Osman I, or by his known names Osman Gazi or Osman Bey (Ottoman Turkish: عثمان بك, c. 1254–58, Söğüt – 1324, Bursa), was the Turkish ruler and commander who was the founder of the Ottoman Beylik and the Ottoman Dynasty and the first sovereign of the beylik. While the beylik he led in his lifetime was initially a small Turkish beylik, in the centuries after his death it turned into a great empire. His grandfather is thought to have been named Süleyman Şah or Gündüz Alp, and his lineage is thought to trace back to the Kayı tribe, a member of the Bozok branch of the Oghuz. His grandmother was Hayme Hatun, his father Ertuğrul Gazi, and his mother Halime Hatun. According to the historian Aşıkpaşazade, it is claimed that Osman Gazi, while on the one hand asserting that he descended from the "Gök Alp" line belonging to the Üçok branch of the Oghuz, on the other hand said that his own grandfather's name was not "Süleyman Şah son of Kaya Alp" but "Süleyman Şah son of Kutalmış."
The beylik's declaration of independence
It is accepted that in 1299 Osman Gazi, growing stronger from his position as a frontier beylik, founded the Ottoman Beylik in and around Söğüt. According to the historian Halil İnalcık, the Ottoman State gained its independence in 1302 after the Battle of Bapheus (Koyunhisar). With the taking of refuge in the Ottoman beylik by some Turkmen communities fleeing the Mongol invasions, Osman Bey's political and military power increased. Also aided by the turmoil in the Eastern Roman Empire, which was in a period of decline, he soon gained power in the region of Bithynia (northwestern Anatolia). At the time of his death, the beylik held sway over the lands between Eskişehir and Bursa and kept İznik (Nicaea) and Bursa, which belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire, under blockade.
Early years
Osman Gazi was born in Söğüt in 1258. There are no reliable records concerning the early periods of his life. The information about Osman Bey's lineage and tribe is traditional, and the oldest of it was written 100 years after his death. Among these works, beginning with the oldest, are Ahmedi (d. 1414), Dâstân and Tevârih-i Mülûk-i Âl-i Osman; Şükrullah (d. 1464), Behçetü't-Tevârih; and Aşıkpaşazade (d. 1481), Tevârih-i Âl-i Osman. In his work Menâkıb-ı Âl-i Osmân, Derviş Ahmed Âşıkî traces Osman Gazi's lineage back to the Prophet Noah and lists it as follows:
Yafes, son of the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him); Çin, son of Yafes; Maçin, son of Çin; Turtmış, son of Maçin; Yan Temür, son of Turtmış; Korluğa, son of Yan Temür; Karahol, son of Korluğa; Süleyman Şah, son of Karahol; Karalu Oğlan, son of Süleyman Şah; Amudi, son of (K)aralu Oğlan; Karaca, son of Amudi; Kurtulmuş, son of Karaca; Çar Boğa, son of Kurtulmuş; Sevinc, son of Çar Boğa; Togar, son of Sevinc; Baybus, son of Togar; Kızıl Boğa, son of Baybus; Kamarı, son of Kızıl Boğa; Baysub, son of Kamarı; Kara Han, son of Baysub; Tuzak, son of Kara Han;
Ay Kutluk, son of Tuzak; Kara Han, son of Ay Kutluk; Oğuz, son of Kara Han; Gök Alp, son of Oğuz; Basuk, son of Gök Alp; Tok Temür, son of Basuk; Sogar, son of Tok Temür; Bakıyı, son of Sogar; Sunkur, son of Bakıyı; Kaynıtun, son of Sunkur; Togar, son of Kaynıtun; Aykulug, son of Togar; Bayundur, son of Aykulug; Kızıl Boğa, son of Bayundur; Kaya Alp, son of Kızıl Boğa; Süleyman Şah Gazi, son of Kaya Alp; Ertuğrul Gazi, son of Süleyman Şah Gazi; and Osman Gazi, son of Ertuğrul Gazi.
It is argued that all the contemporary works belonging to his period are largely derived from an original text dated to 1422 or shortly thereafter that no longer exists. According to some historians, Osman Gazi's life and battles are colored, within a fabulous, epic pattern rather than a historical one, with folk rumors, hagiographic tales, and legends.
Efforts to seize the beylik
In 1281 his father Ertuğrul Bey died at around the age of 90.
According to a view on which many historians agree, the transfer of the beylik office for the Kayı tribe's beylik was not peaceful, and in order to take on the office of the beylik Osman Gazi waged a struggle for the throne with his relatives. With whom this struggle was waged and how it unfolded is disputed, and different historians give different accounts.
According to one of these accounts, which has a great many adherents, Osman Gazi entered into conflict with his uncle Dündar Gazi over the beylik. According to this account, Dündar Bey was favored by the prominent elders of the Kayı tribe, while the young warriors of the tribe supported Osman Bey. How long this conflict lasted and in what manner it continued is unknown, but at the end of the conflict Osman Bey prevailed, and on the pretext that the old Dündar Bey had opposed the raids carried out against the enemy, he killed him with a single arrow shot. After this, Osman Bey became head and bey of the Kayı tribe in accordance with Oghuz custom. In an alternative account, in Hacı Bektaş's work "Velâyet-Nâme," the story of Osman's accession to the beylik is different. After the Kayı tribe settled in and around Sultanönü, first his uncle, then his father Erdoğdu (Ertuğrul) Bey held the beylik, and later his elder brother Gündüz Alp became the Kayı bey. Meanwhile Osman Gazi, with the tribal warriors around him, began to organize raids into the local Byzantine districts of Yarhisar, Bilecik, İnegöl, and İznik. The Byzantine tekfur (governor) of Bursa sent envoys to the Seljuk sultan in Konya to complain about these raids. The Seljuk sultan, in turn, sent word to Gündüz Alp asking him to bring his younger brother Osman Bey, who was organizing the raids, into line. Gündüz Alp captured Osman Bey and sent him, together with his warriors, to Konya.
Expansion through struggle with local Byzantine forces in the Bithynia region
During the roughly 20-year phase of the Ottoman state's emergence, extending from the 1280s to 1300, Osman Gazi waged a series of local conflicts in the socially very turbulent Bithynia region (that is, in today's Bursa–Bilecik–İznik districts) in order to preserve his renown and strengthen his small frontier beylik. In these conflicts he received support from and made use of other "Alp" beys who were his companions in gaza—such as Samsa Çavuş, Konur Alp, Akça Koca, Aykut Alp, and Abdurrahman Gazi—and the raider units under their command. Religious and moral support to Osman Gazi was given by the Ahis. In particular, his father-in-law Shaykh Edebali—the İtburnu shaykh of the Eskişehir Ahis, whose daughter Bala Hatun Osman Bey married—continually provided counsel and support.
Sources
- Turkish Wikipedia: tr.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org