Beyazid I
Beyazid I
(bāyäzĭd`), 1347–1403, Ottoman sultan (1389–1402), son and successor of Murad I. He besieged Byzantine Emperor Manuel IIManuel II(Manuel Palaeologus), 1350–1425, Byzantine emperor (1391–1425), son and successor of John V. In his youth he was taken captive by the Turks, and during his reign the Ottomans reduced the empire to Constantinople and its dependencies in the Peloponnesus.
..... Click the link for more information. at Constantinople, then overcame the Turkish rulers in E Anatolia and defeated the army of Sigismund of Hungary (see SigismundSigismund
, 1368–1437, Holy Roman emperor (1433–37), German king (1410–37), king of Hungary (1387–1437) and of Bohemia (1419–37), elector of Brandenburg (1376–1415), son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.
..... Click the link for more information. , Holy Roman emperor) at NikopolNikopol
, town (1993 pop. 4,897), N Bulgaria, a port on the Danube River bordering Romania. Farming, viticulture, and fishing are the chief occupations. Founded in 629 by Byzantine emperor Heraclius, Nikopol (then Nicopolis) became a flourishing trade and cultural center of the
..... Click the link for more information. . Ottoman expansion led to conflict with the conqueror TimurTimur
or Tamerlane
, c.1336–1405, Mongol conqueror, b. Kesh, near Samarkand. He is also called Timur Leng [Timur the lame]. He was the son of a tribal leader, and he claimed (apparently for the first time in 1370) to be a descendant of Jenghiz Khan.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the two armies met at Ankara in 1402. Beyazid's troops consisted only of Serbs and the JanissariesJanissaries
[Turk.,=recruits], elite corps in the service of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). It was composed of war captives and Christian youths pressed into service; all the recruits were converted to Islam and trained under the strictest discipline.
..... Click the link for more information. , since the Tatars and most of his Turkish vassals had deserted him. His army was routed, and he died as Timur's prisoner. His sons fought (1402–13) each other for the succession; Muhammad IMuhammad I
or Mehmet I
(Muhammad the Restorer), 1389?–1421, Ottoman sultan (1413–21), son of Beyazid I. By defeating his brothers he reunited most of his father's empire. He consolidated his authority and thus renewed Ottoman power. His son, Murad II, succeeded him.
..... Click the link for more information. emerged victorious. The name appears in other forms, e.g., Bajazet, Bayazid, and Beyazit.