İsfendiyar Bey

Born circa 1360, İzzeddin İsfendiyar was the son of Celaleddin Bayezid of the princely Candaroğulları dynasty, while his mother was Sultan Hatun of the imperial Ottoman dynasty, daughter of Süleyman Pasha, son of the second Ottoman sultan Orhan.[1]

Arms of the House of Candar according to the Catalan Atlas of 1375.

Before his enthronement, the principality had been reduced to a small area around Sinop, a port on the Black Sea coast. In a bid to avoid the loss of his last dominion, as bey İsfendiyar adopted a policy of peace with his neighbors.

During the reign of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I (1389–1402), who had conquered most of the other beyliks of Anatolia, İsfendiyar was able to establish good relations with the other Oghuz Turkic clans. It is believed that the emergence of Kadı Burhaneddin's short lived but powerful Turkmen state in the Central Anatolia was one of the main factors for Ottoman-Candar cooperation.[2] Nevertheless, several beys whose territory had been annexed by the Ottomans took refuge in İsfendiyar Bey's beylik.[3]

During Timur's campaign in Anatolia in 1402, he kept the territory of his beylik with Timur's approval. During the Ottoman Interregnum (1402–1413), he followed a balanced policy between the contestants. During the reign of Mehmed I of the Ottoman Empire (1413–1421), he was an ally of the Ottomans.[1][4]

In 1416, his son Kazım, with Ottoman support, revolted which forced İsfendiyar Bey to abandon all territory south of the Ilgaz Mountains (i.e. Çankırı). In 1419, the Ottomans annexed the eastern part of the beylik (i.e. Samsun). The death of Mehmed I and the two revolts during the early years of the new sultan Murad II gave İsfendiyar a chance to regain his losses. However, after Murad II stabilized his domestic situation, İsfendiyar was quickly defeated.

According to the terms of the treaty signed circa 1424, İsfendiyar Bey was to abandon his gains but was permitted to keep the territories of Kastamonu and Sinop.

In latter years, Isfendiyar established close familial ties with the Ottomans, with the marriage of his granddaughter Tacünnisa Hatice Halime Hatun to Murad II,[5] followed by the marriage of his eldest son and heir Taceddin Ibrahim II Bey to Selçuk Hatun, daughter of Mehmed I and Murad II's half-sister.[5]

İsfendiyar died in Sinop on 26 February 1440, after which he was succeeded as bey by his son Taceddin İbrahim II Bey.

While the dynasty is named Candar after its founder, Şemseddin Yaman Candar, following the reign of İsfendiyar, as a testament to its longevity some historians of the Ottoman Empire also began to refer to the beylik by the name of İsfendiyar.