BYZANTINE-OTTOMAN RELATIONS IN EARLY 1420’S

Authors : Şahin KILIÇ

Pages : 245-266

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Publication Date : 2013-07-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Until up to the Ottoman defeat in 1402 at the Battle of Ankara, the course  of the relationships between the Byzantium and Ottoman Empire was defined by the  expansionist policies of Ottomans against the Byzantium. During the reign of  Beyazıd I, the attempts for transforming the Ottoman state into a centralized empire  covering the Balkans had to be postponed until to the reign of Murad II. The policies  pursued after the Interregnum period had also important impacts on the ways of  relationships between Byzantium who was now confined within the city walls of  İstanbul and Ottomans who were trying to recover. The early 1420’s was the  beginning of a new era for the Byzantines. Emperor Manuel Palaiologos II who had  managed to keep the state alive through his rational politics which gave direction to  the Ottoman-Byzantine relations for three decades died in 1425 after a long period  of illness. Ottoman Empire also entered a new period with the ascension of Murat II  to the throne in 1422. Therefore, it can be said that the first years of the 1420’s was  a turning point for both Ottomans and Byzantine Empire and the ways of their  relationships. This article examines these changing relationships between the  Byzantine and Ottoman Empire and the new balance of politics emerged after the  Battle of Ankara primarily based on the contemporary sources of this period.
Keywords : Byzantine Ottoman Relations, Byzantine, Ottoman, Manuel II Palaiologos, Bayezid I, Mehmed I, Murad II