Bajazet

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

or BAY- AZEED, I., an Ottoman Sultan, born 1347, succeeded his father, Amurath I., in 1389. He was the first of his family who assumed the title of Sultan. The Turkish Empire at this time extended W. from the Euphrates to the shores of Europe, and Amurath had crossed the Bosphorus, subdued the greater part of Thrace, and fixed the seat of his power at Adrianople. Bajazet wrested the N. parts of Asia Minor from the dominion of various Turkish emirs whose power had long been established there. In Europe he conquered Macedonia and Thessaly, and invaded Moldavia and Hungary. Sigismund, King of the latter country, met him at the head of 100,000 men, including the flower of the chivalry of France and Germany, but was totally defeated at Nicopoli, on the Danube, Sept. 28, 1396. Bajazet was preparing for an attack on Constantinople, when he was interrupted by the approach of Timur the Great, by whom he was defeated at Angora, in Anatolia, July 28, 1402. He was taken captive, and died about nine months afterward, at Antioch in Pisidia. He was succeeded by Mohammed I. BAJAZET II., a Sultan of the Turks; he succeeded his father, Mohammed II., in 1481. His brother, Zizim, unsuccessfully contested the empire with him, assisted by Caith Bey, Sultan of the Egyptian Mamelukes. Bajazet undertook an expedition against Caith Bey, but was defeated, with great loss, near Mount Tau. rus in Cilicia, in 1489. He was more fortunate in Europe, where, in the same year, his generals conquered Croatia and Bosnia. Bajazet was engaged in long and bloody hostilities with the Moldavians, the Rhodians, and especially the Venetians, who frequently invaded the S. of Greece; and with Ishmael, King of Persia. At home he had to contend against his rebellious son, Selim, to whom at last he resigned the empire. He died in 1512.