Sultan Orhan Gazi 👑
The most accurate narration by 1st historian of Osman Empire : Aşıkpaşazade & Orhan’s Wife Asporca
⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️
He is the son of Osman Gazi, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, and his date of birth is controversial. Considering the fact that he was called “yigit” (young) when he married Nilüfer in 699 (1299), it can be thought that he was around eighteen years old at this date. According to Ottoman narration, he was married to Nilüfer (Lülüfer, Greek Luludia/flower), the daughter of the captured Yarhisar tekfur (tekvur), and Süleyman and Murad were born from this marriage. When Osman Gazi transferred his headquarters to Bilecik-Yenişehir in 699 (1299), he sent Orhan to Karacahisar with the experienced atabey Gündüz Alp. Orhan, who apparently participated in Osman Gazi’s siege of Iznik (701/1302) and the Dimboz (Dinboz) war (702/1303), stayed in Eskişehir-Karacahisar against the threat of the Germiyans during the Lefke campaign (703/1304). His father’s trusted men, Saltuk Alp and Köse Mihal, were with him. While Osman Gazi was busy with the conquest of the castles that led to Iznik via Sakarya during the Lefke campaign, Çavdar Tatar from Germiyan raided the “market of Karacahisar” (next to Ilıca) and retreated. Orhan went after the plunderers, caught up with them in Oyunşhisarı (today Çavdarhisar), took away their plunder and captured Çavdar Tatar’s son. Osman Gazi made an agreement with this prisoner and sent him back to his father. Later, when Osman decided to stay in Karacahisar to counter the Germiyan-Çavdar attacks, he brought Orhan along with the veteran alps Akça Koca, Konuralp, Gazi.
He sent him to Sakarya together with Abdurrahman and Köse Mihal (705/1305). Âşıkpaşazâde states that this was the first expedition commanded by Orhan (Târih, p. 108). Orhan conquered the strategically important castles of Karaçepüş (Katoikia), Karatigin in front of İznik, and Absu (Hypsu: in the Geyve Strait). His father came to him in Yenişehir. The aim of this operation was to cut off the aid to Iznik and force it to surrender; Orhan gained military experience during these campaigns. His last expedition during his father’s time was on Adranos (Atranos) Castle (Orhaneli). This time, he was accompanied by Köse Mihal and Turgut Alp. According to the Asporça Hatun foundation charter drawn up at the beginning of Ramadan in 723 (September 1323), Osman was alive at that time. The date of Orhan’s arrival to the principality is Rebîülevvel 724 (March 1324). Osman’s death must be between these two dates. When Orhan became the head of the principality, he tightened the siege on Bursa and Iznik, the two major centers of Byzantine Bithynia. In the spring of 726 (1326), he came to Bursa with all his forces and asked for its surrender. The articles of the surrender agreement agreed with the Bursa takfur are as follows: 1. Ottoman soldiers entering the city will not harm the people (there will be no plunder, no captives). 2. Those who want to leave will leave the city with their goods under the protection of Ottoman soldiers. 3. 30,000 gold will be paid to Orhan Bey upon delivery. When the tekfur of Bursa left the city, According to Âşıkpaşazâde, “Ahî Hasan appeared in Pınarbaşı, stood firmly on the bastion, and then the Muslims set in” (2 Cemâziyelevvel 726 / 6 April 1326). The fall of Bursa and the distress of Iznik under siege aroused anxiety in Istanbul that the entire Bithynia region was about to be lost. Byzantine Emperor III. Andronikos Paleiologos decided to cross the sea from Pelekanon (today’s Eskihisar pass) in front of Gebze and save the blockaded Iznik and, if possible, Bursa. The Battle of Pelekanon is given in full detail in the memoirs of the army commander-in-chief (Grandomestikos) Yuannis Kantakouzenos (German translation with notes see Geschichte, II, 22 ff.). According to this source, the emperor had previously gone to Byzantine Kyzikos (Kapıdağı) on the Anatolian coast and the fortified peninsula Pegae (today Karabiga on the coast) in 1328 and made a treaty with Karesi Bey Temirhan (Demirhan). According to Kantakouzenos, the emperor aimed to dissuade the bey of Karesi from attacking and make him dependent (ibid., II, 20). In fact, this was an alliance agreement. In 1303 during the time of Osman Gazi The Bursa plain was invaded until Apolyond; The conquest of Adranos Castle in 724 (1324) must have been the source of the conflict with the Karesi Principality. The Emperor first called Kontofre, the Governor of Mesothenia (Kocaeli of the Turks), and talked to him about the expedition. Kontofre was a talented soldier who gained experience in his encounters with the Turks in Kocaeli during his governorship; He learned the war tactics of the Turks closely. Kontofre encouraged the emperor to this expedition. The Battle of Pelekanon, which was not properly included in the Ottoman vekāyi’names and was stated very briefly as Abdurrahman Gazi repelling a Byzantine force together with Orhan Gazi, took place in two stages. In the first stage, at the war council of the Byzantine emperor, it was decided that the Ottoman forces on the hills would retreat to the plain and the war would be fought on this plain. If the Byzantine commander could not do this, then he considered leaving the battlefield and returning, thus the Ottomans, who settled on the hills from the beginning, gained strategic advantage. Orhan Bey was watching the battlefield from the hill and was thinking of drawing the Byzantine army to the damaged land and surrounding it there. For this reason, he ambushed a significant force in a valley. This was a classic Ottoman war tactic. On the first day of the war (June 1, 1329), Orhan Gazi sent a force of 300 people to attract the Byzantine army (this army consisted of 2000 regular soldiers). The Ottoman raider force approached the Byzantine army, fired arrows, then retreated. The purpose of this retreat was to dislodge the Byzantine army and draw it towards the hills. The attack was repeated several times. At first, the Byzantine army did not leave its positions. Orhan Bey’s forces did not leave the hills either. However, during repeated raider attacks on the second day of the war, the emperor took action to destroy this small force. Thereupon, Orhan Bey sent some of his forces to the plain under the command of his brother Pazarlu. The Byzantine army opposed; In this way, the clashes that started as raids turned into a war in which large forces of both sides participated. The emperor was wounded in the calf by an arrow and news spread that he had died.
The Byzantine forces, fleeing in panic, tried to take shelter in the castles on the coast and especially in Filokren. Orhan’s forces were chasing those who escaped. When the Byzantine emperor could not prevent panic, he had himself carried to the ship on a carpet and fled to Istanbul. Orhan captured all of Kocaeli; After the victory, the Nicaeans had no hope left. The Ottomans intensified the blockade and took the city over (21 Cemâziyelevvel 731 / 2 March 1331 [İbn Kemal gives the date 734/1333; see Tevârîh, I, 42-48]; for the terms of surrender and the first measures, see Âşıkpaşazâde, pp. 118-119; Neşrî, I, 156-158, for history Schreiner, II, 238). Orhan Bey, who gained fame in the Islamic world with the conquest of Iznik, also established friendly relations with the Iraqi Celayirli Sultan Hasan-ı Büzürg (İbn Kemal, I, 61). The Arab traveler Ibn Battuta, who saw Orhan Bey, who was firmly established throughout Bithynia at that time, called him “İhtiyârüddin Orhan Bey, son of Sultan Osmancık” and stated that he was the greatest of the Turkmen sultans in terms of wealth, land and military power, and that he had about 100 castles and spent most of his time in these castles. He records that he spent time wandering around, staying a few days in each of them to inspect the situation, that his residence in a city never lasted more than a month, and that he was constantly at war with the infidels and kept them under siege in their castles. He also writes that his father captured Bursa from the Greeks and that his grave is located in a mosque that used to be a Christian church. According to rumors, after Osman besieged the city of Iznik for about twenty years, his son besieged and captured it for another twelve years. Ibn Battuta also states that Orhan Bey, whom he met in Bursa, sent him money. From these statements, it can be concluded that Osman’s active principality ended in 1322. Mamluk historian Ibn Fazlullah el-Ömerî, who also lived during the time of Orhan Bey, stated that Orhan, the son of “Osman”, whose center was in Bursa, had fifty cities and more than fifty castles, had 40,000 horsemen and pedestrians.
He states that he had an innumerable army when gathered together, that he was not as rich and powerful as feared, but that he lived in peace with his Muslim neighbors, that he sometimes prevailed against his enemies and sometimes was defeated. Ömerî compiled this information from a person who was on the side of the anti-Ottoman Germiyans. It is understood from Enverî’s work Düstûrnâme that Orhan Bey, who had been at war with Byzantium since 1329, was in contact with Aydınoğlu Umur Bey, who was also at war with the Byzantines (p. 25). Orhan met with him in Saruhan in 730 (1330) and they decided on a joint operation against Byzantium. Although P. Lemerle interprets the aforementioned Orhan as the bey of Menteşe (l’Emirat, p. 66), he does not take into account that Orhan and Umur have been at war against Byzantium since 1329. The attack on the Gallipoli Castle, which blocked the influx of veterans from Anatolia, seems to have been decided after a meeting between Aydınoğlu-Saruhanoğlu and Orhan. Meanwhile, Konuralp Akyazı, one of the veteran border lords, while continuing his raiding activities against Konurpa-province and Mudurnu, had to fight a tough battle for two days and two nights in Uzuncabel in an attack towards Bolu, and from there he went to Tuz (Düz) in Akyazı. He came to the Bazaar (Aşıkpaşazâde, p. 109). Gazi Abdurrahman was settled in Karaçepüş and Absu in the Geyve Strait. Akça Koca, another margrave who fought against Byzantium in the west, conquered and settled in Kandıra and Ermini-province (in Kocaeli) and entered into a constant struggle against the Byzantine soldiers in Samandıra (İbn Kemal, II, 12- 13). After the conquest of Samandıra, tough battles were fought with the Byzantine soldiers based in Aydos (Aetos) (Âşıkpaşazâde, p. 112). Here, the Byzantine governor of Mesothenia, Kontofre (Catalan [?]), was fighting against the Ottomans. Following the Pelekanon victory in 1329, Hereke and the coastal towns in Kocaeli, up to Üsküdar, came under the rule of Orhan Bey. In the summer of 733 (1333) III. While Andronikos was setting off from Chalkidike, he received the news that Orhan had besieged Nicomedia (from Eis-Nikomedia, old Ottoman Iznikmud, modern Izmit) with a large army and catapults.
Kantakouzenos gives important details on this subject (Geschichte, II, 89-90). According to this information, the emperor quickly rushed to the aid of the city upon receiving the news. While the fleet was still on its way and was about to reach Nicomedia, Orhan sent a delegation and stated that he would withdraw from the war if he agreed to the agreement, but that he was ready if he wanted to fight. The emperor agreed to peace. According to the agreement, Orhan would be a friend of the emperor and would not engage in hostile actions against cities subject to Byzantium. Mutual gifts were sent. Orhan sent horses, hunting dogs, carpets and panther furs to the emperor; He also sent silver vessels, woolen and silk fabrics, a horse and a saddle cloth to the Turkish lord. According to the agreement made with Orhan in front of Izmit, the emperor promised to pay 12,000 gold (hyperper) per year to Orhan in return for giving up the siege of Izmit, thus Byzantium became a tributary country in the eyes of the Ottoman emir (treaty Dhul-Hijjah 733 / August 1333). In 1337, the Byzantine emperor was on campaign against the rebels in Albania. Taking this as an opportunity, Orhan besieged Izmit. Interesting details are given about the conquest of Izmit in the Ottoman narration (Âşıkpaşazâde, p. 116-117; Hoca Sâdeddin, I, 34-37). When Konuralp died, Orhan gave that region to Süleyman Pasha. Orhan Bey, who obtained information from Gazi Abdurrahman, gathered soldiers and came to Geyve from Bursa via Yenişehir. Suleiman met him in Absu in the Geyve Strait, veterans from Lake Ayan (Sapanca/Siphon) and Aydos came and joined him. In order to besiege Izmit, it was necessary to capture Koyunhisar in Yalakova in the direction of Yalova (Kaloyan-controlled Koyunhisar on a hill on the Iznik road going down to Hersekdili). After this, Orhan came with all his forces and besieged Izmit. According to Âşıkpaşazâde, “The mistress of Izmit was a lady, she was related to the Istanbul takvuru” (this information is compatible with Byzantine sources). Hatun had to make an agreement with Orhan and surrender the castle with an agreement; because the Kayseri of Istanbul went to war against the rebels in Albania (Kantakuzenos, II, 295). For the conquest of Izmit, the date of 738 (1337) in İdrîs-i Bitlisî’s source is correct. Orhan appointed the veterans in Aydos to protect the city.
Churches were converted into mosques. A church was reserved for a madrasa. Süleyman Pasha was appointed governor of Izmit. The task of protecting the Izmit-Yalakova Marmara coast was given to Kara Mürsel. In order to prevent possible attacks from Byzantium, Akça Koca’s three veterans from the central Kandıra region were brought here. The Mesothenia region of Byzantium was divided between Akça Koca and the veterans who came to the region. Orhan Bey gave the Ermini-ili (today Akmeşe) region to Yahşilü (Yahşi Bey [?]) and the Kandıra region to Ak-Baş. After the conquest of Izmit, Orhan Bey reorganized his country; He gave Izmit to his eldest son Süleyman. He sent his second son Murad to the Bursa sanjak, and the region was named “Bey sanjak”. He appointed his uncle’s son, Gündüz Alp, to the first capital, Karacahisar, near Eskişehir. Orhan Gazi became the “ulubey” of his own provinces. In Anatolian principalities, it was customary to divide the country among sons, as in the Seljuks; The ruler was considered the supreme owner of the entire principality with the title of ulubey. Süleyman Pasha took Taraklı Yenicesi, Göynük and Mudurnu from the Izmit tip to the east under direct Ottoman rule (for Süleyman’s Göynük Bath and Mosque and foundations in the region, see Ayverdi, p. 145-150). These towns on the Tabriz silk road were important. According to sources, Süleyman Pasha acted fairly. Many village people “became Muslim after seeing this Turkish tribe.” Yıldırım Bayezid will place these converts who know Greek in the Muslim neighborhoods established in Istanbul.
Byzantine sources (Kantakuzenos, Gregoras) mention an attack by Orhan against Istanbul at the end of summer 738 (1337). At that time the emperor was in Edirne. News came that Orhan had landed around Istanbul with a fleet of thirty-six ships. Gregoras talks in detail about this attack of the Turks around Istanbul. The incident aroused fear in Istanbul, and upon the order of the kaiser, Commander-in-Chief Kantakouzenos waited for the Turks in Ennakosia (a castle around Istanbul) with the small amount of soldiers available in Istanbul. The first appearance of the Ottomans in front of Istanbul was to prevent the attempt on Izmit.
