Fatih Sultan Mehmed

Also known as Fatih Sultan Mehmed II. Mehmed (1432-1481) was the seventh and among the greatest sultans of the Ottoman Empire. His conquests consolidated Ottoman rule in Anatolia and the Balkans, most famously by conquering the bountiful city of Constantinople, making it the administrative and cultural center and capital of his growing empire. Their victory would mark the end of the Byzantine Empire and usher in a new era of Ottoman dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Early Life and Family Origins
Mehmed, born on March 30, 1432, served as Sultan Mehmet II. He was the third son of Murad II (1421-1451) and Hüma Hatun, a concubine of Balkan origin from Murad's harem. His grandfather was Mehmed I (1413-1421) and he traced his lineage to Osman (1280-1323), the founder of the Ottoman Dynasty. Mehmed's name is derived from the name of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (570-632), and unlike the naming conventions of other Islamic cultures, the name Muhammad in Turkish tradition is generally reserved for the Prophet himself.

MEHMED'S PRINCIPAL STATUS OFFERED HIM THE OPPORTUNITY TO EDUCATE UNDER THE BEST SCHOLARS OF THE REGION.
Mehmed spent the first years of his childhood in Edirne, until he moved to the Black Sea city of Amasya, and after his death in 1437, although he was five years old, he replaced his brother Ahmed as the sancakbeyi. Mehmed's status as a prince (being the sultan's son) gave him the opportunity to study under the best scholars of the region. He had many teachers over the years, and they taught Mehmed theology, history, foreign languages ​​and many other subjects. In particular, these personal tutors reserved for the Ottoman dynasty were called lalas, and they played an important role in preparing Ottoman princes for the intricacies of administration. Mehmed's reading of various Islamic writings would have a significant impact on his ambitions as a sultan. The desire to conquer Constantinople was inspired by the writings of Arab writers Al-Kindi, Ibn Khaldun, and was further developed by a hadith (or phrase) attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, which declared that a Muslim army would conquer the city.

Ascension to the Throne
Mehmed's father, II. Murad's reign was plagued by both internal and external conflicts from its beginning. At the beginning of his reign, Murad fought in a battle of succession against one of his brothers who led an uprising in the European part of Ottoman territory with the support of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) and other Balkan Christian states. After suppressing the rebellion, he fought against Turkish states such as the Karamanids in the east, and against various European forces such as Venice, Hungarians and the Crusaders in the west. These long-term struggles had a great impact on Murad, along with the death of his favorite son Alaeddin (1444), and he decided to retire to Bursa in 1444 and handed over the throne to Mehmed, who was 12 years old at that time.

The Ottomans' rivals and various internal factions viewed the reign of the child ruler Mehmed as an opportunity to advance their interests. In 1444 Pope IV. Eugene (1431-1447) began gathering his forces for a new Crusade after terminating an earlier peace agreement with Murad. Meanwhile, the Despots of the Peloponnese, rulers of a small Byzantine territory in southern Greece, began raiding Ottoman Thessaly. These cases sparked a crisis in the inner circles of high-ranking Ottoman viziers. Convinced by the influential grand vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha (d. 1453) and a letter from Mehmed himself, Murad returned to the throne to combat the threat.

King of Poland III. Crusaders led by the forces of Wladislas (1434-1444), II. He met Murad's forces at the Battle of Varna in 1444, which ended in a decisive victory for the Ottomans. During this time, Mehmed was absorbed in his studies under the direction of his teachers Zağanos Pasha (d. 1462) and Şahabuddin Şahin Pasha. In 1451, II. Murad passed away and left the throne to Mehmed in his will. Shortly after this, Mehmed set his sights on the city of Constantinople, the greatest reward of the region.

Siege of Constantinople
Constantinople itself was a shell of its former glory, with plagues, constant sieges, and a declining population due to the loss of surrounding lands making the city a symbolic rather than a strategic target. II. Many of Mehmed's predecessors tried to conquer the city but did not succeed. Aside from a brief occupation after the Fourth Crusade, it was virtually impregnable for centuries, mostly due to the Theodosian Walls, a series of fortifications built by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius the Second (AD 402-450).

Before the siege II. Mehmed renewed the peace agreements he made with many European states and the Karamanids. Then, in the winter of 1452, he began preparations to besiege the city by establishing a navy in Gallipoli and then gathering forces in Thrace. In the spring of 1452, he strengthened his stranglehold on the Byzantine capital by building a new large castle along the Golden Horn near Pera, known today as Rumelihisarı. Rumelihisarı complemented the Anadoluhisari castle, built across the Bosphorus on the Anatolian side by Mehmed's predecessor, Yıldırım Bayezid (1389-1402).

Ottoman fortress Rumelihisarı, Istanbul, built by Mehmed II (1432-1481 CE), Sultan of the Ottoman empire, in 1452 CE.

That same year, Mehmed gathered a group of distinguished engineers and inventors, including the famous Hungarian gunsmith Urban (d. 1453 CE), and tasked them with building the massive cannons that would save Mehmed from the siege of his predecessors. This would eventually become one of the deciding factors in his ultimate success in conquering the city. When the preparations were about to be completed, Mehmed gave an ultimatum to the Byzantines to surrender peacefully. Byzantine Emperor XI. Constantine Palaiologos (1449-1453) rejected this peace offer and the siege of Constantinople began on February 6, 1453.

Emperor Constantine took action to help. In early 1453, the Genoese and Venetians promised to support the Byzantine naval garrison with some warships. Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455) also offered assistance, but on the condition that the Eastern Orthodox Byzantines recognize the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and eventually unite. This agreement did not bear fruit; but various independent Christian volunteers took part in the defence.

The Constantinople garrison, consisting of approximately 5000-7000 soldiers, was very tense on the long perimeter of the Theodosian Walls, which was under the command of the Genoese General Giovanni Giustiniani (d. 1453). Emperor Constantine commanded a detachment of his forces near the palace complex. II, who struggled for the Ottoman throne. A detachment of Turkish rebel forces led by Mehmed's cousin, Prince Orhan, also participated in the defense of the city. In preparation for the impending Ottoman offensive, the Byzantines stretched a long chain across the Golden Horn, which served to prevent enemy battleships from attacking the vulnerable sections of the wall from the sea.

Mehmed arrived with the rest of his forces on 5 April 1453. His army numbered approximately 80,000 men, including skilled infantry, cavalry, siege equipment and naval forces. The pioneer of the Ottoman offensive was the formidable Janissary Corps. The Janissaries were composed of Balkan Christian children who were separated from their families and eventually trained to become career soldiers under the devsirme system. Like the Varangian Guard who served the Byzantine emperors, the Janissaries were chosen above all for their unwavering loyalty to the sultan. Other forces included the infamous Başıbozuk and Azap infantry, irregular soldiers such as Akıncı and horse raiders, while the rest of the army consisted of regular infantry, Sipahi cavalry and allied Serbian forces.
A few weeks after the siege began on April 6, the city's defenders, rallied by Giustiniani, successfully repelled several Ottoman attacks despite overwhelming odds. The Ottomans used their cannons to destroy parts of the walls with great effect; However, the long dwell time of the cannons mostly allowed the Byzantines to quickly repair the breaches. A new strategy was required for the Ottomans, and Mehmed produced an ingenious solution to the Byzantine naval blockade of the Golden Horn. On 22 April, the Sultan ordered his naval forces to bypass the Byzantine chain by crossing the warships overland at Pera with oxen and pushing them back into the sea inside the Golden Horn

A restored section of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, completed c. 413 CE

This maneuver was probably the turning point in the siege. The Byzantines needed to place the defenders they desperately needed on the part of the land wall facing the sea. Venetian attempts to intercept the Ottoman fleet were repelled, and with the new development, Mehmed renewed his infantry assault on the Theodosian walls. The siege continued for several more weeks until, on 26 May 1453, he gathered his pashas together in preparations for the final assault.

Mehmed launched his attack in three waves. The first was manned by the Başıbozuk and Azap infantry, who were easily repelled but exhausted the defenders. During the second wave of attack led by regular infantry, Ottoman artillery managed to destroy part of the outer walls. The second wave was also repelled, but Mehmed, quickly taking advantage of the breach in the walls, sent his Janissaries to spearhead the final assault on the city. Giustiniani's fatal wound during the fighting broke Byzantine morale and allowed the Janissaries to establish a foothold and plant their flag on the wall. Emperor Constantine attempted to lead his men in a last-ditch effort, but fell in the fighting and the defenders began to rout. Thus, May 29, 1453 marked the capture of Constantinople.

In accordance with Gazi traditions, Ottoman troops were allowed to plunder the city for three days. After the third day, Mehmed made his triumphant entry into the city through the Charisius Gate; The procession went directly to Hagia Sophia, which was to be converted into a mosque.

 To restore the city's population, the Sultan issued an edict to settle people from Anatolia and the Balkans in the new capital, regardless of ethnic or religious origin, and ordered many of the same soldiers who had fought in the siege to restore the damaged infrastructure. He also led the construction of a new imperial palace, which would be known as the New Palace and later the Topkapi Palace. Caroline Finkel describes Mehmed's new headquarters as follows:

The palace was a place where Sultan Mehmed retreated. Here he developed an aura of mystery and power designed to enhance the mandates issued towards the end of his reign. (89)

Mehmed now began the work of purging opposing factions and those who might challenge his authority. Grand Vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha was among the first to be accused. The power of the Grand Vizier also weakened and most of the responsibilities were transferred to other high-ranking viziers. Mehmed then reallocated most of the nobles' lands and property to the slave class to counterbalance the influence of the slave class and strengthen the loyalty of his slaves.

Subsequent Conquests and Death
Shortly after the fall of Constantinople, the Genoese colony city of Pera (now known as Galata) surrendered peacefully. Mehmed realized his dream of conquering Istanbul and set his sights on new goals. In the spring of 1454, he started a war to annex lands under the Hungarian sphere of influence in Serbia. After Mehmed made limited progress, the city of Novo Brdo, famous for its rare ore deposits, was captured, but the campaign was interrupted when the Hungarian forces began to move close to the border.

Mehmed would make several more raids on Serbia, where he suffered his first major defeat in the Siege of Belgrade in July 1456. However, Mehmed's last attempt to subjugate Serbia was successful in 1459, when the Ottomans took control of the fortress of Smederevo (Samederevo). The administrators of the now fragmented Despotate of Serbia were exiled and the borderland near the Hungarians stabilized.

In the years following his success in Serbia, Mehmed began to conquer the Byzantine states in Greece and the Black Sea coast. He conquered Attica in early 1459 and sent a force to intervene in a civil war in the Peloponnese in May 1460. With these conquests, a small piece of land controlled by the Empire of Trebizond on the Black Sea coast remained as the last vestige of Byzantine rule in the region.

Doğu Akdeniz 1450

Trebizond and its surroundings were conquered in 1461, and this eastward expansion brought the Ottomans into head-on collision with the remaining Anatolian Principalities. Like the situation in the Peloponnese that led to Mehmed's intervention, the Karamanids were dragged into a civil war. Mehmed's conquest of Karamanid lands brought the Akkoyunlu Confederation, another powerful eastern neighbor, into conflict with the Ottomans. The conflicts ended in 1501, when Mehmed's son and successor, Sultan II. It would take decades until Bayezid (1481-1512) defeated them.

Perhaps the most notable of Mehmed's conflicts after the conquest of Constantinople was against the ruthless prince Henry III, a possible inspiration for the plot of the novel Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker. It was Wallachia where the struggles that restrained Vlad took place. Vlad led the Wallachian resistance against Mehmed's forces and became known for his brutal execution methods, slaughtering people in every settlement in his path, earning him the nickname Vlad the Impaler. His notoriety would spread throughout Europe and he would eventually be captured and imprisoned by the Hungarians. Vlad was released after a while, but he died in a battle in 1476.

The last years of Mehmed's reign would be marked by constant struggles. Strengthened by their past successes, the Ottomans would wage a long war against the Venetians (1463-1479) over their possessions in Southern Greece and the surrounding islands. When the legendary Albanian resistance leader Skanderbeg (1444-1478), who wanted to protect Albanian independence from the ever-expanding Ottomans, formed an alliance with the Venetians, the war would spread to Albania, but these wars would end with a strategic victory for the Ottomans. For after the Ottomans captured Venetian territory in the Aegean and their defeat at the key fortress of Negroponte, Venice's holdings in the region were greatly reduced. Skanderbeg died in 1478 after resisting the Ottomans for decades. His death would leave a power vacuum in Albania and contribute to the chain of events that would eventually lead to the conquest of Albania by the Ottomans. In the spring of 1481, Mehmed led a new campaign with his army. He fell ill during the march and died on May 3, 1481. Mehmed's eldest son, Mehmed II. Bayezid would become sultan in his place.

Mehmed took major steps to centralize Ottoman administration and expand the role of the sultan. He consolidated his power by weakening and redelegating the roles and responsibilities of high-level individuals who were also connected to the sultan through political marriages. Wealth and land from the aristocrats were redistributed to Mehmed's slave class, giving him a reliable and loyal base and the added advantage of checking the power of the conspiring nobles. Mehmed and dignitaries met in regular meetings known as Divan, named for the ground-level sofas that adorned the room.

A development during Mehmed's reign, mostly attributed to the later Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), was the compilation of laws that replaced obscure forefathers. These customary laws, known as Kanun, dealt with issues such as the power structure of the government and the taxation of subjects, and were carefully formulated so as not to conflict with religious law (shariah).

Mehmed's administration had a moderate attitude in religious affairs. Non-Muslim people living in the Ottoman Empire were allowed to practice their beliefs freely, but were required to pay a special tax called jizya. Additionally, seeking to legitimize his rule over the largely Eastern Orthodox minority, Mehmed appointed religious leaders who aligned with his interests, such as the Patriarch of Constantinople Gennadious Scolarious (1454-1464), and gave them extensive authority over their religion.

Depiction of Gennadious Scholarios interacting with Mehmed II

legacy
During his reign, Mehmed made extensive administrative changes, reorganization of military forces, ambitious construction projects and extensive conquests, leaving his successors an empire that deserves careful consideration. Mehmed was also known as the benefactor of artists and writers. He studied classical Greek and Roman literature in his childhood and continued to collect and read related manuscripts throughout his reign as sultan. He supported dozens of poets, writers, and scholars and invited philosophers, astronomers, and painters from across Europe and the Middle East to his court. John Freely describes the wealth of his palace as follows:

Both the sultan and his grand viziers were the greatest men of culture and patrons of the arts, and Mehmet the Conqueror's palace in Istanbul rivaled in its brilliance that of the Western princes of the European Renaissance. (119)

During his reign, he undertook many bold architectural undertakings, including repairing the broken infrastructure of his new capital, building the opulent Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, and overseeing the construction of several mosques built in his honor, the Fatih Mosque being the most famous. When he entered the city of Athens after his conquest, he is said to have ordered the renovation of all the old buildings that had been deteriorated by the elements.

A tile panel in Topkapı Palace depicting Mount Arafat

II. Mehmed's conquest of Constantinople earned him the title Fatih (conqueror) by his subjects. Contrary to popular belief, the name of Constantinople was not changed to Istanbul by Mehmed. The city was called Konstantiniyye by the Ottomans, derived from its Arabic name. Istanbul was the Turkish spoken pronunciation officially adopted by the Republic of Turkey after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.