Murad I

Murad I (1326–1389), called Hüdavendigâr, the ‘sovereign’, was the third Ottoman ruler, who turned a frontier principality into a Balkan power. Son of Orhan, he was proclaimed ruler in 1362 while campaigning in Rumelia. That year he crushed revolts and had two brothers strangled.

In 1361 his forces took Adrianople, which Murad made his European capital; he also formed the Janissary corps. His raiders routed Hungarian-led crusaders on the Maritsa in 1364, and his forces crushed a Serbian army at Çirmen in 1371. Bulgaria submitted in 1368, the Byzantine emperor agreed to pay tribute in 1373 and Serbia followed in 1374.

When his son Savcı rebelled in 1373, Murad had him blinded and executed. In 1389 at Kosovo he met Lazar's coalition and died, by one account stabbed by Serbian knight Miloš Obilić. His son Bayezid took command and had his brother Yakub strangled. Murad was buried at Bursa.