When Mehmed the Conqueror died of poison.. his son, the one who poisoned him, "Bayezid II", ascended the throne in Constantinople.. but his brother "Cem".. was in "Bursa".. and when he learned of his father's death.. he appointed himself sultan in Bursa.. and the people there recognised him.
Then this "Cem" sent word to "Bayezid II".. asking him to abdicate in his favour.. or for the two of them to split power between them.. but "Bayezid II" of course refused to divide the sultanate.. and he mustered the army.. and marched on Bursa and defeated "Cem" and his forces.. and Prince "Cem" fled with his followers and supporters.. escaping to Egypt...
In Egypt.. Sultan "Al-Ashraf Qaitbay" welcomed "Cem".. honoured him and gave him good lodging.. and then "Cem" asked Qaitbay for money and a caravan so that he could perform the Hajj.. and he supplied him with all he needed.
After the Hajj, "Cem" returned to Cairo.. and from there to Alexandria.. from there.. he made his contacts and travelled to Rhodes.. to meet the "Knights of St. John" and use them against his brother.. and he did indeed meet the Grand Master of the Knights.. but the Grand Master arrested him and took him hostage.. to blackmail "Bayezid II" with him.. how much will you pay and I'll send him back to you?
Of course "Bayezid II" did not want him back in the first place.. so he asked the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John to kill him in exchange for a sum.. but Pope "Innocent VIII" saved "Cem".. and took him from the Grand Master and kept him with him.
When the Pope died.. "Alexander VI" came along.. and he was an extremely practical man.. so he wrote to "Bayezid II" in brief.. how much will you pay and I'll send you his head? And indeed "Bayezid II" paid the agreed sum to "Alexander VI".. and "Cem" was killed.. and his body was shipped to Constantinople.. and there "Bayezid II" held celebrations over his brother's corpse.. after finally ridding himself of his rival for the throne.
And in about the year 1480.. "Russia" emerges as a new power on the scene.. at the hands of the Duke of Moscow "Ivan the Great, or Ivan III".
And Russia was subject to the Mongols and paid them an annual tribute.. and this did not please "Ivan" from his youth.. so when he came to power.. he built a strong army.. and began to expand through diplomacy and buying land.. and then he refused to pay the tribute to the Mongols.. so when they massed their army against him on the banks of the "Ugra" river.. "Ivan" surprised them with a huge army like locusts.. the like of which they had never seen.. and the Mongols were afraid to engage him.. and Russia was freed from their grip.
Then "Ivan" began to expand at the expense of the Ottomans.. and he recovered from them the towns they had taken by force.. and he made a new emblem for his state.. a double-headed eagle.. and he declared that this emblem meant that he was the heir of the Roman Empire.. and... and Constantinople...
"Bayezid II"'s problems with Egypt began to develop.. he did not like "Qaitbay".. nor did "Qaitbay" like him.. especially with the previous Ottoman attack on the Levant at the time of the death of "al-Zahir Barquq".. the Mamluks came to know that the Ottomans were a people whose treachery neither enemy nor friend could trust.. and what made matters worse.. was that "Qaitbay" had hosted "Cem", the brother of "Bayezid II", when he fled.
And in the summer of 1485.. a message reached Cairo from the emir of Syrian Aleppo.. that the Ottomans had attacked the Syrian towns on the frontiers of the state.. and occupied them and wrought looting and plunder there under the command of "Qara Kuz Muhammad Pasha".. and the emir "Hersek-zade Ahmed".
"Al-Ashraf Qaitbay" sent the commander "Saif al-Din Azbak" at the head of an army.. and he set off for the Levant.. and there "Saif al-Din" liberated the Levantine towns from the Ottomans one after another without a single defeat.. and "Qara Kuz Pasha" fled.. and the Egyptians captured the commander of the Ottoman forces, the emir "Hersek-zade Ahmed".. and captured most of the Janissary forces.. and drove them to Cairo bound in chains.. at their head "Hersek-zade".. with a dog's collar around his neck.
"Qaitbay" believed that after what had happened.. the Ottoman state would not dare attack again.. but just one year later.. in June of the year 1486 AD.. a message arrived from Aleppo.. that the Egyptian garrison there was fighting the Ottoman forces and sheltering behind the city.. but the city would fall sooner or later.. because the Ottoman army was enormous and vast.
The message greatly disturbed "Al-Ashraf Qaitbay".. especially since "Saif al-Din Azbak" was at that time in skirmishes with the Portuguese in the Red Sea.. because they wanted to seize the maritime trade routes.. so "Qaitbay" sent the emir "Yashbak al-Jamali" at the head of a force of the army to Aleppo.
A carbon copy of the previous scrape.. not a letter added nor a letter omitted.. and the scene repeats itself and "Yashbak al-Jamali" returns with the Ottoman prisoners tied in chains and shackles in front of his horses.
And here.. "Bayezid II" sends "Qaitbay" a letter seeking peace.. "Qaitbay" accepts it in order to free himself for the Portuguese danger.. and he releases "Hersek-zade Ahmed" and the prisoners and sends them to "Bayezid II".
And at the same time.. a letter is sent to "Bayezid II" from al-Andalus.. asking for support and backing so that al-Andalus would not fall.. but "Bayezid" fails them and holds back from supporting them.. because he had another goal in his head.
And in April of the year 1488.. "Bayezid II" moves for a third time at the head of a huge Ottoman army.. and they reach "Adana".. and there was a detachment of the Egyptian army there.. the Ottomans kill it entirely.. and they encamp there.. and the news reaches Cairo.
Here "Al-Ashraf Qaitbay" decides to declare war.. and sends "Saif al-Din Azbak" at the head of an enormous force of the army.. this force was the largest military force to leave Cairo since the days of "Qutuz" and "Baybars" and "Ain Jalut".. and the horsemen wore their war armour, contrary to custom.. and they set off towards the Levant.
The number of soldiers was staggering.. to the point that the Bedouin Arabs living in Egypt said "there is no longer any army in Cairo".. and they decided to spread corruption in the land and carry out a few campaigns of theft and plunder.. but "Qaitbay" had reckoned with them.. and he assigned cavalry units armed with swords to patrol the streets of Cairo... and this too was the first time such a thing had happened.. and the sight of these cavalrymen was something thrilling and dazzling for the people.
And in July of the year 1488, the movement began on the part of the Ottoman forces.. the Ottoman ships set out to besiege the Egyptian army by sea.. and they made a successful landing and put ashore nearly sixty thousand additional soldiers.. and the two armies engage.
And the Ottoman army was advanced, led by the terrifying Janissary forces.. covered by artillery by land and sea.. but "Saif al-Din Azbak" nonetheless defeats the Ottomans in a crushing, horrifying defeat.. and "Bayezid" flees and the Janissary forces flee behind him.. and "Saif al-Din" besieges Adana for 90 days.. until the last Ottoman soldier in it surrenders.. and he sends to al-Ashraf "Qaitbay" asking for orders.. and he orders him to march into Ottoman territory.
And after a few months.. in the year 1490.. and after successive Ottoman defeats and the complete withdrawal of the Ottoman army before Cairo's blows.. "Saif al-Din Azbak" had brought down "Karaman" and "Antioch" and "Diyarbakir".. and besieged "Kayseri" in the heart of Anatolia.
And here "Bayezid II" sends the keys of the fortresses the Ottomans had seized on the borders of the Levant to "Qaitbay" and asks for peace.. and "Qaitbay" agrees.. and they sign a treaty.. forbidding the Ottoman state from crossing the "Gulek" pass in the "Taurus Mountains" in Anatolia.. as it was the last frontier of the Egyptian state.
And on 24 April 1512.. "Selim I", this son of "Bayezid II".. gathers the Janissary forces around him.. the Janissary forces loved "Selim" because he was a horseman and a fighter.. and he lavished gifts on them.. and they saw him as the hope after "Bayezid"'s defeat in every battle he entered.
The Janissaries revolt against "Bayezid" because he had appointed his other son "Ahmed" as heir to the throne.. and they gather around "Selim".. and declare allegiance to him.. so "Selim" marches on Constantinople.. and deposes his father and sits in his place on the throne.. and afterwards exiles him to "Edirne".. and on 26 May of the same year.. after his arrival in his exile.. one of "Bayezid"'s companions poisons him.. at the instigation of his son "Selim".. who thereby ensured that his father would not try to turn against him once again.
And "Selim" began to devote himself to fighting his brothers as usual, and to seeking to fight and slaughter them.. so as to be free to achieve the goal.. that none of his forefathers had managed to accomplish throughout their history.
The conquest of Cairo.
But this story would take long to tell.. so we will continue our talk about it later.
And there remains more to be said.
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Previous posts in the first comment.
The photo is of the citadel of Sultan "Al-Ashraf Qaitbay" in Alexandria.
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#The_Ottoman_Caliphate 18