Meñli I Giray

Meñli I Giray (I Meñli Geray) (1445–1515), also spelled as Mengli I Giray, was a khan of the Crimean Khanate (1466, 1469–1475, 1478–1515) and the sixth son of Hacı I Giray.

Biography
Meñli ascended the throne in 1466 for some months, but was then deposed by his brother Nur Devlet. He was restored to the throne in January 1469, but lost power again in March 1475 as a result of a rebellion of the rival brothers and nobility.

In 1475, he was captured by the Ottomans in Feodosiya and delivered to Constantinople. After being forced to recognize Ottoman suzerainty over the Crimean Khanate, he was returned to the throne of Crimea in 1478. He made a great contribution to the development of Crimean Tatar statehood. He founded the fortress of Özü.

In 1502, Meñli defeated the last khan of the Golden Horde and took control over its capital Saray. He proclaimed himself Khagan (Emperor), claiming legitimacy as the successor of the Golden Horde's authority over the Tatar khaganates in the Caspian-Volga region.

Meñli was buried in the Dürbe (mausoleum) of Salaçıq in Bakhchysarai. In that city, he commissioned Zıncırlı medrese in Salaçıq (1500), Dürbe in Salaçıq (1501), and Demir Qapı portal in the Bakhchisaray Palace (by Aloisio the New) (1503).

Family
Meñli was a father of Mehmed I Giray and Sahib I Giray.

According to one theory, he was a maternal grandfather of Suleiman the Magnificent.