Ottoman History is full of interesting characters but Cuneyt Bey may be one of the most interesting ones.
Cüneyt Bey as he is known in Turkish, first emerges during the Ottoman Interregnum that followed the defeat of Bayezid I against Timur, during the time when sons of Bayezid I compete for the throne of their state. He ends up serving four of Bayezid’s Sons, in addition to his situational alliances with Byzantines and Anatolian Beyliks against them as well. At the first sign of trouble he changes sides. He is not a man of loyalty or honesty, and a far cry from an example to younger generations. Despite this, his story is filled with humanistic elements as well. One can hardly resist the temptation to imagine what one could have done in his place, if they were in his shoes. His end is at the same time both satisfying and slightly saddening.
