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Rubbing It In: History’s Greatest Flexes and Ownages

Khalid Elhassan June 3, 2025 17 min

7. The Only Ottoman Sultan Captured by a Foreign Enemy

The capture of Sultan Bayezid. Al Ilm Trust

The captivity of Sultan Bayezid I, also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt (Yıldırım Bayezid), is one of the most dramatic episodes in Ottoman history. Bayezid ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1389 to 1402 and expanded its territory significantly into the Balkans and Anatolia. His ambition and military success earned him a fearsome reputation, but also led to confrontation with one of history’s greatest conquerors, Timur, Central Asia’s Turco-Mongol ruler.

Bayezid had been campaigning in Anatolia, consolidating power, while Timur was advancing westward, claiming supremacy over all Turkic and Muslim lands. Their paths inevitably crossed, and at the Battle of Ankara, 1402, Timur outmaneuvered and defeated the Ottomans. Many of Bayezid’s allies defected, and he was captured – the only Ottoman sultan ever taken prisoner by a foreign enemy.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.