Gourt Home::Gourt :: Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman Dynasty (or the House of Osman) ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1281 to 1923, beginning with Osman I (not counting his father, Ertuğrul), though the dynasty was not proclaimed until 1383 when Murad I declared himself sultan. Before that the tribe/dynasty might have been known as Söğüt but was renamed Osmanlı (Ottoman in English) in honour of Osman.
The sultan was the sole and absolute regent, head of state and head of government of the empire, at least officially, though often much power shifted de facto to other officials (in principle all his subservient creatures), especially the Grand Vizier, after whose palace the Ottoman government was known as High Porte, the Sultan's own Topkapi palace being mainly a seraglio, 'harem'. See the article on state organisation of the Ottoman Empire for further information on the sultan and the structure of power.
Titles
The Ottoman dynasty is known in Turkish as Osmanlı, meaning "House of Osman". The first rulers of the dynasty never had called themselves sultans, but rather beys, or "chieftain", roughly the Turkic equivalent of Emir, which would itself become a gubernatorial title and even a common military or honorific rank. Thus they still formally acknowledged the sovereignty of the contemporary Seljuk Sultanate of Rüm and its successor, the Ilkhanate. The first Ottoman to actually claim the title of sultân (سلطان)—an Arabic title, in Islam originally the power behind the throne of the Caliph in Bagdad, later used for various independent Muslim Monarchs, more prestigeous then Emir, no fixed relative value to Malik 'king' or the originally Persian title Shah— was Murad I, who ruled from 1359 to 1389. With the 1453 capture of Constantinople, the road was open for the Ottoman state to become an empire, with Sultan Mehmed II as its pâdişah (پادشاه), a Persian title meaning "lord of kings" and roughly equivalent to a Christian emperor as would ultimately be formally established. In addition to such secular titles, the Ottoman sultans also sporadically were addressed by, or adopted, the title of Caliph of Islam, giving them theoretical leadership over all Muslim rulers around the world, though their legitimacy in this regard has been called into question and was naturally illegitimate in the eyes of other branches of Islam, especially Shiites. The first Ottoman ruler to be addressed by the title was Abdülhamid I in 1774, though he did not claim the title himselfAlavi, Hamza. "Ironies of History: Contradictions of the Khilafat Movement". Retrieved 6 April 2006.. The first sultan to actually claim the title of caliph was Abdülaziz, who ruled from 1861 to 1876.
A coup d’état happened in 1453 after the conquest of Constantinople. Due to the popularity the Sultan earned at the conquest, he felt safe in ordering his Grand Vizier killed.
In Europe, the hated but often feared Ottoman padishah was often referred to informally by such terms unrelated to the Ottoman protocol as "the Grand Turk".
The sultans further adopted in time many secondary formal titles as well, such as "Sovereign of the House of Osman", "Sultan of Sultans" (roughly King of Kings), and "Khan of Khans". As the empire grew, sultans adopted secundary titles expressing the empire's claim to be the successor in law (sometimes even before the conquest was a fact!) to the structures of the absorbed states and stressing their religious fervor in armed jihad. Furthermore they tended to enumerate even regular provinces, not unlike the longs lists of -mainly inherited- feudal titles in the full style of many Christian European monarch.
For generations the full style of the Ottoman rulers was unstable, as often in the East, and generally comprised only a few titles. A Sultan might even have to accept a style fitting in the eyes of his foreign kingmaker, as Tamerlane appointed in 1402 the Ottoman Sultan (deposed in 1410) Sulaiman Shalabi Khan, who was styled as-Sultan ul-Azam, Sayyid us-Saladin ul-Arab wal Ajam, Malik ur-Rikaab ul-Umam, Ghiyas ud-Daula wa ud-Dunya, Sultan ul-Islam was ul-Muslimin, as-Sultan ibni us-Sultan, Hasib-i-Nasib-I-Zaman, Amir of Rumelia, the last held like a fief from Tamerlane. Sultan Murad Khan II Khoja-Ghazi, 6th Sovereign of the House of Osman (1421 - 1451), was 'Abu'l Hayrat, Sultan ul-Mujahidin, Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, and of the Cities of Adrianople and Philippolis.
The conqueror of Constantinople was Sultan Muhammad Khan II Fatih Ghazi 'Abu'l Fath (1451 - 1481, 7th Sovereign of the House of Osman), was still 'simply' styled Kaysar-i-Rum (=Emperor of = the second Rome), Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, Emperor of the three Cities of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, Lord of the two lands and the two seas and the first to adopt the 'imperial' style Padishah.
Around 1500 the full style had become practically stabilised, e.g. in 1601:
- ''Sultan Hân N.N.,
- Padishah,
- Hünkar,
- Hakan ül-Berreyn vel-Bahreyn;
- Sovereign of the House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans,
- Khan of Khans,
- Commander (caliph) of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe Protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem
- Emperor of The Three Cities of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, and of the Cities of Damascus and Cairo, of all Azerbaijan, of the Magris, of Barka, of Kairouan, of Aleppo, of Arabic Iraq and of Ajim, of Basra, of Al-Hasa, of Dilen, of Ar Raqqah, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyarbakir, of Cilicia, of the Vilayets of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, Van, of Barbary, of Abyssinia, of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of Damascus, of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Candia, of the Vilayet of the Morea, of the Marmara Sea, the Black Sea and also its coasts, of Anatolia, of Rumelia, Baghdad, Kurdistan, Greece, Turkistan, Tartary, Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Georgia, of the plain of Kypchak, of the whole country of the Tartars, of Kefe and of all the neighboring countries, of Bosnia and its dependencies, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the Vilayet of Serbia, with all the castles, forts and cities, of all Albania, of all Eflak and Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many others countries and cities.
Succession
In the beginning, all the sons were given governing experience and any of them could be chosen to lead. Later in Ottoman history, the eldest son would become the next ruler.
Heads of the House
Abdul Mejid II was chosen as caliph in 1922, he was no longer Sultan, as the National Assembly had abolished the sultanate to turn the young 'remnant' state of Turkey into a republic. The caliphate was abolished in turn in 1924.
Also notable among the Osmanlis are the pretender Cem and the numerous wives of the sultans (for example Roxelana), though they were not really considered as being a part of the Imperial House.
When Mehmed II seized Constantinople on May 29, 1453, he claimed the title Emperor of the Roman Empire and protector of Orthodox Christianity. He appointed the Patriarch of Constantinople Gennadius Scholarius, whom he protected and whose stature he elevated into leader of all the Eastern Orthodox Christians. As emperor of the Romans he laid claim to all Roman territories, which at the time before the Fall of Constantinople, however, extended to little more than the city itself, plus some areas in Morea (Peloponnesos) and the Empire of Trebizond.
From 1517 onwards, the Ottoman Sultan was also Caliph (i.e. sucessor to the Prophet), which theoretically gave him overlordship over all Muslim rulers in the world. For example, among the Mughal Emperors of India, only Aurangzeb had the Khutba read in his own name.
See also
Note
Sources and external links
- Turkey, includes all the full ruler styles with various biographical data in the Royal Ark
- Sultans, Contemporary Paintings by Ismail Acar
- Everything about Ottoman Empire Everything about the history, culture and civilization of Ottoman Empire
- MSN encarta - the Ottoman Empire (see Sultanate)
- WorldStatesmen- Turkey
Ottoman Empire | Turkic peoples | Lists of office-holders | Sultans of the Ottoman Empire | 1281 establishments | 1923 disestablishments
Sultani Osmanlijskog carstva | Osmani | Liste der Sultane des Osmanischen Reichs | Οθωμανική δυναστεία | Osmanlíes | Osmanidoj | Dynastie ottomane | Dinastia ottomana | שליטי האימפריה העות'מאנית | Ottomannidae | Oszmán szultánok listája | Lijst van Ottomaanse sultans | オスマン家 | Liste over osmanske herskere | Det osmanske dynastiet | Władcy Turcji | Dinastia Otomana | Османские султаны | Списак султана Османлијског Царства | Luettelo osmanien sulttaaneista | Osmanska dynastin | Osmanlı Hanedanı | 奥斯曼帝国苏丹列表
"Ottoman Dynasty"