Bayazid I

Bayazid I, called Yilderim (“thunderbolt”) (c. 1360-1403), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1389-1402). Born in Edirne, he was made governor of Kutahya province. He succeeded his father, Murad I, following the Battle of Kosovo and was the first Ottoman ruler officially to adopt the title of sultan. Continuing his father’s Balkan conquests, in three years Bayazid conquered Bulgaria and parts of Serbia and Macedonia. Bayazid also put emphasis on expanding and centralizing control in Anatolia and subdued the greater part of the Turkmen territories in Asia Minor. From 1391 he blockaded Constantinople for ten years, hoping to subdue it by famine. In 1396 Ottoman forces utterly defeated a crusading force aimed at relieving the siege led by Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor, at the Battle of Nicosia. Bayazid might have destroyed the Byzantine Empire had not the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane attacked Ottoman possessions in Asia Minor and completely defeated the sultan in 1402 near Ankara. Bayazid died a prisoner in the enemy camp, while his sons Musa, Suleiman, and Muhammad fought over the succession in a civil war lasting a decade. The sultan’s name is also transliterated as Bajazet, Bayezit, Bayezid, or Beyazid.