The advance against Europe 1365-1402

The establishment of Edirne as the Ottoman capital in 1365 was a statement of intent to the inhabitants of the Balkans and the Ottoman conquest now began in earnest with differing Christian reactions to it. For example, Ragusa (Dubrovnik), which was unprotected from the advancing Ottomans, sought accommodation by treaties and signed an agreement with the Sultan to guarantee the safe continuation of its commercial activities. Other rulers were more devious in their relations with the Ottomans.

In 1365 one of the heirs of Bulgaria, dissatisfied with his share of his father's lands, sought Turkish help against his brother Shishman. But before the Turks could intervene the Hungarians invaded Bulgaria. It was therefore most unfortunate that at the end of the same year the Byzantine Emperor should choose to pass through Bulgaria en route to Buda. The Bulgarians kidnapped him in Vidin and prevented him from returning to Constantinople.

In 1366 the Pope proclaimed a crusade to expel the lurks from the Balkans, but the only ruler to respond was the captive Byzantine emperor's cousin Duke Amadeus VI of Savoy, who took his fleet through the Aegean to the Dardanelles. There he recaptured Gallipoli (Gelibolu), which was an important prize indeed, but Amadeus was probably more satisfied when a show of force liberated John V from his genteel Bulgarian captivity. This further weakened the Bulgarian leadership, plunging Shishman into a disadvantageous agreement with Sultan Murad 1. The alliance did not last, and with the battle of Samakov in 1371 Bulgarian tridependence was effectively at an end.

The road to Kosovo

When Stephen Dushan of Serbia died his empire passed into the hands of his young *xi Urosh. His vassals soon renounced their allegiance to him and set themselves up as madependent princes. One of these Serb leaders, Viikashin, who ruled in Serres, combined his forces with sympathetic Serbian mites and marched northwards towards the Maritza Valley full of hope. But far from miring the Turks out of Europe they suffered a great defeat on 26 September 1371 at the bottle of Cernomen where all the Serbian Itibders were killed. This battle, also known as the second battle of the Maritza, was called fit the Turkish chronicles 'Siff sindigi' (the destruction of the Serbs). Murad I was prudent after his victory and left much of Macedonia and Serbia in the hands of local duets as his vassals. They included a certain War. who, although connected with the litushan family did not claim the royal title.

Almost ten years went by before the kish advance against Serbia was renewed.
!he meantime they struck at Albania and Salgaria. So confused had been the state of Abania that its rulers were used to calling in foreign troops to aid them against internal weals, and so it was that the lord of I)urazzo gaited upon the Ottomans as allies in 1385. T price was vassaldom and when the fortresses of Crola and Scutari fell to Mend I he handed them over to his loyal Albanian followers. Elsewhere Thessalonica irrrendered in 1387, but Murad I also sought •consolidate his position in Anatolia and soak Konya from the Turkish house of Loraman that same year.

Lazar of Serbia seems to have been stung into action by the loss of Sofia in 1385, a defeat that was followed in 1386 by the occupation of the Serbian city of Nis. He was also embarrassed by the use of Serbian vassal troops in the Ottoman Army, so a combined force of Serbs and Bosnians went to war and defeated the local Turkish commander. The victorious army grew, swollen in number by hopeful contingents from Bulgaria, Wallachia, Albania and Hungary. But swift action by Murad I detacbed Bulgaria from the league and, as he marched north to take on Lazar, he was joined by many sympathetic Serbian nobles. The resulting armed clash was tbe famous battle of Kosovo, fought in June 1389, an encounter that still has tremendous significance in Balkan politics today. Among all the legends about the battle and its aftermath three facts stand out. The Ottoman Turks were victorious; Murad I was killed by a Serb at some point, although not during the actual fighting; and Lazar of Serbia was captured and executed in revenge. His son Stephen Lazarevic succeeded him and reigned for many years as a loyal Turkish vassal.

The victories of Bayezid the Thunderbolt 1389-96

Murad's son Bayezid who is known to history by the splendid appellation of 'the Thunderbolt', immediately succeeded the dead victor of Kosovo. Murad was the first Ottoman ruler to adopt the title of Sultan, a status confirmed solely by his military prestige, but Beyazid assumed the role in a new legal sense as the legitimate wielder of power in his domains. He was the most ambitious of the Ottoman leaders thus far. The confident Bayezid also diverged from the policy of his ancestors in his determination to wage war on rival Turkish principalities in Anatolia as vigorously as he did against infidels. He also alarmed an Italian trade delegation by boasting of his intention to conquer Hungary and Italy and to water his horse at the altar of St Peter's in Rome.

Such far reaching plans required a secure base, so Bayezid I began his military career with a series of operations to confirm Ottoman influence and domination in Anatolia and the Balkans. The first was needed because of revolts occasioned by the news of the death of Murad I at Kosovo. Bayezid dealt with his rivals with great efficiency and annexed what remained of the ghazi bevliks of western Anatolia.
In the Balkans matters went slowly but steadily. Bosnia held out until 1391. Bulgaria fought on until 1393, aided by Sigismund of Hungary. His was a cynical intervention that ended rapidly when he withdrew the Hungarian Army to escape entrapment. Soon the final spark of Bulgarian independence had burned out and in 1395 Bayezid turned his attentions for the first time directly against the greatest prize that both awaited and taunted the growing Ottoman Empire: the Byzantine capital of Constantinople.

The battle of Nicopolis 1396

The capital of the Byzantine Empire was a formidable place. Bayezid did not expect to bring down the mighty walls of Constantinople by attack, so instead he blockaded it from the straits, hoping to starve it out in time. That same year Bayezid also defeated Mircea of Wallachia, who fled to Hungary where he implored King Sigismund for help. The ultimate result was the great expedition and battle of Nicopolis, the first encounter between the Ottomans and troops from western Europe.

Mircea's aim was to regain his throne of Wallachia, Sigismund's was the saving of Hungary (Bayezid's earlier threats had been well disseminated). However, to the nobles of Europe who joined in the campaign that ended at Nicopolis the great expedition was nothing less than a crusade. The chief allies were Hungary, the Pope, the Duke of Burgundy and some leading French nobles. There was also a German and an English contingent. The plan was simple: a direct march to save the city of Constantinople, which was under a blockade by Bayezid I. The crusaders assembled at Buda and marched down the line of the Danube, crossing at the Iron Gates in an operation that took an entire week. Once on soil ruled by Orthodox Christianity the army disgraced itself by looting and pillaging as its ancestors had during the notorious Fourth Crusade in 1204. Two Bulgarian towns fell to their advance, and then they reached their first real challenge: the fortified city of Nicopolis (Nikopol). But the confident crusaders had come without siege engines and as they sat helplessly before the city walls martial ardour was gradually replaced by indiscipline. Merry jousts were held, safe in the erroneous knowledge that Bayezid I was in Egypt. He was in fact near the still-blockaded Constantinople, and his subsequent swift and secret advance against Nicopolis fully justified his nickname. In spite of the account by Froissart, who depicted the French knights being surprised in their tents, Bayezid the Thunderbolt did not attack the Christian camp but set up battle lines on ground of his own choosing in territory that was already very familiar to him. His dispositions made use of ravines on the flanks and also allowed the Turkish rearguard to be concealed on the reverse slope. Among these concealed troops were Serbian horsemen under Stephen Lazarevic.

The delay allowed the Christian Army to formulate its own plans of attack. King Sigismund wanted to send forward his Hungarian mounted archers to test the mettle of the Ottoman light cavalry screen before following up with the heavier armed knights of Hungary and Europe. This plan was supported by Mircea of Wallachia, but drew opposition from the visiting crusaders, as it did not suit their martial pretensions.
Ignoring the need for cooperation, the French knights advanced in good order ahead of their allies, determined to strike the first blow against the infidel.
The attack was a disaster. King Sigismund and his Hungarians did not engage in the centre, something that led to the French accusing them of treason. However, the king only became aware of their probable fate when a stampede of wounded and riderless horses swept by him. The Hungarians then advanced to engage the victorious Ottomans, but Bayezid's reserve troops, Stephen Lazarevic's Serbs, clinched the victory as they charged in and caused havoc. The crusader army broke and fled back to the flotilla of galleys that had provided their support down tbe Danube. Chaos reigned as the defeated soldiers began fighting each other for a place on the boats.
Nicopolis was Bayezid's greatest victory, and was marred only by his execution of prisoners the following day. He was apparently irritated by the huge losses sustained by his victorious army, and when reports reached him of massacres elsewhere he replied in kind. Few were spared. Among the fortunate ones held for ransom was Jean de Nevers, the son of tbe Duke of Burgundy and the future 'John the Fearless', and a young man called Johann Schiltberger, who was saved on account of his age and lived to write his memoirs. Schiltberger describes the aftermath of Nicopolis thus:

Then each was ordered to kill his own prisoners, and for those who did not wish to do so the king appointed others in their place. Then they took my companions and cut off their heads, aped when it came to my turn, the king's son saw me and ordered that I should be left alive, and I was taken to the other boys, because none under 20 years of age were killed, and I was scarcely 16 years old.

Disaster at Ankara The huge Turkish victory at Nicopolis made the position of Constantinople look even more perilous than ever. Tbe city did not fall to an Ottoman siege this time, but the loss of the allied army on the Danube made it less likely in future for any European prince to urge a crusade to save it. Nevertheless, in 1399 Emperor Manuel II went in person to plead his cause in the courts of Europe. His pleas for aid were eventually answered, but help came from an entirely unexpected direction.

The campaigns of Bayezid the Tbunderbolt had consolidated his rule on both sides of the Bosphorus: the European and Balkan front known as Rumelia, and the Asian side of Anatolia. So successful had he been in the latter direction that his conquests had brought him into contact with another emerging power: that of the heir of the Mongols called Timur Lenk (Timur the Lame), known to the west as Tamberlane.
While Bayezid had triumphed in the western part of what is modern Turkey, Timur had staked an equally formidable claim in the east, capturing the strategic city of Sivas in 1400. Throughout his campaigns along the Anatolian marches and in Syria diplomatic exchanges had continued between Timur and the Christian lands nearby. These included the emperor of Trebizond (Trabzon), who feared the Ottomans more than Timur and hurried to send tribute. Nor had Timm- neglected tokeep Bayezid I informed of his latest conquests, and the capture of Sivas was waved in front of his face as a taunt. Timur sought in particular the return from Bayezid's protection of certain dignitaries who had escaped the fall of Baghdad. Bayezid's response was to assemble his troops, drawing large numbers of vassal soldiers out of the Balkans and suspending the long siege of Constantinople just at the point when his blockade was beginning to show some effect. Envoys were sent to Timur and met him near Sivas. Timur made a grand show of reviewing his troops within sight of the envoys. The army included magnificently attired reinforcements recently sent from Samarkand.
Bayezid secured his rear by stationing nine ships at Gelibolu and another 20 in the Aegean. He then moved eastwards as quickly as possible to prevent a deep penetration of his territory by the enemy. His objective was the strategic city of Ankara, now Turkey's capital and already important owing to its position at the crossroads of the routes from Syria and Armenia. Summer was coming to an end and. the crops were ready for harvesting, so it was a had time to be going on campaign. The sultan rejected the advice of his councillors to wait tor Tinnir near the well-watered region near Ankara. Instead he left a reserve garrison there and continued eastwards.

Timm- was being kept informed of the Ottoman movements by scouts and he headed south-west from Sivas, following the curve of the Kizilirmak River. After six days of forced marches they reached Kayseri without meeting any opposition from Ottoman forces. They rested there for four days then rode for another four days across Cappadocia to the environs of Kirsehir, where the first armed contact was made with Ottoman scouts.

Three more days brought Timur's Army to the camping grounds to the north-east of Ankara that had recently been vacated by Bayezid. Timur gave orders for immediate

Wounded Tu; Lish soldiers at the siege of iiclgrade, 1456. from a modem fresco in the 'mosque church'

siege operations against Ankara's mighty Byzantine walls. The city's water supply was diverted and the mining of the ramparts began. Mongol troops were already scaling the walls when news came in that Bayezid had abandoned his march to Sivas and was two days away from Ankara.

When the Ottoman Army arrived they were in a very poor state. The only source of water available for Bayezid's troops was a spring that Timur had arranged to be fouled. They were therefore in no position to fall upon the rear of a besieging army, so Timur was given ample opportunity to organise his battle lines. They looked magnificent, being crowned at the front by the presence of war elephants from India.
Bayezid's Army included Serbian troops under his brother-in-law Stephen Lazarevic and the Serbs scored the first gain of the day by driving hack Tirnur's left wing. But there were problems among the Ottoman ranks. Certain contingents from Anatolia were from a similar ethnic background to Timur's own troops and his agents had been active among them. At Ankara they were fighting their own kind, not Balkan Christians. Many of them recognised their former masters in the opposing ranks and came over to Timur's side. Faced by rear attacks along witb the frontal assault the Ottoman Army began to give way. On the right wing Lazarevic's Serbs hung on until forced to retreat to Cover other contingents' withdrawal. Soon only Bayezid and his Janissaries were left. He held on until nightfall, then retreated with only
300 warriors left to accompany him. The enemy followed in hot pursuit and killed Bayezid's horse from under him.

In a dramatic end to a dramatic campaign Bayezid the Thunderbolt was taken prisoner and with him went Johann Schiltberger, the boy who had been spared at Nicopolis and had then entered the Sultan's service. Schillherger gives us the best close-hand account of the last days of the great Sultan:
Weysit jBayezid] took to flight, and went with at least 1,000 horsemen to a moutain. Temerlin surrounded the mountain so that he could notmove and took him. Then he remained eight months in the country, conquered more territory and occupied it ... and he would have taken hint into his own country but he (lied on the way.

Other accounts tell how the city of Ankara quickly submitted. Timor's Army headed west hunting down the remnants of Bayezid's Army. They finished by plundering the vast wealth of Bursa, including its magnificent bronze gates. The extent of the disaster can be imagined when one notes that Bayezid's son Suleiman had to escape across the Sea of Marmara on a Genoese galley. But far from massacring the escaping 'lurks the citizens of Constantinople generously helped ferry them across the Bosphorus to freedom, albeit for an enormous fee.

Bayezid the Thunderbolt was taken as a captive across Anatolia and died in March 1403, probably at Timur's own hand. Timur's Mongol Army devastated the Ottoman lands as far as the Aegean and then laid siege to Izmir, which had been won hack from the Turks in 1344 by the Knights of Rhodes. His victory there ensured that Timm had succeeded where his prisoner Bayezid had failed and had extinguished the last Christian outpost on the mainland. But Timur had also captured the Sultan and driven his son into exile. It appeared that Timm- the Lame had utterly destroyed the Ottoman Empire.