The Ottoman Interregnum (Fetret Devri)

The Ottoman Interregnum (Fetret Devri) — the civil war over the throne that followed Bayezid's defeat and capture at Ankara in 804/1402 and lasted ten years (806–816/1403–1413 in the book's reckoning). Of Bayezid's five sons, Mustafa was presumed dead on the field; Musa, captured with his father, was released by Timur to stoke the strife; the eldest Süleyman proclaimed himself sultan at Edirne; İsa declared himself his father's successor at Bursa; and the youngest Mehmed held Amasya in north-east Anatolia — the brothers warring over the fragments while enemies circled ¹.

Timur restored the Anatolian beyliks Bayezid had annexed and sowed discord among the princes before marching off, leaving the land in ruin ¹. The period closed when Mehmed stood alone in 1413 and gathered the lost territories — which the book reads as proof of the vitality of the structure Orhan and Alaeddin had built ².