Rise of the Ottoman Empire: Encyclopedia II - Rise of the Ottoman Empire - Mehmed I

Rise of the Ottoman Empire - Mehmed I

When Mehmed Çelebi stood as victor in 1413 he crowned himself in Edirne (Adrianople) as Mehmed I. His was the duty to restore the Ottoman Empire to its former glory. The Empire had suffered hard from the Interregnum; the Mongols were still at large in the east, even though Timur Lenk had died in 1405; many of the Christian kingdoms of the Balkans had broken free of Ottoman control; and the land, especially Anatolia, had suffered hard from the war.

During his reign, Mehmed moved the capital from Bursa to Adrianople (Edirne), reinforced control over Bulgaria and Serbia, drove the Mongols from Anatolia and assaulted Albania, Cilicia, the Turkish emirate of Candaroglu and Byzantine controlled areas in southern Greece. He also campaigned against Prince Vlad the Impaler known as Dracula. He was never able to force Romania into obedience until Dracula's death.

When Mehmed died in 1421, one of his sons, Murad, became sultan.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Mehmed I", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki