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

Rise of the Ottoman Empire - Murat I

In the early 1360s the Ottoman armies marched into Thrace through Gallipoli and captured Adrianople (Edirne) and Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and forcing the Byzantines to pay tribute. In 1366 the count Amadeus VI of Savoy (cousin to John V Cantacuzenus, the Byzantine emperor) initiated a minor crusade to aid the Byzantines. The count drove away the Turks from all of Europe except Gallipoli. The very next year Murad attacked anew and regained most of Thrace, including Adrianople.

During the early 1370s Murad launched his forces deeper into Europe. At the Battle of Maritsa, at the Maritsa River, Murad's second lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa encountered a 70,000 man strong Serbian-Bulgarian army under the Serbian king Vukasin. The Ottoman army was smaller, but due to superior tactics the enemy was defeated and king Vukasin killed. Now that the Serbian coalition was weakened by such a blow, Murad was quick to advance further into Bulgaria and capture the cities of Dráma, Kavála and Seres (Serrái).

In 1383 Murad declared himself sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Shortly thereafter he began a new campaign in Europe. Sofia fell in 1385 and the city of Niš the year after. The Ottoman Conquest halted in 1387 when the Serbs won the Battle of Plocnik but two years later Murad marched anew into the west. The Ottomans won a great victory over the Serbs in the Battle of Kosovo but the sultan himself was killed by the assassin Miloš Obilic.

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