II. IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE FIRST CENTURY OF OTTOMAN HISTORY
1299—Osman, Turkish emir in the valley of the Kara Su, makes Yeni Sheïr, between Brusa and Nicaea, his residence.
1301—Osman defeats the Byzantine heterarch Muzalon at Baphaeon, near Nicomedia.
1308—Kalolimni, island in the Sea of Marmora, is occupied. Ak Hissar and Tricocca are captured.
1317—Investment of Brusa begins.
1326—Brusa surrenders. Osman hears the news on his death-bed at Yeni Sheïr.
1329—Byzantines under Andronicus III are defeated at Pelecanon (Maltepé).
Nicaea surrenders.
1333—Alaeddin pasha, brother of Orkhan and first vizier, dies.
Death of Bahadur Khan removes the Mongol menace.
1337 or 1338—Nicomedia surrenders.
1338—Karasi, first of the Turkish emirates to be absorbed, is incorporated in Orkhan’s state.
c. 1338—Osmanlis reach the Bosphorus at Haïdar Pasha.
1343—Empress Anna makes overtures to Orkhan for aid against Cantacuzenos.
1345—Orkhan accepts proposal of alliance with Cantacuzenos.
First Osmanlis cross to Europe to fight for Cantacuzenos against Anna.
1346—Orkhan marries Theodora, granddaughter of the Bulgarian czar and daughter of Cantacuzenos, who is besieging Constantinople with Ottoman aid.
1348—The ‘Black Death’ ravages Europe.
1349—Cantacuzenos calls again upon Orkhan for aid. Twenty thousand Ottoman horsemen are sent to help in preventing Salonika from falling into Serbian hands.
c. 1351—First convention between Orkhan and the Genoese.
1353—Soleiman pasha, Orkhan’s elder son, in response to the third appeal of Cantacuzenos for Ottoman aid, brings an army into Thrace, helps in the recapture of Adrianople, and defeats the Serbians at Demotika. For this aid, a fortress on the European shore of the Dardanelles, probably Tzympe, is given to Orkhan.
1354—An earthquake, which damaged the walls of Gallipoli, enables the Osmanlis of Soleiman pasha to capture the city. Orkhan refuses to give up Gallipoli, breaks with Cantacuzenos, and orders the Osmanlis in the Hellespont to extend their conquest in the direction of Constantinople.
c. 1357—Demotika and Tchorlu are captured for the first time by the Osmanlis under Soleiman pasha.
1358—Soleiman pasha dies from the fall of a horse at Bulaïr.
1359—Orkhan dies, and is succeeded by Murad.
1360-1—Conquest of Thrace.
1361—Second serious ‘Black Death’ plague in Europe.
c. 1362—Murad creates corps of ‘janissaries’.
1362 (1363)—John V Palaeologos binds himself by treaty to recognize Murad’s conquests in Thrace, and to give him military aid against the Turkish emirs of Asia Minor.
1363—Serbian and Hungarian crusaders are defeated on the banks of the Maritza.
Murad takes up his residence in Demotika.
1365—Ragusa makes commercial treaty with Osmanlis, promising tribute.
1366—Adrianople becomes the first capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Amadeo of Savoy’s crusade; captures Gallipoli, but soon abandons it again.
1369—Capture of Yamboli forces Sisman of Bulgaria to become, like the Byzantine Emperor, a vassal of Murad.
1371—Battle of Samakov gives the Osmanlis control of the passes into the Plain of Sofia.
Battle of Cernomen opens up Macedonia to the Ottoman conquest.
1372—Moslem colonization of Macedonia, at Drama, Kavalla, Serres, and Veles, gives the Osmanlis a position of preponderance in the Balkan peninsula.
1373—John Palaeologos, failing to receive aid from the West, becomes Ottoman vassal.
1374—Unsuccessful conspiracy of Manuel to recover Serres causes Ottoman siege of Salonika.
1379—John and Manuel agree to increase their tribute of gold and soldiers, and to surrender Philadelphia, the last Byzantine possession in Asia, for Ottoman aid in ousting Andronicus IV from Constantinople.
1384—Osmanlis aid Thomas in besieging Janina.
1385—First Ottoman invasion of Albania.
Battle of Savra destroys Balsa’s power.
Osmanlis occupy Sofia.
1386—Osmanlis capture Croia and Scutari, but return these fortresses to prince of Zenta.
The fall of Nish makes Lazar of Serbia Ottoman vassal.
1387—Genoa concludes formal treaty with Murad.
Murad, with army containing Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian contingents, defeats Alaeddin of Karamania at Konia, but has to withdraw without tangible results.
1388—Venice concludes commercial treaty with Murad.
1388—Osmanlis are defeated by Serbians and Bosnians at Plochnik, thus preventing invasion of Bosnia.
League of Serbians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, Wallachians, and Albanians formed against the Osmanlis.
First Ottoman army enters Greece upon invitation of Theodore Palaeologos to fight against the Franks.
1389—Osmanlis destroy Serbian independence at Kossova.
Murad is assassinated on the battle-field. Bayezid succeeds to the throne, and has his brother Yakub strangled.
BAYEZID (1389-1403).
1387—Bayezid marries sister of Stephen, son of Lazar, and makes Serbians his allies.
1390—First Ottoman naval expedition makes raid on Chios, Negropont, and Attika.
First Ottoman raids into Hungary.
1391—Second invasion of Karamania, followed by siege of Konia, results in cession by Alaeddin of north-western portion of Karamania.
First Ottoman siege of Constantinople.
1392—First defensive campaign against Sigismund is fought in Bulgaria. Hearing that Timurtash had been defeated by Karamanlis, Bayezid transports army to Asia, and destroys Alaeddin’s army at Ak Tchaï. The Osmanlis are now the dominant race in Asia Minor.
1394—Osmanlis first appear in the Adriatic at the mouth of the Boyana.
1395—Bayezid summons Ottoman vassals to his court at Serres.
Ottoman siege of Constantinople becomes pressing.
1396—Crusade of Western chivalry, co-operating with Sigismund of Hungary, meets with disaster at Nicopolis in Bulgaria.
Ottoman invaders of Wallachia are defeated at Rovine, but in raids into Hungary Peterwardein is burned, and sixteen thousand Styrians carried off into captivity.
1397—First Ottoman invasion of Greece. In the Peloponnesus, Argos is taken by assault.
After defeat at Megalopolis, Theodore becomes Ottoman vassal.
1397-9—Movement of Moslem Anatolian population into the Balkan peninsula.
1398—Osmanlis and Serbians make destructive raid on Bosnia.
1400—Timur captures and destroys Sivas.
1402—Timur defeats and makes prisoner Bayezid at Angora, overruns Asia Minor, occupies Brusa, and takes Smyrna from the Christians by storm.
1403—Timur withdraws to Samarkand.
Bayezid, still a prisoner, dies on the homeward march at Ak Sheïr. His sons dispute the succession.