Orhan I
Encyclopedia
Orhan I or Orhan Bey was the second bey
of the nascent Ottoman Empire
(then known as the Ottoman Beylik
or Emirate) from 1326 to 1359. He was the son of Osman I
and Malhun Hatun, the daughter of Abdulaziz Bey.
In the early stages of his reign, Orhan focused his energies on conquering most of northwestern Anatolia
. The majority of these areas were under Byzantine
rule and he won his first battle, at Pelekanon
, against the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos
. Orhan also occupied the lands of the Karasids of Balıkesir
and the Ahis of Ankara
.
A series of civil wars surrounding the ascension of the nine-year-old emperor John V benefited Orhan greatly. In the first
, the regent John Kantakouzenos
married his daughter Theodora to Orhan and employed Ottoman warriors
against the rival forces of the queen dowager
, allowing them to loot Thrace. In the second, Kantakouzenos used Ottoman forces against John V himself, granting them the use of a European fortress at Çimpe around 1352. A major earthquake devastated Gallipoli
(modern Gelibolu
) two years later and Orhan's son Suleyman Pasha
occupied the town
, giving the Ottomans a strong bridgehead into mainland Europe.
.
Orhan then told him, "Since, my brother, thou will not take the flocks and the herds that I offer thee, be thou the shepherd of my people; be my Vizier." The word vizier
, vezir in the Ottoman language, from Persian wazīr, meant the bearer of a burden. Alaeddin, in accepting the office, accepted his brother's burden of power, according to oriental historians. Alaeddin, like many of his successors in that office, did not often command the armies in person, but he occupied himself with the foundation and management of the civil and military institutions of the state.
According to some authorities, it was in Alaeddin's time, and by his advice, that the Ottomans ceased acting like vassals to the Seljuk ruler: they no longer stamped money with his image or used his name in public prayers. These changes are more correctly attributed by others to Osman himself, but the vast majority of the oriental writers concur in attributing to Alaeddin the introduction of laws respecting the costume of the various subjects of the empire, and the creation and funding of a standing army of regular troops. It was by his advice and that of a contemporary Turkish statesman that the celebrated corps of Janissaries was formed, an institution which European writers erroneously fix at a later date, and ascribe to Murad I
.
Orhan's predecessors, Ertughrul
and Osman
, had made war at the head of the armed vassals and volunteers. This army rode on horseback to their prince's banner when summoned for each expedition, and were disbanded as soon as the campaign was over. Alaeddin determined to ensure and future success by forming a corps of paid infantry, which was to be kept in constant readiness for service. These troops were called Yaya, or piyade. They were divided into tens, hundreds, and thousands with their commanders. Their pay was high, and their pride soon caused their sovereign some anxiety. Orhan wished to provide a check to them, and he took counsel for this purpose with his brother Alaeddin and Kara Khalil Çandarlı
(of House of Candar), who was connected with the royal house by marriage. Çandarlı laid before his master and the vizier a project. Out of this arose the renowned corps of Janissaries, which was considered the scourge of the Balkans and Central Europe for a long time, until it was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II
in 1826.
Çandarlı proposed to Orhan to create an army entirely composed of the children of conquered places. Çandarlı argued that:
He also claimed that the formation of Janissary
out of conquered children would induce other people to adopt, not only out of the children of the conquered nations, but out of a crowd of their friends and relations, who would come as volunteers to join the Ottoman ranks. Acting on this advice, Orhan selected a thousand of the finest boys from conquered Christian families. The recruits were trained according to their individual abilities, and employed in posts ranging from professional soldier to Grand Vizier
. This practice continued for centuries, until the reign of Sultan Mehmet IV.
territories in northwest Anatolia. First, in 1321, Mudanya
was captured on the Sea of Marmara
, which was the port of Bursa. He then sent a column under Konur Alp towards West Black Sea coast; another column under Aqueda to capture Kocaeli
, and finally a column to capture the southeast coast of the Sea of Marmara. Then, he captured the city of Bursa just with diplomatic negotiations. The Byzantine commander of the Bursa fort, called Evronos Bey, became a commander of a light cavalry force and even his sons and grandsons served Ottoman Empire in this capacity to conquer and hold many areas in Balkans. Once the city of Bursa was captured, Orhan sent cavalry troops towards Bosphorus, capturing Byzantine coastal towns of Marmara. There were even sightings of Ottoman light cavalry along the Bosphoros coast.
The Byzantine Emperor Andronicus III gathered together a mercenary army and set of towards Anatolia on the peninsular lands of Kocaeli. But at the present towns of Darica
, at a site then called Pelekanon, not too far from Uskudar, he met with Orhan's troops. The Byzantine forces were routed by Orhan's disciplined troops. Thus, in 1329 after this Battle of Pelekanon
the Byzantines gave up the idea of getting the Kocaeli lands back and never tried conducting a field battle against the Ottoman forces.
The city of Nicaea
(second only to Constantinople
in the Byzantine Empire) surrendered to him after a three-year siege
in 1331. The city of İzmit
or Nicomedia
was also captured
in 1337. Orhan gave the command of it to his eldest son, Suleyman Pasha, who had directed the operations of the siege.
In 1338 by capturing Uskudar most of Northwest Anatolia was in Ottoman hands. The Byzantines still controlled the coastal strip from Sile
on the Black Sea to Uskudar and the city of Amasra
(Amastris) in Paphlagonia, but these were so scattered and isolated as to be no threat to the Ottomans.
Then, there was a change of strategy in 1345. Instead of aiming to gain land from non-Muslims, Orhan took over a Turkish principality, Karesi (present Balikesir
and surrounds). According to Islamic philosophy of war, the areas under Islamic rule were to be abodes of peace and the other areas abodes of war. In abodes of war conducting a war was considered a good deed. Karesi principality was a state governed by a Turkish Emir and its main inhabitants were Turkish; so it was an abode of peace. Ottomans had to have special justification for conquering fellow Muslim Turkish principalities.
In the case of Karesi, the ruler had died and had left two sons whose claims to the post of Emir were equally valid. So there was a fight between the armed supporters of the two claimant princes. Orhan's pretext for invasion was that he was acting as a bringer of peace. In the end of the invasion by Ottoman troops the two brothers were pushed to the castle of their capital city of Bergama
(Pergamum). One was killed and the other was captured. The territories around Bergama
and Balikesir
(Palaeocastro) were annexed to Orhan's domains. This conquest was particularly important since it brought Orhan's territories to Canakkale
, the Anatolian side of the Dardanelles Straits
.
With the conquest of Karesi, nearly the whole of northwestern Anatolia was included in the Ottoman Empire, and the four cities of Bursa, Izmit
(Nicomedia), Iznik
(Nicea), and Bergama
(Pergamum) had become strongholds of its power. At this stage of his conquests Orhan's Ottoman Principality had four provinces:
from the commercial-religious fraternity guild of Ahis.
The general diffusion of Turkish populations over Anatolia, before Osman's time, was in main part a push from the Mongol conquest of Central Asia, Iran and then East Anatolia. Turkish peoples had founded a number of principalities after the demise of the Anatolian Sultanate of Rum
, after its defeat by the Ilkhanate
Mongols. These principalities, including the Ottomans under Orhan until the reign of his son Murat I, were still paying yearly tribute to the Ilkhanids in Persia. Although they were all of Turkish stock, they were all rivals for dominant status in Anatolia.
After the Byzantine defeat of the Battle of Pelekanon
, Orhan developed friendly relations with Andronicus III Palaeologus, and maintained them with some of his successors. Therefore, the Ottoman power experienced a twenty-year period of general repose.
However, as the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347
dissipated the last resources of the Byzantine Empire, the auxiliary armies of the Emirs of Turkish principalities were frequently called over and employed in Europe. In 1346, The Emperor John VI Cantacuzene recognised Orhan as the most powerful sovereign of the Turks. He aspired to attach the Ottoman forces permanently to his interests, and hoped to achieve this by giving his second daughter, Theodora, in marriage to their ruler, despite differences of creed and the disparity of age. However, in Byzantine and in Western European history, dynastic marriages were quite usual and there are many examples which were much more strange.
The splendour of the wedding between Orhan and Theodora at Salymbria (Silivri
) is elaborately described by Byzantine writers. In the following year, Orhan and Theodora visited his imperial father-in-law at Uskudar
, (then Chrysopolis) the suburb of Constantinople on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus where there was a display of festive splendor. However, this close relationship soured when Byzantines suffered from marauding migrant Turcoman bands that had crossed the Marmara Sea and Dardanelles and pillaged several towns in Thrace. After a series of such raids, the Byzantines had to use superior forces to deal with them.
During these years the Byzantine Empire was so weak that commercial supremacy in the surrounding seas around it became a bone of contention for the Italian maritime commercial city states. The Republic of Genoa
possessed Galata
, a separate Genoese city across the Golden Horn
from Constantinople itself. The Genoese had fought and defeated the Byzantines earlier in 1348 when the Byzantines had decreased their customs tariffs in order to attract trade to the Byzantine side of the Golden Horn. In 1352 the rivalry for trade led to a war between Genoa
and Venice
. The Genoese, in trying to repel a Venetian fleet from destroying their ships in Golden Horn, bombarded the sea walls of Constantinople and pushed Byzantines to ally with Venetians. Venetians gathered together a large naval force, including hired fleets from Peter IV of Aragon
and from Byzantine Empire of John VI Cantacuzene. Unfortunately for Venice and its allies the sea battle between Venetian fleet under the command of Nicolo Pisani and Genoese fleet under Paganino Doria led to defeat of Venetians and Byzantine allies. Orhan was against the Venetians, whose fleets and piratical raids were disrupting his seaward provinces, and who had met his diplomatic overtures with contempt. The Venetians were allies of John VI, so Orhan sent an auxiliary force across the straits to Galata, which there co-operated with the Genoese.
In the midst of the distress and confusion that the Byzantine Empire now suffered, Orhan's eldest son, Suleyman Pasha, captured the Castle of Tzympe (Cinbi) in a bold move which gave the Turks a permanent foothold on the European side of the Dardanelles Straits. He also started to settle migrant Turcomans and town-dwelling Turks in the strategic city and castle of Gelibolu
(Gallipoli
), which had been devastated by a severe earthquake and was therefore evacuated by its inhabitants. Suleyman refused various financial inducements offered by John VI to empty the castle and the city. The emperor pleaded with his son-in-law Orhan to meet personally and discuss the matter, but the request was either rejected or could not be carried out due to Orhan's age and ill health.
This military situation was not resolved, in part because the eruption of the hostilities between John VI and his co-emperor and son-in-law John V Palaeologus. John V was dismissed from his imperial post and exiled to Tenedos
; Cantacuzene's son Matthew was crowned as the co-emperor. But very soon John V returned from exile with Venetian help and to conduct a coup taking over the government of Constantinople. Although the two men came to an agreement to share power, John VI resigned from his imperial post and became a monk. Each of these two contestants for power was continually soliciting Orhan's aid against the other, and Orhan supported whichever side would benefit the Ottomans.
and lived a secluded life in Bursa.
In 1356 a very unusual event occurred. Khalil, the son of Orhan and Theodora, was abducted somewhere on the Bay of Izmit. A Genoese commercial boat captain, which was conducting acts of piracy alongside commercial activity, was able to capture the young prince and take him over to Phocaea
on the Aegean Sea, which was under Genoese rule. Orhan was very much upset by this kidnapping and conducted talks with his brother-in-law and now single Byzantine Emperor John V Palaeologos. As to the agreement, John V with a Byzantine naval fleet went to Phocaea, paid the ransom demanded of 100,000 Byzantine gold pieces, and brought Khalil back to Ottoman territory.
In 1357 Orhan's eldest and most experienced son and likely heir, Suleyman Pasha, died after injuries sustained from a fall from a horse near Bolayir on the coast of the sea of Marmara. The horse that Suleyman fell from was buried along side him and their tombs can still be seen today. Orhan was said to have been greatly affected by the death of his son.
Orhan died soon after, in 1361, at the age of seventy-nine, after a reign of thirty-seven years. He is buried in the türbe
(tomb) with his wife and children, called Gümüşlü Kumbet in Bursa.
During his reign, some of the most important civil and military institutions of his state were founded in the western provinces of Anatolia, but were also planted on the European continent.
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...
of the nascent Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(then known as the Ottoman Beylik
Names of the Ottoman Empire
The state of the Ottomans which began as part of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate and became an independent Empire, has been known historically by different names at different periods and in various languages...
or Emirate) from 1326 to 1359. He was the son of Osman I
Osman I
Osman I or Othman I or El-Gazi Sultan Osman Ghazi, or Osman Bey or I. Osman, Osman Gazi Han), nicknamed "Kara" for his courage, was the leader of the Ottoman Turks, and the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire...
and Malhun Hatun, the daughter of Abdulaziz Bey.
In the early stages of his reign, Orhan focused his energies on conquering most of northwestern Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. The majority of these areas were under Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
rule and he won his first battle, at Pelekanon
Battle of Pelekanon
The Battle of Pelekanon also known by its Latinised form Battle of Pelecanum occurred on June 10-11, 1329 between an expeditionary force by the Byzantines led by Andronicus III and an Ottoman army led by Orhan I...
, against the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos
Andronikos III Palaiologos
Andronikos III Palaiologos, Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus was Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341, after being rival emperor since 1321. Andronikos III was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia...
. Orhan also occupied the lands of the Karasids of Balıkesir
Balikesir
Balıkesir is the capital city of Balıkesir Province. Balıkesir is in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a population of 265,747 inhabitants. Old name is Karesi or Karasi.- History :...
and the Ahis of Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
.
A series of civil wars surrounding the ascension of the nine-year-old emperor John V benefited Orhan greatly. In the first
Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347
The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 was a conflict between supporters of designated regent John VI Kantakouzenos and guardians acting for John V Palaiologos, Emperor Andronikos III's nine-year-old son, in the persons of the Empress-dowager Anna of Savoy, the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV...
, the regent John Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzenus was the Byzantine emperor from 1347 to 1354.-Early life:Born in Constantinople, John Kantakouzenos was the son of a Michael Kantakouzenos, governor of the Morea. Through his mother Theodora Palaiologina Angelina, he was a descendant of the reigning house of...
married his daughter Theodora to Orhan and employed Ottoman warriors
Military of the Ottoman Empire
The history of military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years between 1300 and 1453 , the classical period covers the years between 1451 and 1606 , the reformation period covers the years between 1606 and 1826 ,...
against the rival forces of the queen dowager
Anna of Savoy
Anna of Savoy, born Giovanna, was a Byzantine Empress consort, as the second wife of Andronikos III Palaiologos.-Family:She was a daughter of Amadeus V, Count of Savoy and his second wife Maria of Brabant. Her maternal grandparents were John I, Duke of Brabant and Margaret of Flanders...
, allowing them to loot Thrace. In the second, Kantakouzenos used Ottoman forces against John V himself, granting them the use of a European fortress at Çimpe around 1352. A major earthquake devastated Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
(modern Gelibolu
Gelibolu
Gelibolu, also known as Gallipoli , is the name of a town and a district in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on the southern shore of the peninsula named after it on the Dardanelles strait, two miles away from Lapseki on the other...
) two years later and Orhan's son Suleyman Pasha
Suleyman Pasha (son of Orhan)
Suleyman Pasha was the eldest son of Orhan I, the second bey of the newly established Ottoman Empire.-Assault on Byzantium:Suleyman Pasha struck a bold blow to the weakened Byzantine Empire on behalf of his race, which gave the Turks a permanent establishment on the European side of the Hellespont...
occupied the town
Fall of Gallipoli
The fall of Gallipoli to the Ottomans occurred in March of 1354. After suffering a half-century of a string of defeats at the hands of the Ottomans, the Byzantines had lost nearly all of their possessions in Anatolia...
, giving the Ottomans a strong bridgehead into mainland Europe.
Passage of power
When Orhan succeeded his father, he proposed to his brother, Alaeddin, that they should share the emerging empire. The latter refused on the grounds that their father had designated Orhan as sole successor, and that the empire should not be divided. He only accepted as his share the revenues of a single village near BursaBursa, Turkey
Bursa is a city in northwestern Turkey and the seat of Bursa Province. The metropolitan area in the entire Bursa province had a population of 2.6 million as of 2010, making the city fourth most populous in Turkey. The city is equally one of the most industrialized metropolitan centers in the...
.
Orhan then told him, "Since, my brother, thou will not take the flocks and the herds that I offer thee, be thou the shepherd of my people; be my Vizier." The word vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
, vezir in the Ottoman language, from Persian wazīr, meant the bearer of a burden. Alaeddin, in accepting the office, accepted his brother's burden of power, according to oriental historians. Alaeddin, like many of his successors in that office, did not often command the armies in person, but he occupied himself with the foundation and management of the civil and military institutions of the state.
Government
Murad I
Murad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...
.
Janissaries
Alaeddin, by his military legislation, may be truly said to have organized victory for the Ottoman dynasty. He organised for the Ottoman Empire a standing army of regularly paid and disciplined infantry and horses, a full century before Charles VII of France established his fifteen permanent companies of men-at-arms, which are generally regarded as the first modern standing army.Orhan's predecessors, Ertughrul
Ertugrul
Ertuğrul was the father of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. He was the leader of the Kayı clan of the Oghuz Turks...
and Osman
Osman I
Osman I or Othman I or El-Gazi Sultan Osman Ghazi, or Osman Bey or I. Osman, Osman Gazi Han), nicknamed "Kara" for his courage, was the leader of the Ottoman Turks, and the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire...
, had made war at the head of the armed vassals and volunteers. This army rode on horseback to their prince's banner when summoned for each expedition, and were disbanded as soon as the campaign was over. Alaeddin determined to ensure and future success by forming a corps of paid infantry, which was to be kept in constant readiness for service. These troops were called Yaya, or piyade. They were divided into tens, hundreds, and thousands with their commanders. Their pay was high, and their pride soon caused their sovereign some anxiety. Orhan wished to provide a check to them, and he took counsel for this purpose with his brother Alaeddin and Kara Khalil Çandarlı
Çandarli Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha
Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha was the first vizier of Murad I's reign. He was also the first in Ottoman history who held the title "Grand Vizier", the first who had a military background and the first member of the illustrious Çandarlı Family to hold high office...
(of House of Candar), who was connected with the royal house by marriage. Çandarlı laid before his master and the vizier a project. Out of this arose the renowned corps of Janissaries, which was considered the scourge of the Balkans and Central Europe for a long time, until it was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II
Mahmud II
Mahmud II was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. He was born in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, the son of Sultan Abdulhamid I...
in 1826.
Çandarlı proposed to Orhan to create an army entirely composed of the children of conquered places. Çandarlı argued that:
- "The conquered are the responsibility of the conqueror, who is the lawful ruler of them, of their lands, of their goods, of their wives, and of their children. We have a right to do, same as what we do with our own; and the treatment which I propose is not only lawful, but benevolent. By enforcing the enrolling them in the ranks of the army, we consult both their temporal and eternal interests, as they will be educated and given better life conditions."
He also claimed that the formation of Janissary
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
out of conquered children would induce other people to adopt, not only out of the children of the conquered nations, but out of a crowd of their friends and relations, who would come as volunteers to join the Ottoman ranks. Acting on this advice, Orhan selected a thousand of the finest boys from conquered Christian families. The recruits were trained according to their individual abilities, and employed in posts ranging from professional soldier to Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
. This practice continued for centuries, until the reign of Sultan Mehmet IV.
Initial expansion
Orhan, with the help of Jihad commanders at the head of his forces of light cavalry, started a series of conquests of ByzantineByzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
territories in northwest Anatolia. First, in 1321, Mudanya
Mudanya
Mudanya , is a town and district of Bursa Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. It is located on the Gulf of Gemlik, part of the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. As of 1911, it was connected with Bursa by a railway and a carriage road, and with Istanbul by steamers...
was captured on the Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as the Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Black...
, which was the port of Bursa. He then sent a column under Konur Alp towards West Black Sea coast; another column under Aqueda to capture Kocaeli
Izmit
İzmit is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 294.875...
, and finally a column to capture the southeast coast of the Sea of Marmara. Then, he captured the city of Bursa just with diplomatic negotiations. The Byzantine commander of the Bursa fort, called Evronos Bey, became a commander of a light cavalry force and even his sons and grandsons served Ottoman Empire in this capacity to conquer and hold many areas in Balkans. Once the city of Bursa was captured, Orhan sent cavalry troops towards Bosphorus, capturing Byzantine coastal towns of Marmara. There were even sightings of Ottoman light cavalry along the Bosphoros coast.
The Byzantine Emperor Andronicus III gathered together a mercenary army and set of towards Anatolia on the peninsular lands of Kocaeli. But at the present towns of Darica
Darica
Darıca is a town and district of Kocaeli Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. It was ceded from Gebze district in 2008. The mayor is Şükrü Karabacak....
, at a site then called Pelekanon, not too far from Uskudar, he met with Orhan's troops. The Byzantine forces were routed by Orhan's disciplined troops. Thus, in 1329 after this Battle of Pelekanon
Battle of Pelekanon
The Battle of Pelekanon also known by its Latinised form Battle of Pelecanum occurred on June 10-11, 1329 between an expeditionary force by the Byzantines led by Andronicus III and an Ottoman army led by Orhan I...
the Byzantines gave up the idea of getting the Kocaeli lands back and never tried conducting a field battle against the Ottoman forces.
The city of Nicaea
Iznik
İznik is a city in Turkey which is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh Ecumenical councils in the early history of the Church, the Nicene Creed, and as the capital city of the Empire of Nicaea...
(second only to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in the Byzantine Empire) surrendered to him after a three-year siege
Siege of Nicaea (1331)
The Siege of Nicaea by the forces of Osman I from 1328 to 1331, resulted to the conquest of a key Byzantine Greek city by the Ottoman Turks. It played an important role to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.-Background:...
in 1331. The city of İzmit
Izmit
İzmit is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 294.875...
or Nicomedia
Nicomedia
Nicomedia was an ancient city in what is now Turkey, founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and was originally known as Astacus . After being destroyed by Lysimachus, it was rebuilt by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia, and has ever since been one of the most...
was also captured
Siege of Nicomedia
-Introduction:From 1299, the newly founded Turkic state of the Ottomans had been slowly but surely capturing territory from the Byzantine Greeks. The loss of Nicaea was the beginning of a series of Ottoman expansion that lead to final dissolution of the Byzantine empire and its scattered Greek...
in 1337. Orhan gave the command of it to his eldest son, Suleyman Pasha, who had directed the operations of the siege.
In 1338 by capturing Uskudar most of Northwest Anatolia was in Ottoman hands. The Byzantines still controlled the coastal strip from Sile
Sile
Şile is a small holiday city on the Black Sea, 70 km from the city of Istanbul, Turkey. Şile is the also the name of the district and the municipality that contain the city center of Şile...
on the Black Sea to Uskudar and the city of Amasra
Amasra
Amasra is a small Black Sea port town in the Bartın Province, Turkey. The town is today much appreciated for its beaches and natural setting, which has made tourism the most important activity for its inhabitants...
(Amastris) in Paphlagonia, but these were so scattered and isolated as to be no threat to the Ottomans.
Then, there was a change of strategy in 1345. Instead of aiming to gain land from non-Muslims, Orhan took over a Turkish principality, Karesi (present Balikesir
Balikesir
Balıkesir is the capital city of Balıkesir Province. Balıkesir is in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a population of 265,747 inhabitants. Old name is Karesi or Karasi.- History :...
and surrounds). According to Islamic philosophy of war, the areas under Islamic rule were to be abodes of peace and the other areas abodes of war. In abodes of war conducting a war was considered a good deed. Karesi principality was a state governed by a Turkish Emir and its main inhabitants were Turkish; so it was an abode of peace. Ottomans had to have special justification for conquering fellow Muslim Turkish principalities.
In the case of Karesi, the ruler had died and had left two sons whose claims to the post of Emir were equally valid. So there was a fight between the armed supporters of the two claimant princes. Orhan's pretext for invasion was that he was acting as a bringer of peace. In the end of the invasion by Ottoman troops the two brothers were pushed to the castle of their capital city of Bergama
Bergama
Bergama is a populous district, as well as the center city of the same district, in İzmir Province in western Turkey. By excluding İzmir's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is largely urbanized at the rate of 53,6 per cent...
(Pergamum). One was killed and the other was captured. The territories around Bergama
Bergama
Bergama is a populous district, as well as the center city of the same district, in İzmir Province in western Turkey. By excluding İzmir's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is largely urbanized at the rate of 53,6 per cent...
and Balikesir
Balikesir
Balıkesir is the capital city of Balıkesir Province. Balıkesir is in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a population of 265,747 inhabitants. Old name is Karesi or Karasi.- History :...
(Palaeocastro) were annexed to Orhan's domains. This conquest was particularly important since it brought Orhan's territories to Canakkale
Çanakkale
Çanakkale is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 106,116 . The mayor is Ülgür Gökhan ....
, the Anatolian side of the Dardanelles Straits
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
.
With the conquest of Karesi, nearly the whole of northwestern Anatolia was included in the Ottoman Empire, and the four cities of Bursa, Izmit
Izmit
İzmit is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 294.875...
(Nicomedia), Iznik
Iznik
İznik is a city in Turkey which is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh Ecumenical councils in the early history of the Church, the Nicene Creed, and as the capital city of the Empire of Nicaea...
(Nicea), and Bergama
Bergama
Bergama is a populous district, as well as the center city of the same district, in İzmir Province in western Turkey. By excluding İzmir's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is largely urbanized at the rate of 53,6 per cent...
(Pergamum) had become strongholds of its power. At this stage of his conquests Orhan's Ottoman Principality had four provinces:
- Original land grant area of Sogut and Eskisehir;
- Hudavendigar (Domain of the Sultan) area of Bursa and Iznik;
- Koca Eli peninsular area around Izmit;
- former principality of Karesi around Balikesir and Bergama .
Consolidation period
A twenty-year period of peace followed the acquisition of Karesi. During this time, the Ottoman sovereign was actively occupied in perfecting the civil and military institutions which his brother had introduced, in securing internal order, in founding and endowing mosques and schools, and in the construction of vast public edifices, many of which still stand. Orhan did not continue with any other conquests in Anatolia except taking over AnkaraAnkara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
from the commercial-religious fraternity guild of Ahis.
The general diffusion of Turkish populations over Anatolia, before Osman's time, was in main part a push from the Mongol conquest of Central Asia, Iran and then East Anatolia. Turkish peoples had founded a number of principalities after the demise of the Anatolian Sultanate of Rum
Sultanate of Rûm
The Sultanate of Rum , also known as the Anatolian Seljuk State , was a Turkic state centered in in Anatolia, with capitals first at İznik and then at Konya. Since the court of the sultanate was highly mobile, cities like Kayseri and Sivas also functioned at times as capitals...
, after its defeat by the Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
Mongols. These principalities, including the Ottomans under Orhan until the reign of his son Murat I, were still paying yearly tribute to the Ilkhanids in Persia. Although they were all of Turkish stock, they were all rivals for dominant status in Anatolia.
After the Byzantine defeat of the Battle of Pelekanon
Battle of Pelekanon
The Battle of Pelekanon also known by its Latinised form Battle of Pelecanum occurred on June 10-11, 1329 between an expeditionary force by the Byzantines led by Andronicus III and an Ottoman army led by Orhan I...
, Orhan developed friendly relations with Andronicus III Palaeologus, and maintained them with some of his successors. Therefore, the Ottoman power experienced a twenty-year period of general repose.
However, as the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347
Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347
The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 was a conflict between supporters of designated regent John VI Kantakouzenos and guardians acting for John V Palaiologos, Emperor Andronikos III's nine-year-old son, in the persons of the Empress-dowager Anna of Savoy, the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV...
dissipated the last resources of the Byzantine Empire, the auxiliary armies of the Emirs of Turkish principalities were frequently called over and employed in Europe. In 1346, The Emperor John VI Cantacuzene recognised Orhan as the most powerful sovereign of the Turks. He aspired to attach the Ottoman forces permanently to his interests, and hoped to achieve this by giving his second daughter, Theodora, in marriage to their ruler, despite differences of creed and the disparity of age. However, in Byzantine and in Western European history, dynastic marriages were quite usual and there are many examples which were much more strange.
The splendour of the wedding between Orhan and Theodora at Salymbria (Silivri
Silivri
Silivri is a city and a district in Istanbul Province along the Sea of Marmara in Turkey, outside of metropolitan Istanbul, containing many holiday and weekend homes for residents of the city. The largest city in the district is also named Silivri...
) is elaborately described by Byzantine writers. In the following year, Orhan and Theodora visited his imperial father-in-law at Uskudar
Üsküdar
Üsküdar is a large and densely populated municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Beykoz, on the east by Ümraniye, on the southeast by Ataşehir, on the south by Kadıköy, and on the west by the Bosphorus, with the areas of Beşiktaş,...
, (then Chrysopolis) the suburb of Constantinople on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus where there was a display of festive splendor. However, this close relationship soured when Byzantines suffered from marauding migrant Turcoman bands that had crossed the Marmara Sea and Dardanelles and pillaged several towns in Thrace. After a series of such raids, the Byzantines had to use superior forces to deal with them.
Decline of Byzantine Empire
During Orhan's reign as the Ottoman emir, the Byzantine Empire was in its last stages of its decline. This was partly due to the ambitions of Italian maritime states and the aggression of the Turcomans and other city Turks, but the empire was also weakened by civil wars.During these years the Byzantine Empire was so weak that commercial supremacy in the surrounding seas around it became a bone of contention for the Italian maritime commercial city states. The Republic of Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
possessed Galata
Galata
Galata or Galatae is a neighbourhood in the Beyoğlu district on the European side of Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey. Galata is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the inlet which separates it from the historic peninsula of old Constantinople. The Golden Horn is crossed by...
, a separate Genoese city across the Golden Horn
Golden Horn
The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
from Constantinople itself. The Genoese had fought and defeated the Byzantines earlier in 1348 when the Byzantines had decreased their customs tariffs in order to attract trade to the Byzantine side of the Golden Horn. In 1352 the rivalry for trade led to a war between Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
and Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
. The Genoese, in trying to repel a Venetian fleet from destroying their ships in Golden Horn, bombarded the sea walls of Constantinople and pushed Byzantines to ally with Venetians. Venetians gathered together a large naval force, including hired fleets from Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV, , called el Cerimoniós or el del punyalet , was the King of Aragon, King of Sardinia and Corsica , King of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona Peter IV, (Balaguer, September 5, 1319 – Barcelona, January 6, 1387), called el Cerimoniós ("the Ceremonious") or el del punyalet ("the one...
and from Byzantine Empire of John VI Cantacuzene. Unfortunately for Venice and its allies the sea battle between Venetian fleet under the command of Nicolo Pisani and Genoese fleet under Paganino Doria led to defeat of Venetians and Byzantine allies. Orhan was against the Venetians, whose fleets and piratical raids were disrupting his seaward provinces, and who had met his diplomatic overtures with contempt. The Venetians were allies of John VI, so Orhan sent an auxiliary force across the straits to Galata, which there co-operated with the Genoese.
In the midst of the distress and confusion that the Byzantine Empire now suffered, Orhan's eldest son, Suleyman Pasha, captured the Castle of Tzympe (Cinbi) in a bold move which gave the Turks a permanent foothold on the European side of the Dardanelles Straits. He also started to settle migrant Turcomans and town-dwelling Turks in the strategic city and castle of Gelibolu
Gelibolu
Gelibolu, also known as Gallipoli , is the name of a town and a district in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on the southern shore of the peninsula named after it on the Dardanelles strait, two miles away from Lapseki on the other...
(Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
), which had been devastated by a severe earthquake and was therefore evacuated by its inhabitants. Suleyman refused various financial inducements offered by John VI to empty the castle and the city. The emperor pleaded with his son-in-law Orhan to meet personally and discuss the matter, but the request was either rejected or could not be carried out due to Orhan's age and ill health.
This military situation was not resolved, in part because the eruption of the hostilities between John VI and his co-emperor and son-in-law John V Palaeologus. John V was dismissed from his imperial post and exiled to Tenedos
Tenedos
Tenedos or Bozcaada or Bozdja-Ada is a small island in the Aegean Sea, part of the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale province in Turkey. , Tenedos has a population of about 2,354. The main industries are tourism, wine production and fishing...
; Cantacuzene's son Matthew was crowned as the co-emperor. But very soon John V returned from exile with Venetian help and to conduct a coup taking over the government of Constantinople. Although the two men came to an agreement to share power, John VI resigned from his imperial post and became a monk. Each of these two contestants for power was continually soliciting Orhan's aid against the other, and Orhan supported whichever side would benefit the Ottomans.
Last years
Orhan was the longest living and one of the longest reigning of the future Ottoman Sultans. In his last years he had left most of the powers of state in the hands of his second son MuradMurad I
Murad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...
and lived a secluded life in Bursa.
In 1356 a very unusual event occurred. Khalil, the son of Orhan and Theodora, was abducted somewhere on the Bay of Izmit. A Genoese commercial boat captain, which was conducting acts of piracy alongside commercial activity, was able to capture the young prince and take him over to Phocaea
Phocaea
Phocaea, or Phokaia, was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC and Elea in 540 BC.-Geography:Phocaea was the northernmost...
on the Aegean Sea, which was under Genoese rule. Orhan was very much upset by this kidnapping and conducted talks with his brother-in-law and now single Byzantine Emperor John V Palaeologos. As to the agreement, John V with a Byzantine naval fleet went to Phocaea, paid the ransom demanded of 100,000 Byzantine gold pieces, and brought Khalil back to Ottoman territory.
In 1357 Orhan's eldest and most experienced son and likely heir, Suleyman Pasha, died after injuries sustained from a fall from a horse near Bolayir on the coast of the sea of Marmara. The horse that Suleyman fell from was buried along side him and their tombs can still be seen today. Orhan was said to have been greatly affected by the death of his son.
Orhan died soon after, in 1361, at the age of seventy-nine, after a reign of thirty-seven years. He is buried in the türbe
Turbe
Türbe is the Turkish word for "tomb", and for the characteristic mausoleums, often relatively small, of Ottoman royalty and notables. It is related to the Arabic turba, which can also mean a mausoleum, but more often a funerary complex, or a plot in a cemetery.-Characteristics:A typical türbe...
(tomb) with his wife and children, called Gümüşlü Kumbet in Bursa.
During his reign, some of the most important civil and military institutions of his state were founded in the western provinces of Anatolia, but were also planted on the European continent.
Marriages and children
- Suleyman Pasha (c. 1316 - 1357). Eldest known son and the intended heir who was the architect of the Ottoman expansion into ThraceThraceThrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. He died, shortly after his brother Khalil's capture by the Genoese pirates, as the result of a fall from his horse. His steed was buried next to him in Bolayir, north of GallipoliGallipoliThe Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
, where their graves can still be seen.- Sultan Bey (1324–1362).
- Khadijah Khanum. Married Damad Süleyman Bey. Her husband was a son of Savji Bey and through him grandson of Osman IOsman IOsman I or Othman I or El-Gazi Sultan Osman Ghazi, or Osman Bey or I. Osman, Osman Gazi Han), nicknamed "Kara" for his courage, was the leader of the Ottoman Turks, and the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire...
.
- In 1299 Orhan married Valide SultanValide SultanValide Sultan was the title held by the mother of a ruling Sultan in the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish pronunciation of the word Valide is . The title is sometimes translated as Queen Mother, although the position of Valide Sultan was quite different.The position was perhaps the most important...
(1359) Nilüfer HatunNilüfer HatunNilüfer was a Valide Sultan; the wife of Orhan I, the second sultan of the Ottoman Empire. She was mother of the next sultan, Murad I. Her other son was Kasim...
, daughter of the Prince of Yarhisar or ByzantineByzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
Princess Helen (NilüferNilüfer HatunNilüfer was a Valide Sultan; the wife of Orhan I, the second sultan of the Ottoman Empire. She was mother of the next sultan, Murad I. Her other son was Kasim...
), who was of ethnic Greek descent. They had at least two children:- Murad IMurad IMurad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...
(1319/1326 - 15 June 1389). Assassinated by Miloš ObilićMiloš ObilicMiloš Obilić was a medieval Serbian knight in the service of Prince Lazar, during the invasion of the Ottoman Empire. He is not mentioned in contemporary sources, but he features prominently in later accounts of the Serbian defeat at the Battle of Kosovo as the legendary assassin of the Ottoman...
during the Battle of KosovoBattle of KosovoThe Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I...
. - Kasim (d. 1346).
- Murad I
- Orhan married in 1316 Asporsha of Byzantium. They had at least two children:
- Ibrahim, GovernorGovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of EskişehirEskisehirEskişehir is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. According to the 2009 census, the population of the city is 631,905. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygian Valley. In the nearby...
(1316–1362). Executed by order of his half-brother Murad I. - Fatima.
- Ibrahim, Governor
- Orhan married in 1345 Theodora, Princess of Serbia, daughter of Stefan IV UrošStefan Uroš IV Dušan of SerbiaStephen Uroš IV Dušan the Mighty , was the King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks until his death on 20 December 1355. Dušan managed to conquer a large part of Southeast Europe, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs in his time...
, King of Serbia.
- Orhan married in 1346 Theodora Maria Cantakouzene, Princess of Byzantium, born in 1332. She was a daughter of John VI Cantakouzene, Emperor of Byzantium, and Irene AsaninaIrene AsaninaIrene Asanina was the Empress consort of John VI Kantakouzenos of the Byzantine Empire.-Family:Asanina was a daughter of Andronikos Asen and his wife Tarchanaiotissa.Her paternal grandparents were Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria and Irene Palaiologina...
. They had at least two sons:- Ibrahim (? - d. 1362).
- Khalil or HalilKidnapping of Şehzade HalilThe Kidnapping of Şehzade Halil was an important event in 14th century Ottoman-Byzantine relations. Şehzade Halil was an Ottoman prince who was born probably in 1346. His father was Orhan, the second bey of the Ottoman beylik...
(1347 - d. 1362). When still only a child he was captured by Genoese pirates for ransom. The Byzantine emperor and his future father-in-law John V Palaeologus was instrumental in his eventual release. Halil married Irene, who was a daughter of John V Palaeologus and Helena Cantakouzene.
External links
- His listing in "Medieval lands" by Charles Cawley. The project "involves extracting and analysing detailed information from primary sources, including contemporary chronicles, cartularies, necrologies and testaments."
- A listing of descendants of Ertuğrul, alongside other royalty