Ottoman Interregnum

The Ottoman succession crisis of 1402–1413, when Bayezid I’s sons fought for the throne after Timur captured their father at Ankara.

Mehmed I: Ottoman sultan from 1413 to 1421 who reunited the empire after defeating his brothers. His victory ended the interregnum and restored a single Ottoman ruler.
Bayezid I: Ottoman sultan from 1389 to 1402, defeated and captured by Timur at Ankara. His defeat left no uncontested authority to succeed him.
Murad II: Ottoman sultan from 1421 to 1444 and again from 1446 to 1451, son of Mehmed I. He inherited the reunited state that Mehmed rebuilt after the crisis.
Ottoman fratricide: The practice of Ottoman rulers executing rival dynastic princes to prevent succession conflicts. It later offered a brutal alternative to the prolonged contest seen in this crisis.
Süleyman Çelebi: Bayezid I’s eldest surviving son, who ruled Ottoman territories in the Balkans during the interregnum. He controlled the European half of the empire before Mehmed defeated him.
Battle of Ankara: The 1402 battle in which Timur defeated and captured Bayezid I near Ankara. Its outcome shattered Ottoman control and triggered the succession crisis.
Constantinople: A historic city on the Bosporus that served as the Byzantine capital and became Ottoman capital in 1453. The restored Ottoman state later conquered the city, a major consequence of renewed strength.
Ottoman succession law: The evolving legal and political customs governing succession to the Ottoman sultanate. Later customs attempted to manage the uncertainty that prolonged this struggle.
İsa Çelebi: A son of Bayezid I who claimed Ottoman authority in western Anatolia during the succession crisis. His struggle with Mehmed helped determine control of the empire’s Asian territories.
Timur: A Central Asian conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire and defeated Bayezid I. His victory over Bayezid made the princes’ rivalry possible.

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