Murad I

Murad I (Ottoman Turkish: مراد اول‎; Turkish: I. Murad, Murad-ı Hüdavendigâr (nicknamed Hüdavendigâr, from Persian: خداوندگار, Khodāvandgār, "the devotee of God" – but meaning "sovereign" in this context); 29 June 1326 – 15 June 1389) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1362 to 1389. He was a son of Orhan Gazi and Nilüfer Hatun.

Murad I conquered Adrianople, renamed it to Edirne, and in 1363 made it the new capital of the Ottoman Sultanate. Then he further expanded the Ottoman realm in Southeast Europe by bringing most of the Balkans under Ottoman rule, and forced the princes of northern Serbia and Bulgaria as well as the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos to pay him tribute. Murad I administratively divided his sultanate into the two provinces of Anatolia (Asia Minor) and Rumelia (the Balkans).

Murad fought against the powerful beylik of Karaman in Anatolia and against the Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians and Hungarians in Europe. In particular, a Serb expedition to expel the Turks from Adrianople led by the Serbian brothers King Vukašin and Despot Uglješa, was defeated on September 26, 1371, by Murad's capable second lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa, the first governor (beylerbey) of Rumeli. In 1385, Sofia fell to the Ottomans. In 1386 Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović defeated an Ottoman force at the Battle of Pločnik. The Ottoman army suffered heavy casualties, and was unable to capture Niš on the way back.

Savcı Beyrebellion

While Murad I was at this time, his son, Savci Bey, who was "deputy throne", launched a prince riot.Among the comparator candidates for the Byzantine Empire in Istanbul [ The Byzantine Civil War (1373-1379) were a combination.Murad I the Byzantine Emperor .His eldest son Andronikos in Constantinople (and then Andronikos IV And his younger brother Manuil (then Manuel II) Continued.Taking advantage of his father's departure from the capital, Andronikos conspired and declared his empire.The Ottoman prince Prosecutor Bey, who was 14 years old for some reason, declared this rebellion to be a ruler instead of his father Murad I in folding Rumelia and had the sermon read in his name.When Murad I moved to Rumelia, he passed with the Ottoman forces under his command.There was a clash in the location of an "Apicridium" in Istanbul with the troops under the command of Prince Savci Bey and Byzantine Gaspci Andronikos, and the army under Murad I dismissed the army of Savci Bey and Andronikos.The prosecutor fled to Dimetoka and was arrested there.His father, prosecutor Bey was very affected by the rebellion, first of his eyes had to apply for miles.Feridun Bey Münşeati term Prosecutor Bey "nur-ı basır mechur (lack of light of vision)" The same punishment was applied to Byzantine Emperor Ioannis V, as well as his rebellious son.However, historians report that the Byzantine Emperor was half-blinded by pouring angry vinegar into his son's eyes by applying this punishment more lightly.After Murad I had blinded his son, he could not defeat his anger and had the Prosecutor in Bursa strangled and executed.When the story of the Savci Bey ended, there was a tragic situation that began in Bursa and ended there.

In 1389, Murad's army defeated the Serbian Army and its allies under the leadership of Lazar at the Battle of Kosovo. There are different accounts from different sources about when and how Murad I was assassinated. The contemporary sources mainly noted that the battle took place and that both Prince Lazar and the Sultan lost their lives in the battle. The existing evidence of the additional stories and speculations as to how Murad I died were disseminated and recorded in the 15th century and later, decades after the actual event. One Western source states that during first hours of the battle, Murad I was assassinated by Serbian nobleman and knight Miloš Obilić by knife. Most Ottoman chroniclers (including Dimitrie Cantemir) state that he was assassinated after the finish of the battle while going around the battlefield. His older son Bayezid, who was in charge of the left wing of the Ottoman forces, took charge after that. His other son, Yakub Bey, who was in charge of the other wing, was called to the Sultan's command center tent by Bayezid, but when Yakub Bey arrived he was strangled, leaving Bayezid as the sole claimant to the throne.

In a letter from the Florentine senate (written by Coluccio Salutati) to the King Tvrtko I of Bosnia, dated 20 October 1389, Murad I's (and Jakub Bey's) killing was described. A party of twelve Serbian lords slashed their way through the Ottoman lines defending Murad I. One of them, allegedly Miloš Obilić, had managed to get through to the Sultan's tent and kill him with sword stabs to the throat and belly.

Sultan Murad's internal organs were buried in Kosovo field and remains to this day on a corner of the battlefield in a location called Meshed-i Hudavendigar which has gained a religious significance by the local Muslims. It has been vandalized between 1999-2006 and renovated recently. His other remains were carried to Bursa, his Anatolian capital city, and were buried in a tomb at the complex built in his name.

He established the sultanate by building up a society and government in the newly conquered city of Adrianople (Edirne in Turkish) and by expanding the realm in Europe, bringing most of the Balkans under Ottoman rule and forcing the Byzantine emperor to pay him tribute. It was Murad who established the former Osmanli tribe into an sultanate. He established the title of sultan in 1383 and the corps of the janissaries and the devşirme recruiting system. He also organised the government of the Divan, the system of timars and timar-holders (timariots) and the military judge, the kazasker. He also established the two provinces of Anadolu (Anatolia) and Rumeli (Europe).

He was the son of Orhan and the Valide Hatun Nilüfer Hatun, daughter of the Prince of Yarhisar, who was of ethnic Greek descent

Consorts

• Gülçiçek Hatun;
• Paşa Melek Hatun, daughter of Kızıl Murad Bey;
• In 1370 Thamara Hatun – daughter of Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander;

Sons

• Yahşi Bey;
• Şehzade Savcı Bey – son. He and his ally, Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus' son Andronicus, rebelled against their fathers. Murad had Savcı killed. Andronicus, who had surrendered to his father, was imprisoned and blinded at Murad's insistence.
• Sultan Bayezid I (1354–1402) – son of Gülçiçek Hatun;
• Şehzade Yakub Çelebi [tr] (? – d. 1389) – son.Bayezid I had Yakub killed during or following the Battle of Kosovo at which their father had been killed.
• Şehzade Ibrahim;

Daughter

• Nefise Hatun;