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104-620: The Ottoman Empire's early years have been the subject of varying narratives, due to the difficulty of discerning fact from legend. The empire came into existence at the end of the 13th century, and its first ruler (and the namesake of the Empire) was Osman I . According to later, often unreliable Ottoman tradition, Osman was a descendant of the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz Turks . The eponymous Ottoman dynasty he founded endured for six centuries through

208-543: A Byzantine village headman whose descendants (known as the Mihaloğulları) enjoyed primacy among the frontier warriors in Ottoman service. Köse Mihal was noteworthy for having been a Christian Greek; while he eventually converted to Islam, his prominent historical role indicates Osman's willingness to cooperate with non-Muslims and to incorporate them in his political enterprise. Osman I strengthened his legitimacy by marrying

312-527: A Turkic tribe which migrated out of Central Asia in the wake of the Mongol Conquests . As evidenced by coins minted during his reign, Osman's father was named Ertuğrul , but beyond this the details "are too mythological to be taken for granted." The origin of the Ottoman dynasty isn't known for sure but it is known that it was established by Turks from Central Asia , who migrated to Anatolia and were under Mongol suzerainty. Likewise, nothing

416-610: A brief respite during the 1370s and into the 1380s when matters in Anatolia and increased meddling in Byzantium's political affairs kept Murad preoccupied. In Serbia, the lull permitted the northern Serb ‘’bojar’’ Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic (1371-89), with the support of powerful Bulgarian and Montenegrin nobles and the backing of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate of Pec, to consolidate control over much of

520-425: A centralized imperial state, a process which was achieved by Sultan Mehmed II ( r.  1451–1481–  ). The conquest of Constantinople in 1453 is seen as the symbolic moment when the emerging Ottoman state shifted from a mere principality into an empire therefore marking a major turning point in its history. The cause of Ottoman success cannot be attributed to any single factor, and they varied throughout

624-607: A draw. Both armies were mostly wiped out. Both Lazar and Murad lost their lives. Although the Ottomans managed to annihilate the Serbian army, they also suffered high casualties which delayed their progress. The Serbs were left with too few men to effectively defend their lands, while the Turks had many more troops in the east. Consequently, one after the other, the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals became so in

728-521: A leader is marked by him issuing coins in his name, unlike his predecessors in the last two centuries who issued coins in the name of the Illkhanates. Osman's principality was initially supported by the tribal manpower of nomadic Turkish groups, whom he led in raids against the Byzantine territories of the region. This Ottoman tribe was based not on blood-ties, but on political expedience. Thus it

832-536: A lightning campaign against the Bulgarian rulers Shishman and Sratsimir, who swiftly were forced into vassal submission. He then demanded that Lazar proclaim his vassalage and pay tribute. Confident because of the victory at Plocnik, the Serbian prince refused and turned to Tvrtko of Bosnia and Vuk Brankovic, his son-in-law and independent ruler of northern Macedonia and Kosovo, for aid against the certain Ottoman retaliatory offensive. On St. Vitus' Day , June 15, 1389,

936-640: A long blockade rather than from an assault. It was under Orhan (r. 1323/4-1362) and Murad I (r. 1362-1389) that the Ottomans mastered the techniques of siege warfare. The warriors in Osman's service came from diverse backgrounds. Known variously as gazi s and akıncıs (raiders), they were attracted to his success and joined out of a desire to win plunder and glory. Most of Osman's early followers were Muslim Turks of tribal origin, while others were of Byzantine origin, either Christians or recent converts to Islam. The Ottomans began employing gunpowder weapons in

1040-399: A secular sense to simply refer to raids. Additionally, the early Ottomans were neither strict orthodox Muslims nor were they unwilling to cooperate with non-Muslims, and several of the companions of the first Ottoman rulers were either non-Muslims or recent converts. The idea of holy war existed during the fourteenth century, but it was only one of many factors influencing Ottoman behavior. It

1144-461: A small territory around the town of Söğüt in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia . He led frequent raids against the neighboring Byzantine Empire . Success attracted warriors to his following, particularly after his victory over a Byzantine army in the Battle of Bapheus in 1301 or 1302. Osman's military activity was largely limited to raiding because, by the time of his death, in 1323-4,

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1248-648: A springboard for military operations in Thrace against the Byzantines and Bulgarians . Most of eastern Thrace was overrun by Ottoman forces within a decade and was permanently brought under Orhan's control by means of heavy colonization. The initial Thracian conquests placed the Ottomans strategically astride all of the major overland communication routes linking Constantinople to the Balkan frontiers, facilitating their expanded military operations. ln addition, control of

1352-411: A sultan than his portrait. The "Notes" column contains information on each sultan's parentage and fate. Early Ottomans practiced what historian Quataert has described as " survival of the fittest , not eldest, son": when a sultan died, his sons had to fight each other for the throne until a victor emerged. Because of the infighting and numerous fratricides that occurred, there was often a time gap between

1456-421: A sultan's death date and the accession date of his successor. In 1617, the law of succession changed from survival of the fittest to a system based on agnatic seniority ( اکبریت ekberiyet ), whereby the throne went to the oldest male of the family. This in turn explains why from the 17th century onwards a deceased sultan was rarely succeeded by his own son, but usually by an uncle or brother. Agnatic seniority

1560-400: Is known about how Osman first established his principality ( beylik ) as the sources, none of them contemporary, provide many different and conflicting origin stories. What is certain is that at some point in the late thirteenth century Osman emerged as the leader of a small principality centered on the town of Söğüt in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia . The emergence of Osman as

1664-463: The valide sultan to new heights. Two Valide sultans acted as regents for their sons, assuming the vast power and influence the position entailed. The most powerful and well-known of all valide sultans in the history of the Ottoman Empire were Nurbanu Sultan , Safiye Sultan , Kösem Sultan , and Turhan Sultan . Nurbanu Sultan became the first of the great valide sultans during

1768-590: The Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, and the reconquest of Constantinople by the Byzantine Palaiologos dynasty in 1261, which shifted Byzantine attention away from the Anatolian frontier. Mongol pressure pushed nomadic Turkish tribes to migrate westward, into the now poorly-defended Byzantine territory. For the next two centuries, Anatolian Beyliks were under the suzerainty of the Mongols , especially

1872-455: The Ilkhanate . All coins minted during this period in Anatolia show Ilkhanate rulers . From the 1260s onward Anatolia increasingly began to slip from Byzantine control, as Turkish Anatolian beyliks were established both in formerly Byzantine lands and in the territory of the fragmenting Seljuk Sultanate. Political authority in western Anatolia was thus extremely fragmented by the end of

1976-732: The Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen on September 26, 1371 with sultan Murad's lieutenant Lala Shahin Pasha and the Serbs numbering some 70,000 men under the command of the Serbian king of Prilep Vukašin Mrnjavčević and his brother despot Uglješa. Despot Uglješa wanted to make a surprise attack in their capital city, Edirne, while Murad I was in Asia Minor. The Ottoman army was much smaller, but due to superior tactics (night raid on

2080-606: The Ottoman Empire after the sultan himself. As the mother to the sultan, by Islamic tradition ("A mother's right is God's right"), the valide sultan would often have a significant influence on the affairs of the empire. She had great power in the court and her own rooms (always adjacent to her son's) and state staff. The valide sultan had quarters within the New Palace, where the Sultan himself resided, beginning in

2184-459: The Sultanate of Women , as the position of main consort eroded over the course of 17th century, the main consort lost the title sultan , which replaced by kadïn , a title related to the earlier khatun . Henceforth, the mother of the reigning sultan was the only person of non-imperial blood to carry the title sultan . Valide sultan was, in most cases, the most important position in

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2288-438: The gazi , who sustained Ottoman military conquests, and created lasting tensions within the state. It was also during the reign of Murad I that the office of military judge ( Kazasker ) was created, indicating an increasing level of social stratification between the emerging military-administrative class ( askeri ) and the rest of society. Murad I also instituted the practice of appointing specific frontier warriors as "Lords of

2392-438: The imperial harem —especially the reigning sultan's mother, known as the valide sultan —also played an important behind-the-scenes political role, effectively ruling the empire during the period known as the Sultanate of Women . Constitutionalism was established during the reign Abdul Hamid II , who thus became the empire's last absolute ruler and its reluctant first constitutional monarch. Although Abdul Hamid II abolished

2496-479: The padishah ( Ottoman Turkish : پادشاه , romanized :  pâdişâh , French : Padichah ). In Ottoman usage the word "Padisha" was usually used except "sultan" was used when he was directly named. In several European languages, he was referred to as the Grand Turk , as the ruler of the Turks, or simply the "Great Lord" ( il Gran Signore , le grand seigneur ) especially in the 16th century. Names of

2600-603: The parliament and the constitution to return to personal rule in 1878, he was again forced in 1908 to reinstall constitutionalism and was deposed. Since 2021, the head of the House of Osman has been Harun Osman , a great-grandson of Abdul Hamid II . The table below lists Ottoman sultans, as well as the last Ottoman caliph, in chronological order. The tughras were the calligraphic seals or signatures used by Ottoman sultans. They were displayed on all official documents as well as on coins, and were far more important in identifying

2704-407: The "Gaza Thesis," was influential for much of the twentieth century, and led historians to portray the early Ottomans as zealous religious warriors dedicated to the spread of Islam. Beginning in the 1980s, historians increasingly criticized Wittek's thesis. Scholars now recognize that the terms gaza and gazi did not have strictly religious connotations for the early Ottomans, and were often used in

2808-516: The 1380s at the latest. By the 1420s they were regularly using cannons in siege warfare. Cannons were also used for fortress defense, and shore batteries allowed the Ottomans to bypass a Crusader blockade of the Dardanelles in 1444. By that time, handheld firearms had also come into use, and were adopted by some of the janissaries . By the early fifteenth century, the Ottoman court was actively fostering literary output, much of it borrowing from

2912-732: The 16th century. As the Valide sultan (Sultana mother), who had direct and intimate access to the Sultan's person, often influenced government decisions bypassing the Imperial Council and the Grand Vizier altogether or the grille-covered window from which the Sultan or Valide sultan could observe Council meetings. This left her at the heart of the political ongoings and machinations of the Ottoman Empire. valide sultan also traditionally had access to considerable economic resources and often funded major architectural projects, such as

3016-553: The Atik Valide Mosque Complex in Istanbul. Many valide sultans undertook massive philanthropic endeavors and buildings, as this was seen as one of the main ways to demonstrate influence and wealth. Valide sultans were also conveniently one of the few people within the empire with the station and means to embark on these expensive projects. Nurbanu Sultan 's daily stipend as valide sultan to her son, Murad III ,

3120-543: The Balkans began shortly thereafter. Depopulation resulting from the plague was thus almost certainly a major factor in the success of early Ottoman expansion into the Balkans, and contributed to the weakening of the Byzantine Empire and the depopulation of Constantinople. During this early period, before the Ottomans were able to establish a centralized system of government in the middle of the fifteenth century,

3224-533: The Balkans in 1387, his Serbian and Bulgarian vassals attempted to sever their ties to him. Lazar formed a coalition with Tvrtko I of Bosnia and Stratsimir of Vidin. After he refused an Ottoman demand that he live up to his vassal obligations, troops were dispatched against him. Lazar and Tvrtko met the Turks and defeated them at Plocnik, west of Niš. The victory by his fellow Christian princes encouraged Shishman to shed Ottoman vassalage and reassert Bulgarian independence. Murad returned from Anatolia in 1388 and launched

List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire - Misplaced Pages Continue

3328-570: The Balkans. Orhan married Theodora, the daughter of Byzantine prince John VI Cantacuzenus . In 1346 Orhan openly supported John VI in the overthrowing of the emperor John V Palaeologus . When John VI became co-emperor (1347–1354) he allowed Orhan to raid the peninsula of Gallipoli in 1352, after which the Ottomans gained their first permanent stronghold in Europe at Çimpe Castle in 1354. Orhan decided to pursue war against Europe, Anatolian Turks were settled in and around Gallipoli to secure it as

3432-487: The Christian states of the Balkans. Osman's origins are extremely obscure, and almost nothing is known about his career before the beginning of the fourteenth century. The date of 1299 is frequently given as the beginning of his reign, however this date does not correspond with any historical event, and is purely symbolic. By 1300 he had become the leader of a group of Turkish pastoral tribes, through which he ruled over

3536-645: The Danube south into central Macedonia, co-ruled by Uroš and the powerful noble Vukasin Mrnjavcevic, who held Prilep in Macedonia. Far from preserving Serb unity, Uroš's loosely amalgamated domains were wracked by constant civil war among the regional nobles, leaving Serbia vulnerable to the rising Ottoman threat. Murad I did rise to the power of the Ottoman Empire in 1362. By 1370 Murad controlled most of Thrace , bringing him into direct contact with Bulgaria and

3640-507: The Faith". In 1938 the Austrian historian Paul Wittek published an influential work entitled The Rise of the Ottoman Empire , in which he put forth the argument that the early Ottoman state was constructed upon an ideology of Islamic holy war against non-Muslims. Such a war was known as gaza , and a warrior fighting in it was called a gazi . Wittek's formulation, subsequently known as

3744-516: The Frontier" ( uc begleri ). Such power of appointment indicates that the Ottoman rulers were no longer merely primus inter pares . As a way of openly declaring this new status, Murad became the first Ottoman ruler to adopt the title of sultan . Beginning in the 1430s, but most likely earlier, the Ottomans conducted regular cadastral surveys of the territory under their rule, producing record-books known as tahrir defter s . These surveys enabled

3848-519: The Hungarians encroached deeper into Serb lands in the north. Uros held only the core Serbian lands, whose nobles, although more powerful than their prince, generally remained loyal. These core lands consisted of: The western lands, including Montenegro ( Zeta ); the southern lands, held by Jovan Uglješa in Serres, encompassing all of eastern Macedonia; and the central Serbian lands, stretching from

3952-535: The Hungarians were repulsed and Ivan Sratsimir restored to his throne, Bulgaria emerged more intensely divided. Ivan Sratsimir proclaimed himself tsar of an "Empire" of Vidin in 1370, and Dobrotitsa received de facto recognition as independent despot in Dobrudzha . Bulgaria's efforts were squandered to little domestic purpose and against the wrong enemy. Given Serbia's preeminence in the Balkans under Tsar Stefan Dušan , its rapid dissolution following his death in 1355

4056-455: The Ottoman army as well. Of the latter, many were converts to Islam, while others remained Christian. Of great symbolic importance for Ottoman centralization was the practice of Ottoman rulers to stand upon hearing martial music, indicating their willingness to participate in gaza . Shortly after the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II discontinued this practice, indicating that

4160-476: The Ottoman army, personally commanded by Sultan Murad, fought the Serbian army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović , which also included contingents led by Vuk Branković , and a contingent sent from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I , commanded by Vlatko Vuković . Estimates of army sizes vary, with the Ottomans having greater numbers (27,000–40,000) than the Orthodox army (12,000–30,000). The battle resulted in

4264-428: The Ottoman dynasty, was replacing other titles by which prominent members of the imperial family had been known (notably hatun for women and bey for men). Consequently, the title valide hatun (title for living mother of reigning Ottoman sultan before 16th century) also turned into valide sultan . This usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative. Western tradition knows

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4368-425: The Ottoman imperial court. These positions helped them solidify their own power within the imperial court and ease diplomatic tensions on a broader, international scale. Most harem women who were slaves were never formally married to the sultans. Nevertheless, their children were considered fully legitimate under Islamic law if recognized by the father. The list does not include the complete list of mothers of

4472-489: The Ottoman ruler as sultan , but the Ottomans themselves used padişah (emperor) or hünkar to refer to their ruler. The emperor's formal title consisted of sultan together with khan (for example, Sultan Suleiman Khan). In formal address, the sultan's children were also entitled sultan , with imperial princes ( şehzade ) carrying the title before their given name, with imperial princesses carrying it after. For example, Şehzade Sultan Mehmed and Mihrimah Sultan were

4576-451: The Ottoman ruler was initially merely primus inter pares . Much of the state's centralization was carried out in opposition to these frontier warriors, who resented Ottoman efforts to control them. Ultimately, the Ottomans managed to harness gazi military power while increasingly subordinating them. The early Ottomans were noteworthy for the low tax rates which they imposed on their subjects. This reflected both an ideological concern for

4680-471: The Ottoman ruler was no longer a simple frontier warrior, but the sovereign of an empire. The empire's capital shifted from Edirne , the city symbolically connected with the frontier warrior ethos of gaza , to Constantinople , a city with deeply imperial connotations due to its long history as the capital of the Byzantine Empire . This was seen, both symbolically and practically, as the moment of

4784-505: The Ottoman state to organize the distribution of agricultural taxation rights to the military class of timariots , cavalrymen who collected revenue from the land in exchange for serving in the Ottoman army. Timariots came from diverse backgrounds. Some achieved their position as a reward for military service, while others were descended from the Byzantine aristocracy and simply continued to collect revenue from their old lands, now serving in

4888-447: The Ottoman sultans . Most who held the title of valide sultan were the biological mothers of the reigning sultans. The mothers who died before their sons' accession to throne, never assumed the title of valide sultan , like Hürrem Sultan , Muazzez Sultan , Mihrişah Kadın , Şermi Kadın , Tirimüjgan Kadın , Gülcemal Kadın and Gülistu Kadın . In special cases, there were grandmothers, stepmothers, adoptive mothers and sisters of

4992-453: The Ottomans had not yet developed effective techniques for siege warfare. Although he is famous for his raids against the Byzantines, Osman also had many military confrontations with Tatar groups and with the neighboring principality of Germiyan . Osman was adept at forging political and commercial relationships with nearby groups, Muslim as well as Christian. Early on, he attracted several notable figures to his side, including Köse Mihal,

5096-400: The Ottomans. Orhan oversaw the conquest of Bithynia 's major towns, as Bursa (Prusa) was conquered in 1326 and the rest of the region's towns fell shortly thereafter. Already by 1324, the Ottomans were making use of Seljuk bureaucratic practices, and had developed the capacity to mint coins and utilize siege tactics. It was under Orhan that the Ottomans began to attract Islamic scholars from

5200-504: The allied camp), Şâhin Paşa was able to defeat the Christian army and kill King Vukašin and despot Uglješa. Macedonia and parts of Greece fell under Ottoman power after this battle. Both Uglješa and Vukašin perished in the carnage. So overwhelming was the Ottoman victory that the Turks referred to the battle as the Rout (or Destruction) of the Serbs. What little unity Serbia possessed collapsed after

5304-467: The catastrophe at Ormenion (Chernomen). Uroš died before the year was out, ending the Nemanjić dynasty , and large areas of central Serbia broke away as independent principalities, reducing it to half of its former size. No future ruler ever again officially held the office of car , and no single bojar enjoyed enough power or respect to gain recognition as a unifying leader. Vukasin's son, Marko, survived

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5408-520: The challenge of administering an ever-larger population. Early on, the Ottomans adopted the Seljuks of Rum as models for administration and the Illkhanates as models for military warfare, and by 1324 were able to produce Persian-language bureaucratic documents in the Seljuk style. The early Ottoman state's expansion was fueled by the military activity of frontier warriors ( Turkish : gazi ), of whom

5512-486: The conquest of Edirne, most Christian Europeans regarded the Ottoman presence in Thrace as merely the latest unpleasant episode in a long string of chaotic events in the Balkans. After Murad I designated Edirne as his capital, they realized that the Ottomans intended to remain in Europe. The Balkan states of Byzantium , Bulgaria , and Serbia were frightened by Ottoman conquests in Thrace, and were ill-prepared to deal with

5616-518: The core Serbian lands. Most of the Serb regional rulers in Macedonia, including Marko, accepted vassalage under Murad to preserve their positions, and many of them led Serb forces in the sultan's army operating in Anatolia against his Turkish rivals. By the mid-1380s Murad's attention once again focused on the Balkans. With his Bulgarian vassal Shishman preoccupied by a war with Wallachian Voievod Dan I of Wallachia (ca. 1383-86), in 1385 Murad took Sofia ,

5720-473: The danger that the Ottomans posed to his kingdom, and he sought out Balkan allies for a new anti-Ottoman coalition. Valide sultan Valide Sultan ( Ottoman Turkish : والده سلطان , lit. "Sultana mother") was the title held by the mother of a ruling sultan of the Ottoman Empire . The Ottomans first formally used the title in the 16th century as an epithet of Hafsa Sultan (died 1534), mother of Sultan Suleyman I ( r.  1520–1566 ), superseding

5824-415: The daughter of Sheikh Edebali, a prominent local religious leader who was said to have been at the head of a community of dervishes on the frontier. Later Ottoman writers embellished this event by depicting Osman as having experienced a dream while staying with Edebali, in which it was foretold that his descendants would rule over a vast empire. Upon Osman's death his son Orhan succeeded him as leader of

5928-463: The early Ottomans and influenced their institutional development. Some time after 1376, Kara Halil , the head of the Çandarlı family, encouraged Murad I to institute a tax of one-fifth on slaves taken in war, known as the pençik . This gave the Ottoman rulers a source of manpower from which they could construct a new personal army, known as the Janissaries ( yeniçeri ). Such measures frustrated

6032-539: The east to act as administrators and judges, and the first medrese (University) was established in Iznik in 1331. In addition to fighting the Byzantines, Orhan also conquered the Turkish principality of Karesi in 1345-6, thus placing all potential crossing points to Europe in Ottoman hands. The experienced Karesi warriors were incorporated into the Ottoman military, and were a valuable asset in subsequent campaigns into

6136-581: The emergence of the Ottoman principality ( Turkish : Osmanlı Beyliği ) in c.  1299 , and ended c.  1453 . This period witnessed the foundation of a political entity ruled by the Ottoman Dynasty in the northwestern Anatolian region of Bithynia , and its transformation from a small principality on the Byzantine frontier into an empire spanning the Balkans , Anatolia , Middle East and North Africa . For this reason, this period in

6240-449: The empire's definitive shift from a frontier principality into an empire. Osman's army at the beginning of the fourteenth century consisted largely of mounted warriors. These he used in raids, ambushes, and hit-and-run attacks, allowing him to control the countryside of Bithynia. However, he initially lacked the means to conduct sieges. Bursa , the first major town conquered by the Ottomans, surrendered under threat of starvation following

6344-416: The empire's history has been described as the "Proto-Imperial Era" . Throughout most of this period, the Ottomans were merely one of many competing states in the region, and relied upon the support of local warlords Ghazis and vassals (Beys) to maintain control over their realm. By the middle of the fifteenth century the Ottoman sultans were able to accumulate enough personal power and authority to establish

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6448-599: The end of his rule, the Bulgarian Tsar made the fatal mistake to divide the Second Bulgarian Empire into three appanages held by his sons. Bulgaria's cohesion was shattered further in the 1350s by a rivalry between the holder of Vidin , Ivan Sratsimir , Ivan Aleksandar's sole surviving son by his first wife, and Ivan Shishman , the product of Aleksandar's second marriage and the tsar's designated successor. In addition to internal problems, Bulgaria

6552-419: The fifteenth century, more than a hundred years after many of the events they describe. It is thus a great challenge for historians to differentiate between fact and myth in analyzing the stories contained in these later chronicles, so much so that one historian has even declared it impossible, describing the earliest period of Ottoman history as a "black hole". Turkish historian Halil Inalcik has emphasized

6656-512: The following years. The Battle of Kosovo is particularly important to modern Serbian history, tradition, and national identity. Lazar's young and weak successor Stefan Lazarević (1389–1427) concluded a vassal agreement with Bayezid in 1390 to counter Hungarian moves into northern Serbia, while Vuk Branković, the last independent Serb prince, held out until 1392. Bayezid I (often given the epithet Yıldırım , "the Thunderbolt") succeeded to

6760-489: The highways in Thrace isolated Byzantium from direct overland contact with any of its potential allies in the Balkans and in Western Europe. Byzantine Emperor John V was forced to sign an unfavorable treaty with Orhan in 1356 that recognized his Thracian losses. For the next 50 years, the Ottomans went on to conquer vast territories in the Balkans, reaching as far north as modern-day Serbia . In taking control over

6864-541: The importance of religious zeal—expressed through jihad—as a primary motivation for the conquests of the Ottomans: “The ideal of gaza, holy war, was an important factor in the foundation and development of the Ottoman state. Society in the frontier principalities conformed to a particular cultural pattern imbued with the ideal of continuous Holy War and continuous expansion of the Dar ul Islam—the realms of Islam—until they covered

6968-570: The last remaining Bulgarian possession south of the Balkan Mountains, opening the way toward strategically located Niš , the northern terminus of the important Vardar -Morava highway. Savra field battle was fought on 18 September 1385 between Ottoman and Serbian forces. The Ottomans were victorious and most of the local Serbian and Albanian lords became vassals. Murad captured Niš in 1386, perhaps forcing Lazar of Serbia to accept Ottoman vassalage soon afterward. While he pushed deeper into

7072-659: The local princes into vassalage. Both to secure the southern stretch of the Vardar-Morava highway and to establish a firm base for permanent expansion westward to the Adriatic coast, Bayezid settled large numbers of ‘’yürüks’’ along the Vardar River valley in Macedonia. The appearance of Turk raiders at Hungary's southern borders awakened the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387–1437) to

7176-488: The longstanding literary tradition of other Islamic courts further east. The first extant account of Ottoman history ever written was produced by the poet Ahmedi, originally meant to be presented to Sultan Bayezid I but, following the latter's death in 1402, written for his son Süleyman Çelebi instead. This work, entitled the İskendernāme , ("The Book of Alexander ") was part of a genre known as "mirror for princes" ( naṣīḥatnāme ), meant to provide advice and guidance to

7280-499: The necessity for coming to terms with the Ottomans. By 1376 at the latest, Shishman accepted vassal status under Murad and sent his sister as the sultan's "wife" to the harem at Edirne. The arrangement did not prevent Ottoman raiders from continuing to plunder inside Shishman's borders. As for Byzantium, Emperor John V definitively accepted Ottoman vassalage soon after the battle, opening the door to Murad's direct interference in Byzantine domestic politics. The Bulgarians and Serbs enjoyed

7384-574: The north—central Balkans, Murad also had forces moving west along the ‘’Via Ingatia’’ into Macedonia, forcing vassal status on regional rulers who until that time had escaped that fate. One contingent reached the Albanian Adriatic coast in 1385. Another took and occupied Thessaloniki in 1387. The danger to the continued independence of the Balkan Christian states grew alarmingly apparent. When Anatolian affairs forced Murad to leave

7488-488: The official title to all land. Osman (died 1323/4) son of Ertuğrul was the first ruler of the Ottoman state, which during his reign constituted a small principality ( beylik ) in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire . After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II , Ottoman sultans came to regard themselves as the successors of the Roman Empire, hence their occasional use of

7592-464: The opinions and attitudes of important members of the dynasty, the bureaucratic and military establishments, as well as religious leaders. Beginning in the last decades of the sixteenth century, the role of the Ottoman sultans in the government of the empire began to decrease, in a period known as the Transformation of the Ottoman Empire . Despite being barred from inheriting the throne, women of

7696-747: The passageways to Europe, the Ottomans gained a significant advantage over their rival Turkish principalities in Anatolia, as they now could gain immense prestige and wealth from conquests carried out on the Balkan frontier. Soon after Orhan's death in 1362, Murad I became Sultan. Murad's first major offensive was the conquest of the Byzantine city of Adrianople in 1362. He renamed it to Edirne and made it his new capital in 1363. By transferring his capital from Bursa in Anatolia to that newly won city in Thrace , Murad signaled his intentions to continue Ottoman expansion in Southeast Europe. Before

7800-414: The period as the Ottomans continually adapted to changing circumstances. The earlier part of this period, the fourteenth century, is particularly difficult for historians to study due to the scarcity of sources. Not a single written document survives from the reign of Osman I , and very little survives from the rest of the century. The Ottomans, furthermore, did not begin to record their own history until

7904-408: The previous epithets of Valide Hatun (lady mother), mehd-i ulya ("cradle of the great"). or "the nacre of the pearl of the sultanate". Normally, the living mother of a reigning sultan held this title. Those mothers who died before their sons' accession to the throne never received the title of valide sultan . In special cases sisters, grandmothers and stepmothers of a reigning sultan assumed

8008-530: The reigning sultans who assumed the role, and eventually the title, of valide sultan , like Mihrimah Sultan , Kösem Sultan and Rahime Perestu Sultan . son's death ترخان خدیجه سلطان صالحه دل آشوب سلطان رابعه گلنوش سلطان صالحه سلطان شهسوار سلطان مهر شاه سلطان سینه پرور سلطان نقش دل سلطان بزم عالم سلطان پرتو نهال سلطان adoptive daughter of Esma Sultan The title of Büyük Valide Sultan (Senior Valide Sultan) or Büyükanne Sultan (Grandmother Sultana)

8112-525: The reigns of 36 sultans. The Ottoman Empire disappeared as a result of the defeat of the Central Powers , with whom it had allied itself during World War I . The partitioning of the Empire by the victorious Allies and the ensuing Turkish War of Independence led to the abolition of the sultanate in 1922 and the birth of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1922. The sultan was also referred to as

8216-438: The resources to defeat Murad on its own. Concerted action on the part of the Byzantines, often divided by civil war, was impossible. The survival of Constantinople itself depended on its legendary defensive walls, the lack of an Ottoman navy, and the willingness of Murad to honor provisions in the 1356 treaty, which permitted the city to be provisioned. Bulgaria under Tsar Ivan Aleksandar was expanding and prosperous. However, at

8320-427: The ruler with regard to statecraft. Thus rather than providing a factual account of the dynasty's history, Ahmedi's goal was to indirectly criticize the sultan by depicting his ancestors as model rulers, in contrast to the perceived deviance of Bayezid. Specifically, Ahmedi took issue with Bayezid's military campaigns against fellow Muslims in Anatolia, and thus depicted his ancestors as totally devoted to holy war against

8424-473: The rulers' powers were "far more circumscribed, and depended heavily upon coalitions of support and alliances reached" among various power-holders within the empire, including Turkic tribal leaders and Balkan allies and vassals. When the Ottoman polity first emerged at the end of the thirteenth century under the leadership of Osman I , it had a tribal organization without a complex administrative apparatus. As Ottoman territory expanded, its rulers were faced with

8528-436: The sixteenth century, as haseki as well as legal wife to Sultan Selim II. Nurbanu’s influential career as valide sultan established the precedent of valide sultan maintaining more power than her nearest harem rival, the haseki, or favorite concubine of the reigning sultan. The following influential valide sultans, Safiye Sultan, Kösem Sultan and Turhan Sultan, maintained this precedent and occupied positions of extreme power within

8632-528: The slaughter and proclaimed himself Serbian "king" ( kralj ) but was unable to enforce his claim beyond his lands around Prilep , in central Macedonia. Serbia slipped into accelerated fragmentation and internecine warfare among the proliferating regional princes. In the aftermath of the Ormenion battle, Ottoman raids into Serbia and Bulgaria intensified. The enormity of the victory and the incessant raids into his lands convinced Turnovo Bulgarian Tsar Shishman of

8736-487: The son and daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent. Like imperial princesses, the living mother and main consort of reigning sultans also carried the title after their given names, for example, Hafsa Sultan , Suleiman's mother and first valide sultan , and Hürrem Sultan , Suleiman's chief consort and first haseki sultan . The evolving usage of this title reflected power shifts among imperial women, especially between

8840-403: The sons of a deceased ruler. The Ottomans consistently kept the empire united under a single heir. The process of centralization is closely connected with an influx of Muslim scholars from Central Anatolia, where a more urban and bureaucratic Turkish civilization had developed under the Seljuks of Rum . Particularly influential was the Çandarlı family , which supplied several Grand Viziers to

8944-547: The southeastern Serbian lands ruled by Uglješa. Uglješa, the most powerful Serb regional ruler, unsuccessfully attempted to forge an anti-Ottoman alliance of Balkan states in 1371. Byzantium, vulnerable to the Turks because of its food supply situation, refused to cooperate. Bulgaria, following Ivan Aleksandar's death early that year, lay officially divided into the "Empire" of Vidin, ruled by Stratsimir (1370–96), and Aleksandar's direct successor Tsar Ivan Shishman (1371–95), who ruled central Bulgaria from Turnovo . Young, his hold on

9048-587: The sultan in languages used by ethnic minorities : The Ottoman Empire was an absolute monarchy during much of its existence. By the second half of the fifteenth century, the sultan sat at the apex of a hierarchical system and acted in political, military, judicial, social, and religious capacities under a variety of titles. He was theoretically responsible only to God and God's law (the Islamic شریعت şeriat , known in Arabic as شريعة sharia ), of which he

9152-411: The sultanship upon the assassination of his father Murad. In a rage over the attack, he ordered all Serbian captives killed; Beyazid became known as Yıldırım , the lightning bolt, for the speed with which his empire expanded. Bayezid, "the Thunderbolt", lost little time in expanding Ottoman Balkan conquests. He followed up on his victory by raiding throughout Serbia and southern Albania, forcing most of

9256-442: The thirteenth century, split between locally established rulers, tribal groups, holy figures, and warlords, with Byzantine and Seljuk authority ever present but rapidly weakening. The fragmentation of authority has led several historians to describe the political entities of thirteenth and fourteenth-century Anatolia as Taifas , or "petty kings", a comparison with the history of late-medieval Muslim Spain . The power of these groups

9360-709: The threat. Byzantine territory was reduced and fragmented. It consisted mostly of the capital, Constantinople and its Thracian environs, the city of Thessaloniki and its immediate surroundings, and the Despotate of the Morea in the Peloponnese. Contact between Constantinople and the two other regions was only feasible via a tenuous sea route through the Dardanelles , kept open by the Italian maritime powers of Venice and Genoa. The weakened Byzantine Empire no longer possessed

9464-482: The throne unsteady, threatened by Stratsimir, and probably pressured by the Turks, Shishman could not afford to participate in Uglješa's scheme. Of the regional Serb bojars , only Vukašin , protector of Uroš and Uglješa's brother, joined in the effort. The others either failed to recognize the Ottoman danger or refused to participate lest competitors attacked while they were in the field. The Battle of Maritsa took place at

9568-483: The title and/or the functions valide sultan . The word valide ( والده ) literally means 'mother' in Ottoman Turkish, from Arabic wālida . The Turkish pronunciation of the word valide is [vaː.liˈde] . Sultan ( سلطان , sulṭān ) is an Arabic word originally meaning 'authority' or 'dominion'. By the beginning of the 16th century, this title, carried by both men and women of

9672-539: The titles caesar ( قیصر qayser ) of Rûm , and emperor , as well as the caliph of Islam. Newly enthroned Ottoman rulers were girded with the Sword of Osman , an important ceremony that served as the equivalent of European monarchs' coronation. A non-girded sultan was not eligible to have his children included in the line of succession. Although absolute in theory and in principle, the sultan's powers were limited in practice. Political decisions had to take into account

9776-467: The valide sultan spearheaded one of the most crucial elements of diplomacy within the Ottoman Empire’s court: marriages of royal princesses. The most powerful and influential valide sultans had multiple daughters, with whom they forged crucial alliances through by marriage. During the 17th century, in a period known as the Sultanate of Women , a series of incompetent or child sultans raised the role of

9880-406: The well-being of their subjects, and also a pragmatic need to earn the loyalty of newly conquered populations. In the fifteenth century, the Ottoman state became more centralized and the tax burden increased, prompting criticism from writers. An important factor in Ottoman success was their ability to preserve the empire across generations. Other Turkic groups frequently divided their realms between

9984-637: The whole world.” This is known as the Gaza Thesis , a now largely-criticised theory of early Ottoman expansion. After the Battle of Manzikert (1071) Anatolia was divided between two relatively powerful states: the Byzantine Empire in the west and the Anatolian Seljuks in the central plateau. Equilibrium between them was disrupted by the Mongol invasion and conquest of the Seljuks following

10088-476: Was 2000 aspers, an extraordinary sum for the time, which revealed the highly influential position she held at court. The valide sultan also maintained special privileges that other harem members could not participate in. A valide sultan was not subject to sole seclusion within the confines of the palace. She had mobility outside of the harem, sometimes through ceremonial visibility to the public or veiled meetings with government officials and diplomats. Additionally,

10192-556: Was dramatic. The powerful regional Serb nobles demonstrated little respect for his successor, Stefan Uroš V . Young, weak Uroš was incapable of ruling as his father had. The separatist-minded bojars were quick to take advantage of the situation, and Serbia fragmented. First to throw off Serbian control were the Greek provinces of Thessaly and Epiros as well as Dušan's former Albanian holdings. A series of small independent principalities arose in western and southern Macedonia , while

10296-487: Was further crippled by a Hungarian attack. In 1365 Hungarian King Louis I invaded and seized Vidin province , whose ruler Ivan Sratsimir was taken captive. Despite the concurrent loss of most Bulgarian Thracian holdings to Murad, Ivan Aleksandar became fixated on the Hungarians in Vidin. He formed a coalition against them with the Bulgarian ruler of Dobrudja Dobrotitsa and Voievod Vladislav I Vlaicu of Wallachia . Although

10400-454: Was inclusive of all who wished to join, including people of Byzantine origin. The Ottoman enterprise came to be led by several great warrior families, including the family of Köse Mihal , which had a Greek Christian origin and the family of Hranislav , which was Bulgarian. Islam and Persian culture were part of Ottoman self-identity from the start, as evidenced by a land grant issued by Osman's son Orhan in 1324, describing him as "Champion of

10504-413: Was largely dependent upon their ability to attract military manpower. Western Anatolia was then a hotbed of raiding activity, with warriors switching allegiance at will to whichever chief seemed most able to provide them with opportunities for plunder and glory. The Ottoman dynasty is named after the first ruler of the Ottoman polity, Osman I . According to later Ottoman tradition, he was descended from

10608-553: Was only later, in the fifteenth century, that Ottoman writers retroactively began to portray the early Ottomans as zealous Islamic warriors, in order to provide a noble origin for their dynasty which, by then, had constructed an intercontinental Islamic empire. Anatolia and the Balkans were greatly impacted by the arrival of the Black Death after 1347. Urban centers and settled regions were devastated, while nomadic groups suffered less of an impact. The first Ottoman incursions into

10712-551: Was retained until the abolition of the sultanate , despite unsuccessful attempts in the 19th century to replace it with primogeniture . Note that pretenders and co-claimants during the Ottoman Interregnum are also listed here, but they are not included in the formal numbering of sultans. Rise of the Ottoman Empire The rise of the Ottoman Empire is a period of history that started with

10816-422: Was the chief executor. His heavenly mandate ( Kut ) was reflected in Islamic titles such as "shadow of God on Earth" ( ظل الله في العالم ẓıll Allāh fī'l-ʿalem ) and "caliph of the face of the earth" ( خلیفه روی زمین Ḫalife-i rū-yi zemīn ). All offices were filled by his authority, and every law was issued by him in the form of a decree called firman ( فرمان ). He was the supreme military commander and had

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