Information AboutOsman I |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT OSMAN I | |
| sultans of the ottoman empire | |
| 1258 births | |
| 1326 deaths | |
|
Osman I ( and inherited the title Bey (chief) from his father, Ertuğrul , as the ruler of the village of Söğüt in 1281 . The birth of the empire originated with the conquest of the Turkish tribe of Eskenderum and the city of Eskişehir ( Turkish for 'Old City') in 1301 – 1303 , although Osman had already in 1299 declared the independence from the Seljuk Empire of his own small kingdom, the ''Ottoman Principality''. Osman is regarded as the founder of the Ottoman Empire , and it is from him that its inhabitants, the Turk s, called themselves Osmanli until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the only national appellation they recognized. Ertoghrul, Osman's predecessor, had previously maintained himself as the vassal and lieutenant of the Sultan of Icomium , but Osman, after the death of the last Alaeddin in 1307 , waged wars and accumulated dominions as an independent ruler. He had become the Bey, or chief, of his tribe twelve years earlier, after Erturul’s death in 1288 . Osman was twenty-four years of age at his accession, and he had already both proven his skill as a leader, and his prowess as a combatant. His early fortunes and exploits are favorite subjects with Oriental writers, especially in love stories of his wooing and winning the fair Mal Hatun . These legends have probably been romanticized by the poetical pens which recorded them in later years. Ottoman historians often dwell on the prophetic significance of his name, which means "bone-breaker", signifying the powerful energy with which he and his appeared to show in the following centuries of conquest. “Osman” means the “Bone-breaker.” It is also the name given to a large species of Vulture , commonly called the Royal Vulture , which is considered the emblem of sovereignty and warlike power in the East, comparable to the eagle in the nations of the West. Osman is celebrated by Oriental writers for his personal beauty, and for “his wondrous length and strength of arm.” Like Artaxences Longimanus of the old dynasty of Persian kings, Liu Bei in the Romance Of The Three Kingdoms , and the Highland chieftain of whom Wordsworth sang, Osman is said to have been able to touch his knees with his hands when standing upright. He was claimed to be unsurpassed in his skill and graceful carriage as a horseman; and the jet black colour of his hair, his beard, and eyebrows, gained him in youth the title of “Kara,” meaning “Black”, Othman. The epithet “Kara,” which is often found in Turkish history is considered to imply the highest degree of manly beauty when applied to a person. He dressed simply, in the tradition of the first warriors of Islam , and like them he wore a turban of ample white linen, wreathed round a red centre. His loose flowing kaftan was of one colour, and had long open sleeves. STORY OF FOUNDATION See Also: Osman and story of foundation (Ottoman Empire) The Ottoman writers attach great importance to this dream of the founder of their empire. The same dream is also referred by Von Hammer. Istanbul, fell into the hands of Osman Bey’s descendant, Sultan Mohammed II., and the Turkish Empire was constituted. It is, indeed, an aggregation of many nations, and the prophetic allegory of multitudes of foreign birds gathering under the Ottoman tent has been fully realised. POLITICS The last prince of the family of Aleaddin, to which that of Othman had been in depted for its first foundation in Asia Minor, was now dead. There was no other among the various Emirs of that country who could compete with Osman for the headship of the whole Turkish population, and dominion over the whole peninsula, save only the Emir of Karamanogullari A long and fierce struggle between the Osman and Karamanogullari princes for the ascendency, commenced in Osman’s lifetime, and was protracted during the reigns of many of his successors. Osman himself had gained some advantages over his Karamanli rival; but the weak and wealthy possessions of the Byzantine Emperor in the north-east of Asia Minor were more tempting marks for his ambition than the Karamanoglu plains: and it was over Greek cities and armies that the triumphs of the last twenty-six years of Osman’s life were achieved. Not all of Osman’s counselors agreed with Osman's path of conquest; but Osman silenced all remonstrance, and quelled all risk of dissension and mutiny by an act of prompt ferocity, which shows that the great ancestor of the Ottoman Sultans had, a full share of the ruthless cruelty, that has been the dark characteristic the Turkish Royal House. Osman’s uncle, the aged Dundar, who had marched with Ertoghrul from the Euphrates, seventy years before, was still alive, when Osman, in 1299, summoned a council of his principal followers, and announced to them his intention to attack the lord of the important Greek fortress of Keaprihissar. The old uncle opposed the enterprise; and urged the danger of provoking by such ambitious aggrandizement all the neighboring princes, Turkish as well as Greek, to league against them for the destruction of their tribe. Enraged at the chilling caution of the grey-headed man, and, observing probably that others were beginning to share it. He spoke not a word in reply, but he killed his old uncle upon the spot—a bloodly lesson to all who should harbour thoughts of contradiction to the fixed will of so stern a lord. The modern German historian, recounts this scene, well observes that “This uncle’s murder remarks with terror the commencement of the Ottoman dominion, as brother’s the brothers murder that of Rome"; only the former rests on bet historical evidence. Edris, justly esteemed the most valuable historian of the Turks, who, at the beginning of his work, openly declares that, passing over in silence all that is reprehensible will only hand down to posterity the glorious deeds of the royal race of Osman, relates among the latter the murder of Dundar with all the circumstances detailed above. If then such murderous slaughter of their kindred be reckoned by the panegyrists of Osmanis among their praiseworthy acts, what are we to think of those which cannot be praised, and of which their history is therefore silent. REFERENCE
|
|
|