Mesut was a

bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

Menteshe __NOTOC__ Menteshe ( ota, منتشه, tr, Menteşe) was the first of the Anatolian beyliks, the frontier principalities established by the Oghuz Turks after the decline of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Founded in 1260/1290, it was named for i ...

, one of the Anatolian beyliks (principalities).

Background

In the second half of the 13th century, the Seljuks of Anatolia became the puppet of the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

and the vassal Turkmen tribes began to act independently. Mesut was the son of Menteshe, a tribe leader who had settled his tribe in

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined ...

(southwestern

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 ...

, presently

Muğla Province Muğla Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey, at the country's south-western corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its seat is Muğla, about inland, while some of Turkey's largest holiday resorts, such as Bodrum, Ölüdeniz, Marmaris and Fethiye, ...

and parts of Aydın and

Antalya Province Antalya Province ( tr, ) is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Antalya Province is the centre of Turkey's tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visi ...

s of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

As a leader

After his father's death in 1282 (?), Mesut became the new bey. He controlled most of the beylik except

Finike Finike, the ancient Phoenix or Phoinix ( grc, Φοῖνιξ), also formerly Phineka, is a town and a district on the Mediterranean coast of Antalya Province in Turkey, to the west of the city of Antalya, along the Turkish Riviera. It is located o ...

(ancient Phoenicus at the extreme east of the beylik ) which was under his brother's rule In the early years of his reign, he fought against the

Byzantine 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 ...

army which tried to recapture the Caria region. Mesut was able to defend his territory.Online history
/ref> After Byzantine army returned, he began attacking nearby islands by his newly founded fleet. His crew was composed of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

converts as well as the Turkmens. By this navy he attacked the island

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

and captured most of the island in 1300. However, in 1310

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

recaptured the island with the help of Philip IV of France. Mesut tried to capture the island for the second time with the help of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the La ...

. But he was not successful.Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: ''Türkiye tarihi Cilt I'', AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991, p 317-318

Death

Mesut probably died in 1319. He was succeeded by his son Orhan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesut of Mentese 13th-century births 1319 deaths Turkic rulers Menteshe 14th-century monarchs in Asia