Editing Ottoman Interregnum

{{short description|Civil war in the early 15th century Ottoman Empire}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Ottoman Interregnum
| partof            = 
| width             = 
| image             = Ottoman Princes Musa and Suleiman Celebi.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| alt               = 
| caption           = Late 16th-century depiction of Musa and Süleyman, facing each other
| date              = {{nowrap|{{Start date|1402|7|28|df=y}} – {{End date|1413|7|5|df=y}}}}<br />({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=07|day1=20|year1=1402|month2=07|day2=05|year2=1413}})
| place             = [[Anatolia]], [[Balkans]], [[Ottoman Empire]]
| coordinates       = <!--Use the {{coord}} template -->
| map_type          = 
| map_relief        = 
| map_size          = 
| map_marksize      = 
| map_caption       = 
| map_label         = 
| territory         = 
| result            = {{ublist|Mehmed victory}}
*Reunification of the Ottoman state
| status            = 
| combatants_header = 
| combatant1        = [[Mehmed I|Mehmed's]] forces<br/>[[Serbian Despotate]]<br/>[[Dulkadirids]]<ref name=fetret>{{TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/fetret-devri |title=Fetret devri}}</ref>
| combatant2        = [[İsa Çelebi|İsa's]] forces
| combatant3        = [[Süleyman Çelebi|Süleyman's]] forces
| combatant4        = [[Musa Çelebi|Musa's]] forces<br/>[[Wallachia]]
| commander1        = [[Mehmed I|Mehmed Çelebi]]<br/>[[Stefan Lazarević]]<br/>[[Imamzade Halil Pasha]]
| commander2        = [[İsa Çelebi]]{{executed}}<br/>[[Junayd of Aydın]]{{efn|Initially}}{{sfn|Mélikoff|1965|pp=599–600}}{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|pp=50, 80, 109}}
| commander3        = [[Süleyman Çelebi]]{{KIA}}<br/>[[Çandarlızade Ali Pasha|Ali Pasha]] [[Natural causes|#]]<br/>[[Vuk Lazarević]]{{executed}}<br/>Junayd of Aydın{{efn|Later}}{{sfn|Zachariadou|1983|p=86}}{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=119}} 
----
[[Orhan Çelebi]]{{efn|After the death of Suleyman Çelebi, Orhan, his very young son attempted to take over the kingdom with the help of certain lords, but his paternal uncle Musa attacked him and, through betrayal rather than battle, ...{{sfn|Philippides|2007|p=73}}}}
| commander4        = [[Musa Çelebi]]{{executed}}<br/>[[Mircea the Elder]]{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=140}}<br/>[[Sheikh Bedreddin]]<ref>{{TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi|url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bedreddin-simavi|title=BEDREDDİN SİMÂVÎ Simavna Kadısı Oğlu Şeyh Bedreddin Mahmud (ö. 823/1420) Osmanlı fakih ve mutasavvıfı, önemli bir isyan ve ihtilâl hareketinin başlatıcısı.}}</ref>
| strength1         = 
| strength2         = 
| strength3         = 
| casualties1       = 
| casualties2       = 
| casualties3       = 
| notes             = 
| campaignbox       = 
}}
{{History of the Ottoman Empire|expanded=rise}}
{{Ottoman Interregnum battles}}
The '''Ottoman Interregnum''', or '''Ottoman Civil War''',{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=xi}} ({{langx|tr|Fetret devri}},<ref name=fetret></ref> {{lit|Interregnum period}}) was a civil war in the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman realm]] between the sons of the [[List of Sultans of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman sultan]] [[Bayezid I]] following their father's defeat and capture by [[Timur]] in the [[Battle of Ankara]] on 28 July 1402. Although [[Timur]] confirmed [[Mehmed I|Mehmed Çelebi]] as sultan, Mehmed's brothers ([[İsa Çelebi]], [[Musa Çelebi]], [[Süleyman Çelebi]], and later [[Mustafa Çelebi]]) refused to recognize his authority, each claiming the throne for himself,{{sfn|Fine|1994|p=499}} which resulted in civil war. The Interregnum would last a little under 11 years and culminate in the [[Battle of Çamurlu]] on 5 July 1413, when Mehmed Çelebi emerged as victor, crowned himself Sultan Mehmed I, and restored the empire.

==Civil war==
===İsa and Mehmed===
Civil war broke out among the sons of Sultan [[Bayezid I]] upon his death in 1403. His oldest son, [[Süleyman Çelebi|Süleyman]], with his capital at [[Edirne]], ruled the recently-conquered [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], all of [[Thrace]], [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], and northern [[Greece]]. The second son, [[İsa Çelebi]], established himself as an independent ruler at [[Bursa, Turkey|Bursa]],{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=79}} and Mehmed formed a kingdom at [[Amasya]].{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=73}} War broke out between Mehmed and İsa, and following the Battles of Ermeni-beli{{sfn|Pitcher|1968|p=59}} and of [[Battle of Ulubad|Ulubad]] (March–May 1403),{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=79}} İsa fled to Constantinople, and Mehmed occupied Bursa.{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|pp=90–91}} The subsequent battle at Karasi between Mehmed and İsa resulted in Mehmed's victory and Isa fleeing to [[Karaman]].{{sfn|Pitcher|1968|p=59}} İsa was later killed in a bath by agents of Mehmed.{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|pp=109–110}}

===Süleyman enters civil war===
Meanwhile, the other surviving son of Bayezid, [[Musa Çelebi]], who was captured at the [[Battle of Ankara]], was released by [[Timur]] into the custody of Yakub of [[Germiyan]].{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=85}} Musa was freed after Mehmed made a request for his brother's release. Following İsa's death, Süleyman crossed the straits with a large army.{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=110}} Initially, Süleyman was successful. He invaded Anatolia, capturing Bursa (March&nbsp;1404){{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=112}} and Ankara later that year.

During the stalemate in Anatolia, which lasted from 1405 to 1410, Mehmed sent Musa across the [[Black Sea]] to [[Thrace]] with a small force to attack Süleyman's territories in south-eastern Europe. The maneuver soon recalled Süleyman to Thrace, where a short but sanguinary contest between him and Musa ensued. At first, Süleyman had the advantage and won the [[Battle of Kosmidion]] in 1410, but in 1411 his army defected to Musa at Edirne. Süleyman was captured, given to Musa's bodyguard, Koyun Musasi, and strangled to death on 17 February 1411.{{sfn|Finkel|2006|p=32}}{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|pp=155–156}} Musa was now the ruler of the Ottoman dominions in Thrace.

===Mehmed and Musa===
[[Manuel II Palaiologos]], the Byzantine emperor, had allied with Süleyman. Mûsa, therefore, [[Siege of Constantinople (1411)|besieged Constantinople]].{{sfn|Ostrogorsky|1969|p=557}} Manuel called on Mehmed to protect him, and Mehmed's Ottomans now garrisoned Constantinople against Musa's Ottomans of Thrace. Mehmed made several unsuccessful sallies against his brother's troops and was obliged to recross the [[Bosporus]] to quell a revolt that had broken out in his own territories. Musa now pressed the siege of Constantinople. Mehmed returned to Thrace, and obtained the assistance of [[Stefan Lazarevic]], the [[Despotate of Serbia|Serbian Despot]].

The armies of the rival Ottoman brothers met on the [[Battle of Camurlu|Plain of Chamurli]] (now [[Samokov]], [[Bulgaria]]). Hassan, the [[Agha (Ottoman Empire)|Agha]] of the [[Janissaries]] of Mehmed, stepped out before the ranks and tried to get the troops to change sides. Musa rushed towards Hassan and killed him, but was himself wounded by an officer who had accompanied Hassan. Musa's Ottomans fought well, but the battle was won by Mehmed and his allies.{{sfn|Spuler|Bagley|Kissling|1996|p=14}} Musa fled but was later captured and strangled.{{sfn|Nicol|1972|p=327}} With Musa dead, Mehmed was the sole surviving son of the late Sultan Bayezid I and became Sultan Mehmed I.

The Interregnum was a striking example of the [[fratricide]] that would become common in Ottoman successions.

==Political titles==
During the Interregnum, only Mehmed minted coins titling himself ''Sultan''. His brother Süleyman had coins that call him ''Emir Suleyman b. Bayezid'', and Musa's coins state, ''Musa b. Bayezid''. No coins of İsa have survived.{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=198}}

<gallery>
File:Akçe - Mehmed Çelebi in the name of Timur.png|Coin of Mehmed, citing Timur as overlord
File:Süleyman Çelebi coin 1404.png|Coin of Süleyman
File:Akçe - Musa Çelebi.png|Coin of Musa
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{The Late Medieval Balkans}}
* {{Cite book| last=Finkel | first=Caroline | title=Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300–1923 | publisher=John Murray | location=London | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-7195-6112-2 }}
* {{Imber-The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650}}
* {{cite book | last = Kastritsis | first = Dimitris | title = The Sons of Bayezid: Empire Building and Representation in the Ottoman Civil War of 1402–13 | publisher = Brill | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-90-04-15836-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=u_evCQAAQBAJ }}
* {{cite book | editor-last = Magoulias | editor-first = Harry | title = Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks, by Doukas. An Annotated Translation of "Historia Turco-Byzantina" by Harry J. Magoulias, Wayne State University | publisher = Wayne State University Press | location = Detroit | year = 1975 | isbn = 978-0-8143-1540-8}}
* {{EI2 | volume=2 | title = D̲j̲unayd | first = I. | last = Mélikoff | authorlink = | pages = 599–600 | doi =10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_2116 }}
*{{cite book |last=Nicol |first=Donald MacGillivray |title=The last centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1972 }}
*{{cite book |first=George |last=Ostrogorsky |title=History of the Byzantine State |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1969 }}
*{{cite book|title=Mehmed II the Conqueror and the Fall of the Franco-Byzantine Levant to the Ottoman Turks: Some Western Views and Testimonies|authorlink=Marios Philippides |first=Mario |last=Philippides |publisher=ACMRS/Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies|year=2007 }}
*{{cite book |first=Donald Edgar |last=Pitcher |title=An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire |publisher=E.J. Brill |year=1968 }}
*{{cite book |first1=Bertold |last1=Spuler |first2=Frank Ronald Charles |last2=Bagley |first3=Hans Joachim |last3=Kissling |title=The Last Great Muslim Empires: History of the Muslim World |publisher=Markus Weiner Publishers |year=1996 }}
* {{cite book | last = Zachariadou | first = Elisabeth A. |title = Trade and Crusade: Venetian Crete and the Emirates of Menteshe and Aydin (1300–1415) |publisher = Istituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Post-bizantini di Venezia |location = Venice |year = 1983 |oclc = 144691037 }}

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{{Ottoman Interregnum}}

[[Category:Ottoman Interregnum| ]]
[[Category:Byzantine Empire–Ottoman Empire relations]]
[[Category:1410s in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:1400s in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Asia]]
[[Category:1400s conflicts]]
[[Category:1410s conflicts]]
[[Category:Ottoman period in the Balkans]]
[[Category:Ottoman period in Anatolia]]
[[Category:Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Europe]]