Timeline May 1481

Events in May 1481 1

• 1481 Succession crisis -- Cem Sultan and Bayezid II Mehmed II's death (3 May 1481) triggers a succession war between his sons Bayezid and Cem. Bayezid reaches Istanbul first and secures the throne; Cem flees to the Knights of St John on Rhodes and then to France and Rome, where he becomes a valuable diplomatic tool -- the Pope and the French king can threaten to release him as a pretender if Bayezid causes trouble. Cem dies in Italy in 1495, probably poisoned at Ottoman request. The Cem episode demonstrates the Ottoman succession problem: the tradition of fratricide (killing brothers on accession) is brutal but prevents the decade-long civil wars of the Interregnum.