Murad II

Sultan Murad II at archery practice (miniature painting from 1584)

Murad's reign was troubled by insurrection early on. The Byzantine Emperor, Manuel II, released the 'pretender'[10] Mustafa Çelebi (known as Düzmece Mustafa) from confinement and acknowledged him as the legitimate heir to the throne of Bayezid I (1389–1402). The Byzantine Emperor had first secured a stipulation that Mustafa should, if successful, repay him for his liberation by giving up a large number of important cities. The pretender was landed by the Byzantine galleys in the European dominion of the sultan and for a time made rapid progress. Many Ottoman soldiers joined him, and he defeated and killed the veteran general Bayazid Pasha, whom Murad had sent to fight him. Mustafa defeated Murad's army and declared himself Sultan of Adrianople (modern Edirne). He then crossed the Dardanelles to Asia with a large army but Murad out-manoeuvered Mustafa. Mustafa's force passed over in large numbers to Murad II. Mustafa took refuge in the city of Gallipoli, but the sultan, who was greatly aided by a Genoese commander named Adorno, besieged him there and stormed the place. Mustafa was taken and put to death by the sultan, who then turned his arms against the Roman emperor and declared his resolution to punish the Palaiologos for their unprovoked enmity by the capture of Constantinople.

Murad II and Władysław III of Poland

Murad II then formed a new army called Azeb in 1421 and marched through the Byzantine Empire and laid siege to Constantinople. While Murad was besieging the city, the Byzantines, in league with some independent Turkish Anatolian states, sent the sultan's younger brother Küçük Mustafa (who was only 13 years old) to rebel against the sultan and besiege Bursa. Murad had to abandon the siege of Constantinople in order to deal with his rebellious brother. He caught Prince Mustafa and executed him. The Anatolian states that had been constantly plotting against him — Aydinids, Germiyanids, Menteshe and Teke — were annexed and henceforth became part of the Ottoman Sultanate.

Murad II then declared war against Venice, the Karamanid Emirate, Serbia and Hungary. The Karamanids were defeated in 1428 and Venice withdrew in 1432 following the defeat at the second Siege of Thessalonica in 1430. In the 1430s Murad captured vast territories in the Balkans and succeeded in annexing Serbia in 1439. In 1441 the Holy Roman Empire and Poland joined the Serbian-Hungarian coalition. Murad II won the Crusade of Varna in 1444 against John Hunyadi.

Murad II relinquished his throne[1] in 1444 to his son Mehmed II, but a Janissary revolt[11] in the Empire forced him to return.

In 1448 he defeated the Christian coalition at the Second Battle of Kosovo (the first one took place in 1389).[12] When the Balkan front was secured, Murad II turned east to defeat Timur's son, Shah Rokh, and the emirates of Karamanid and Çorum-Amasya. In 1450 Murad II led his army into Albania and unsuccessfully besieged the Castle of Krujë in an effort to defeat the resistance led by Skanderbeg. In the winter of 1450–1451, Murad II fell ill, and died in Edirne. He was succeeded by his son Mehmed II (1451–1481).

When Murad ascended the throne, he sought to regain lost Ottoman territories that had reverted to autonomy following his grandfather Bayezid I’s defeat at the Battle of Ankara in 1402 at the hands of Timur. He needed the support of both the public and the nobles “who would enable him to exercise his rule”, and utilized the old and potent Islamic trope of the ghazi king.[13]

In order to gain popular international support for his conquests, Murad II modeled himself after the legendary Ghazi kings of old. The Ottomans already presented themselves as ghazis, painting their origins as rising from the ghazas of Osman, the founder of the dynasty. For them, ghaza was the noble championing of Islam and justice against non-Muslims and Muslims alike, if they were cruel; for example, Bayezid I labeled Timur Lang, also a Muslim, an apostate prior to the Battle of Ankara because of the violence his troops had committed upon innocent civilians and because “all you do is to break promises and vows, shed blood, and violate the honor of women.”[14] Murad II only had to capitalize on this dynastic inheritance of doing ghaza, which he did by actively crafting the public image of Ghazi Sultan.

After his accession, there was a flurry of translating and compiling activity where old Persian, Arab, and Anatolian epics were translated into Turkish so Murad II could uncover the ghazi king legends.[14] He drew from the noble behavior of the nameless Caliphs in the Battalname, an epic about a fictional Arab warrior who fought against the Byzantines, and modelled his actions on theirs.[14] He was careful to embody the simplicity, piety, and noble sense of justice that was part of the ghazi king persona.

For example, the Caliph in Battalname saw the battle turning in his enemy's favor, and got down from his horse and prayed, after which the battle ended in a victory for him. In the Battle of Varna in 1444, Murad II saw the Hungarians gaining the upper hand, and he got down from his horse and prayed just like the Caliph, and soon after, the tide turned in the Ottoman's favor and the Hungarian king Wladyslaw was killed.[14][13] Similarly, the Caliph in the epic roused his warriors by saying “Those of you who die will be martyrs. Those of you who kill will be ghazis”; before the Battle of Varna, Murad II repeated these words to his army, saying “Those of us who kill will be ghazis; those of us who die will be martyrs.”[14] In another instance, since the ghazi king is meant to be just and fair, when Murad took Thessalonica in the Balkans, he took care to keep the troops in check and prevented widespread looting.[13] Finally, just as the fictional Caliph's ghazas were immortalized in Battalname, Murad II's battles and victories were also compiled and given the title "The Ghazas of Sultan Murad" (Gazavat- i Sultan Murad).[14]

Murad II successfully painted himself as a simple soldier who did not partake in royal excesses, and as a noble ghazi sultan who sought to consolidate Muslim power against non-Muslims such as the Venetians and Hungarians. Through this self-presentation, he got the support of the Muslim population of not only the Ottoman territories, for both himself and his extensive, expensive campaigns, but also the greater Muslim populations in the Dar-al-Islam – such as the Mamluks and the Muslim Delhi Sultanates of India. Murad II was basically presenting himself not only as “a ghazi king who fights caffres [non-muslims], but also serves as protector and master of lesser ghazis.”[14]

Murad II had at least six consorts:[16][17][18][19]

• Hüma Hatun (? – September 1449), mother of Mehmed II. There are several theories as to her origin, according to differing accounts, she was either of Italian and/or Jewish,[20] Slavic, most likely Serb,[21][22][23] or Greek origins.[24]
• Mara Hatun (c. 1420 – 14 September 1487), born Maria Branković, daughter of Despot of Serbia Durad Branković. She married Murad in September 1435. She never converted to Islam and remained a Christian. In Europe she became known as the Sultanina or Sultana Maria. Considered the "adoptive mother" of Mehmed II, who held her in very high regard and call her "mother" in official documents.
• Yeni Hatun, daughter of Şadgeldi Paşahzade Mustafa Bey of the Kutluşah of Amasya.
• Hundi Ümmügülsüm Hatun (? – 14 February 1486). According to some sources, she was two distinct consorts.
• Hatice Hatun, daughter of Taceddin Ibrahim II Bey, son of İsfendiyar Bey (brother of Hatice Halime Hatun) and his first wife.[25] She married Murad and was the mother of Şehzade Küçük Ahmed.[26] After the death of Murad II her son was executed on the orders of Mehmed II. Mehmed subsequently forced her to marry Ishak Pasha, and she had others eight children.

Murad II was the sultan who conferred on his sons and their male descendants the title of Şehzade, meaning "descendant of the Şah", replacing the simple honorific of Çelebi. The title of Şehzade remained in use until the abolition of the Ottoman Empire.

Murad II had at least eight sons:

• Şehzade Ahmed (1419 – 1420), also known as Büyük Ahmed (Ahmed the Elder).
• Şehzade Alaeddin Ali (1425 – June 1443) - with Hundi Ümmügülsüm Hatun.[27] Murad's favorite son, he was governor of Manisa and Amasya. In 1443 he took part in the expedition of Karaman and died on his way back from a fall from his horse. Buried in Muradiye Complex of Bursa. He had a known consort, Yeni Hatun, and two sons: Şehzade Giyaşüddin (1441-1445) and Şehzade Taceddin (1442 – 1443).
• Şehzade Isfendiyâr (1425 – 1425) - with Halime Hatun
• Şehzade Hüseyn (? – 1439). Died young
• Şehzade Orhan (? – 1441). Died young
• Şehzade Hasan (? – 1444). Died young
• Yusuf Adil Shah?
• Mehmed II (1432 – 1481) - with Hüma Hatun. Mehmed succeeded his father as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and was to become known by the epithet Fâtih ("the Conqueror") following his successful conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
• Şehzade Ahmed (1450 – 18 February 1451) - with Hatice Hatun. Also known as Küçük Ahmed (Ahmed the Younger). Killed on the orders of Mehmed II while his was mother congratulated Mehmed on his accession to the throne. Mehmed was to subsequently legalize this act with the promulgation of the "Law of Fratricide".

Murad II had at least five daughters:

• Erhundi Hatun (1423 – ?) - with Hundi Ümmügülsüm Hatun.[28] Also known as Erhundi Hatun. She first married Mirahur İlyas Bey and later Yaqub Bey, royal tutor of Şehzade Cem, son of Mehmed II.
• Hatice Hatun (1425 –1440) - with Hüma Hatun.[29] She married Candaroğlu İsmail Kemaleddin Bey and had three sons: Hasan Bey, Yahya Bey and Abdulcelil Bey. Her descendants were reported to have still been alive during the reign of Abdulmejid I in the 19th century.
• Hafsa Hatun (1426–1440). She married her cousin Candaroğlu Kaya Bey, son of her aunt Sultan Hatun, daughter of Mehmed I, and Candaroğlu Kasim Bey.
• Fatma Sultan (1430 – after 1464) - with Hüma Hatun.[29] She married Zaganos Pasha and had two sons: Hamza Bey and Ahmed Çelebî, who would become an important adviser to his cousin Bayezid II. After divorced in 1462, she married Mahmud Çelebi.
• Şahzade Hatun (1430 – 21 October 1480). She was married twice, first to Güveyi Karaça Paşa (d. 1456) and then to Yusuf Sinaneddin Paşa (d. 1486). She was buried next to Şehzade Alaeddin Ali.