Amurath, Or Murad, the name of several Turkish sultans. I. Born in 1326, died June 15, 1389. He succeeded his father Orkhan in 1359 in the government of the Turkish dominions in Asia. The first act of his government, was to put down an insurrection in Galatia, after which he turned his attention and his arms to Europe. Here he overran the country as far as the Balkan, and took Adrianople (1361), where he fixed his residence for a time, beautifying the city by the construction of a mosque and other public buildings. In 1365 a treaty of peace was concluded between the Ottomans and the republic of Ragusa, on the Adriatic, which put itself under the protection of Amurath. Pope Urban V., alarmed by the progress of the Ottomans, preached a crusade against them, but the Turks surprised the Christian forces by night near Adrianople and cut them to pieces (1368). The peace which Amurath had concluded with the Greeks, and which had been observed by him, being thus broken, he continued the war for several campaigns without any decided results, and went to Asia in 1371. Soon returning to Europe, he vanquished the princes of Servia and Bulgaria, and settled at Adrianople. During a peace of six years he employed himself in organizing his army, and formed the corps of spahis, instituting a system of military fiefs as the reward of their services.

In this there was considerable analogy with the feudal system, and possibly he was assisted by renegade Christians in his plans. The Greek emperor, John Palaeologus, seeing himself unable to cope with the new power arrayed against him, entered into friendly alliance with Amurath, and sent his son Theodore to his court to learn the art of war. The sons of the two emperors entered into a conspiracy against their fathers, and levied an army. Amurath advanced alone to the ranks of his rebellious son and ordered the soldiers to return to their duty. Unable to resist the mandate of their terrible ruler, the men obeyed, and Amurath put his son Saudji to death (1375). In Asia Minor he had to contend with several insurrections. Lazarus, prince of Servia, in conjunction with Sisman, prince of Bulgaria, Amurath's father-in-law, renewed the effort for independence, and during Amurath's absence in Asia gained several advantages over his generals in Europe. The arrival of Amurath, however, turned the tide of victory, and at length he took Sisman prisoner, whom he deposed and confined.

Lazarus, however, continued his resistance, and the armies met on the high plains of Kosovo, between Novi Bazar and Pristina. Amurath, under the influence of a dream that he had been assassinated, was at first unwilling to hazard an engagement, especially as his troops were far inferior in numbers to the Servians. But the counsels of his son, the fiery Bajazet, prevailed, and the signal for the engagement was given. After a bloody contest the Servians were totally defeated at all points, and Lazarus himself was taken prisoner. Amurath examined the field after the battle, and while congratulating his attendants upon the victory was struck by the hand of a wounded Servian. The wound was mortal, and Amurath's dream was accomplished. The Servian fell under the blows of the janizaries, but sold his life dearly. He proved to be Milosh Kobilovitch, son-in-law of Lazarus. Before expiring, Amurath, who is otherwise renowned as equally generous and wise, ordered the execution of Lazarus.

II. Born about 1404, died Feb. 9, 1451. He was the son of Mohammed L, and in 1421 succeeded his father on the throne. He at once concluded an armistice for five years with Sigismund, king of Hungary and Bohemia, and emperor of Germany. Manuel, the Greek emperor, refused to conclude a peace unless Amurath gave his two brothers as hostages, failing which he threatened to set at liberty Mustapha, son of Bajazet Ilderim, the legitimate successor to the throne. Amurath refused, and the Greek admiral, Demetrius Lascaris, was at once sent to land Mustapha near Gallipoli, to which Demetrius laid siege. Mustapha himself advanced toward Adrianople with a constantly increasing army, and encountered Amurath's troops under Bajazet Pasha, who laid down their arms on his making himself known to them, and Bajazet was taken prisoner and put to death. Mustapha, however, was soon afterward betrayed to Amurath and executed. Manuel, now alarmed for himself, sent an embassy to the sultan to settle terms of peace. Amurath, however, was not to be appeased. He appeared with a powerful force before Constantinople in 1423, and increased his army by a proclamation of his intention to abandon the city and all the booty to the assailants.

The assault was at length made, and the city was in deadly peril, when, according to Greek writers, a beautiful virgin dressed in a white robe appeared in mid air, and threw the Mohammedan army into such a panic that Amurath was obliged to retire. On the death of Manuel (1425) a treaty was concluded with John Palaeologus, his successor, by which the Greeks consented to pay tribute to Amurath, and surrendered several towns on the Black sea and on the Strymon. The treaties of peace with Wallachia and the emperor Sigismund were also renewed. In 1429 Amurath made himself master of Thessalonica, and in 1431 of Janina. Notwithstanding the armistice between Amurath and Sigismund, their friendship was only superficial; and Amurath, who had suppressed the revolts of Caramania and Servia, and made satisfactory arrangements with other provinces of his growing empire, turned his attention to the politics of central Europe, and endeavored to influence the election of Casimir, son of the king of Poland, as king of Bohemia. Failing in this, he laid siege to Belgrade (1439), which was defended by the Hungarian warrior, John Hunyady. Amurath was repulsed, and the Ottoman arms now sustained a long series of reverses from the invincible Hunyady. Amurath at last purchased a 10 years' truce of the Hungarians by great sacrifices.

The death of his son Aladdin, to whom Amurath was tenderly attached, now plunaed him into such distress of mind that he abdicated in favor of his son Mohammed, who was only 14 years of age (1442), and retired to Magnesia, in Asia Minor. The Christians, in the belief that their opportunity had now arrived, broke the solemn peace, for which the papal legate gave them absolution, and poured into the Turkish dominions under the command of La-dislas, king of Poland and Hungary, and his general, Hunyady. Amurath was recalled from Magnesia, and forced to take the command of the army. Hoisting the treaty at the end of a lance, he encountered the Christians (1444) at Varna, on the Black sea. In a personal contest he dismounted Ladislas, whose head was cut off and displayed on a lance to his soldiers. Affrighted at the sight they fled, notwithstanding the efforts of Hunyady to restore the battle. Again Amurath sought retirement, and was again called out to put down a revolt of the janizaries. Hopeless of gratifying his wish for ease, he marched against Greece. After subduing the Morea, and putting it to tribute, he encountered stubborn resistance in Albania from the heroic George Castriota (Scanderbeg), who, with the assistance of the Venetians, was able to postpone for a time the fall of his native country.

A new irruption of Hunyady into Servia compelled Amurath to retire from Greece, and a battle was again fought on the plains of Kosovo, in October, 1448, in which the Hungarian army, after a desperate defence of their intrenched camp for three days, was entirely routed with prodigious loss. Amurath did not long survive this crowning victory, dying suddenly of apoplexy, on an island near Adrianople.

III. Born in 1545, succeeded his father, Selim II., in 1574, died Jan. 17, 1595. His first act was to put his five brothers to the bowstring. His reign is signalized in Turkish history by the arrogance with which the Turks treated the representatives of the European powers. The ambassadors were compelled to observances of etiquette degrading to their sovereigns, and the agents of the embassies were subjected to personal indignity, the dragoman of France having been compelled to embrace Islamism. In the reign of Amurath III. the plague ravaged Turkey and Italy. The war with Austria was continued, and a war which had commenced with Persia was terminated in 1590 by a treaty which secured to the Porte the possession of Luristan, Georgia, Shirvan, Tabriz, and part of Azerbaijan. A depreciation of the coinage resulted in a revolt of the janizaries, who demanded the heads of two officers of state, whom they charged with having been the authors of the depreciation. This revolt extended itself throughout the Turkish empire, and laid the foundation for the disorder aud insubordination which rendered the janizaries so celebrated.

The war with Austria continued with varying success until the end of his reign.

IV. Born in 1611, succeeded his uncle Mustapha, Sept. 1, 1623, at the age of 12, died Feb. 8, 1640. At the commencement of his reign the empire was in a state of the most deplorable disorder. The provinces were rent by insurrections and revolts; the capital convulsed by the constant mutinies of the janizaries, who were not to be pacified, save by an increase of pay or by the abandonment of some unfortunate vizier to their brutality; war was desolating the frontiers of the empire. Assuming the sceptre at so early an age, Amurath had little power to amend the state of his kingdom, but with experience came a vigor which was destined to make the hardiest tremble. In 1638 he commenced the siege of Bagdad, which had long resisted the efforts of the ablest Turkish generals. On Dec. 24 the assault was made, and the city of the caliphs passed from the Persians to the Turks. The garrison of the citadel capitulated, but not evacuating the city at the hour promised, 30,000 Persians were massacred. Although in the early part of his reign Amurath had promulgated strict laws against the use of wine, he afterward abandoned himself to the most outrageous drunkenness; and his fits of delirious rage while intoxicated were so terrible that his people, his soldiers, and ministers all dreaded to enter his presence.