To prevent this interference, or rather to give no pretext for it, was his guiding thought as to foreign policy.
On the contrary it served as a pretext for Ivan to interfere in Lithuanian affairs.
The duke went to England in 1360 as a hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty of Bretigny, returning to France in 1367 on the pretext of collecting his ransom.
These acquisitions were made between 1328 and 1338; in the latter year Orkhan achieved his first conquest from Mussulman hands by the capture of Karassi, the pretext being the quarrel for the succession on the death of the prince, Ajlan Bey.