18 | Living in the Ottoman Realm
of the fourteenth century, but Ottoman expansion was temporarily halted by the
powerful conqueror Timur, also known as Tamerlane, in 1402 when he defeated
Bayezid’s army at the Battle of Ankara.
After an interregnum during which Ottoman princes fought against one
another in an effort to reunite the empire under one member of the dynasty,
Mehmed I (r. 1413–1421) eventually emerged as the victor and began to reestablish
central control of former Ottoman territories. The Ottomans began to expand
once again under Murad II (r. 1421–1444, 1446–1451). Fighting off crusaders and
defeating various challengers in the Balkans and Anatolia, the Ottomans were
poised to once again attempt to conquer Constantinople. They captured the city
in 1453 under a young and ambitious sultan, Mehmed II (r. 1451–1481), known as
the Conqueror. At this point the Ottoman polity truly could be considered an
empire with a fitting imperial capital at Istanbul. The second half of the fifteenth
century witnessed ongoing expansion in the Balkans and in Anatolia and the
elimination of remaining rivals in Anatolia.
The Ottomans continued to experience conflicts among the sons of sul-
tans for succeeding to the Ottoman throne. Unlike other Turkish dynasties, the
Ottomans did not divide their lands upon succession and whoever defeated his
brothers inherited the entire empire. Succession disputes were often bitter and
sometimes unpredictable. At Mehmed II’s death, his two remaining sons, Cem
and Bayezid II, waged a civil war to determine who would succeed to the throne.
Bayezid II with the support of the Janissaries defeated Cem, who fled to the
Knights of Rhodes. Later the Knights sent Cem to France, and he eventually was
imprisoned in Rome. Because of the threat that Cem might return at the head of
a crusading army to attack Bayezid, the sultan pursued a cautious foreign policy
until Cem died in 1495. Then he declared war on Venice and strengthened the
Ottoman fleet, which now successfully challenged the Venetian fleet. Ottoman
forces captured Modon and Coron in Greece. The Ottomans became increas-
ingly involved with diplomacy in Italy and Western Europe during the reign of
Bayezid II, partly as a result of Cem’s captivity in France and Rome.
However, a new threat to Ottoman power appeared in eastern Anatolia with
the rise of the militant, extremist Shiɇi dynasty of the Safavids of Iran. Turco-
man nomadic populations favored the Safavids against the centralizing Otto-
mans. Safavid propaganda raised revolts in Anatolia, and Bayezid appeared too
weak to counter the threat. His son Selim I (r. 1512–1520) seized power and de-
posed Bayezid, who died soon thereafter. Selim then eliminated his brothers and
ruthlessly suppressed Safavid supporters. Selim was now poised to expand to the
south and the east, fundamentally changing the composition of the Ottoman
Empire.
The chapters in part I address identity during this period when the Ottomans
transformed their state from a tiny beylik to a great empire. This complicated