Murad 1 (Ottoman Turkish: (Turkish: I. Murat Hüdavendigâr) (nicknamed Hüdavendigâr - from Persian : Khodavandgar - meaning "sovereign" in this context), (March or June 29, 1326, Sogut or Bursa -- June 15, 1389, Battle of Kosovo Polje) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1362 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan and the Valide Sultan Nilüfer Hatun and became the ruler following his father's death in 1362. Murad fought against the powerful emirate of Karaman in Anatolia and against the Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians and Hungarians in Europe. In particular, a Serb expedition to expel the Turks from Adrianople led by the Serbian brothers King Vukašin and Despot Uglješa, was defeated on September 26, 1371, by Murad's Murat capable second lieutenant Lala Sâhin Pasa, the first governor (beylerbey) of Rumeli. In 1385 Sofia fell to the Ottomans. In 1386 Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic defeated an Ottoman force at the Battle of Plocnik. The Ottoman army suffered heavy casualties, and was unable to capture Niš on the way back. In 1389 Murad's army defeated the Serbian Army and its allies under the leadership of Lazar at the Battle of Kosovo. There are different accounts from different sources about when and how Murad I was assassinated. The contemporary sources mainly noted that the battle took place and that both Prince Lazar and the Sultan lost their lives in the battle. The existing evidence of the additional stories and speculations as to how Murad I died were disseminated and recorded in the 15th century and later, decades after the actual event. One Western source states that during first hours of the battle, Murad I was assassinated by Serbian nobleman and knight Miloš Obilic by knife. Most Ottoman chroniclers (including Dimitrie Cantemir) state that he was assassinated after the finish of the battle while going around the battlefield. Others state that he was assassinated in the evening after the battle at his tent by the assassin who was admitted to ask a special favour. His older son Bayezid, who was in charge of the left wing of the Ottoman forces, took charge after that. His other son, Yakub Bey, who was in charge of the other wing, was called to the Sultan's command center tent by Bayezid, but when Yakub Bey arrived he was strangled, leaving Bayezid as the sole claimant to the throne. In the earliest preserved Christian record, a letter of Florentine senate to the King Tvrtko I of Bosnia, dated 20 October 1389, Murad I's killing was described. A warrior, allegedly Miloš Obilic, had managed to get through the Ottoman army and kill Murad I. Sultan Murad's internal organs were buried in Kosovo field and remains to this day on a corner of the battlefield in a location called Meshed-i Hudavendigar which has gained a religious significance by the Muslims (which had been renamed Obilic by the Serbs). It has recently been renovated. His other remains were carried to Bursa, his Anatolian capital city, and were buried in a tomb at the complex built in his name He established the Empire by building up a society and government in the newly conquered city of Adrianople (Edirne in Turkish) and by expanding the realm in Europe, bringing most of the Balkans under Ottoman rule and forcing the Byzantine emperor to pay him tribute. It was Murad who established the former Osmanli tribe into an empire. He established the title of sultan in 1383 and the corps of the janissaries and the devsirme recruiting system. He also organised the government of the Divan, the system of timars and timar-holders (timariots) and the military judge, the kazasker. He also established the two provinces of Anadolu (Anatolia) and Rumeli (Europe). He was the son of Orhan and the Valide Sultan Nilüfer Hatun, daughter of the Prince of Yarhisar or Byzantine princess Theodora Kantakouzene (also named Nilüfer), who was of ethnic Greek descent In William Shakespeare's history play Henry IV, Part 2, Prince Harry refers to Murad as "Amurath" in Act V Scene 2 when he succeeds his father, King Henry IV, in 1413: Chief Justice. Good morrow, and God save your majesty! King Henry V. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, Sits not so easy on me as you think. Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear: This is the English, not the Turkish court; Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds, But Harry Harry! Murad (as "Amurath the First") is the subject of Thomas Goffe's play The Courageous Turk, published in 1632.

• published: 13 Dec 2013
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