O

Orhan Gazi (1324–1362) second ruler of the Ottoman against the Byzantines came in 1326 with the conquest dynasty Orhan Gazi was the son of (?–1324?), of the city of (Prousa), which then became the the founder of the Ottoman imperial dynasty; Orhan’s first Ottoman capital. This choice underlined Orhan’s mother was the daughter of the sheikh Edebali. Orhan strategic interest against the neighboring Byzantine inherited the Ottoman emirate from his father in 1324 Empire. His uninterrupted raids on Byzantine lands ter- and expanded it to both and the Balkans. Unlike rorized his Byzantine neighbors but also allowed him to his father’s reign, the expansion and consolidation of amass great booty and to establish himself as a success- Orhan’s power is well documented. Orhan founded sev- ful military leader in the eyes of wandering Turkoman eral mosques, dervish lodges, charitable institutions, and tribes looking for employment. The Byzantine inability schools in the many important cities he conquered. In to react to this challenge is reflected in the defeat of the accordance with tradition, upon his ascendancy Orhan army headed by Emperor Andronikos III (r. struck a silver coin, called an akçe, bearing his name. 1328–41) in Pelekanon in 1329. The defeat demoralized According to Turkish tradition, in 1299, Orhan married the Byzantines and encouraged Orhan to concentrate Nilüfer, the daughter of the Byzantine lord of Yarhisar his efforts on conquering the cities of Bithynia which (an unidentified fortress in the Sakarya River region in had long been under siege. In 1331, Nicea () sur- northwestern Asia Minor, ). Their son, Süleyman rendered, and although in 1333 the Byzantine Emperor Pasha, the conqueror of the Balkans, was the heir pre- was forced to pay a great sum per year for peace, in 1337 sumptive. However, his untimely death in 1357 resulted the port of (Izmit) also fell to the increasing in the succession of Orhan’s other son who became the might of the Ottomans. first Ottoman sultan, (r. 1362–89). This phase of animosity between the Byzantines Byzantine authors such as Nikephoros Gregoras and the Ottomans was replaced by a period of cautious (1295–1359) and the Byzantine Emperor John Kantak- alliance. During this time Orhan’s involvement in the ouzenos (1341–54), both contemporaries of Orhan, pro- Byzantine civil war (1341–47) on the side of Byzan- vided vivid information about his reign, accounts that tine Emperor John VI (r. 1347–54) was are invaluable since most accounts from Turkish sources more beneficial to the Ottomans than to the Byzantines. were written more than a century after his death and are Orhan’s troops, led by his son Süleyman Pasha, comple- of legendary nature. The only exception among the Turk- mented Kantakouzenos’ lack of manpower, but came at ish sources is the chronicle of Yahşi Fakih, the son of a price. The dynastic marriage between Orhan and Kan- Orhan’s imam or prayer leader, but this is preserved only takouzenos’ daughter Theodora shocked the Byzantines as part of a 15th-century chronicle. but apparently did little to restrain Süleyman Pasha’s Orhan participated in many raids organized by his brutal activities in the Balkans. Nikephoros Gregoras father, whose troops controlled the littoral opposite attacked Kantakouzenos’ choice of allies, and the emper- Byzantine . Orhan’s first major success or’s own chronicle apologizes for the havoc inflicted by 442

001-611_Ottoman_tx.indd 442 11/4/08 3:18:11 PM Orhan Gazi 443

The mosque of Orhan