} 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, ] and Greek scholars at his court, allowed the ] to continue functioning, ordered the patriarch |
Mehmed II amalgamated the old Byzantine administration into the Ottoman state.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} 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, ] and Greek scholars at his court, allowed the ] to continue functioning, ordered the patriarch to translate ] doctrine into Turkish, and called ] from Venice to paint his portrait. Mehmed invited Muslim scientists and artists to his court in Constantinople, started a University, built mosques (for example, the ]), waterways, and Istanbul's ]. | ||
| He collected in his palace a library which included works in Greek and Latin. | |||
| Mehmed invited Muslim scientists such as ] and artists to his court in Constantinople, started a University, built mosques (for example, the ]),waterways, and Istanbul's ] and the ]. | |||
| Around the ] that he constructed, he erected eight madrasas, which, for nearly a century, kept their rank as the highest teaching institutions of the Islamic sciences in the empire. | |||
| Mehmed II allowed his subjects a considerable degree of religious freedom, provided they were obedient to his rule. After his conquest of ] in 1463 he issued a ] to the ], granting them freedom to move freely within the Empire, offer worship in their churches and monasteries, and to practice their religion free from official and unofficial persecution, insult or disturbance.<ref></ref><ref></ref> His standing army was recruited from the ], a group that took first-born Christian subjects at a young age that were destined for the sultans court. The less able, but physically strong were put into the army or the sultan's personal guard, the ]. | Mehmed II allowed his subjects a considerable degree of religious freedom, provided they were obedient to his rule. After his conquest of ] in 1463 he issued a ] to the ], granting them freedom to move freely within the Empire, offer worship in their churches and monasteries, and to practice their religion free from official and unofficial persecution, insult or disturbance.<ref></ref><ref></ref> His standing army was recruited from the ], a group that took first-born Christian subjects at a young age that were destined for the sultans court. The less able, but physically strong were put into the army or the sultan's personal guard, the ]. | ||
| Within Constantinople, Mehmed established a '']'' or an autonomous religious community, and appointed the former Patriarch |
Within Constantinople, Mehmed established a '']'' or an autonomous religious community, and appointed the former Patriarch{{who|date=December 2010}} as religious governor of the city.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} His authority extended only to the Orthodox Christians within the city, and this excluded the ] and ] settlements in the suburbs, and excluded Muslim and ] 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, turning it into the Turkish capital, which it remained until the 1920s. | ||
| == Family Life == | |||
| Mehmed II had several wives: ], of slave background, who died in 1492,<ref name="Edmonds 1997">{{Cite book|last=Edmonds|first=Anna|title=Turkey's religious sites|url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=2do8TIGfMKOcOISUsJsP&ct=result&hl=en&id=xVbkAAAAMAAJ&dq=Gülbahar+Albanian&q=An+Albanian+by+birth,+legend+also+has+it+that+Gulbahar+Hatun+was+a+French+princess+kidnapped+for+the+sultan's+harem.#search_anchor|publisher=Damko|isbn=975-8227-00-9|page=1997}}</ref><ref name="Babinger 1992 51">{{Cite book|last=Babinger|first=Franz|title=Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&pg=PA175&dq=Kladas+%2B+Albanian&hl=en&ei=TtY8TIrFJ4SoOKbF1Y8P&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=Albanian&f=false|year=1992|publisher=]|isbn=0-691-01078-1|page=51}}</ref> Gevher Khātûn; ]; ];<ref>Wedding portrait, </ref> Çiçek Khātûn; Helenā Khātûn, who died in 1481, daughter of ] and the ] of ]; briefly Anna Khātûn, the daughter of the ] of ]; and Alexias Khātûn, a ] princess.He had 4 sons; ], ], Korkud and Mustafa, and one daughter; Gevherhan. | |||
| ==Personality== | |||
| ] | |||
| On his accession as conqueror of Constantinople, aged 21, Mehmed was reputed fluent in several languages, including ], ], ], ], ] and ].<ref name="Norwich 1995 413–416"/><ref name="Runciman 1965 56">{{Cite book|last=Runciman|first=Steven|authorlink=Steven Runciman|year=1965|title=The Fall of Constantinople: 1453|page=56|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=London|isbn =0-521-39832-0}}</ref> | |||
| == Personal life == | |||
| At times, he assembled the ], or learned Muslim teachers, and caused them to discuss theological problems in his presence. In his reign, mathematics, astronomy, and Muslim theology reached their highest level among the Ottomans. Mehmed himself was a poet writing under the name "Avni" (the helper, the helpful one) and he left a divan (a collection of poems in the traditional style of classical Ottoman literature). | |||
| Mehmed II had several wives: ], of slave background, who died in 1492,<ref name="Edmonds 1997">{{Cite book|last=Edmonds|first=Anna|title=Turkey's religious sites|url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=2do8TIGfMKOcOISUsJsP&ct=result&hl=en&id=xVbkAAAAMAAJ&dq=Gülbahar+Albanian&q=An+Albanian+by+birth,+legend+also+has+it+that+Gulbahar+Hatun+was+a+French+princess+kidnapped+for+the+sultan's+harem.#search_anchor|publisher=Damko|isbn=975-8227-00-9|page=1997}}</ref><ref name="Babinger 1992 51">{{Cite book|last=Babinger|first=Franz|title=Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&pg=PA175&dq=Kladas+%2B+Albanian&hl=en&ei=TtY8TIrFJ4SoOKbF1Y8P&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=Albanian&f=false|year=1992|publisher=]|isbn=0-691-01078-1|page=51}}</ref> Gevher Khātûn; ]; ];<ref>Wedding portrait, </ref> Çiçek Khātûn; Helenā Khātûn, who died in 1481, daughter of ] and the ] of ]; briefly Anna Khātûn, the daughter of the ] of ]; and Alexias Khātûn, a ] princess. Another son of his was ], who died in 1495. He had 4 sons; ], ], Korkud and Mustafa, and one daughter; Gevherhan. | |||
| <!-- Please do not remove the following paragraph. If you dispute this issue, please discuss it on the talk page - thank you. --> | |||
| ] in his book ''Mehmed the Conqueror and his Time'', asserted that he was attracted to both women and men, by basing this upon various Byzantine historians such as ], ].<ref>], ''Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time,'' (ed. WC Hickman, translated from the original ] by R Manheim), Princeton University Press, 1992, pp 475, 426 - 428.</ref> However these assertions met fierce criticism from modern Turkish historians, including ] pointing out that contemporary Ottoman sources do not mention this.<ref>http://arsiv.zaman.com.tr/2003/05/31/kultur/h5.htm</ref> | |||
| Mehmed was attracted to both women and men.<ref>], ''Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time,'' (ed. WC Hickman, translated from the original ] by R Manheim), Princeton University Press, 1992, pp 475, 426 - 428.</ref> This was originally recorded by the Byzantine Greek historian ]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Crowley|first=Roger|year=2006| location=Oxford|title=Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453|publisher=]}}</ref>, who was not living in Constantinople at the time of the fall of the city<ref name="Andrews 2005 2">{{cite book| last=Andrews|first=Walter G.|coauthors=Mehmet Kalpaklı|title= | |||
| The Age of Beloveds: Love and the Beloved in Early Modern Ottoman and European Culture and Society|publisher= | |||
| Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-3424-0|year=2005|page=2}}</ref> and whose writings contain many insults to the Ottoman ruler,<ref>The Siege and Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Historiography, Topography, and Military Studies, Marios Philippides,Walter K. Hanak, 2011, page 609-611</ref> stated that after the conquest of Constantinople, Mehmed II ordered the 14-year old son of the Grand Duke ] brought to him "for his pleasure". When the father refused to deliver his son to such a fate he had them both decapitated on the spot.<ref>], ''The Fall of Constantinople 1453''. Cambridge University Press, 1965.</ref> Another contemporary Greek source, ], professor of theology and ] of ], tells the same story in his letter to ].<ref>], "The Siege of Constantinople 1453: Seven Contemporary Accounts"</ref> However this story does not appear in accounts by other Greeks who witnessed the conquest.<ref name="Andrews 2005 2"/> Nor does it appear in accounts of Ottoman historians. Some modern scholars believe that this tale is merely one of a long series of attempts to portray Muslims as morally inferior, and point to the story of ] as its probable inspiration.<ref name="Andrews 2005 2"/> Furthermore according to Ottoman sources Notaras and all the other Christian dignitaries in the city were executed for purely political reasons.<ref>Byzantinische Zeitschrift, Volume 88, Karl Krumbacher, page 281, 1995</ref> According to ] the sultan first planned to make Notaras ] of the city but later Notaras was accused of treachery and trying to bribe the sultan with his hidden wealth.<ref>The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Marios Philippides,Walter K. Hanak, page 641, 2011</ref><ref>Studies from history. Richard i. Mohammed ii, William Harris Rule, page 119, 1854</ref><ref>The Ottoman Empire: conquest, organization and economy, Halil İnalcıkpage, page 190, 1978</ref> | |||
| == Death == | == Death == | ||
| <!-- ***Please do not remove the following paragraph. If you dispute this issue, please discuss it on the talk page - thank you.*** --> | <!-- ***Please do not remove the following paragraph. If you dispute this issue, please discuss it on the talk page - thank you.*** --> | ||
| Mehmed died on May 3, 1481, at the age of forty-nine, and was buried in his ] in the cemetery within the ] Complex<ref name="test">.</ref> Mehmed's primary doctor, Yakub Pasha, a Jewish convert to Islam was suspected of administering poison to Mehmed over a period of time. Another source states that: "The likeliest possibility is that Mehmed was also poisoned by his Persian doctor. Despite numerous Venetian assassination attempts over the years, the finger of suspicion points most strongly at his son, Bayezit."<ref>1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, Roger Crowley, 2005</ref> | |||
| The news of Mehmed's death caused great rejoicing in Europe, church bells were rung and celebrations held, the news was proclaimed in Venice as: | |||
| {{quotation|'La Grande Aquila e mortal ("The Great Eagle is dead!")'.<ref>The Grand Turk: John Freely, page 180, 2009</ref><ref>Minorities and the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, Salâhi Ramadan Sonyel, Page 14, 1993</ref>}} | |||
| == Legacy == | == Legacy == | ||
| Line 245: | Line 111: | ||
| ] banknote (1986-1992)]] | ] banknote (1986-1992)]] | ||
| ] was named after him that straddles the Bosporus Straits in Istanbul in the 20th century.]] | ] was named after him that straddles the Bosporus Straits in Istanbul in the 20th century.]] | ||
| ]]] | |||
| After the fall of Constantinople, he founded many mosques and ] in the city, such as the Külliye of the ]. Mehmed II is also recognized as the first Sultan to codify criminal and constitutional law long before ] and he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan. | |||
| After the fall of Constantinople, he founded many mosques and ] in the city, some of which are still active.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} Mehmed II is also recognized as the first Sultan to codify criminal and constitutional law long before ] and he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan. | |||
| His thirty-one year rule and several wars expanded the Ottoman Empire to include Constantinople, and the Turkish kingdoms and territories of Asia Minor, ], ], and ]. His many internal administrative and legal reforms put his country on the path to prosperity and paved the way for subsequent sultans to focus on expansion into new territories.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} According to ], Mehmed was regarded as a bloodthirsty tyrant by the Christian world and by a part of his subjects.<ref>], ''Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time,'' (ed. WC Hickman, translated from the original ] by R Manheim), Princeton University Press, 1992, pp 432.</ref> | His thirty-one year rule and several wars expanded the Ottoman Empire to include Constantinople, and the Turkish kingdoms and territories of Asia Minor, ], ], and ]. His many internal administrative and legal reforms put his country on the path to prosperity and paved the way for subsequent sultans to focus on expansion into new territories.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} According to ], Mehmed was regarded as a bloodthirsty tyrant by the Christian world and by a part of his subjects.<ref>], ''Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time,'' (ed. WC Hickman, translated from the original ] by R Manheim), Princeton University Press, 1992, pp 432.</ref> | ||
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| * Dyer, T. H., & Hassall, A. (1901). . London: G. Bell and Sons. | * Dyer, T. H., & Hassall, A. (1901). . London: G. Bell and Sons. | ||
| * Fredet, Peter (1888). . Baltimore: J. Murphy & Co. | * Fredet, Peter (1888). . Baltimore: J. Murphy & Co. | ||
| * Radu R Florescu, Raymond McNally, ''Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times''. | |||
| ;Footnotes | ;Footnotes | ||
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| |PLACE OF DEATH=], near ] | |PLACE OF DEATH=], near ] | ||
| }} | }} | ||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehmed 02}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehmed 02}} | ||
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Revision as of 01:48, 17 April 2013
"Fatih Sultan Mehmet" redirects here. For the bridge that spans the Bosphorus strait, see Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.Template:Infobox Ottoman sultan
Mehmed II or Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481) (Template:Lang-ota, Meḥmed-i s̠ānī; Template:Lang-tr; also known as el-Fātiḥ, الفاتح, "the Conqueror" in Ottoman Turkish; in modern Turkish, Fatih Sultan Mehmet; also called Mahomet II in early modern Europe) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire twice, first for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople and brought an end to the Byzantine Empire, transforming the Ottoman state into an empire. Mehmed continued his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian reunification, and in Europe, as far as Bosnia and Croatia. Mehmed II is regarded as a national hero in Turkey, and Istanbul's Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge is named after him.
Early reign
Mehmed II was born on 30 March 1432, in Edirne, then the capital city of the Ottoman state. His father was Sultan Murad II (1404–51) and his mother Valide Sultan Hüma Hatun, born in the town of Devrekani, Kastamonu.
When Mehmed II was eleven 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 for him to study under.
This Islamic education had a great impact in molding the mindset of Mehmed and reinforcing his Muslim beliefs. He began to praise and promote the application of Sharia law. He was influenced in his practice of Islamic epistemology by contemporaneous practitioners of science - particularly by his mentor, Molla Gürani - and he followed their approach. The influence of Ak Şemseddin in Mehmed's life became predominant from a young age, especially in the imperative of fulfilling his Islamic duty to overthrow the Byzantine empire by conquering Constantinople.
In his first reign, he defeated the crusade led by János Hunyadi after the Hungarian incursions into his country broke the conditions of the truce Peace of Szeged. Cardinal Julian Cesarini, the representative of the pope, had convinced the king of Hungary that breaking the truce with Muslims was not a betrayal. At this time Mehmed II asked his father Murad II to reclaim the throne, but Murad II refused. Angry 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 only after receiving this letter that Murad II led the Ottoman army and won the Battle of Varna in 1444.
Murad II's return to the throne was forced by Çandarlı Halil Paşa, the grand vizier at the time, who was not fond of Mehmed II's rule, because Mehmed II's influential lala (royal teacher), Akşemseddin, had a rivalry with Çandarlı. Çandarlı 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.
Conquest of Constantinople
Main article: Fall 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 and all the surviving sailors beheaded.
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.
In early April, the Siege of Constantinople began. After several failed assaults, the city's walls held off the Turks with great 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 22 April, Mehmed transported his lighter warships overland, around the Genoese colony of Galata and into 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. After this conquest, Mehmed moved the Ottoman capital from Adrianople to Constantinople. On his accession as conqueror of Constantinople, aged 21, Mehmed was reputed fluent in several languages, including Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Greek and Latin.
Reference is made to the prospective conquest of Constantinople in a hadith (a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad): "Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!" 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).
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 Saadi:
- 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). The 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; his predecessor, Sultan Orhan I had married a Byzantine princess, and Mehmed may have claimed descent from John Tzelepes Komnenos. 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.
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 Crimean Khanate located north of the Black Sea. 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 Karamanid 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
Further information: List of campaigns of Mehmed the ConquerorAfter 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, the Ottomans occupied nearly all of Serbia.
In 1462 Mehmed II came into conflict with Prince Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia, who had spent part of his childhood alongside Mehmed. Vlad had ambushed, massacred or captured several Ottoman forces, then announced his impalement of over 23,000 captive Turks. Mehmed II abandoned his siege of Corinth to launch a punitive attack against Vlad in Wallachia but suffered many casualties in a surprise night attack led by Vlad, who was apparently bent on personally killing the Sultan. Confronted by Vlad's scorched earth policies and demoralizing brutality, Mehmed II withdrew, leaving his ally Radu cel Frumos, with whom Mehmed seems to have maintained an homosexual relationship and who was Vlad's brother, with a small force in order to win over local boyars who had been persecuted by Vlad III. Radu eventually managed to take control of Wallachia, which he administered as Bey, on behalf of Mehmet II. Vlad eventually escaped to Hungary, where he was imprisoned on a false accusation of treason against his overlord.
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 Stephen Tomašević and his uncle Radivoj.
In 1456, Peter III Aaron, agreed to pay the Ottomans a annual tribute of 2,000 gold ducats, in order to ensure his southern borders, thus becoming the first of the Moldavian rulers to accept the Turkish demands. His successor Stephen the Great rejected Ottoman suzerainty and a series of fierce wars ensued. 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 pyrrhic victory against Stephen at the Battle of Valea Albă. He besieged the capital of Suceava, but could not take it, nor could he take the Castle of Târgu Neamţ. With a plague running in his camp and food and water being very scarce, Mehmed was forced to retreat.
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 couldn't subjugate Albania and Skanderbeg while the latter was alive, even though twice (1466 and 1467) he led the Ottoman armies himself against Krujë. After death of Skanderbeg in 1468, Albanians couldn't find a leader to replace him and Mehmed II eventually conquered Krujë and Albania in 1478. The final act of his Albanian campaigns was the troublesome siege of Shkodra in 1478-9, the final siege that Mehmed II led personally and of which early Ottoman chronicler Aşıkpaşazade (1400–81) wrote, "All the conquests of Sultan Mehmed were fulfilled with the seizure of Shkodra."
An Ottoman army under Gedik Ahmed Pasha invaded Italy in 1480. The intent of this invasion was to capture Rome and "reunite the Roman Empire", and, at first, it looked like it might be able to do it with the easy capture of Otranto in 1480 but after the death of Mehmed most of the troops returned and Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481.
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, allowed the Byzantine Church to continue functioning, ordered the patriarch to translate Christian doctrine into Turkish, and called Gentile Bellini from Venice to paint his portrait. Mehmed invited Muslim scientists and artists to his court in Constantinople, started a University, built mosques (for example, the Fatih Mosque), waterways, and Istanbul's Topkapı Palace.
Mehmed II allowed his subjects a considerable degree of religious freedom, provided they were obedient to his rule. After his conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1463 he issued a firman to the Bosnian Franciscans, granting them freedom to move freely within the Empire, offer worship in their churches and monasteries, and to practice their religion free from official and unofficial persecution, insult or disturbance. His standing army was recruited from the Devshirme, a group that took first-born Christian subjects at a young age that 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 Constantinople, Mehmed established a millet or an autonomous religious community, and appointed the former Patriarch as religious governor of the city. His authority extended only to the Orthodox Christians within the city, and this excluded the Genoese and Venetian settlements in the suburbs, and excluded 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, turning it into the Turkish capital, which it remained until the 1920s.
Personal life
Mehmed II had several wives: Emine Gülbahar Hatun, of slave background, who died in 1492, Gevher Khātûn; Gülşah Hatun; Mûkrîmā (Sitt-î Mükrime) Hatun; Çiçek Khātûn; Helenā Khātûn, who died in 1481, daughter of Demetrios Palaiologos and the Despot of Morea; briefly Anna Khātûn, the daughter of the Emperor of Trebizond; and Alexias Khātûn, a Byzantine princess. Another son of his was Cem Sultan, who died in 1495. He had 4 sons; Bayezid II, Sultan Cem, Korkud and Mustafa, and one daughter; Gevherhan.
Mehmed was attracted to both women and men. This was originally recorded by the Byzantine Greek historian Doukas, who was not living in Constantinople at the time of the fall of the city and whose writings contain many insults to the Ottoman ruler, stated that after the conquest of Constantinople, Mehmed II ordered the 14-year old son of the Grand Duke Lucas Notaras brought to him "for his pleasure". When the father refused to deliver his son to such a fate he had them both decapitated on the spot. Another contemporary Greek source, Leonard of Chios, professor of theology and Archbishop of Mytilene, tells the same story in his letter to Pope Nicholas. However this story does not appear in accounts by other Greeks who witnessed the conquest. Nor does it appear in accounts of Ottoman historians. Some modern scholars believe that this tale is merely one of a long series of attempts to portray Muslims as morally inferior, and point to the story of Saint Pelagius as its probable inspiration. Furthermore according to Ottoman sources Notaras and all the other Christian dignitaries in the city were executed for purely political reasons. According to Michael Critobulus the sultan first planned to make Notaras prefect of the city but later Notaras was accused of treachery and trying to bribe the sultan with his hidden wealth.
Death
Mehmed died on May 3, 1481, at the age of forty-nine, and was buried in his Türbe in the cemetery within the Fatih Mosque Complex Mehmed's primary doctor, Yakub Pasha, a Jewish convert to Islam was suspected of administering poison to Mehmed over a period of time. Another source states that: "The likeliest possibility is that Mehmed was also poisoned by his Persian doctor. Despite numerous Venetian assassination attempts over the years, the finger of suspicion points most strongly at his son, Bayezit."
Legacy
Main article: Bosnian Franciscans
After the fall of Constantinople, he founded many mosques and religious schools 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 and he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan.
His thirty-one year rule and several wars expanded the Ottoman Empire to include Constantinople, and the Turkish kingdoms and territories of Asia Minor, Bosnia, Kingdom of Serbia, and Albania. His many internal administrative and legal reforms put his country on the path to prosperity and paved the way for subsequent sultans to focus on expansion into new territories. According to Franz Babinger, Mehmed was regarded as a bloodthirsty tyrant by the Christian world and by a part of his subjects.
Mehmed left behind an imposing reputation in both the Islamic and Christian worlds. The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge was named after him that straddles the Bosporus Straits in Istanbul in the 20th century. His name and picture appeared on the Turkish 1000 lira note between 1986 to 1992. He is the eponymous subject of Rossini's 1820 opera Maometto II.
Portrayals
- Sultan Mehmed II Fetih was portrayed by Sami Ayanoğlu in Turkish film İstanbul'un Fethi (1951).
- Devrim Evin plays Mehmed II in Turkish film Fetih 1453 (2012). His childhood is portrayed by Ege Uslu.
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
- Babinger, Franz, Mehmed the Conqueror and his Time. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978. ISBN 0-691-01078-1
- İnalcık; Halil, Review of Mehmed the Conqueror and his Time
- 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
- Harris, Jonathan, The End of Byzantium. New Haven CT and London: Yale University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-11786-8
- Imber, Colin, The Ottoman Empire. London: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2002. ISBN 0-333-61387-2
- Philippides, Marios, Emperors, Patriarchs, and Sultans of Constantinople, 1373-1513: An Anonymous Greek Chronicle of the Sixteenth Century. Brookline MA: Hellenic College Press, 1990. ISBN 0-917653-16-5
- Nehme, Lina Murr, "1453, Mahomet II impose le Schisme Orthodoxe". Lebanon, Aleph & Taw, 2003. ISBN 2-86839-816-2.
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 2-86839-816-2.
- 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+
- Radu R Florescu, Raymond McNally, Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times.
- Footnotes
- "Dates of Epoch-Making Events", The Nuttall Encyclopaedia. (Gutenberg version)
- Related to the Mahomet archaisms used for Mohammad. See Medieval Christian view of Muhammad for more information.
- ^ الشقائق النعمانية في علماء الدولة العثمانية، صفحة 52 نقلاً عن تاريخ الدولة العثمانية، صفحة 43
- الفتوح الإسلامية عبر العصور، د. عبد العزيز العمري، صفحة 358-359
- تاريخ الدولة العليّة العثمانية، تأليف: الأستاذ محمد فريد بك المحامي، تحقيق: الدكتور إحسان حقي، دار النفائس، الطبعة العاشرة: 1427 هـ - 2006 م، صفحة: 157 ISBN 9953-18-084-9
- ^ Silburn, P. A. B. (1912).
- ^ Norwich, John Julius (1995). Byzantium:The Decline and Fall. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 81–82. ISBN 0-679-41650-1.
- Runciman, Steven (1965). The Fall of Constantinople: 1453. London: Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 0-521-39832-0.
- Haddad, GF. "Conquest of Constantinople". Retrieved 4 August 2006.
{{cite web}}: More than one of|author=and|last=specified (help) - Turks.org.uk
- The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare, Jim Bradbury, page 68
- “The” Sultan of Vezirs:, Théoharis Stavrides, page 22
- East and West in the Crusader States: Krijna Nelly Ciggaar,Adelbert Davids,Herman G. B. Teule, page 51
- The Lord of the Panther-Skin, Shota Rustaveli, page xiii
- http://www.exploringromania.com/young-dracula-childhood.html
- Mehmed the Conqueror and his time pp. 204-5
- Dracula: Prince of many faces - His life and his times p. 147
- Radu R Florescu, Raymond McNally, Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times p.48
- The A to Z of Moldova, Andrei Brezianu,Vlad Spânu, page 273, 2010
- The A to Z of Moldova, Andrei Brezianu,Vlad Spânu, page 242, 2010
- Pulaha, Selami. Lufta shqiptaro-turke në shekullin XV. Burime osmane. Tirana: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë dhe Gjuhësisë, 1968, p. 72
- Croatia and Ottoman Empire, Ahdnama, Sultan Mehemt II
- Light Millennium: A Culture of Peaceful Coexistence: The Ottoman Turkish Example; by Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin IHSANOGLU
- Edmonds, Anna. Turkey's religious sites. Damko. p. 1997. ISBN 975-8227-00-9.
- Babinger, Franz (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-691-01078-1.
- Wedding portrait, Nauplion.net
- Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, (ed. WC Hickman, translated from the original German by R Manheim), Princeton University Press, 1992, pp 475, 426 - 428.
- Crowley, Roger (2006). Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453. Oxford: A.P.R.I.L. Publishing.
- ^ Andrews, Walter G. (2005). The Age of Beloveds: Love and the Beloved in Early Modern Ottoman and European Culture and Society. Duke University Press. p. 2. ISBN 0-8223-3424-0.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - The Siege and Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Historiography, Topography, and Military Studies, Marios Philippides,Walter K. Hanak, 2011, page 609-611
- Steven Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge University Press, 1965.
- John R. Melville-Jones, "The Siege of Constantinople 1453: Seven Contemporary Accounts"
- Byzantinische Zeitschrift, Volume 88, Karl Krumbacher, page 281, 1995
- The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Marios Philippides,Walter K. Hanak, page 641, 2011
- Studies from history. Richard i. Mohammed ii, William Harris Rule, page 119, 1854
- The Ottoman Empire: conquest, organization and economy, Halil İnalcıkpage, page 190, 1978
- culturecityistanbul.blogspot.com/2009/10/fatih-sultan-mehmed-mausoleum.html.
- 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, Roger Crowley, 2005
- Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, (ed. WC Hickman, translated from the original German by R Manheim), Princeton University Press, 1992, pp 432.
- تاريخ الدولة العليّة العثمانية، تأليف: الأستاذ محمد فريد بك المحامي، تحقيق: الدكتور إحسان حقي، دار النفائس، الطبعة العاشرة: 1427 هـ - 2006 م، صفحة: 177-178 ISBN 9953-18-084-9
- Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Banknote Museum: 7. Emission Group - One Thousand Turkish Lira - I. Series & II. Series. – Retrieved on 20 April 2009.
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 OsmanBorn: March 30, 1432 Died: May 3, 1481 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byMurad II | Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1444–1446 |
Succeeded byMurad II |
| Sultan of the Ottoman Empire February 3, 1451 – May 3, 1481 |
Succeeded byBayezid II | |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Preceded byConstantine XI | Caesar of Rome | Succeeded byBayezid II |
| New title Self-proclaimed |
Caliph of Islam | |
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