Bayezid I in the context of "Sarukhanids"

The Eyalet of Anatolia (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت آناطولی, romanized: Eyālet-i Anaṭolı) was one of the two core provinces (Rumelia being the other) in the early years of the Ottoman Empire. It was established in 1393. Its capital was first Ankara in central Anatolia, but then moved to Kütahya in western Anatolia. Its reported area in the 19th century was 65,804 square miles (170,430 km).

The establishment of the province of Anatolia is held to have been in 1393, when Sultan Bayezid I (r. 1389–1402) appointed Kara Timurtash as beylerbey and viceroy was in Anatolia, during Bayezid's absence on campaign in Europe against Mircea I of Wallachia. The province of Anatolia—initially termed beylerbeylik or generically vilayet ("province"), only after 1591 was the term eyalet used—was the second to be formed after the Rumelia Eyalet, and ranked accordingly in the hierarchy of the provinces. The first capital of the province was Ankara, but in the late 15th century it was moved to Kütahya.

The Kapudan Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: قپودان پاشا, modern Turkish: Kaptan Paşa), also known as the Kapudan-ı Derya (Ottoman Turkish: قپودان دریا, modern: Kaptan-ı Derya, "Captain of the Sea") was the grand admiral of the Ottoman Navy. Typically, the Kapudan Pasha was based at Galata and Gallipoli during the winter and charged with annual sailings during the summer months. The title of Kapudan Pasha itself is only attested from 1567 onwards; earlier designations for the supreme commander of the fleet include Derya Bey ("bey of the sea") and Re'is Kapudan ("head captain").

The title Derya Bey as an official rank within the Ottoman state structure originated during the reign of Bayezid I (r. 1389–1402). Following the 1453 conquest of Constantinople, Mehmed II raised Baltaoğlu Süleyman Bey to the status of sanjak bey for his efforts against the Byzantines in the Golden Horn. Baltaoğlu received the sanjak of Gallipoli (the principal Turkish naval base) and the kazas of Galata (until the Conquest a Genovese colony) and of İzmit (whose tax remittance consisted of ship timber).

Germiyan, or the Germiyanids (Old Anatolian Turkish: كرميان; Turkish: Germiyanoğulları Beyliği or Germiyan Beyliği), were a dynasty that controlled parts of western Anatolia from c. 1300 to 1429. Germiyan first appeared in the 12th-century chronicles of Matthew of Edessa and The Georgian Chronicles when they fought against the County of Edessa and the Kingdom of Georgia. They reappeared in historical records of 1239 near Malatya, where they were tasked with suppressing the Babai revolt. The tribe relocated to western Anatolia with the encroaching Mongol invasion. During the reign of Yakub I (r. 1300–40), Germiyan gained sovereignty with the demise of the Sultanate of Rum and forged war with the neighboring Ottomans and the Byzantine Empire, which continued during his successor Mehmed's rule (r. 1340–61).

Amidst political tension caused by the neighboring Karamanids, Suleiman (r. 1361–87) married his daughter Devletşah Hatun to the Ottoman prince and future sultan, Bayezid I (r. 1389–1402). The process saw a major dowry payment that transferred much of the Germiyanid realm to Ottoman control, including the capital Kütahya. Yakub II (r. 1387–90, 1402–11) was initially on friendly terms with the Ottomans but eventually attempted to reclaim the former lands that were lost following his sister's wedding. He was jailed by his brother-in-law Bayezid I in 1390, and Germiyan wholly came under Ottoman control. Nine years later, Yakub escaped from prison and sought the protection of Timur (r. 1370–1405), who, after defeating Bayezid with the help of Yakub at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, restored Germiyan's former boundaries. In 1411, Kütahya fell to Mehmed II of Karaman (r. 1398–99, 1402–20), interrupting Yakub's reign a second time. His rule was reinstated by the Ottoman sultan, Mehmed I (r. 1413–21), upon the defeat of the Karamanids. Although Yakub meddled with the internal conflicts within the Ottomans, the triumph of Murad II (r. 1421–44, 1446–51) over his opponents forced Yakub to revert to amicable relations. Yakub lacked male heirs and left the sultanate to Murad II in his will shortly before he died in 1429.

The Battle of Rovine took place on 17 May 1395. The Wallachian army led by Voivod Mircea the Elder opposed the Ottoman invasion personally led by Sultan Bayezid I the Thunderbolt. The Turkish force heavily outnumbered the Wallachian troops. The legend says that on the eve of the battle, dressed as a peace emissary, Mircea cel Bătrân talked to Bayezid asking him to leave Wallachia and promised him safe passage back. The Sultan proudly insisted on fighting and later suffered a humiliating loss.

Tanush Dukagjini (fl. 1423–33), known as Little Tanush, was an Albanian nobleman, a member of the Dukagjini family, the son of Pal I Dukagjini. He had four brothers: Progon (d. 1394), Pal II (d. 1402), Andrea (d. 1416), and Gjon Dukagjini (d. 1446).

In 1398, he surrendered to the Ottomans, but in 1402, after their defeat at Ankara and the capture of Sultan Bayezid I, he freed himself from them.

The Battle of Ankara or Angora (Ottoman Turkish: آنقره محاربه‌سی, romanized: Anḳara Muḥârebesi) was fought on 28 July 1402, at the Çubuk plain near Ankara, between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I and the emir of the Timurid Empire, Timur. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to the Ottoman Interregnum.

The siege of Constantinople in 1394–1402 was a long blockade of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I. Already in 1391, the rapid Ottoman conquests in the Balkans had cut off the city from its hinterland. After constructing the fortress of Anadoluhisarı to control the Bosporus strait, Bayezid tried to starve the city into submission by blockading it both by land and, less effectively, by sea.

The Crusade of Nicopolis was launched to relieve the city, but it was decisively defeated by the Ottomans. In 1399, a French expeditionary force under Marshal de Boucicaut arrived, but was unable to achieve much. The situation became so dire that in December 1399 the Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Palaiologos, left the city to tour the courts of Western Europe in a desperate attempt to secure military aid. The emperor was welcomed with honours, but secured no definite pledges of support. The city was relieved when Bayezid had to confront the invasion of Timur in 1402. Bayezid's defeat in the Battle of Ankara in 1402 and the subsequent Ottoman civil war enabled the Byzantines to regain some lost territories in the Treaty of Gallipoli.