Editing Mehmed I (section)

==Early life==
Mehmed was born in 1386 or 1387 as the fourth son of Sultan [[Bayezid I]] ({{reign|1389|1402}}) and one of his consorts, the slave girl [[Devlet Hatun]].{{sfn|İnalcık|1991|p=973}} Following Ottoman custom, when he reached [[adolescence]] in 1399, he was sent to gain experience as provincial governor over the [[Rûm Eyalet]] (central northern [[Anatolia]]), recently conquered from its [[Eretnid]] rulers.{{sfn|İnalcık|1991|pp=973–974}}

On 20 July 1402, his father Bayezid was defeated in the [[Battle of Ankara]] by the Turko-Mongol conqueror and ruler [[Timur]]. The brothers (with the exception of [[Mustafa Çelebi|Mustafa]], who was captured and taken along with Bayezid to [[Samarkand]]) were rescued from the battlefield, Mehmed being saved by [[Bayezid Pasha]], who took him to his hometown of [[Amasya]]. Mehmed later made Bayezid Pasha his [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire|grand vizier]] (1413–1421).

The early Ottoman Empire had no [[order of succession|regulated succession]], and according to Turkish tradition, every son could succeed his father.{{sfn|İnalcık|1991|p=974}} Of Mehmed's brothers, the eldest, Ertuğrul, had died in 1400, while the next in line, Mustafa, was a prisoner of Timur. Leaving aside the underage siblings, this left four princes—Mehmed, [[Süleyman Çelebi|Süleyman]], [[İsa Çelebi|İsa]], and [[Musa Çelebi|Musa]], to contend over control of the remaining Ottoman territories in the civil war known as the "[[Ottoman Interregnum]]".{{sfn|İnalcık|1991|p=974}} In modern historiography, these princes are usually called by the title {{lang|tr|[[Çelebi#Title|Çelebi]]}},{{sfn|İnalcık|1991|p=974}} but in contemporary sources, the title is reserved for Mehmed and Musa. The Byzantine sources translated the title as {{lang|grc-Latn|Kyritzes}} ({{lang|grc|Κυριτζής}}), which was in turn adopted into Turkish as {{lang|tr|kirişçi}}, sometimes misinterpreted as {{lang|tr|güreşçi}}, 'the wrestler'.{{sfn|Kastritsis|2007|p=2 (note 7)}}

During the early interregnum, Mehmed Çelebi behaved as Timur's vassal. Beside the other princes, Mehmed minted coin which Timur's name appeared as {{lang|ota-Latn|Demur khan Gürgân}} ({{lang|ota|تيمور خان كركان}}), alongside his own as {{lang|ota-Latn|Mehmed bin Bayezid khan}} ({{lang|ota|محمد بن بايزيد خان}}).<ref name=ottomancivilwar>{{cite book|title=The Sons of Bayezid: Empire Building and Representation in the Ottoman Civil War of 1402–1413|year=2007|publisher=Brill|page=49|author=Dimitris J. Kastritsis}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Osmanlılarda madenî paralar: Yapı ve Kredi Bankasının Osmanlı madenî paraları kolleksiyonu|year=1968|author=Nuri Pere|publisher=Yapı ve Kredi Bankası|page=64}}</ref> This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of [[Bursa]] after the [[Battle of Ulubad]]. After Mehmed established himself in ''[[Rum (endonym)|Rum]]'', Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the ''status quo'' in Anatolia.<ref name=ottomancivilwar />