OTTOMAN-MAMLUK RELATIONS AND THE COMPLEX IMAGE OF BAYEZID II Modern scholarship has generally presented B?yez?d II (r.1481-1512) as a “weak,” “peace-loving,” and “pious” ruler. B?yez?d is considered weak and peace-loving in part because he seemingly discontinued, perhaps even disowned, the expansionist and centralizing policies of his father Meh?med II (r.1451-1481). This article challenges this portrayal by focusing on Ottoman-era narratives of three influential historical episodes: the early days of B?yez?d’s rule (1481-1482), the conquests of Kilia and Akkerman (1484), and the Ottoman-Mamluk war (1485-1492). An analysis of these three episodes, with a special focus on the Ottoman-Mamluk war, shows that a multi-layered reassessment of B?yez?d is necessary in order to evaluate the impact of his polices both on fifteenth-century Ottoman politics and on Ottoman-Mamluk relations. Describing B?yez?d as a peace-loving ruler does not do any justice to his territorial ambitions as manifested not only in his military campaigns such as the Ottoman-Mamluk war, but also in the ways the chroniclers depicted him as their patron. These portrayals show that B?yez?d distanced himself from his father’s disliked policies while embracing some aspect of his father’s and even his great-grandfather’s popular images. The glorious memories of these two predecessors particularly aided the chroniclers in explaining their patron’s criticized decision to wage war against the Mamluks. Using these clear examples of its complexity and constructed nature, this article argues that B?yez?d’s image still awaits an exhaustive analysis of his entire reign.