Musa Çelebi

Musa Çelebi ( 1402 – 5 July 1413) was an Ottoman prince and a co-ruler of the empire for three years during the Ottoman Interregnum.

Background

Musa was one of the sons of Bayezid I, the fourth Ottoman sultan. His mother was Devletşah Hatun. After the Battle of Ankara, in which Bayezid I was defeated by Tamerlane, he returned to the Ottoman Empire, which was now in turmoil, and tried to access the throne in Bursa, the Anatolian capital of the empire in 1403. However, three of his brothers were also claimants to the Ottoman throne: İsa Çelebi in Balıkesir and Mehmed Çelebi in Amasya (both in the Anatolian portion of the empire), Süleyman Çelebi in Edirne, the Rumeli (European) capital. (the Ottoman Empire at the time had two capitals, since the declining Byzantine Empire in Constantinople separated the two parts of the Ottoman lands).

Ottoman Interregnum

İsa defeated Musa and captured Bursa. Musa took refuge in Germiyanid territory, where he waited for a suitable moment to try again. In 1406, Mehmed, who had defeated İsa, became the sole ruler of the Anatolian portion of the empire, but he was no match for Süleyman of the Rumeli (European) portion. Mehmed and Musa met in Kırşehir in central Anatolia and formed an alliance against Süleyman. Other events that may be viewed as the continuation of the interregnum were the two rebellions of Mustafa Çelebi, another one of Bayazid's sons who had been hiding in Anatolia. Mustafa was a fifth claimant to throne and he fought against both his brother Mehmed I in 1416 and his nephew Murad II in 1421 unsuccessfully.

Family Musa married two times: Arina of Wallachia, daughter of Mircea I of Wallachia, married in 1403; An illegitimate daughter of Carlo I Tocco, married in 1412.