Mehmed I Reunifies the Ottoman State

1413

The last of Bayezid's surviving sons crushed his brother Musa at Camurlu and restored a single sultan to Edirne. Eleven years of fratricide had bled the empire thin, but Mehmed's patience had won. He spent his reign rebuilding what Timur had smashed, quietly, without conquests. His merciful governance earned him the epithet Celebi, the Gentleman, a rare distinction among Ottoman sultans.