65 Facts About Mehmed II

When Mehmed II ascended the throne again in 1451, he strengthened the Ottoman navy and made preparations to attack Constantinople.

Nonetheless, Mehmed II viewed the Ottoman state as a continuation of the Roman Empire for the remainder of his life, seeing himself as "continuing" the Empire rather than "replacing" it.

Mehmed II continued his conquests in Anatolia with its reunification and in Southeast Europe as far west as Bosnia.

Mehmed II is considered a hero in modern-day Turkey and parts of the wider Muslim world.

Mehmed II's father was Sultan Murad II and his mother Huma Hatun, a slave of uncertain origin.

When Mehmed II was eleven years old he was sent to Amasya with his two lalas to govern and thus gain experience, per the custom of Ottoman rulers before his time.

Mehmed II was influenced in his practice of Islamic epistemology by practitioners of science, particularly by his mentor, Molla Gurani, and he followed their approach.

The influence of Akshamsaddin in Mehmed II's life became predominant from a young age, especially in the imperative of fulfilling his Islamic duty to overthrow the Byzantine empire by conquering Constantinople.

Halil Inalcik states that Mehmed II did not ask for his father.

Mehmed II retained the title of sultan but only acted as a governor of Manisa.

Mehmed II conducted his first campaign against Ibrahim of Karaman; Byzantines threatened to release Ottoman claimant Orhan.

When Mehmed II ascended the throne again in 1451, he devoted himself to strengthening the Ottoman navy and made preparations for an attack on Constantinople.

In 1453 Mehmed II commenced the siege of Constantinople with an army between 80,000 and 200,000 troops, an artillery train of over seventy large field pieces, and a navy of 320 vessels, the bulk of them transports and storeships.

At first, the city's walls held off the Turks, even though Mehmed II's army used the new bombard designed by Orban, a giant cannon similar to the Dardanelles Gun.

When Sultan Mehmed II stepped into the ruins of the Boukoleon, known to the Ottomans and Persians as the Palace of the Caesars, probably built over a thousand years before by Theodosius II, he uttered the famous lines of Saadi:.

Mehmed II had installed Gennadius Scholarius, a staunch antagonist of the West, as the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople with all the ceremonial elements, ethnarch status and rights of property that made him the second largest landlord in the said empire by the sultan himself in 1454, and in turn Gennadius II recognized Mehmed II the Conqueror as successor to the throne.

The oldest boy, renamed Has Murad, became a personal favorite of Mehmed II and served as beylerbey of the Balkans.

Mehmed II eventually served twice as Grand Vizier under Mehmed's son, Bayezid II.

Mehmed II secured promises of support from the Turkish beys of Sinope and Karamania, and from the king and princes of Georgia.

Mehmed II eventually heard of these intrigues and was further provoked to action by David's demand that Mehmed remit the tribute imposed on his brother.

Mehmed II led a sizable army from Bursa by land and the Ottoman navy by sea, first to Sinope, joining forces with Ismail's brother Ahmed.

Mehmed II captured Sinope and ended the official reign of the Jandarid dynasty, although he appointed Ahmed as the governor of Kastamonu and Sinope, only to revoke the appointment the same year.

Mehmed II's rule was short-lived as Hunyadi invaded Wallachia and restored his ally Vladislav II, of the Danesti clan, to the throne.

In 1459, Mehmed II sent envoys to Vlad to urge him to pay a delayed tribute of 10,000 ducats and 500 recruits into the Ottoman forces.

Turahanoglu Omer Bey, who served with distinction and wiped out a force of 6,000 Wallachians and deposited 2,000 of their heads at the feet of Mehmed II, was reinstated, as a reward, in his old gubernatorial post in Thessaly.

In 1463, Sultan Mehmed II led an army into the country.

Mehmed II invaded Bosnia and conquered it very quickly, executing Stephen Tomasevic and his uncle Radivoj.

Ottoman reaction was swift and decisive: Mehmed II dispatched his Grand Vizier, Mahmud Pasha Angelovic, with an army against the Venetians.

Sultan Mehmed II, who was following Mahmud Pasha with another army to reinforce him, had reached Zeitounion before being apprised of his Vizier's success.

In early 1465, Mehmed II sent peace feelers to the Venetian Senate; distrusting the Sultan's motives, these were rejected.

Mehmed II failed to take the Acropolis and was forced to retreat to Patras, the capital of Peloponnese and the seat of the Ottoman bey, which was being besieged by a joint force of Venetians and Greeks.

In 1470 Mehmed II personally led an Ottoman army to besiege Negroponte.

Mehmed II sent his armies to take Shkodra in 1474 but failed.

Mehmed II's reign was short as Pir Ahmet appealed to Sultan Mehmed II for help, offering Mehmed some territory that Ishak refused to cede.

Mehmed II returned and captured both Karaman and Konya in 1466.

Mehmed II recovered Ottoman power over the other Turkish states, and these conquests allowed him to push further into Europe.

Under the leadership of Uzun Hasan, this kingdom gained power in the East; but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers like the Empire of Trebizond and the Republic of Venice, and the alliance between the Turcomans and the Karamanid tribe, Mehmed II saw them as a threat to his own power.

Mehmed II was never successful in his efforts to subjugate Albania while Skanderbeg was alive, even though he twice led the Ottoman armies himself against Kruje.

Mehmed II energetically pursued the attacks against the Albanian strongholds, while sending detachments to raid the Venetian possessions to keep them isolated.

Mehmed II restored the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate, monk Gennadios being appointed as the first Orthodox Patriarch and established a Jewish Grand Rabbinate and the prestigious Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople in the capital, as part of the millet system.

However, many people escaped again from the city, and there were several outbreaks of plague, so that in 1459 Mehmed II allowed the deported Greeks to come back to the city.

Mehmed II introduced the word Politics into Arabic "Siyasah" from a book he published and claimed to be the collection of Politics doctrines of the Byzantine Caesars before him.

Mehmed II gathered Italian artists, humanists and Greek scholars at his court, allowed the Byzantine Church to continue functioning, ordered the patriarch Gennadius to translate Christian doctrine into Turkish, and called Gentile Bellini from Venice to paint his portrait as well as Venetian frescoes that are vanished today.

Mehmed II collected in his palace a library which included works in Greek, Persian and Latin.

Mehmed II allowed his subjects a considerable degree of religious freedom, provided they were obedient to his rule.

Mehmed II's authority extended to all Ottoman Orthodox Christians, and this excluded the Genoese and Venetian settlements in the suburbs, and excluded Muslim and Jewish settlers entirely.

Once Mehmed II had created an Ottoman bureaucracy and transformed the empire from a frontier society to a centralized government, he took care to appoint officials who would help him implement his agenda.

Mehmed II was the first sultan who was able to codify and implement kanunname solely based on his own independent authority.

Additionally, Mehmed II was able to later implement kanunname that went against previous tradition or precedent.

Mehmed II delegated significant powers and functions of government to his viziers as part of his new policy of imperial seclusions.

Mehmed II's viziers directed the military and met foreign ambassadors, two essential parts of governing especially with his numerous military campaigns.

From a young age, Mehmed II had shown interest in Renaissance art and Classical literature and histories, with his school books having caricaturistic illustrations of ancient coins and portraiture sketched in distinctly European styles.

From early on in his reign, Mehmed II invested in the patronage of Italian Renaissance artists.

Mehmed II's first documented request in 1461 was a commission from artist Matteo de' Pasti, who resided in the court of the lord of Rimini, Sigismondo Malatesta.

One of the many opponents to Mehmed II's collection was his own son and future Sultan, Bayezid II, who was backed by powerful religious and Turkish factions in his opposition.

Mehmed II had at least eight known consorts, at least one of whom was his legal wife.

Some sources indicate that Mehmed II had a passion for his hostage and favourite, Radu the Fair.

Mehmed II had a strong interest in ancient Greek and medieval Byzantine civilization.

Mehmed II's heroes were Achilles and Alexander the Great and he could discuss Christian religion with some authority.

Mehmed II was reputed to be fluent in several languages, including Turkish, Serbian, Arabic, Persian, Greek and Latin.

Besides, Mehmed II himself was a poet writing under the name "Avni" and he left a classical diwan poetry collection.

Mehmed II was just beginning new campaigns to capture Rhodes and southern Italy, however according to some historians his next voyage was planned to overthrow the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and to capture Egypt and claim the caliphate.

The news of Mehmed II's death caused great rejoicing in Europe; church bells were rung, and celebrations held.

Mehmed II is recognized as the first sultan to codify criminal and constitutional law, long before Suleiman the Magnificent; he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan.

Mehmed II left behind an imposing reputation in both the Islamic and Christian worlds.