Bajazet II., son of the Sultan Mohammed II., the conqueror of Constantinople, was born in 1447, and ascended the Ottoman throne after his father's death in 1481. His reign, which lasted 32 years, was a succession of uninterrupted wars against
Hungary, Poland, Venice, Egypt, and Persia, which were carried on with various success, and which served on the whole to establish the Ottoman power. The submission Bajazet always showed to the wishes of the Janissaries (q. v.) laid the foundation of the later importance of that body. The last years of his reign were much disturbed by disputes between his three sons about the succession to the throne. Influenced by the preference shown by the janissaries for his youngest son Selim, Bajazet abdicated in his favour, but died before he could reach the place of his voluntary exile, in the neighbourhood of Adrianople, in the year 1512. Bajazet was a friend to the dervishes, at the same time liberal and fond of pomp and splendour. Many of the most beautiful mosques in the Ottoman empire were built by him.