The Battle of İnceğiz was fought sometime in late 1411 or early 1412 near

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

between the rival sons of the Ottoman

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...

Bayezid I Bayezid I ( ota, بايزيد اول, tr, I. Bayezid), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt ( ota, link=no, یلدیرم بايزيد, tr, Yıldırım Bayezid, link=no; – 8 March 1403) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He adopted ...

Mehmed Çelebi Mehmed I ( 1386 – 26 May 1421), also known as Mehmed Çelebi ( ota, چلبی محمد, "the noble-born") or Kirişçi ( el, Κυριτζής, Kyritzis, "lord's son"), was the Ottoman sultan from 1413 to 1421. The fourth son of Sultan Bayezid ...

and Musa Çelebi, during the final stages of the civil war known as the

Ottoman Interregnum The Ottoman Interregnum, or the Ottoman Civil War ( 20 July 1402 – 5 July 1413; tr, Fetret Devri, , Interregnum Period), was a civil war in the Ottoman Empire between the sons of Sultan Bayezid I following the defeat of their father at the ...

Background

Musa had become the ruler of the Ottomans' European domains after overthrowing and killing his brother

Süleyman Çelebi Süleyman Çelebi (also Emir Süleyman; d. 17 February 1411) was an Ottoman prince () and a co-ruler of the Ottoman Empire for several years during the Ottoman Interregnum. There is a tradition of western origin, according to which Suleiman th ...

in 1410–11. Unlike Süleyman, Musa, who relied greatly on the ''

akinji Akinji or akindji ( ota, آقنجى, aḳıncı, lit=raider, ; plural: ''akıncılar'') were Irregular military, irregular light cavalry, scout divisions (deli) and advance troops of the Ottoman Empire's Military of the Ottoman Empire, military ...

'' raiders, followed a policy extremely hostile to his Christian neighbours. The attacks against both the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

, that had stopped after the Treaty of Gallipoli in 1403, resumed: in Serbia, Musa besieged Smederovo, while against Byzantium he attacked

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and Selymbria, and placed

under blockade in August 1411.

Mehmed's alliance with Byzantium and the battle

As a result, the

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

Manuel II Palaiologos turned to Musa's brother,

, who had established his rule over the Ottoman territories in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. The anonymous Ottoman chronicle '' Aḥvāl-i Sulṭān Meḥemmed'' ("Affairs of Sultan Mehmed"), the Byzantine historian Doukas, and the Serbian historian Konstantin the Philosopher all report that Manuel sent envoys to Mehmed, offering an alliance against Musa, on the same terms as the previous arrangement with Süleyman. The two rulers met at Scutari and swore that if they won, Mehmed would maintain friendly relations with the Byzantines; if they lost, he would be allowed refuge in Constantinople. The exact site of İnceğiz and the date of the battle are unknown: it may have been fought either in autumn of 1411 or in spring of 1412. The ''Aḥvāl'' reports that the van of Mehmed's army comprised

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different Turki ...

and

Turcomans Turkoman (Middle Turkic: تُركْمانْ, ota, تركمن, Türkmen and ''Türkmân''; az, Türkman and ', tr, Türkmen, tk, Türkmen, Persian: ترکمن sing. ''Turkamān'', pl. ''Tarākimah''), also called Turcoman and Turkman, is a term ...

from the Rum Eyalet, the "army of

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

", and the forces of the Turcoman leader Yapaoğlu. According to Doukas, a few Byzantine troops also fought under Mehmed. Musa on the other hand disposed of 7,000 '' kapıkulu'', who played a decisive role in the battle. Mehmed's forces prevailed at the start of the battle, but then the ''kapıkulu'' managed to advance up to Mehmed and even wound his horse. The defeated Mehmed was forced to retreat to Constantinople, and thence cross again over to Anatolia.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Incegiz, Battle of 1411 in Europe 1412 in Europe Conflicts in 1411 Conflicts in 1412 İnceğiz İnceğiz History of Istanbul Province