Sixth
Ottoman Sultan, poet (B. June 1404, Amasya – D. February 3rd, 1451,
Edirne). His father was Çelebi Mehmed
(Mehmed I), mother Emine Hatun from the house of Dulkadiroğulları and he was
the father of Mehmed II (Fatih Sultan Mehmed). He spent his childhood in Amasya.
He went to Bursa with his father in 1410 and educated in palace. At the age of
12 he was assigned as Rum Eyaleti Beyi to rule Amasya, Tokat-Sivas-Çorum and Osmancık with his lala Yörgüç Pasha. In
1416 he participated in suppressing the riots in Izmir and Saruhan (Manisa)
created by Börklüce Mustafa. In 1418, with his next lala Hamza Bey he captured
Samsun from Çandaroğulları.
On
June 25th, 1421, after forty days of his father’s death when he was
only 17, he declared his sultanate being girded with sword by Sheikh Emir
Buharî, the son-in-law of Yıldırım Bayezid. The following three years after his ascension
to the throne, there were crisis and uproars in the country. The uncle of Murad
Mustafa Çelebi, who had been in custody by Roman Emperor Manuel in Limni, was
released and landed on Rumelia by the Roman navy and declared as Sultan on
condition that Gallipoli would be left to the Roman Empire. Sultan Murad
responded to Byzantine hard and laid a land siege to Konstantinopolis (Istanbul)
(1422). To break the siege they provoked Mustafa, little brother of Murad II. Mustafa,
who moved with the Karaman and Germiyanid forces, besieged Bursa. He headed
towards İznik and captured the city and declared his sultanate. Upon this
condition Sultan Murad went to Anatolia and captured and executed Şehzade
Mustafa.
Murad II
started to attempts to unite Anatolia in 1425. But he couldn’t have ended the
principalities of Karaman and Çandarlı situated in the east. He was stonewalled
by the claims of Şahruh, who replaced Timur, over the lands that were ruled
once by Seljuks and Ilhanids, who started an invasion campaign. After the death
of Germiyanid Yakup Bey II, Germiyanids was added to Ottoman lands in 1429.
After establishing the peace in Anatolia, Murad II directed all his strength on
Venetians and captured Thessalonica in1430 and then Yanya.
During the Ottoman
civil war, Magyars increased their influence on Balkans and after the death of
Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarevic in 1427 a dispute emerged regarding the
domination over Serbia between Magyars and Ottomans. According to an agreement,
in 1428, Yorgo Brankovic was recognized as the Serbian Despot. After the
expiration of the agreement in 1431 the Magyar King demanded to be officially
recognized as the sovereign of certain lands in Balkans. This action meant
declaring war against Ottomans. The crucial developments in Asia and Anatolia
prevented Murad II from paying attention for a while. In 1440, after the death
of Stefan Lazarevic, Murad sieged Belgrade but failed to capture the city, which
was occupied by Magyars. In that new period, Magyar King Ladislas started a
counterattack against Ottomans, killed Mezid Bey and put his army to rout. In
the autumn of 1443 Hunyadi Janos, Magyar King Ladislas and Serbian Despot Yorgo
Brankoviç advanced together towards Ottomans, even they reached the Balkan
passages, were stopped at İzladi and according to the signed agreement Ottomans
and Magyars agreed not to go beyond the Danube.
After this
agreement, Sultan Murad II went to Anatolia in order to deal with the Karamans.
With the treaty of Yenişehir, he left Akşehir and Beyşehir to Karamans. Thus he
thought he secured the peace in the West and the East. After this agreement
Murad left the throne for the favor of his son Mehmed II (Fatih Sultan Mehmet).
Then, Magyar King Ladislas declared the treaty with Ottomans null and announced
that he launched a crusade. After that news, Murad was called back to Edirne by
his son. He utterly vanquished the Magyar Army in the Battle of Varna in 1444;
King Ladislas was killed in the battlefield. Murad went back to Manisa.
Murad II, in
his second reign, dealt with the revolting local dynasties in Balkans in order
to impose Ottoman domination. Mostly he had to deal with İskender Bey in
Albania. In 1446 he set out for a campaign against Despot of Mora. In 1448, he
set out first campaign against İskender Bey. In the same year in Battle of
Kosovo, he defeated the army of Hunyadi again. In 1449 he began the campaign of
Wallachia and the next year went against İskender Bey for the second time.
In 1451, he
was struck by paralysis in Edirne where he was resting and died there. He was
buried in tomb of Bursa Muradiye Mosque.
When he died,
the Ottomans survived the blow they received in 1402, in the Battle of Ankara, from
the Timurids. In his era, except the first three years, the country was stable
and there was a good administration. Murad II had coins minted with a stamp of
two arrows and a bow belonged to Kayı clan, in order to show affiliation to
Kayı clan.
Sultan Murad
II, who influenced the famous poet Nef’i, wrote poems using pseudonym “Muradî”.
He protected the scholars like Molla Gürani, Şerefeddin Kirimi, Alaeddin
Semerkandi, Seyyid Ali, Acem Sinan who settled in Bursa emigrating from Samarkand.
The poetical encyclopedic work “Muradnâme” of
Bedr-i Dilşad bin Mehmed, “Tezkiretul
Evliya” of Ahmed-i
Daî and “Muhammediye” of Yazıcıoğlu Mehmed Bican were all dedicated to Murad
II. The first history books that claimed that the lineage of Ottomans was
affiliated to Kayı clan of Oghuz were written or translated into Turkish in his
era.
