Murad I

Sultan Murad I was born at Bursa in 1326. His father was Orhan Gazi; his mother was Nilüfer Hatun (Holofira), daughter of the Byzantine lord of Yarhisar. Murad I was tall, with a rounded face and a large nose, and a thick, muscular body.

On his head he wore a cap in the Mevlevi form with a turban wound about it. He dressed very plainly and liked white garments on a red ground. He received his first schooling from his mother, Nilüfer Hatun, and later went to Bursa to complete his education, working in the medreses there alongside men of learning and art.

Murad I was a courteous, agreeable and very even-tempered man. He showed respect to scholars and artists and treated the poor and the friendless with compassion. He was a gifted soldier and statesman. Known as "Murad Gazi, king of the dervish warriors and their sheikhs", he acted throughout his life by plan and programme.

Although the Byzantine Church regarded him as an infidel and an enemy of Christ, he won the affection of the Christian people in the lands he conquered by treating them well. Known from 1382 onward as "Murad Hüdavendigâr", he was martyred while walking the battlefield after the First Battle of Kosovo, stabbed by the Serbian noble Miloš Obilić, son-in-law of the Serbian king Lazar (1389).

• Sons: Yakub Çelebi, Yıldırım Bayezid, Savcı Bey and İbrahim
• Daughters: Nefise and Sultan Hatun

Source: Osmanlı Tarihi Interaktif CD-ROM (Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları XXXI. Dizi-Sa.2)