Sultan Murad II

Ruled 1421-1444 & 1446-1451

Murat II (or Murad II) was one of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. He was born in 1403 in Amasya and died in 1451 in Edirne, the capital of the Empire back then. He succeeded his father, Mehmet I known as Celebi Mehmed, at the age of 19 in 1421. His mother was Emine Hatun. Murad II was also known as the Great Murad.

Murad II continued the expansionist policy of the Ottomans, capturing Salonika in 1430 and embarking on a series of campaigns against Hungary. He was frustrated by the military strategy of the Hungarian commander, Janos Hunyadi, who was causing problems in the Balkans attacking the Ottoman army. He signed the Treaty of Szeged in 1444 with a Balkan coalition under the leadership of the Polish king, Wladislaw III. He crushed a Christian army at Varna later in the same year, defeating the combined forces of Hungary, Serbia, and Bosnia at Kosovo in 1448, reacquiring control of Serbia, which he had earlier relinquished in the Treaty of Szeged. He also collected taxes from the Byzantines.

In 1444, Murad II left his throne temporarily to his son, Mehmet II, in order to avoid his other son, Orhan celebi, to be enthroned after his death because Orhan was backed up by the Byzantines and could cause a chaos within the Empire. In 1446, when the Janniseries rioted agains the young sultan Mehmet II, Murad II returned to the capital city Edirne, re-took the throne and stopped the riot, then continued his campaigns in the Balkans.

When Murad II died in 1451 in Edirne, his body was taken to Bursa and buried in his mausoleum. His son, Mehmed II, became the next sultan.