Bajazet I.

Bajazet I., or BAJAZID, Sultan of the Turks, was born in 1347, and in 1389 succeeded his father, Murad I., who was slain on the battlefield of Kosovo. He inaugurated his rule by strangling his younger brother Yakub, lest he should dispute the succession. In three years he conquered Bulgaria, with parts of Servia, Macedonia, and Thessaly; he also subdued the greater part of Asia Minor. From the rapidity with which these extraordinary conquests were effected, he received the name of Ilderim—that is, 'Lightning.' He even blockaded Constantinople itself for ten years, thinking to subdue it by famine. To rescue this city, King Sigismund of Hungary (afterwards emperor of Germany) assembled a large army, including 2000 French nobles, and laid siege to the Bulgarian city of Nikopolis, on the Danube. Bajazet hastened to meet him, and gained a decisive victory over the allied Hungarians, Poles, and French (1396). Sigismund escaped, but the greater part of the French, through whose impetuosity the battle was lost, were taken prisoners, and were nearly all executed. Bajazet would now have entirely destroyed the Greek empire, if he had not been prevented by Timur (q.v.), who attacked his possessions in Asia Minor, and completely defeated him (1402) near Angora. Bajazet himself fell into the hands of the conqueror, who treated him with great generosity. The story popularised by Marlowe and Racine, that he was carried about imprisoned in a cage, is without historical foundation, and is probably based on a mistranslation of a Turkish word signifying 'litter.' Bajazet died in 1403, in the camp of Timur. He was succeeded in the government by his son Soliman I. Bajazet was honourably distinguished by his efforts to improve the administration of justice.