Bayazid I 95The New Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 2, c. 700–
c. 900, ed. Rosamond McKitterick (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1995), 272–289.
al-Basra (Bassora, Bassora, Balsora)Al-Basra was a
city in southern IRAQnear the Persian Gulf founded by
the Arab conquerors of Iraq in 637; it began as a mili-
tary camp for the conquest of Iraq and was near the site
of an earlier city, long deserted by the end of the sixth
century. A garrison town for the army and its families,
al-Basra was a Bedouin settlement, divided into quarters
according to town tribe. In 657–661 it was one of the
major centers of plots against ALI IBNABUTALIBand
many of his successors. Under the ABBASIDSal-Basra
was a large city serving as the harbor of the new city
of BAGHDAD, as well as an important cultural and com-
mercial center in itself. At the beginning of the ninth
century, a group of black slaves (the Zanj, who had
served in the army) settled in the city. They were active
in conflicts leading to the decline of the Abbasid
caliphate. Al-Basra itself began to decline in the 11th
century with the rise of the SELJUKS, and, in 1258 it was
destroyed by the MONGOLS.
See alsoKHARIJITES.
Further reading:Charles Pellet, “al-Basra,” Encyclo-
pedia of Islam,1.1085–1087.
battles See specific place-names.
Battuta, ibn SeeIBNBATTUTA(SHAMS AL-DINABUABD
ALLAH,MUHAMMAD IBNABDULLAH IBNBATTUTA).
Bavaria and Bavarians(Bayern) Medieval Bavaria
was the region within the Lech River, the Danube
River, and the Alps. It was settled by a poorly docu-
mented people, the Bavarians, in the late fifth century.
Surviving as a duchy, it belonged successively to the
Frankish/Burgundian Agilulfings from about 550 to
788, the Liutpoldings from 947 to 1002, the Swabian
Welfs from 1070 to 80, and finally the WITTELSBACHS
(from 1180). It formed a border area between the
worlds of the FRANKSand the LOMBARDS. There were
few major towns and those that developed were con-
trolled by prince-bishops. The church promoted a
regional unity because of the coincidence between the
area and its ecclesiastical province. With the growth of
Salzburg into a metropolitan in 798, the Bavarian
church was formed with episcopal abbeys and BENEDIC-
TINEand canonical establishments. The duchy was in
the empire after the accession of the duke Henry II (r.
1002–24) as emperor. Bavaria was administered as part
by imperial power to which bishops and religious
establishments were directly subject. This was the
foundations of the future state.
By concentrating on Bavaria and establishing it as the
basis of their power, the Wittelsbachs from 1180 managed
to construct the largest state in GERMANY. They acquired
the Palatinate in 1214 but lost it in a treaty of 1329 to the
nephews of the main line. Louis of Bavaria (Duke Louis
IV) (1314–47) became emperor. At the deaths of rulers,
Bavaria tended to be divided among the heirs, producing
states too small to have much power or influence. It even-
tually had the vote in imperial elections. The adoption of
primogeniture by Duke Albert IV the Wise (r. 1465–1508)
in 1506 put an end to the partition of the duchy.
See alsoAUSTRIA.
Further reading: Theodore John Rivers, trans.,
Laws of the Alamans and Bavarians(Philadelphia: Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania Press, 1977); Paul Sutter Fichtner,
“Bavaria,” DMA, 2.132–135; Carl I. Hammer, Charle-
magne’s Months and Their Bavarian Labours: The Politics ofCarolingian Empire in the Early Ninth Century
press, 1997); Kathy Lynne Roper Pearson, Conflicting Loy-
alties in Early Medieval Bavaria: A View of Socio-Political
Interaction, 680–900(Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999); Herwig
Wolfram, “Bavaria in the Tenth and Early Eleventh Cen-
turies,” in The New Cambridge Medieval History,Vol. 3, c.
900–c. 1024,ed. Timothy Reuter (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1999), 293–309.Bayazid I(Bajezid, Bayezid, Yildirim [the Thunder-
bolt])(ca. 1360–d. 1403) Ottoman sultan, conqueror of
Serbia and Bulgaria
The son of MURADI, he started his reign on June 15,
1389, when his father was assassinated during the Battle
of KOSOVO. Having defeated the Serbians, he moved to
ANATOLIA, where he integrated the independent Turkish
principalities into his realm. In 1391 he besieged CON-
STANTINOPLE and speedily invaded BULGARIA,GREECE,
ALBANIA, and BOSNIA. That campaign earned his nick-
name, the “Thunderbolt.” In 1395, VENICE, concerned for
its possessions in the eastern Mediterranean, with the
papacy called for a crusade. A great army of knights from
all over Europe gathered and marched east to NICOPOLIS
in 1396 but was defeated there by Bayazid, who by doing
so became the complete master of almost all of the
Balkans, save only the city of Constantinople, on which
he began an eight-year blockade.
In 1400, when he was at the peak of his power and
reigning over an empire from the Danube to the
Euphrates, the MONGOLS, led by TAMERLANE, invaded
Anatolia. In July of 1402 Bayazid was defeated near
Ankara and was taken captive. Tamerlane restored the
independence of the small Turkish amirs of Anatolia and
divided the OTTOMANEmpire among the six sons of
Bayazid. Bayazid committed suicide in prison on March
3, 1403.
Further reading:Halil Inalcik, “Bayazid,” Encyclope-
dia of Islam,1.1117–1119; Ducas (fl. mid-15th century),