Osman s Dream : defining the early Ottomans
Islam Empire of Faith: the Ottomans (pt. 1) [PBS Documentary, available on DVD and on youtube.com ]
Origins of Ottomans: Issues? Ottomans: - nomadic, Turkish clan - Central Asians fleeing Mongols - some became Muslim - some became Christian - others remain animist, shamanistic - some established small states, attracted Mongol attacks - Byzantine empire also attacked
Issues? Frontier environment: - high degree of symbiosis - physical mobility - religious conversions [Christian and Muslim] - sharing of traditions, ideas, institutions, warrior ideologies
Issues? Frontier environment: - stories reveal nature of society in transition - Local traditions used to articulate new religious values, emergence of ghazi
Issues? Story of Melik Danismend (Turkish), Artuhi (Armenian) and Efromiya (Greek woman) : - central plot has Efromiya, convert (retaining non-muslim name) and female, fighting as a man against her own father - conversion is key in story but nothing orthodox about her role as Muslim
Issues? Story from Book of Dede Korkut [See resources], Kan Ruali (Turkish, Muslim) loves daughter of tekvur (Byzantine Christian): - they end up together, she saves his life - no indication she converts - her attraction to him presented as physical, sexual -- not religious
Issues? Stories reflect complexity of relations with infidel (Christians) - ancient epics customized - given meaning within flexible world of medieval Anatolian ghazi - co-operation not conflict dominates - In contemporary sources: no problem with ghazi Christian alliances
Issues? Within this context: why did clan of Osman succeed in holding and expanding authority long enough to build an empire?
Issues? Osman exemplified successful frontier beg: - established allies, raided neighbours - married daughter of revered dervish - allied with powerful wonder workers - son married daughter of tekvur (Christian chief) - Christian chief local village served as scout and ally
Issues? But -- Osman typical leader: - attracted followers (with herds) - associated with powerful dervishes - increasingly (with spread of Islam), drew Islamic scholars to his people (and his people to Islam )
Issues? Yet -- by time of death (1323/4) only he was able to: - strike coins in his name - issue endowment deeds - undertake long, military operations Why him?
Issues? Osman well situated for: - plundering, commerce, raids into fertile, wealthy Anatolian lands - move into Balkans [under son, Orhan] - involvement in politics of Constantinople - alliances with Genoa - Balkan expansion
Issues? Balkan Expansion: how to interpret role in shaping Ottomans? - alliances with western interests facilitated settlement, permitted further growth. - settlement in Bursa, Edirne, bases for subsequent expansion This is 'strategic analysis, relating role to political and military influence
Issues? Alternately: - conquest Bursa, Iznik important for institution building - by 1331 first medrese [Islamic school] established in Iznik to train scholar-scribes and judges This analysis emphasizes internal state building and Islam as central to evolution.
Issues? Was new state western or eastern in identity? Was Osman s legacy a strategic, political creation in which Islam played role similar to Christianity in Europe? OR
Issues? Was Osman a reflection of his time and place? Was this case of balancing competing dynamics: -14 th century frontier as epitomized in the ghazi - new Islamic world of urban, sedentary centers, administrative bureaucracies?
Issues? Perspectives represent different paradigms : - Former gives more attention to political machinations with Byzantines, Genoa merchants less to local tradition, Islam - Latter emphasizes both traditions of Frontier and Development of Islam therein
Issues? Latter closer to Ottoman approach: - Role of Osman s Dream - Tension between frontier and Islam - Role of ghazi (warrior) and ulama (scholar) communities
Osman s Dream For Early Ottomans, history of their empire began with Osman s Dream. - First recounted the late 15 th century, long after Osman s death - said to have come to him while sleeping in house of traditional holy man (shaykh), Edebali [see additional readings for more discussion of both dream and Edebali]
Osman s Dream Upon awaking, Osman spoke to the shaykh: I saw you in my dream. A moon arose from your breast. It rose and rose and then descended into my breast. From my navel there sprang a tree. It grew up and turned green. It branched out and got complicated. The shadow of its branches covered the whole world. What does it mean?
Osman s Dream A second version differs slightly: the tree simply sprouted and its branches encompassed the world -- Beneath this shade there were mountains, and streams flowed forth from the foot of each mountain. Some people drank from these running waters, others watered gardens, while yet others caused fountains to flow.
Osman s Dream And the Shaykh replied: Osman, my son, congratulations for the imperial office [bestowed by God] to you and your descendants, and my daughter Malhun shall be your wife.
Osman s Dream Ottomans gave legitimacy to legend in believing it to be history : - what were late 15 th c. Ottomans trying to say about their past? About themselves? - how should we understand it? - what, if anything, should we make of the different versions of the story? - what questions should we be asking as historians in order to use Osman s Dream?
Osman s Dream Another 15 th c. Osman legend : You ask me for a piece of paper as if I [knew how to] write. Here, I have a sword left from my forefathers. Let me give that to you. And I will also give you a cup. Let them both remain in your hands. And let them [who come after you] preserve these tokens. And if God Almighty endorses my bid for this service [of rulership], let my descendants observe that token and certify it.
Osman s Dream Chronicler is a dervish, said sword still in hands of his descendants, visited by every new ruler (chief) - illuminates continuing relation between Islam and Ottoman rule - suggests relation between power, orality - both issues central to understanding origins of Ottoman state
Frontier vs Islam Values represented in sedentarization created hierarchical space (physically, metaphorically) between new centres power (Bursa, Iznik) and traditional begs and ghazi on frontier Institutions gaining societal legitimacy those of Islam ulama, medrese, literate scholars, bureaucrats.
Frontier vs Islam Impact not always positive : -1389 Battle of Kosovo victory over Serbia - Bayezid (1289-1402) seen to have relied too little on traditional ghazi and dervishes, too much on new Islamic scholars and bureaucrats - reflected frontier vs urban values - Bayezid forced to ally with Timur (Mongols) to regain power, military ability
Frontier vs Islam Battle Ankara (1402): - Muslim vassels defected, ghazi commanders fled - Bayezid had small force Janissaries (slave soldiers), Christians from Balkans [both creations of new urban/islamic power] - battle in which slaves and Christians fought to protect Sultan, fundamental moment in evolution of being Ottoman
Frontier vs Islam Bayezid taken prisoner by Timur, died in captivity 1402. (Painting 1878)
Frontier vs Islam Fall of Constantinople (1453): In western state approach, successful taking of Constantinople was strategic - political victory in eyes of Europe - epitomized Ottoman power, arrival as major competitor - Culmination of centralization which would define empire
Frontier vs Islam In eastern state approach, Constantinople marked political victory of new, Islamicbased urban power. - key message was internal - set up framework for empire : tensions between competing concepts, nodes of power, would continue to be dynamic driving state