Sultan Bayezid I (Yıldırım)

Sultan Bayezid I (رحمه الله), universally known by the epithet *Yıldırım* ('The Thunderbolt') for the staggering speed with which he moved armies between Europe and Asia, was one of the fiercest military commanders of the Middle Ages. In 1396 CE, King Sigismund of Hungary led a massive coalition of French, German, English, and Burgundian knights to drive the Ottomans out of Europe. Bayezid lifted his siege of Constantinople, raced south with lightning speed, and trapped the Crusader cavalry behind hidden wooden stakes at Nicopolis on the Danube, obliterating the European host.