Murad I, who was one of the most influential sultans during the early era of the Ottoman Empire and who extended the area of the state dozens of times by winning every battle he participated in, is also remembered as the first sultan to use the title of sultan. This accomplishment is a significant one that will go down in history. Let us take a more in-depth look at the identity of Murad I and examine the essential information that you need to be aware of regarding his life.
During the time when his predecessors, Osman and Orhan ghazis, had assembled a nation and established a state, Sultan Murad I upgraded his territories and built a rich kingdom out of them for all of the residents.
One of the Ottoman sultans was genuinely martyred in a battle, despite the fact that several of them passed away due to disease while they were engaged in military engagements. It was Sultan Murad I, the son of Orhan Ghazi, who was this royal authority. The names “Hodawendgar” and “Gazi Hunkar” were used to refer to Sultan Murad. Hodawendgar is a Persian word that means “chief” or “master,” while Ghazi Hunqar is a Turkish word that means “veteran ruler.” The vilayet (province), the heart of which was Bursa, was called Hodawendgar to commemorate his memory until the end of the Ottoman Empire.
The mother of Sultan Murad was Nilüfer Hatun, who was the daughter of the Byzantine Governor of Yarhisar and was originally called Holofira before converting to Islam, and he was born at Bursa. Every shahzade (prince) was trained by an experienced statesperson called “lala” in the Ottoman Empire. It was Lala Şahin Pasha who served as Murad I’s counselor. The fact that Sultan Murad was awarded the position of sanjak bey of Bursa at a young age, which was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a bey entrusted to the military and administrative leadership of an area, allowed him to gain a significant deal of experience. He became the successor to the throne after his older brother Suleyman Pasha passed away in 1359 as a result of an accident that occurred while he was hunting. He was the leader of the army in Rumelia in this year and rose to the throne as the heir of his father, who died the following year.
It has been asserted that Murad I was a powerful soldier who emerged victorious in each and every conflict in which he took part. The fact that the state has extended its area tens of times is the largest illustration of this predicament. During his reign, he battled against various states in both the east and west and even faced with serious rebellions. Let us take a more in-depth look at the identity of Murad I and examine the essential information that you need to be aware of regarding his life.
We don’t truly know exactly who Murad I was before he became Sultan
Of course, what Murad I accomplished once he arrived to the throne is documented, but the material we have regarding his era as a prince is minimal. Murad, whose father is Orhan Gazi and whose mother is Nilüfer Hatun; He was born on June 29, 1326. His mother is of Greek descent, although we do not know if he speaks Greek. It is also uncertain if he had an Islamic or Turkmen education.
According to certain reports, after Orhan Gazi took Bursa, Prince Murad was installed as the sanjak ruler here. It is thought that he participated in the Rumelia voyages jointly with his elder brother Şehzade Süleyman Pasha. In other texts, it is reported that when his brother died, the state was controlled by Murad because his father was old. As we indicated, knowledge concerning this time is relatively scarce.
When his father died, he came to the throne in considerable chaos:
When Orhan Gazi died in 1362, Murad, who was in the middle of a battle in Rumelia, was named sultan under the name Murad I by the judgment of the Bursa ahis and was called to Bursa. Good, but is it simple to come to the throne when there is Prince İbrahim, who is older than him, and Prince Halil, who is younger than him?
Both princes were provoked by the Byzantine and Anatolian principalities. On the other side, Karamanoğulları, who took advantage of the change of ruler, began to chant battle cries. Of course, Murad I could not ignore this. Just when he was planning for a rebellion, he found both of his brothers and had them strangled. Lala Şahin Pasha was appointed as the army commander, while Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin was appointed as the judge – soldier.
Murad I is approaching swiftly towards the west
The strategies of turning to the west, which the Ottoman Empire had adopted for hundreds of years, were also implemented by Murad I. In 1361, Lüleburgaz and Çorlu, which were under Byzantine authority, were seized. The Turkish army, pushing without slowing down, also took Edirne, one of the major cities held by Byzantium. Thus, Edirne became the center of the Rumelia Beylerbeylik.
By seizing the Meriç River, the Ottomans acquired control of Byzantium’s most significant trading route. Because the river route affected not just Byzantium but the entire Balkans, King Layos I of Hungary organized a Crusader force. This was the war that went down in history as the Battle of Sırpsınırtı, in which the Turks prevailed.
Even though the Venetians, who took advantage of a free moment of Murad I, conquered Gallipoli, the territory was subsequently taken back. When most of the provinces controlled by the Bulgarian ruler were captured, the Bulgarian princess was married to Murad I and they fell under Ottoman administration.
Although the Serbs tried to seek retribution for the Battle of Sırpsıntır, they failed and came under Ottoman authority. More curiously, in 1373, Byzantium too came under Ottoman domination, and so, the three most important nations in the Balkans were administratively conquered. The Byzantine monarch even had to side with the Ottomans in a conflict.
The West is not the only difficulty, Murad I’s son also rebelled
This action, which went down in history as the Prosecutor Bey uprising, is actually a bit tragicomic. Murad I and Byzantine Emperor John V of the time embarked on an expedition together in 1373. Meanwhile, there was an internal battle among the Byzantine princes. Taking advantage of his father’s absence, Andronikos assassinated his younger brother and crowned himself emperor.
This is when things become interesting. For some unexplained reason , the 14-year-old deputy to the throne, Prince Prosecutor Bey, who was in Rumelia at the time, was highly impressed by this occurrence in Byzantium and declared himself sultan and had a sermon read in his name. In other words, the youngsters who were left to look over the house suddenly grew enthusiastic and declared themselves the father of the house.
Of course, when they learned the news, Murad I and John V promptly returned home and smashed their sons’ army. John V took pity on his kid and partly blinded his eyes with boiling vinegar. Murad I, on the other hand, shot the eye of Prosecutor Bey and put him utterly blind. He couldn’t even manage his wrath and then had him strangled. Prosecutor Bey has been the topic of several poems and songs in the Bursa region.
No hope left
Since political authority was viewed as the common property of the dynasty in the traditional Turkish tradition, his two brothers Ibrahim and Halil revolted against Sultan Murad. Thus, Murad quashed the first shahzade revolts in the Ottoman history.
Sultan Murad I traveled to Rumelia as the Byzantine Empire established an alliance with Venice and sought to capture the Ottoman possessions here by taking advantage of the sultan’s engagement in Anatolia.
Edirne, which was named Adrianople back then, belonged to the Byzantine Empire at that time, but the residents were not content and satisfied with the governance. In an insurrection in 1345, the notables of the city were put to the sword. Sultan Murad analyzed this scenario and seized Edirne in 1363 with the Battle at Sazlıdere in 1363. The government center was transferred to Edirne, and tens of thousands of Turks imported from Anatolia were established on undeveloped territories in the city.
The sultan was resolved to capture the whole Balkans. So, he established up four fronts here, seized Kırklareli and reached the Black Sea. He commissioned Evrenos Bey with the conquest of Western Thrace while entrusting Lala Şahin Pasha with the conquest of southern Bulgaria. Stara Zagora, Plovdiv (Filibe) and Komotini (Gümülcine) were captured, therefore the Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria; Serbia and Bulgaria; Albania and Serbia were divided from one other. When the Byzantine Empire saw that it would not gain support from the people, it gave up the hope of driving the Ottomans from Rumelia and agreed to come to terms and accepted these victories.
Catholic or Orthodox?
This expansion of the Ottomans, which the Byzantine Empire could not resist, terrified the Christian world. It did not seem conceivable for the Serbians and Bulgarians to oppose it either. Venice did not want to launch a war with the Ottomans and imperil its business interests in the East. The only force that could stop them would be the Hungarians, who intended to Catholicise the Balkan people.
The army formed by the kings of Hungarians and Serbians along with the prince of Bosnia and Wallachia with the encouragement of Pope Urban V – the head of the Catholic Church – was destroyed in a night raid near Edirne by a reconnaissance unit under the command of Ottoman commander Hacı Ilbeyi in 1364. After this victory, called as “Sırpsındığı” (Rout of the Serbs), Serres and Biga, a seaside town on Anatolia’s Marmara beaches still under Byzantine authority, were seized. The Republic of Ragusa, headquartered on the Adriatic port city of Dubrovnik, accepted Ottoman suzerainty to retain its profitable trading routes. It became the cannon casting hub of the Ottomans.
The Ottomans were welcomed by the Rumelian people. The Greek Patriarch lauded Sultan Murad for his kindness toward the Orthodox in a letter to Pope Urban VI in 1385. In the face of the Catholic menace, it was natural for the Orthodox people to support the Ottomans.
The time of calm that started with these achievements offered Sultan Murad the chance to improve the nation. He commissioned an imaret (soup kitchen for the needy) and tekke (lodge) in Yenişehir; three mosques, an imaret, a madrassa, a thermal spring and an inn in Bursa; a mosque, a madrassa, an imaret and a palace in Edirne along with a mosque in Bilecik. Bursa became one of the finest scientific and cultural hubs of the Islamic world in his day.
A Fresh Chance
Although the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos sought backing from Europe, he did not succeed. The Serbian and Bulgarian combined army was destroyed by the Ottomans in Samokov in 1370. The gates of northern Bulgaria were opened to the Ottomans and Kyustendil fell. Thus, the Ottomans stepped foot in Serbia.
The Serbian and Wallachian combined army sought to try its luck again but was defeated in Çirmen (Tshronomen, Chernomen, present day Ormenio) in 1371. Macedonian gates were wide open to the Ottomans today. The population, tired up with the Serbian and Bulgarian government, embraced the Ottoman control. Drama, Kavala and Bitola fell. North Macedonia and Kosovo were also captured.
Ottoman raiding battalions, the advancing troops of the Ottoman Empire, reached the Dalmatian coast. The monarch of Serbia and the Bulgarian king accepted Ottoman suzerainty in 1372 and 1376, respectively. Nis, one of the most significant cities of Serbia where Roman Emperor Constantine the Great was born, was seized by the Ottomans. Starting from 1380, the Ottomans seized cities like as Prilep, Sofia, Nis, Bitola, Ohrid and Shkodra in order to solidify their position in Rumelia. Thereupon, the Byzantine emperor recognized the Ottomans as sovereign and consented to pay tribute in 1373.
Meanwhile, Murad’s son Shahzade Bayezid married Devlet Hatun, the princess of the beylik of Germiyanids. The bride brought the cities of Kütahya, Tavşanlı, Emet and Simav as dowry to the Ottomans. Cities such as Akşehir, Yalvaç, Beyşehir, Seydişehir and Karaağaç were also bought from the beylik of Hamid. The beylik of Isfendiyar in Kastamonu, controlled by the brother of the Sultan’s bride, Gülçiçek Hatun, accepted the Ottomans as sovereign.
In 1385, Shahzade Savcı Bey revolted against his father in Bursa. He was beaten, captured and killed in combat on the plain of Kete.
Stupid harsh dude!
Alaaddin Bey, who was the king of the Karamanids – which became a border neighbor with the Ottomans – was married to the daughter of Sultan Murad. Nevertheless, he crossed the border while Sultan Murad was engaged with military operations in the Balkans and sought to attack and loot Ottoman territory. This narrow-mindedness is one of the most crucial reasons why none of the Anatolian principalities could expand like the Ottomans and all of them vanished over time.
When Sultan Murad heard his brother-in-law’s operation, he said: “Look at what this stupid cruel man has done! While I have devoted my life day and night to the war in the way of Allah, and while I was swinging the sword at the enemy in trouble; he is coming and attacking Muslims!” and easily dispersed the Karaman troops, which he marched on in 1386.
Shahzade Bayezid was helpful in this operation and received the title of “Yıldırım,” meaning “Thunderbolt.” Alaaddin Bey escaped and his wife came to his father and demanded peace. Then Alaaddin Bey came into the presence of the sultan and kissed the sultan’s feet and asked for forgiveness. Thanks to this prudent policy, Ottoman influence spread in Anatolia.
Sultan Murad, who showed in his relations with the Anatolian principalities that success could not be won with the sword alone, was very careful not to cause trouble with the Venetians, who had a strong navy. If cities surrendered, he would give full security and freedom with an ahidname – an edict guaranteeing the rights of the people. Besides, Sultan Murad and Barquq, the Mamluk sultan of Egypt, both faced the threat of the Crusaders and made an alliance.
As soon as Sultan Murad returned, Alaaddin Bey began negotiating with the Crusaders. However, he did not omit to send a troop to the Battle of Kosovo a few years later owing to his anxiety.
Disappointment
When an army of 30,000 troops constituted from a Serbian-Bosnian alliance defeated an Ottoman army of 20,000 soldiers in Ploshnik, breaching a treaty, in 1388, the Europeans were overtaken with excitement. As such they gathered a Crusader army to completely expel the Ottomans from the Balkans. Thereupon, Sultan Murad I immediately ordered the Grand Vizier Ali Pasha to completely invade Bulgaria.
Despite this, the Serbian army continued to advance, but in 1389 they were devastated on the plains of Kosovo. The Serbian Prince Lazar fell. The Battle of Kosovo, which lasted for eight hours, stands as one of the most important events in Ottoman history. It consolidated the Ottoman dominance in the Balkans and determined the fate of the nations in the region. This was the historical battle in which the Ottomans used cannons for the first time. (According to another report, it was the Karaman expedition).
In Ottoman chronicles, it is stated that Sultan Murad prayed in his tent the night before the fight, requesting martyrdom. It is told that he pleaded like thus: “Oh my Allah! Sacrifice me for these Muslims; so long as they are not defeated and destroyed at the hands of the enemy!”
At the end of the battle, Sultan Murad was stabbed and martyred by the wounded Serbian knight Milos Obilic who wanted to meet him in person. (It was after this incident that it became customary for foreigners who came before the Ottoman sultans to have one soldier on each arm). Sultan Murad was 63 years old when he died. Although he was martyred on the battlefield, the enemy could not take advantage of this and advance.
His temporary tomb, which was constructed upon the spot where he was martyred, is considered a sacred place visited by Muslims today and a symbol of Ottoman domination in Rumelia. The body of the sultan was brought to Bursa and buried in the tomb of the mosque he had built. The martyrdom of a ruler in such a victorious battlefield caused so much distress in the Islamic world that Egyptian Sultan Barquq sent a candlestick, a bowl and a mushaf (written form of the Quran) to be placed in Sultan Murad’s tomb in Bursa.
Sultan the ‘Organizer’
Sultan Murad established the office of the “kazasker” in 1361 as the equivalent of the “qadi al-qudat” (chief justice of the highest court). The office was responsible for appointing and controlling the “qadis” (judges) in the previous Islamic states. Kazasker was the leader of the “ulama” (Islamic scholars), which included the courthouses and the education bureaucracy.
The Ottoman army was constituted of two units from the “yaya” (pedestrian) and “müsellem” (cavalry), which were the infantry and cavalry troops, respectively. These units would join wars for a fee, and during peacetime would be busy with private affairs, for example, agriculture. Due to the increase in military operations, a permanent and paid army was needed during the reign of Sultan Murad.
According to Islamic law, one-fifth of those captured in war belonged to the state. Until then, this amount was sent to the Seljuk sultan. In 1362, with the efforts of Karamanlı Kara Rüstem and Çandarlı Kara Halil Pasha of the ulama, the “pençik law,” pençik meaning one fifth from the Persian words of “penç” (five) and “yek” (one), was prepared. This decreed that among one-fifth of captives, those who were suited to become statesmen or soldiers would be trained as such. Thus, the basis of the Ottoman bureaucracy and the Kapıkulu corps, the Household Division of the Ottoman Sultans, was established.
Collapsed castle wall
Sultan Murad was of medium height, had a round face, curved nose and enormous eyes, while he had a wide frown, a thin beard, a robust chest and long fingers.
His first wife, Gülçiçek Hatun, was the daughter of Candaroğlu Süleyman Bey. In some sources, it is said that she was of Greek origin. He also married Tamara, the sister of the Bulgarian King Ivan Shisman; Maria, daughter of Byzantine Emperor Ioannis V Paleologos and daughter of Bulgarian Prince of Kyustendil for political reasons. The eldest son of Ivan Shishman, Alexander, converted to Islam under the name Iskender and died as sanjakbey of Manisa.
He had five sons, namely; Sultan Bayezid I, Yahşi Bey, Yakub Bey, Savcı Bey and Ibrahim Bey. He also had four daughters, one of which was married a king of Sarukhanids and two of them were married rulers of Karamanids.
Sultan Murad was extremely religious and was respectful to scholars and Sufi saints. Every Friday prayer, he would give alms to the poor. He was seen as a saint among the people and his miracles were noted. For example, rumor has it that when the siege of Pleven lasted for 15 days and the castle could not be conquered, he said: “It is difficult to take this castle. I hope God destroys it!” At that very moment, a wall of the castle collapsed following a loud noise.
Benevolent ruler, nice knight
Greek historian Chalkokondyles says: “He personally participated in 37 battles. He was brave and never complacent. He was adept at arranging his affairs and doing everything in due time. He was as energetic in his old age as he was in his youth. He was cautious. He treated well to his entourage. He speaks little and when he spoke, he uttered kind words. He was a benevolent ruler, a tireless hunter and a kind knight.”
Murad I pushed into the interior of Anatolia and ultimately came face to face with the Karamanoğulları:
Even though the Prosecutor Bey rebellion was tragicomic, it affected Murad I greatly and he did not step out of his palace in Bursa for 5 years. Even though he did not campaign at this time, he was gaining land in Anatolia in an interesting way . While Germiyanoğulları was giving some lands as dowry, Hamitoğulları was selling their lands. Murad I expanded the Ottoman lands in Anatolia and became a sultan worthy of the title of sultan.
After advancing this far in Anatolia, of course, eventually the Karamanoğulları and the Ottomans came face to face. When Karamanlı Alâeddin Bey attacked Beyşehir, Murad I organized an expedition to Konya in 1381. Alaeddin Bey, who was defeated, hid in Konya Castle, but the castle was also conquered. Thereupon, Nefise Melek Hatun, Alaeddin’s wife and the daughter of Murad I, stepped in and asked her father to forgive her husband. Murad I could not hurt his daughter and forgave his son-in-law and returned to Bursa.
Why and how did Murad I die? The Battle of Kosovo was the final battle
Taking advantage of Murad I’s dealings with Anatolia, a Crusader Army gathered again in the Balkans. In 1389,
the two armies faced each other on the Kosovo Plain. In the war, which went down in history as the Battle of Kosovo, the Ottoman army completely eliminated the Crusader Army after a bloody conflict that lasted 8 hours.
According to some sources, Miloš Obilić, a Serb who approached him saying he wanted to become a Muslim, according to some sources, approached him by asking for peace talks, and according to some sources, approached him by setting an ambush; He stabbed Murad I to death in a treacherous assassination attempt. With this assassination on June 15, 1389, Murad I went down in history as the first and only Ottoman Sultan to be killed during the war.
Where did Murad I conquer? Here are the areas that were added to the Ottoman territories during the period
Murad I expanded the Ottoman territory, which was 95 thousand square kilometers, by 500 thousand square kilometers.
In addition to the title of Sultan, he received the title of Murad-ı Hüdavendigâr. It is not certain, but it is known that he participated in 37 wars and was called Gazi Hünkar because he won all of these wars.
Among the places conquered by Murad I , Karadeniz Ereğlisi, Ankara, Sultanönü, Çorlu, Yenice, Keşan, Eski Zağra, Dimetoka, Komotini, Pınarhisar, Lüleburgaz, Babaeski, Edirne, Plovdiv, Serres, Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Niš, Štip, Bitola, There are regions such as Prilep, Ohrid, Sofia, Kütahya, Simav, Eğrigöz and Tavşanlı.