TheOttoman Empire's early years have been the subject of varying narratives, due to the difficulty of discerning fact from legend. The empire came into existence at the end of the 13th century, and its first ruler (and the namesake of the Empire) wasOsman I. According to later, often unreliable Ottoman tradition, Osman was a descendant of theKayı tribe of theOghuz Turks.[2] The eponymous Ottoman dynasty he founded endured for six centuries through the reigns of 36 sultans. The Ottoman Empire disappeared as a result of the defeat of theCentral Powers, with whom it had allied itself duringWorld War I. Thepartitioning of the Empire by the victoriousAllies and the ensuingTurkish War of Independence led to theabolition of the sultanate in 1922 and the birth of the modernRepublic of Turkey in 1922.[3]
The sultan was also referred to as thepadishah (Ottoman Turkish:پادشاه,romanized: pâdişâh,French:Padichah). In Ottoman usage the word "Padishah" was usually used except "sultan" was used when he was directly named.[4] In several European languages, he was referred to as theGrand Turk, as the ruler of the Turks,[5] or simply the "Great Lord" (il Gran Signore,le grand seigneur) especially in the 16th century.
Arabic: In some documents "padishah" was replaced by "malik" ("king")[4]
Bulgarian: In earlier periods Bulgarian people called him the "tsar". The translation of theOttoman Constitution of 1876 instead used direct translations of "sultan" (СултанSultan) and "padishah" (ПадишахPadišax)[4]
Greek: In earlier periods the Greeks used the Byzantine Empire-style name "basileus". The translation of the Ottoman Constitution of 1876 instead used a direct transliterations of "sultan" (ΣουλτάνοςSoultanos) and "padishah" (ΠΑΔΙΣΑΧpadisach).[4]
Judaeo-Spanish: Especially in older documents,El Rey ("the king") was used. In addition some Ladino documents usedsultan (in Hebrew characters: שולטן and סולטן).[4]
The Ottoman Empire was anabsolute monarchy during much of its existence. By the second half of the fifteenth century, the sultan sat at the apex of a hierarchical system and acted in political, military, judicial, social, and religious capacities under a variety of titles.[a] He was theoretically responsible only toGod anddivine law (the Islamicشریعتşeriat, known in Arabic asشريعةsharia), of which he was the chief executor. His heavenly mandate (Kut) was reflected in Islamic titles such as "shadow of God on Earth" (ظل الله في العالمẓıll Allāh fī'l-ʿalem) and "caliph of the face of the earth" (خلیفه روی زمینḪalife-i rū-yi zemīn).[6] All offices were filled by his authority, and every law was issued by him in the form of a decree calledfirman (فرمان). He was thesupreme military commander and had the official title to all land.[7]Osman (died 1323/4) son ofErtuğrul was the first ruler of the Ottoman state, which during his reign constituted a small principality (beylik) in the region ofBithynia on the frontier of theByzantine Empire.
After theconquest of Constantinople in 1453 byMehmed II, Ottoman sultans came to regard themselves as the successors of the Roman Empire, hence their occasional use of the titlescaesar (قیصرqayser) ofRûm, andemperor,[6][8][9] as well as thecaliph of Islam.[b] Newly enthroned Ottoman rulers were girded with theSword of Osman, an important ceremony that served as the equivalent of European monarchs' coronation.[10] A non-girded sultan was not eligible to have his children included in the line of succession.[11]
Although absolute in theory and in principle, the sultan's powers were limited in practice. Political decisions had to take into account the opinions and attitudes of important members of the dynasty, the bureaucratic and military establishments, as well as religious leaders.[7] Beginning in the last decades of the sixteenth century, the role of the Ottoman sultans in the government of the empire began to decrease, in a period known as theTransformation of the Ottoman Empire. Despite being barred from inheriting the throne,[12] women of theimperial harem—especially the reigning sultan's mother, known as thevalide sultan—also played an important behind-the-scenes political role, effectively ruling the empire during the period known as theSultanate of Women.[13]
The table below lists Ottoman sultans, as well as the last Ottoman caliph, in chronological order. Thetughras were the calligraphic seals or signatures used by Ottoman sultans. They were displayed on all official documents as well as on coins, and were far more important in identifying a sultan than his portrait. The "Notes" column contains information on each sultan's parentage and fate. Early Ottomans practiced what historian Quataert has described as "survival of the fittest, not eldest, son": when a sultan died, his sons had to fight each other for the throne until a victor emerged. Because of the infighting and numerousfratricides that occurred, there was often a time gap between a sultan's death date and the accession date of his successor.[16] In 1617, thelaw of succession changed from survival of the fittest to a system based onagnatic seniority (اکبریتekberiyet), whereby the throne went to the oldest male of the family. This in turn explains why from the 17th century onwards a deceased sultan was rarely succeeded by his own son, but usually by an uncle or brother.[17] Agnatic seniority was retained until theabolition of the sultanate, despite unsuccessful attempts in the 19th century to replace it withprimogeniture.[18] Note that pretenders and co-claimants during theOttoman Interregnum are also listed here, but they are not included in the formal numbering of sultans.
a^ : Thefull style of the Ottoman ruler was complex, as it was composed of several titles and evolved over the centuries. The title ofsultan was used continuously by all rulers almost from the beginning. However, because it was widespread in the Muslim world, the Ottomans quickly adopted variations of it to dissociate themselves from other Muslim rulers of lesser status.Murad I, the third Ottoman monarch, styled himselfsultân-ı âzam (سلطان اعظم, the most exalted sultan) andhüdavendigar (خداوندگار, emperor), titles used by the AnatolianSeljuqs and the MongolIlkhanids respectively. His sonBayezid I adopted the styleSultan of Rûm,Rûm being an old Islamic name for the Roman Empire. The combining of the Islamic and Central Asian heritages of the Ottomans led to the adoption of the title that became the standard designation of the Ottoman ruler:Sultan [Name] Khan.[31] Ironically, although the title of sultan is most often associated in theWestern world with the Ottomans, people within Turkey generally use the title ofpadishah far more frequently when referring to rulers of the Ottoman Dynasty.[32]
b123 : TheOttoman Caliphate symbolized their spiritual power, whereas the sultanate represented their temporal power. According to Ottomanhistoriography,Murad I adopted the title of caliph during his reign (1362 to 1389), andSelim I later strengthened the caliphal authority during hisconquest of Egypt in 1516-1517. However, the general consensus among modern scholars is that Ottoman rulers had used the title of caliph before the conquest of Egypt, as early as during the reign ofMurad I (1362–1389), who brought most of the Balkans under Ottoman rule and established the title of sultan in 1383. It is currently agreed that the caliphate "disappeared" for two-and-a-half centuries, before being revived with theTreaty of Küçük Kaynarca, signed between the Ottoman Empire andCatherine II of Russia in 1774. The treaty was highly symbolic, since it marked the first international recognition of the Ottomans' claim to the caliphate. Although the treaty made official the Ottoman Empire's loss of theCrimean Khanate, it acknowledged the Ottoman caliph's continuing religious authority overMuslims in Russia.[33] From the 18th century onwards, Ottoman sultans increasingly emphasized their status as caliphs in order to stirPan-Islamist sentiments among the empire's Muslims in the face of encroaching European imperialism. WhenWorld War I broke out, CaliphMehmed V issued aproclamation forjihad in 1914 against the Ottoman Empire'sAllied enemies, unsuccessfully attempting to incite the subjects of theFrench,British andRussian empires to revolt.Abdul Hamid II was by far the Ottoman sultan who made the most use of his caliphal position, and was recognized as caliph by many Muslim heads of state, even as far away as thePhilippines[34][35] andSumatra.[36] He had his claim to the title inserted into the1876 Constitution (Article 4).[37]
c12 :Tughras were used by 35 out of 36 Ottoman sultans, starting withOrhan in the 14th century, whose tughra has been found on two different documents. No tughra bearing the name ofOsman I, the founder of the empire, has ever been discovered,[38] although a coin with the inscription "Osman bin Ertuğrul" has been identified.[20]Abdulmejid II, the last Ottoman Caliph, also lacked a tughra of his own, since he did not serve ashead of state (that position being held byMustafa Kemal, President of the newly founded Republic of Turkey) but as a religious and royalfigurehead.
d^ : TheOttoman Interregnum, also known as the Ottoman Triumvirate (Turkish:Fetret Devri), was a period of chaos in the Ottoman Empire which lasted from 1402 to 1413. It started following the defeat and capture ofBayezid I by theTurco-Mongol warlordTamerlane at theBattle of Ankara, which was fought on 20 July 1402. Bayezid's sons fought each other for over a decade, untilMehmed I emerged as the undisputed victor in 1413.[39]
e^ : Thedissolution of the Ottoman Empire was a gradual process which started with the abolition of the sultanate and ended with that of the caliphate 16 months later. The sultanate was formally abolished on 1 November 1922. SultanMehmed VI fled toMalta on 17 November aboard the British warshipMalaya. This event marked the end of the OttomanDynasty, not of the OttomanState nor of theOttoman Caliphate. On 19 November, theGrand National Assembly (TBMM) elected Mehmed VI's cousinAbdulmejid II, the then crown prince, as caliph.[40] The official end of the Ottoman State was declared through theTreaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923), which recognized the new "Ankara government," and not the old Istanbul-based Ottoman government, as representing the rightful owner and successor state. TheRepublic of Turkey was proclaimed by the TBMM on 29 October 1923, withMustafa Kemal as its firstPresident.[41] Although Abdulmejid II was afigurehead lacking any political power, he remained in his position of Caliph until the office of the Caliphate was abolished by the TBMM on 3 March 1924.[37] Mehmed VI later tried unsuccessfully to reinstall himself as caliph in theHejaz.[42]
^Kafadar 1995, p. 122. "That they hailed from the Kayı branch of the Oğuz confederacy seems to be a creative "rediscovery" in the genealogical concoction of the fifteenth century. It is missing not only in Ahmedi but also, and more importantly, in the Yahşi Fakih-Aşıkpaşazade narrative, which gives its own version of an elaborate genealogical family tree going back to Noah. If there was a particularly significant claim to Kayı lineage, it is hard to imagine that Yahşi Fakih would not have heard of it." Lowry 2003, p. 78. "Based on these charters, all of which were drawn up between 1324 and 1360 (almost one hundred fifty years prior to the emergence of the Ottoman dynastic myth identifying them as members of the Kayı branch of the Oguz federation of Turkish tribes), we may posit that..." Lindner 1983, p. 10. "In fact, no matter how one were to try, the sources simply do not allow the recovery of a family tree linking the antecedents of Osman to the Kayı of the Oğuz tribe. Without a proven genealogy, or even without evidence of sufficient care to produce a single genealogy to be presented to all the court chroniclers, there obviously could be no tribe; thus, the tribe was not a factor in early Ottoman history."
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