Mehmed I
Mehmed I Çelebi (nicknamed Kirisci, the Executioner) was one of the sons of
sultan Beyazid I of the
Ottoman Empire. When
Timur Lenk defeated the Ottomans in the
Battle of Ankara a civil war broke out in the empire, called the
Ottoman Interregnum. Mehmed gained some lands in Anatolia, which at the time gave him access to the largest source of manpower in the Ottoman lands. Mehmed supported his brother Musa in the overthrow and murder of their eldest sibling, Emir Sulaiman of Roumelia in 1410. When Musa's harsh and arbitrary rule made enemies at home as well as abroad, Mehmed made an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II. With access to the Dardanelles, Mehmed quickly overran Thrace and had Musa killed. When Mehmed stood as victor in
1413 he crowned himself as sultan in
Adrianople (
Edirne). He restored the empire, moved the capitol from
Bursa to
Adrianople and conquered parts of
Albania, the
Turkish emirate Candar and the
Christian Kingdom of
Cilicia. Howvere, as part of hs 1410/1411 alliance, Mehmed recognized the Byzantine Emperor as his "father and overlord" and remained loyal to this anomaly - which must count as the last diplomatic triumph of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Mehmed died in
1421.