Bayezid II (original) (raw)

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Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1481 to 1512

Bayezid II
Basileus and autokrator[1]
Bayezid II by Paolo Veronese, c. 16th century
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire(Padishah)
Reign 22 May 1481 – 24 April 1512
Predecessor Mehmed II
Successor Selim I
Born 3 December 1447Dimetoka, Ottoman Sultanate
Died 26 May 1512(1512-05-26) (aged 64)Abalar, Havsa, Ottoman Empire
Burial Bayezid II Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
Consorts Şirin HatunHüsnüşah HatunBülbül HatunNigar HatunGülruh HatunGülbahar HatunMuhtereme Ferahşad HatunOthers
IssueAmong others Aynışah SultanAyşe SultanŞehzade AhmedGevhermüluk SultanŞehzade KorkutSelim I
NamesBayezid bin Mehmed
Dynasty Ottoman
Father Mehmed II
Mother Gülbahar Hatun[2][3]
Religion Sunni Islam
Tughra Bayezid II's signature

Bayezid II (Ottoman Turkish: بايزيد ثانى, romanized: Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī; Turkish: II. Bayezid; 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, Bayezid consolidated the Ottoman Empire, thwarted a pro-Safavid rebellion and finally abdicated his throne to his son, Selim I. Bayezid evacuated Sephardi Jews from Spain following the fall of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the proclamation of the Alhambra Decree and resettled them throughout Ottoman lands, especially in Salonica.

Bayezid II was the son of Şehzade Mehmed (later Mehmed II) and Gülbahar Hatun, an Albanian concubine. At the time he was born, his grandfather Murad II was Sultan. When his grandfather died in 1451, his father became Sultan.[4][5][6]

There are sources that claim that Bayezid was the son of Sittişah Hatun, due to the two women's common middle name, Mükrime.[7] This would make Ayşe Hatun, one of Bayezid's consorts, a first cousin of Bayezid II. However, the marriage of Sittişah Hatun took place two years after Bayezid was born[8] and the whole arrangement was not to Mehmed's liking.[9]

Born in Demotika, Bayezid II was educated in Amasya and later served there as a bey for 27 years. In 1473, he fought in the Battle of Otlukbeli against the Aq Qoyunlu.

Fight for the throne

[edit]

Bayezid II's younger brother Cem

Bayezid II's overriding concern was the quarrel with his brother Cem Sultan, who claimed the throne and sought military backing from the Mamluks in Egypt. Karamani Mehmed Pasha, latest grand vizier of Mehmed II, informed him of the death of the Sultan and invited Bayezid to ascend the throne.[10] Having been defeated by his brother's armies, Cem sought protection from the Knights of St. John in Rhodes. Eventually, the Knights handed Cem over to Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492). The Pope thought of using Cem as a tool to drive the Turks out of Europe, but as the papal crusade failed to come to fruition, Cem died in Naples.

Bayezid II ascended the Ottoman throne in 1481.[11] Like his father, Bayezid II was a patron of western and eastern culture. Unlike many other sultans, he worked hard to ensure a smooth running of domestic politics, which earned him the epithet of "the Just". Throughout his reign, Bayezid II engaged in numerous campaigns to conquer the Venetian possessions in Morea, accurately defining this region as the key to future Ottoman naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean. In 1497, he went to war with Poland and decisively defeated the 80,000 strong Polish army during the Moldavian campaign. The last of these wars ended in 1501 with Bayezid II in control of the whole Peloponnese. Rebellions in the east, such as that of the Qizilbash, plagued much of Bayezid II's reign and were often backed by the shah of Iran, Ismail I, who was eager to promote Shi'ism to undermine the authority of the Ottoman state. Ottoman authority in Anatolia was indeed seriously threatened during this period and at one point Bayezid II's vizier, Hadım Ali Pasha, was killed in battle against the Şahkulu rebellion. Hadım Ali Pasha's death prompted a power vacuum. As a result, many important statesmen secretly pledged allegiance to Kinsman Karabœcu Pasha (Turkish: "Karaböcü Kuzen Paşa") who made his reputation in conducting espionage operations during the Fall of Constantinople in his youth.[12]

Jewish and Muslim immigration

[edit]

Crimean khan Meñli I Giray (centre) with the eldest son, Mehmed I Giray (left) and Bayezid II (right)

In July 1492, the new state of Spain expelled its Jewish and Muslim populations as part of the Spanish Inquisition. Bayezid II sent out the Ottoman Navy under the command of admiral Kemal Reis to Spain in 1492 in order to evacuate them safely to Ottoman lands. He sent out proclamations throughout the empire that the refugees were to be welcomed.[13] He granted the refugees the permission to settle in the Ottoman Empire and become Ottoman citizens. He ridiculed the conduct of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in expelling a class of people so useful to their subjects. "You venture to call Ferdinand a wise ruler," he said to his courtiers, "he who has impoverished his own country and enriched mine!"[14] Bayezid addressed a firman to all the governors of his European provinces, ordering them not only to refrain from repelling the Spanish refugees, but to give them a friendly and welcome reception.[14] He threatened with death all those who treated the Jews harshly or refused them admission into the empire. Moses Capsali, who probably helped to arouse the sultan's friendship for the Jews, was most energetic in his assistance to the exiles. He made a tour of the communities and was instrumental in imposing a tax upon the rich, to ransom the Jewish victims of the persecution.

Bayezid II fighting his son Selim I at Uğraşdere

The Muslims and Jews of al-Andalus contributed much to the rising power of the Ottoman Empire by introducing new ideas, methods and craftsmanship. The first printing press in Constantinople (now Istanbul) was established by the Sephardic Jews in 1493. It is reported that under Bayezid's reign, Jews enjoyed a period of cultural flourishing, with the presence of such scholars as the Talmudist and scientist Mordecai Comtino; astronomer and poet Solomon ben Elijah Sharbiṭ ha-Zahab; Shabbethai ben Malkiel Cohen, and the liturgical poet Menahem Tamar.[_citation needed_]

During Bayezid II's final years, on 14 September 1509, Constantinople was devastated by an earthquake,[15][16] and a succession battle developed between his sons Selim and Ahmet. Ahmet unexpectedly captured Karaman, and began marching to Constantinople to exploit his triumph. Fearing for his safety, Selim staged a revolt in Thrace but was defeated by Bayezid and forced to flee back to the Crimean peninsula. Bayezid II developed fears that Ahmet might in turn kill him to gain the throne, so he refused to allow his son to enter Constantinople.

Bayezid II's burial

Selim returned from Crimea and, with support from the Janissaries, he forced his father to abdicate the throne on 25 April 1512. Bayezid departed for retirement in his native Dimetoka, but he died on 26 May 1512 at Havsa, before reaching his destination and only a month after his abdication. He was buried next to the Bayezid Mosque in Istanbul.

Tomb of Bayezid II in Istanbul

Bayezid was praised in a ghazal of Abdürrezzak Bahşı, a scribe who came to Constantinople from Samarkand in the second half of the 15th century that worked at the courts of Mehmed II and Bayezid II, and wrote in Chagatai with the Old Uyghur alphabet:[17][18]

I had a pleasant time in your reign my Padishah.

I was without fear of all fears and dangers.

The fame of your justice and fairness reached to China and Hotan.

Thanks to God that there exist a merciful person like my Padishah.

Sultan Bayezid Khan ascended the throne.

This country had been his fate since past eternity.

Any enemy that denied the country of my master:

That enemy's neck had been in rope and gallows.

Your believing servants' faces smile like Bahşı's.

The place of those who walk unbelieving is hellfire.

Bayezid II ordered al-ʿAtufi, the librarian of Topkapı Palace, to prepare a register.[19] The library's diverse holdings reflect a cosmopolitanism that was encyclopaedic in scope.[20]

Bayezid had ten known consorts:[21][22]

Bayezid had at least eight sons:

Bayezid II, once ascended to the throne, granted his daughters and granddaughters in the male line the title of "Sultan" and his granddaughters in the female line that of "Hanımsultan", which replaced the simple honorific "Hatun" in use until then. His grandsons in female line obtained instead the title of "Sultanzade". Bayezid's reform of female titles remains in effect today among the surviving members of the Ottoman dynasty.

Bayezid had at least sixteen daughters:

  1. ^ Gábor Ágoston (2023). The Last Muslim Conquest: The Ottoman Empire and Its Wars in Europe. p. 335.
  2. ^ Necdet Sakaoğlu [in Turkish] (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak publications. pp. 110–112. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6. (The name of the real biological mother of Bayezid II is given as Meliketû'l-Melikât Gül-Bahar Valide Hâtun).
  3. ^ Peirce, Leslie (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 120. ISBN 0-19-508677-5.
  4. ^ Babinger 1992, p. 51.
  5. ^ Peirce, Leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 52. ISBN 9780195086775.
  6. ^ Th Dijkema, F. (1977). The Ottoman Historical Monumental Inscriptions in Edirne. Brill. ISBN 9004050620.
  7. ^ Necdet Sakaoğlu [in Turkish] (2008). Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler. Oğlak publications. pp. 113–117. ISBN 978-9-753-29623-6.
  8. ^ Wedding portrait, Nauplion.net
  9. ^ Babinger 1992, p. 57–58.
  10. ^ GLHN (2022-11-27). "Bayezid II – Biyografi". Gülhan Sözlük (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  11. ^ "Sultan Bajazid's (i.e., Beyazit's) Mosque, Constantinople, Turkey". World Digital Library. 1890–1900. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  12. ^ Titans, History (221). The Ottoman Empire: The History of the Turkish Empire that Lasted Over 600 Years. Creek Ridge Publishing.
  13. ^ Egger, Vernon O. (2008). A History of the Muslim World Since 1260: The Making of a Global Community. Prentice Hall. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-13-226969-8.
  14. ^ a b The Jewish Encyclopedia: a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day, Vol. 2 Isidore Singer, Cyrus Adler, Funk and Wagnalls, 1912 p. 460
  15. ^ The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol.7, Edited by Hugh Chisholm, (1911), 3; Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish Empire...
  16. ^ Britannica, Istanbul Archived 2007-12-18 at the Wayback Machine:When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved to Ankara, and Constantinople was officially renamed Istanbul in 1930.
  17. ^ Harry N. Abrams (2005). Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600–1600. p. 438.
  18. ^ Ayşe Gül Sertkaya (2002). Gyorgy Hazai (ed.). Archivum Ottomanicum 20 (2002). p. 113.
  19. ^ Gülru Necipoğlu, Cemal Kafadar, and Cornell H. Fleischer, eds. Treasures of Knowledge: an Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library (1502/3–1503/4), 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2019.
  20. ^ Hirschler, Konrad. Review of Treasures of Knowledge: an Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library (1502/3–1503/4), ed. by Gülru Necipoğlu, Cemal Kafadar, and Cornell H. Fleischer. Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association 7, no. 1 (2020): 244–249.
  21. ^ a b Uluçay 2011, p. 44.
  22. ^ Bayezid II in The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty, A.D. Alderson
  23. ^ a b c Uluçay 2011, p. 46.
  24. ^ a b Uluçay 2011, p. 45.
  25. ^ a b Uluçay 2011, p. 48.
  26. ^ Vrankić, Petar (5 October 2017). "Stjepan/Ahmedpaša Hercegović (1456? – 1517.) u svjetlu dubrovačkih, talijanskih i osmanskih izvora". Hercegovina: Časopis za kulturno i povijesno naslijeđe (in Croatian) (3): 33, 34, 35, 36. doi:10.47960/2712-1844.2017.3.9. ISSN 2566-3429. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  27. ^ Gökbilgin, M. Tayyib (1952). XV–XVI. asırlarda Edirne ve Paşa Livası: vakıflar, mülkler, mukataalar. Üçler Basımevi. p. 380.
  28. ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 49.
  29. ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 50.
  30. ^ a b Uluçay 2011, p. 51.
  31. ^ Kiel, MacHiel (190). Studies on the Ottoman Architecture of the Balkans. Variorum Publishing Group. p. 492. ISBN 978-0-860-78276-6.
  32. ^ Uluçay 2011, p. 52.
Bayezid II House of Osman Born: Dec 3, 1447 Died: May 26, 1512
Regnal titles
Preceded byMehmed II Sultan of the Ottoman Empire May 3, 1481 – April 25, 1512 Succeeded bySelim I