Osman I was the founder of the Ottoman Empire, one of the longest lasting empires in history. He was a frontier chief in north-west Anatolia, in what is now Turkey, who led a small Turkish principality in the late 1200s and early 1300s. When he died, around 1326, his state was still small. But his family kept the name Osman, and the state kept growing, until it became an empire that lasted more than 600 years and stretched across three continents.
A chief on the frontier
Osman was born around 1258, the son of Ertugrul, a chief of the Kayi tribe of the Oghuz Turks. The Kayi had moved west from Central Asia into Anatolia, the land of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. When the Mongols weakened the Seljuks, Anatolia broke into many small Turkish states, each ruled by a chief called a bey. Ertugrul held land around the town of Sogut, on the edge of Byzantine territory, and Osman took over from his father around 1280.
The place mattered. Sogut sat on the frontier between the Turkish states and the Byzantine Empire, the Christian empire based in Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire was old and weak by then, and its border lands in Anatolia were poorly defended. Frontier chiefs like Osman could raid Byzantine towns and castles, win land, and attract fighters who wanted a share of the gains. Osman was one of these frontier leaders, known as ghazis, warriors of the frontier.
We know very little about Osman from records of his own time. No document written during his life survives. What we know comes from histories written by Ottoman writers a century or more later. Those writers told stories that made Osman look like a hero chosen by God, so historians treat the details with care. The broad outline, though, is clear: a small chief, a weak Byzantine border, and a series of small conquests that added up to a state.
The dream of Osman
The most famous story about Osman is his dream. According to the later histories, Osman once stayed as a guest at the home of a holy man named Sheikh Edebali. That night, Osman dreamed that a moon rose from the chest of the sheikh and sank into his own chest. Then a great tree grew out of him, its branches spreading over the whole world, shading mountains and rivers, while people gathered under it.
The sheikh told him the dream meant God had given him and his sons the right to rule. Osman later married the sheikh's daughter, Malhun Hatun, which tied his family to the religious leaders of the region. The story is almost certainly a legend written later, but it shows how the Ottomans wanted to be seen: a family chosen by God, with a mission to spread Islam and rule justly.
Whether the dream happened or not, Osman did build something real. He took a string of Byzantine towns and castles in north-west Anatolia, including Bilecik, Yarhisar and Inegol. He brought the local people, Muslim and Christian, into his state, and he let the Christians keep their churches and their trade. His policy was simple and practical: keep the peace, collect taxes, and let the land grow rich. Fighters from all over Anatolia joined him because he was winning and because he treated his people fairly.
Bursa and the birth of a state
The great prize in the region was Bursa, a rich Byzantine city at the foot of Mount Uludag, famous for its silk and its hot springs. Osman began the siege of Bursa, but he did not live to see it fall. He died around 1326, just as the city was about to surrender, and his son Orhan took the city a few months later.
Bursa became the first capital of the Ottoman state. Osman was buried there, in a tomb on the hill above the city, where his tomb still stands today. Orhan, his son, took the title of sultan and kept expanding. He took the city of Nicaea in 1331 and Nicomedia in 1337, and he married the daughter of the Byzantine emperor to strengthen his position. Under his sons and grandsons, the small frontier state crossed into Europe, took Adrianople, and then, in 1453, took Constantinople itself.
The empire that Osman founded lasted until 1922, when the last sultan was removed after the First World War. The Turkish Republic that followed still carries the memory of Osman. His name in Turkish is Osman, and the empire was called the Ottoman Empire because Europeans changed his name into "Othman" and then "Ottoman".
Why Osman matters
Osman matters not because he conquered a lot of land. He did not. His state at his death was about the size of a small county. He matters because he built the state that his sons turned into an empire. He did it by combining three things: fighting on a weak frontier, ruling fairly enough to keep people loyal, and building alliances with religious leaders and other Turkish chiefs.
He also matters because of the way his family worked. The Ottomans kept power in one family for more than six hundred years, passing the throne from father to son. That long family line gave the state a stability that other Turkish states in Anatolia did not have. Osman was the first of thirty six sultans who ruled until the empire ended.
One tradition from his reign lasted for centuries. When a new sultan took the throne, he was girded with the Sword of Osman in a ceremony at the Eyup Mosque in Istanbul. The sword was said to be Osman's own weapon. The ceremony tied every sultan back to the founder, to the frontier chief from Sogut whose name became an empire.
Frequently asked questions
When did Osman I live?
Osman I lived from about 1258 to about 1326. He took over his father's lands around Sogut around 1280 and led the small Ottoman state for about forty five years. The exact dates are not certain, because no records from his own time survive.
Where did Osman I come from?
Osman was the son of Ertugrul, a chief of the Kayi tribe of Oghuz Turks. His family had moved west from Central Asia into Anatolia, where they settled around the town of Sogut, on the border with the Byzantine Empire.
How did Osman I start the Ottoman Empire?
He did not start an empire all at once. He took a series of small Byzantine towns and castles in north-west Anatolia, built a small state with its own taxes and army, and passed it to his son Orhan. The state grew over the next century into a large empire that took its name from Osman.
Where is Osman I buried?
Osman I is buried in Bursa, in Turkey, the city his son Orhan captured just after his death. His tomb stands on a hill in the old part of the city, next to the tomb of Orhan, and it is still visited by thousands of people every year.
What is the Sword of Osman?
The Sword of Osman was a ceremonial sword said to have belonged to Osman I. For centuries, every new Ottoman sultan was girded with the sword in a ceremony at the Eyup Mosque in Istanbul when he took the throne, as a sign that he was the rightful heir of the founder.
