Osman I Timeline

Alaeddin Erden Ali Pasha (c. 1281 – 1331) was born to Osman and Rabia Bala Hatun, daughter of Sheikh Edebali. The intermarriage between the Osmanic and Edebali's houses became an important political alliance.

Osman's children included Çoban Bey (1283–1337), Fatma Hatun (born 1284 in Söğüt, died 1347 in Bursa), and Pazarlı Bey (born 1285), among others who carried forward the Osmanic line.

Osman's sons included Hamid Bey (1288–1329) and Murad Arslan Melik Bey (1290–1336). His descendants were still alive in the 16th century and are distributed today across American, European and Arab countries.

Rabia Bala Hatun, wife of Osman and mother of Alaeddin Ali Pasha, spent the last years of her life with her father, dying in Bilecik in 1324, where she was buried beside his tomb.

Image source: Rabia Bala Hatun

Malhun Hatun, wife of Osman and mother of Orhan I, likely lived into the late 1320s, possibly dying after her son's accession in 1326.

Image source: Malhun Hatun

Osman started raiding the Byzantine possessions in the name of the Sultan, successfully conquering several towns and villages, and slowly expanded his dominion over the course of his half a century long tenure as a Seljuk governor.

Some accounts indicate that the first battle Osman launched against the Byzantines was aimed to revenge a defeat he suffered in the spring of 1284 or 1285, where the Byzantines, led by the Tekfur of Bursa, ambushed him and his men.

Around 1286, Osman went forward to Kulacahisar at the head of three hundred fighters. It was a fortress located two leagues away from İnegöl within the scope of mount Uludağ. Historians differed on the exact date of this conquest, but none made it prior to 1286 or exceeding 1291.

Until the end of the thirteenth century, Osman I's conquests included the areas of Bilecik (Belokomis), Yenişehir (Melangeia), İnegöl (Angelokomis) and Yarhisar (Köprühisar), along with Byzantine castles in these areas.

As Osman expanded his power, he began harassing Byzantine fortresses such as Bursa and Nicaea, which was besieged in 1301, pressuring the Byzantine Empire's holdings in Bithynia.

Image source: List of sieges

After soundly defeating a Byzantine force near Nicaea in 1302, Osman settled his forces closer to Byzantine-controlled areas. He spent the remainder of his reign expanding north along the Sakarya River and southwest towards the Sea of Marmara, achieving his objectives by 1308.

On July 27, 1302, the Byzantine and Ottoman armies met on the plain of Bapheus between Nicomedia and Nicaea. Osman defeated the Byzantine force sent to counter him — this is the first datable event in Osman's life. In spring 1302 Emperor Michael IX had launched a campaign reaching south to Magnesia before the confrontation.

Image source: Battle of Bapheus

Orhan entered Bursa on April 6, 1326, shortly after his father's death. Its people were not subjected to any harm after they recognized Ottoman sovereignty and pledged to pay jizyah. Ottoman tradition holds that Osman died just after the capture of Bursa.

Image source: Siege of Bursa

One endowment written in Persian dating back to 1324 indicates that Osman was given the titles Muḥiuddin (Reviver of the faith) and Fakhruddin (Pride of the faith).

It is said that Osman died on August 21, 1326 at 70 years old, though historians disagree: Rouhi Çelebi says 1320, Uruç adiloğlu says 1327, and some scholars place his death in 1324, the year of Orhan's accession. Ottoman tradition holds he died just after the capture of Bursa.

In the early 15th century, Yazıcıoğlu Ali constructed a genealogy for Osman tracing it back to Oghuz Khagan, the mythical ancestor of the Western Turks, through the eldest grandson of his eldest son, lending legitimacy to the Ottoman sultans' claim of primacy among Turkish monarchs.

Image source: Selçukname

Not a single written source survives from Osman's reign; the Ottomans did not record his history until more than a century after his death. Sources include Ahmedî's Destan-ı Tevarih-i Al-i Osman (14th century), Şükrullah's Behcetü't-Tevârîh, and Âşıkpaşazâde's Tevarih-i Âl-i Osman.

Image source: Aşıkpaşazade

The oldest known records originally written by the Ottomans all date back to the period following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 CE. After this period, as the Ottomans began to pose a threat to Europe, European interest produced more written accounts about Osman's life.

Image source: Fall of Constantinople

Osman's first tomb in Bursa was completely destroyed in a severe earthquake in 1855 and rebuilt under Sultan Abdulaziz (1861–1876). Sultan Abdulhamid II also constructed a shrine in Söğüt where Osman was buried temporarily before being moved back to Bursa.

The beylik Osman founded transformed into a vast empire lasting until 1922, shortly after the end of World War I, when the empire disintegrated after defeat alongside other Central Powers and the sultanate was abolished.

Image source: Ottoman Empire

Osman's descendants were expelled from Turkey in 1924, shortly after the declaration of the Republic by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and distributed today across several American, European and Arab countries.

Image source: Osmanoğlu family

Several family members eventually returned to Turkey after the Turkish government allowed the females to return in 1951.

Male descendants of Osman had to wait until 1973 to be able to enter Turkey again, reuniting the extended royal family with its ancestral homeland.

Osman's story has been adapted for television in Kuruluş "Osmancık" (1988), based on a novel of the same name, Diriliş: Ertuğrul (2014–2019), and Kuruluş: Osman (2019–present), bringing his founding legend to modern audiences.

Image source: Kuruluş: Osman