Conquest of Adrianople by the Turks

The date and circumstances of the conquest of Adrianople by the Turks are obscure and debated among scholars.

The dates proposed range from 1361 to 1371. Some authors make the hypothesis that the city was reconquered and that there were two different sieges.

There is no evidence about the identity of the Turk leader and his allegiance. According to Halil İnalcık, the conquest was made in 1361 by Murad I (then a prince). Other historians favour 1369, the siege being directed by Turkish beys only nominally vassals to the Ottomans (since from 1366 to 1377 the communications were broken between Thrace and Anatolia). The Ottomans could then perhaps have taken direct control of the city only in the late 1370s.