land. They were crossing the Euphrates, not far from the castle
of Jaber, when the drowning of their leader by accident threw
confusion into their ranks. Those who had not yet crossed the
river refused, in face of this omen, to follow their brethren; the
little band, numbering 400 warriors (according to others, consisting
of 2000 horsemen) decided to remain under Ertoghrul, son of
Ertoghrul,
1230–1288.
the drowned leader. Ertoghrul first camped at Jessin,
east of Erzerum; a second appeal to Ala-ud-din was
more successful—the numbers of the immigrants had
become too insignificant for their presence to be a source of danger.
The lands of Karaja Dagh, near Angora, were assigned to the new
settlers, who found there good pasturage and winter quarters.
The help afforded by Ertoghrul to the Seljukian monarch on a
critical occasion led to the addition of Sugut to his fief, with
which he was now formally invested. Here Ertoghrul died
in 1288 at the age of ninety, being succeeded in the leadership
Osman I.,
1288–1326.
of the tribe by his son Osman. When, exhausted
by the onslaughts of Ghazan Mahmud Khan,
ruler of Tabriz, and one of Jenghiz Khan’s
lieutenants, the Seljukian Empire was at the point of dissolution,
most of its feudatory vassals helped rather than hindered
its downfall in the hope of retaining their fiefs as independent
sovereigns. But Osman remained firm in his allegiance, and
by repeated victories over the Greeks revived the drooping
glories of his suzerain. His earliest conquest was Karaja Hissar
(1295), where first the name of Osman was substituted for that
of the sultan in the weekly prayer. In that year Ala-ud-din
Kaikobad II. conferred on him the proprietorship of the lands he
had thus conquered by the sword, and presented him at the same
time with the horse-tail, drum and banner which constituted the
insignia of independent command. Osman continued his
victorious career against the Greeks, and by his valour and also
through allying himself with Keussē Mikhal, lord of Harman Kaya,
became master of Aīnēgeul, Bilejik and Yar Hissar. His marriage
with Mal Khatun, the daughter of the learned sheikh Edbali,
has been surrounded by poetical legend; he married his son
Orkhan to the beautiful Greek Nilofer, daughter of the lord of
Yar Hissar, whom he carried off from her destined bridegroom on
her marriage-day; the fruits of this union were Suleiman Pasha
and Murad. In 1300 the Seljukian Empire crumbled away, and
many small states arose on its ruins. It was only after the death
of his protector and benefactor Sultan Ala-ud-din II. that Osman
declared his independence, and accordingly the Turkish historian
dates the foundation of the Ottoman Empire from this event.
Osman reigned as independent monarch until 1326. He pursued
his conquests against the Greeks, and established good government
throughout his dominions, which at the time of his death
included the valleys of the Sakaria and Adranos, extending
southwards to Kutaiah and northwards to the Sea of Marmora.
Infirmity had compelled him towards the end of his life to
depute the chief command to his younger son Orkhan, by whom
in 1326 the conquest of Brusa was at last effected after a long
siege.
Orkhan’s military prowess secured for him the succession,
to the exclusion of his elder brother Ala-ud-din, who became
his grand vizier. At that time a number of
principalities had replaced the Seljukian state.
Though Yahsha Bey, grandson of Mahommed Karaman
Orkhan,
1326–1359.
Oghlu, had declared himself the successor of the Seljukian
sultans, the princes of Aidin, Sarukhan, Menteshē, Kermian,
Hamid, Tekkē and Karassi declined to recognize his authority,
and considered themselves independent, each in his own
dominions. Their example was followed by the Kizil Ahmedli
Emir Shems-ed-din, whose family was afterwards known as the
house of Isfendiar in Kastamuni. The rest of the country
was split up among Turcoman tribes, such as the Zulfikar in
Marash and the Al-i-Ramazan in Adana. At his accession
Orkhan was practically on the same footing with these, and
avoided weakening himself in the struggle for the Seljukian
inheritance, preferring at first to consolidate his forces at Brusa.
There he continued to wrest from the Greeks the lands which
their feeble arms were no longer able to defend. He took Aīdos,
Nicomedia, Hērēkē, and, after a siege, Nicaea; Tarakli and
Gemlik fell to his arms, and soon the whole of the shore of
the Marmora up to Kartal was conquered, and the Byzantines
retained on the continent of Asia Minor only Ala Shehr and
Biga. 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.
At this period the state of the Byzantine Empire was such as to render its powers of resistance insignificant; indeed the length of time during which it held out against the Turks is to be attributed rather to the lack of efficacious means at the disposal of its assailants than to any qualities possessed by its defenders. In Constantinople itself sedition and profligacy were rampant, the emperors were the tools of faction and cared but little for the interests of their subjects, whose lot was one of hopeless misery and depravity. On the death of the emperor Andronicus III. in 1341 he was succeeded by John Palaeologus, a minor; and Cantacuzenus, the mayor of the palace, appealed to Orkhan for assistance to supplant him, giving in marriage to the Ottoman prince his daughter Theodora. Orkhan lent the desired aid; his son Suleiman Pasha, governor of Karassi, crossed into Europe, crushed Cantacuzenus’s enemies, and penetrated as far as the Balkans, returning laden with spoil. Thus the Turks learnt the country of the Greeks and their weakness. In 1355 Suleiman crossed over from Aīdinjik and captured the fortress of Gallipoli, which was at once converted into a Turkish stronghold; from this base Bulaīr, Malgara, Ipsala and Rodosto were added to the Turkish possessions. Suleiman Pasha was killed by a fall from his horse near Bulaīr in 1358; the news so affected his father Orkhan as to cause his death two months later. The institution of the Janissaries (q.v.) holds a prominent place among the most remarkable events of Orkhan’s reign, which was notable for the encouragement of learning and the foundation of schools, the building of roads and other works of public utility.
Orkhan was succeeded by his son Murad. After capturing
Angora from a horde of Turkomans encamped there who were
attacking his dominions, at first with some success,
in 1361 Murad prepared for a campaign in Europe.
At that time the Greek emperor’s rule was
Murad I.,
1359–1389.
confined to the shores of the Marmora, the Archipelago and
Thrace. Salonica, Thessaly, Athens and the Morea were
under independent Greek princes. The Bulgarians, Bosnians
and Servians had at different periods invaded and conquered
the territories inhabited by them; the Albanians, original
natives of their land, were governed by princes of their
own. When, on the death of Cantacuzenus, John Palaeologus
remained sole occupant of the imperial throne, Murad
declared war against him and conquered the country right up to
Adrianople; the capture of this city, the second capital of the
emperors, was announced in official letters to the various Mussulman
rulers by Murad. Three years later, in 1364, Philippopolis
fell to Lala Shahin, the Turkish commander in Europe. The
states beyond the Balkan now began to dread the advance of the
Turks; at the instigation of the pope an allied army of 60,000
Serbs, Hungarians, Walachians and Moldavians attacked Lala
Shahin. Murad, who had returned to Brusa, crossed over to
Biga, and sent on Haji Ilbeyi with 10,000 men; these fell by night
on the Servians and utterly routed them at a place still known as
the “Servians' coffer.” In 1367 Murad made Adrianople his
capital and enriched it with various new buildings. He continued
to extend his territories in the north and west; the king of Servia
and the rulers of Kiustendil, Nicopolis and Silistria agreed to
pay tribute to the conquering Turk. Lala Shahin Pasha was
appointed feudal lord of the district of Philippopolis, and Timur
Tash Pasha became beylerbey of Rumelia; Monastir, Perlepē,
and parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina were next taken, and the
king of Servia consented to furnish to Murad a fixed contingent
of auxiliary troops, besides paying a money tribute. In 1381
Murad’s son Yilderim Bayezid married Devlet Shah Khatun,
