Mehmed I
Mehmed I reunited the Ottoman state after it had been shattered by Timur, and is counted its second founder. Born around 1386, he was a son of Sultan Bayezid I. In July 1402 Bayezid was defeated and captured by Timur at Ankara, and died in captivity; the Ottoman territories in Anatolia were broken up and returned to the Turkish emirates Bayezid had annexed. What followed is called the Interregnum, an eleven-year civil war among Bayezid's sons. Mehmed held Amasya in northern Anatolia, the least promising of the fragments, while his brothers Süleyman and Musa contested the European provinces and Isa fought him in Anatolia. He defeated Isa, then allied with Musa against Süleyman, who was killed in 1411, and then turned on Musa, defeating and killing him near Sofia in 1413 with Byzantine and Serbian help. He emerged as sole ruler. His reign was one of consolidation. He recovered much of the Anatolian territory, restored the administration and the timar land-grant system, and kept careful peace with the Byzantines, Venice and Hungary, understanding that the state could not fight while rebuilding. He returned Byzantine prisoners and maintained good relations with Manuel II. He faced two serious revolts. Şeyh Bedreddin led a rising in 1416 with a syncretic religious programme that mixed Sufism with a doctrine of shared property and equality between Muslims and Christians, and was hanged. A pretender claiming to be his lost brother Mustafa was defeated with Byzantine cooperation. He built the Green Mosque and Green Tomb at Bursa. He died in 1421, and his son Murad II succeeded without civil war.
- Lived: 1386 CE – 1421 CE
- Nationality: Ottoman
- Roles: ruler
