Mehmed I

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Mehmed I
Ottoman Sultan
Reign	1413–May 26, 1421
Period	Rise of the Ottoman Empire
Full Name	Mehmed I Çelebi
Predecessor	Interregnum
Successor	Murad II
Royal House	House of Osman
Dynasty	Ottoman Dynasty
Religious beliefs	Sunni Islam

Mehmed I Çelebi (Ottoman: چلبی محمد, I.Mehmet or Çelebi Mehmet) (1382, Bursa – May 26, 1421, Edirne, Turkey) was a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Rûm) from 1413 to 1421.

His nickname

He is nicknamed as;

• Kirişçi (it means bowstring maker or one who supports, who acts as a column), Turkish.
• Second Founder of Ottoman Empire.
• Çelebi also means gentleman in Turkish.

His ancestors

He was one of the sons of Bayezid I and Valide Sultan (1403) Devlet Hatun or Devlet Shah Hatun^{[citation needed]} (who was the daughter of Yakub Shah of Germiyan. He was also the descendant of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, as Rûmi's granddaughter Mutahhara Hatun (the daughter of Sultan Veled) was related to Yakub Shah) .

His life

His wives

1. Sheh-Zade Kumru Hatun: The granddaughter of a Pasha from Amasya
2. Valide Sultan Emine Hatun, daughter of Suleyman Bey, ruler of Dulkadiroglu state, third consort, which marriage served as an alliance between the Ottoman's and this buffer state, mother of Murad II

His reign

After the Ottoman Interregnum, when Mehmed stood as victor in 1413, he crowned himself sultan in Edirne. He restored the empire, moved the capital from Bursa to Edirne, and conquered parts of Albania, the Turkish emirate Candaroglu, and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from the Mamelukes. Taking many of his achievements into consideration, Mehmed is widely known as the "second founder" of the Ottoman Empire.

His death

Reign of Mehmed I, as Sultan of the re-united empire, had lasted only eight years. But he had been an independent prince for nearly the whole preceding period of eleven years that passed between his father's captivity at Ankara and his own final victory over his brother Musa at Chamurli.

He was buried in Bursa, in a mausoleum erected by himself near the celebrated mosque which he built there, and which, from its decorations of green porcelain, is called the Green Mosque. This edifice is said to be the most beautiful specimen of Ottoman architecture and carving that is in existence. Mehmed I also completed the vast and magnificent mosque at Bursa, which his grandfather Murad I. had commenced, but which had been neglected during in reign of Bayezid. It is deserving of mention that Mehmed founded in the vicinity of his own mosque and mausoleum two characteristic institutions, one a school, and one a refectory for the poor both of which he endowed with royal munificence.

Opinions about him

The reign of this Sultan is cited by Von Hammer as the period total taste for "literature and fondness for poetry first prevailed among the Ottomans".

Patronage

He was a liberal patron of intellectual merit; and the name of an early literary Turkish politician, Mehiri, is preserved in honorable reputation for having, while Mehmet was Governor of Amasya, and Sehiri his Defterdar or Chancellor of the Exchequer, inspired the young prince with an enduring zeal for the advancement of literature and art, and for the generous patronage of their professors.

References

• Incorporates text from History of Ottoman Turks (1878)

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