The Hunyadi Revolt
 |
| Carrdinal Cesarini |
Hunyadi and
Ladislaus were begged by the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaiologus to stand firm against the Turks,
encouraged by the knowledge that a Christian naval squadron commanded the Hellespont, penning Murad in Anatolia. Ladislaus announced that he
would;
‘Hurl back the infidel sect
of Mohammed overseas.’[i]
And the
Papal Legate Cardinal Julian Cesarini, who was pushing for the restitution of the crusade,
absolved Ladislaus from the perjury of a
‘Rash and sacrilegious oath
to the enemies of Christ.’[ii]
The
crusaders were without their Serbian allies as Branković was unwilling to
overset the treaty that had given him back his domains. A troop from Wallachia,
led by Vlad Dracul[iii], made up part of the difference in
numbers.
 |
| Battle of Varna |
Murad was
able to avoid the squadrons controlling the Hellespont and in November 1444 he
and his armies swept down on the Christians in Rumelia, who were outnumbered three to one, at Varna[iv]. The battle, on 10th November, was a victory for the Ottomans
who;
‘After making prisoner all
their fresh-faced youths, put all the older ones to the sword, so that these
proud infidels suffered what they themselves had planned against the community
of Mohammed.’[v]
Ladislaus
died on the field and his head, preserved in honey, was cleaned and sent to
Bursa and carried round the streets atop a lance. Hunyadi fled the field with
Vlad Dracul, who kept him a prisoner for a time. Cardinal Julian Cesarini fled
and was never seen again[vi].
Mehmet in Charge
 |
| Great Mosque at Magnesia |
His first
attempt at retirement having last three months; Murad now abdicated the throne
in favour of Mehmet; telling the court;
‘I have given my all – my
crown, my throne – to my son, whom you should recognise as sultan.’[vii]
Murad took
over, as his personal domain, three districts of Anatolia around Magnesia. He
had a palace built at Magnesia and there, amidst the company of
mystics, poets, theologians and men of letters, he sought the life of a member
of a religious fraternity.
Murad
encouraged Turkish historical studies and the development of the Turkish
language. He occasionally received foreign diplomats in his private apartments
and also spent time hunting. Murad had two years of the contemplative life
before he was called back to his duties by Halil.
The
Venetians sought to take advantage of Mehmet’s inexperience and negotiated a
peace treaty signed on 23rd February 1446 at Adrianople. Halil was
concerned by Mehmet’s plans for an attack on Constantinople at a time when the
Ottoman army was involved in operations on the Greek and Albanian frontiers.
Halil, like Murad, was a promoter of peace and at war with the military
commanders who surrounded the belligerent young sultan.
Murad’s Return
Halil had
the support of the Janissaries and Murad who reluctantly returned to his duties
as sultan in the spring of 1446 after a further Janissary revolt over pay. The
Janissaries also objected to Mehmet’s decadent life style.
Mehmet was
sent off as governor of Magnesia until the death of his father five years
later. The introspective Mehmet spent his time brooding over his wrongs and
frustrated ambitions. During the last years of his life Murad acted in a more
friendly fashion to his son, who visited him a number of times in Adrianople.
 |
| Muradiye Complex in Bursa |
Murad became
attached to a slave girl called Gülbehar[viii] who gave Mehmet a son, Bayezid in January 1448. Hüma
Hatun, who had acted as Valide Sultan during her son’s first reign, died in September 1449 and was
buried in the garden of the Muradiye complex in Bursa. Her tomb was built by Mehmet;
‘For his deceased mother,
queen among women – may the earth of her grave be fragrant.’[ix]
Murad
considered Gülbehar unacceptable as a bride for his son and arranged a marriage
with Sitt Hanum[x]; the daughter of the emir Ibrahim, a
Turkoman prince and ruler of Dulkadir State, thus providing allies against
the troublesome Karamanids in Anatolia. Mehmet was not consulted about the
marriage and he was resentful of his father’s arrangements.
The wedding
took place in September 1450 and was followed by celebrations that lasted three
months. The union produced no children and the beautiful Sitt was left behind
in Adrianople when Mehmet moved his capital to Constantinople.
In 1450
Gülbehar gave birth to Mehmet’s second son Mustafa, who was to be his
favourite. In November Murad’s fifth wife Halima Hatun gave birth to a boy called Küçük
Ahmet Ҫelebi, a potential rival to Mehmet.
The Return of Trouble
On 31st
October 1448 the Byzantine Emperor John VIII died and his replacement was Constantine XI Palaiologos.
Constantine divided the Despotate of the Morea between his two brothers, Thomas and Demetrios. Murad used the period of change to
extend his domains in western Greece, capturing Arta, whilst also dealing with trouble in the Morea[xi] fomented by the new Despots.
Murad was
then forced to deal with Skandebeg[xii], a former Turkish official, who
became ruler of Kruje, Svetigrad and Modriĉ[xiii]. He joined with Hunyadi in another
uprising in 1448. Murad defeated their joint armies at Kosovo, ending any chance of Serbian
independence. Mehmet fought in the battle, commanding the right wing of his
father’s army.
 |
| Skanderbeg's fortress |
In mid 1450
Murad laid siege to Skanderbeg’s fortress at Kruje. Skanderbeg’s defence was so tenacious that Murad
raised the siege in October, making Skanderbeg a hero throughout the Christian
world. The Pope, King Alfonso of Aragon, Hunyadi and Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy all sent Skanderbeg messages of support,
or ambassadors or assistance. Skanderbeg himself wrote that he had given
Christians hope that they could defend themselves from;
‘The oppression and cruel
hands of the Turks, our enemies and those of the Catholic faith.’[xiv]
Despite
Skanderbeg’s opposition Bosnia became a vassal state of the Ottomans and the
Hungarian military was crippled for the foreseeable future. Only Skanderbeg,
from his fortress in Croatia was able to inflict any damage on the seemingly
unstoppable Ottomans.
Transfer of Power
At the
beginning of 1451 Murad ordered that work commence on several pavilions for his
palace of Edirne Sarayi. He died of apoplexy on 13th February 1451
at Adrianople following a drinking bout, at the age of forty-seven. When the
news reached him Mehmet immediately set out for the Ottoman capital.
Halil
suppressed the news of Murad’s death to allow Mehmet time to make the journey.
Mehmet was unpopular with both the Janissaries and the people of Adrianople.
Mehmet’s departure from his governorship was so fast he had no time to muster
his followers who only caught up with Mehmet at Gallipoli, where he camped for two nights.
 |
| Tower of Justice Adrianople |
Halil seems
to have been at odds with the Janissaries who had no respect for Mehmet, and
Adrianople was tense when Mehmet rode into the city. Mehmet was confronted by
crowds as he was greeted by Sabbaheddin and Halil.
‘They [the crowd} stopped
and……….raised their voices in loud lamentations, shedding tears all the while.
Then Mehmet and his subordinates, dismounted and followed suit by rending the
air with wailing. The mournful cries heard that day… on both sides were a
spectacle indeed.’[xv]
Mehmet
confirmed the chief officers in their posts, despite his personal dislike of
Halil[xvi].
Ișak Pasha,
the idol of the army, was sent to escort Murad’s body to its tomb at Bursa. He
was accompanied by Murad’s widow Halima, possibly a diversion while on 18th
February 1451 Mehmet had his three month old half-brother Küçük Ahmet Ҫelebi
garrotted[xvii].
The bereaved widow and mother was then married off to Ișak Pasha.
Ișak’s next
task was to restore calm in the provinces where a number of vassals had
revolted. Tempted by the possibilities of loot, the Janissaries were eager to
take this task on[xviii].
The princelings in Anatolia were subdued and Ișak moved military headquarters
from Ankara to Kütaya.
Murad and
Halil had been proponents of peace, although Murad had spent much of his reign
fighting to obtain the peace he desired. Now with his death the war party was
in the ascendant.
Bibliography
The Grand
Turk – John Freely, I.B. Tauris and Co Ltd, 2009
The
Janissaries – Godfrey Goodwin, Saqi Books 1994
Lords of the
Horizons – Jason Goodwin, Henry Holt & Co 1998
The Ottoman
Empire – Halil Inalcik, Phoenix 1994
The Ottoman
Empire – Lord Kinross, Folio Society 2003
Byzantium,
The Decline and Fall – John Julius Norwich, Folio Society 1995
The Ottoman
Empire – Andrina Stiles, Hodder & Stoughton 1989
www.wikipedia.en
[i]
The Ottoman Empire - Kinross
[ii]
Ibid
[v]
The Grand Turk - Freely
[vi]
It is assumed that he died during the battle, although the church would not
believe that he was dead and there were a number of rumours of sightings of the
cardinal.
[vii]
The Grand Turk - Freely
[viii]
Possibly of Albanian or Greek Christian origin
[ix]
The Grand Turk - Freely
[xi]
Now known as the Peloponnese
[xii]
Originally Georg Castriota, and then Iskander Beg, he became known as
Skanderbeg after he deserted from the Turkish ranks at the Battle of Nis. In
1444 he set up the League
of Lezhȅ, an alliance of Albanian principalities, to defend Albania against
further encroachment by the Ottomans
[xiii]
In Croatia
[xiv]
The Grand Turk - Freely
[xv]
Ibid
[xvi]
He had decided to leave confronting Halil until after he had taken
Constantinople, a task he had been set upon for years
[xvii]
This is the first instance of what became the norm, with the new Ottoman
emperor authorising fratricide as a means of avoiding rebellion within the
family, normally the garrotte traditionally used was a bowstring
[xviii]
The Ottoman emperors ended up caught in a vice of their own devising whereby
the Janissaries could only be kept under control by a series of expansionist
wars. Without war as a diversion they tended to mutiny
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