Mehmed I Çelebi (1382, Bursa – May 26, 1421,
EdirneEdirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
,
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
) was a Sultan of the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(
RûmRûm, also Roum or Rhum , an indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm in Asia Minor, and referring to Greeks living outside of Greece or non-muslims...
) from 1413 to 1421. He was one of the sons of
Bayezid IBayezid I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Valide Sultan Gülçiçek Hatun.-Biography:Bayezid was born in Edirne and spent his youth in Bursa, where he received a high-level education...
and
Valide SultanValide Sultan was the title held by the mother of a ruling Sultan in the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish pronunciation of the word Valide is . The title is sometimes translated as Queen Mother, although the position of Valide Sultan was quite different.The position was perhaps the most important...
(1403)
Devlet HatunDevlet Hatun was the wife of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, the daughter of Yakub Shah of Germiyanids, the descendant of Rumi through his son Sultan Walad’s daughter Mutahhara Hatun who was an ancestor of Yakub Shah. She was the mother of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I, and İsa Çelebi, Governor of Anatolia...
(who was the daughter of Yakub Shah of Germiyanids. He was also the descendant of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, as Rûmi's granddaughter Mutahhara Hatun (the daughter of Sultan Veled) was related to Yakub Shah).
Mehmed I Çelebi (1382, Bursa – May 26, 1421,
EdirneEdirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
,
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
) was a Sultan of the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(
RûmRûm, also Roum or Rhum , an indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm in Asia Minor, and referring to Greeks living outside of Greece or non-muslims...
) from 1413 to 1421. He was one of the sons of
Bayezid IBayezid I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Valide Sultan Gülçiçek Hatun.-Biography:Bayezid was born in Edirne and spent his youth in Bursa, where he received a high-level education...
and
Valide SultanValide Sultan was the title held by the mother of a ruling Sultan in the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish pronunciation of the word Valide is . The title is sometimes translated as Queen Mother, although the position of Valide Sultan was quite different.The position was perhaps the most important...
(1403)
Devlet HatunDevlet Hatun was the wife of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, the daughter of Yakub Shah of Germiyanids, the descendant of Rumi through his son Sultan Walad’s daughter Mutahhara Hatun who was an ancestor of Yakub Shah. She was the mother of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I, and İsa Çelebi, Governor of Anatolia...
(who was the daughter of Yakub Shah of Germiyanids. He was also the descendant of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, as Rûmi's granddaughter Mutahhara Hatun (the daughter of Sultan Veled) was related to Yakub Shah).
His reign
After the
Ottoman InterregnumThe Ottoman Interregnum began in 20 July 1402, when chaos reigned in the Ottoman Empire following the defeat of Sultan Bayezid I by the Turco-Mongol warlord Timur...
, when Mehmed stood as victor in 1413, he crowned himself sultan in
EdirneEdirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
. He restored the empire, moved the capital from
BursaBursa is a city in northwestern Turkey and the seat of Bursa Province. The metropolitan area in the entire Bursa province had a population of 2.6 million as of 2010, making the city fourth most populous in Turkey. The city is equally one of the most industrialized metropolitan centers in the...
to
EdirneEdirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
, and conquered parts of
AlbaniaAlbania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, the Jandarid emirate, and the
Armenian Kingdom of CiliciaThe Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , also known as the Cilician Armenia, Kingdom of Cilician Armenia or New Armenia, was an independent principality formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia...
from the Mamelukes. Taking many of his achievements into consideration, Mehmed is widely known as the "second founder" of the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
His death
Reign of Mehmed I, as Sultan of the re-united empire, had lasted only eight years. But he had been an independent prince for nearly the whole preceding period of eleven years that passed between his father's captivity at
AnkaraAnkara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
and his own final victory over his brother
Musa ÇelebiMusa Çelebi was an Ottoman prince and a co-ruler of the empire for three years during Ottoman Interregnum. - Background :...
at Chamurli.
He was buried in Bursa, in a
mausoleumA mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
erected by himself near the celebrated mosque which he built there, and which, from its decorations of green porcelain, is called the
Green MosqueGreen Mosque may refer to:* al-Khadra Mosque - Nablus, Palestinian territories* Green Mosque - Afghanistan* Green Mosque - Bretten, Germany* Green Mosque - Hong Kong Island, China* Green Mosque - Manila, Philippines...
. Mehmed I also completed the vast and magnificent mosque at Bursa, which his grandfather
Murad IMurad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...
had commenced, but which had been neglected during in reign of Bayezid. Mehmed founded in the vicinity of his own mosque and mausoleum two other characteristic institutions, one a school, and one a refectory for the poor both of which he endowed with royal munificence.
His wives
- Sheh-Zade Kumru Hatun: The granddaughter of a Pasha from Amasya
- Valide Sultan
Valide Sultan was the title held by the mother of a ruling Sultan in the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish pronunciation of the word Valide is . The title is sometimes translated as Queen Mother, although the position of Valide Sultan was quite different.The position was perhaps the most important...
Emine HatunEmîne Khātûn was the wife of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I and Valide Sultan to their son Murad II and the grandmother of Mehmed II.-Biography:...
, daughter of Suleyman Bey, ruler of Dulkadirids, third consort, which marriage served as an alliance between the Ottoman's and this buffer state, mother of Murad II Murad II Kodja was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1451 ....
Further reading
- Harris, Jonathan, The End of Byzantium. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010. ISBN 978 0 30011786 8
- Imber, Colin, The Ottoman Empire. London: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2002. ISBN 0 333 613872