The Empire in the Making 35
gazi milieu conceived it. An interesting feature is the constant use of the third-
person plural to denote collective decisions. When his father Ertoğrul passed
away, “they deemed Osman suitable” for his place (A94: atasınun yerine layık
gördiler), and upon Murad I’s death on the battlefield of Kosovo, “they” killed
one of his sons, Yakub, and “they accepted Sultan Bayezid [II]” (A134: Bayazıd
Hanı kabul etdiler).13 In a similar vein, after Osman’s death his two sons quietly
discussed the question of who should be his successor, with Alaeddin insist-
ing that Orhan should become the shepherd and that the territory rightfully
belonged to him (A115: bu vilayet hakkundur ... çobanlık dahı senündür). A survey
of other early chronicles, such as those of Mehmed Neşri and Kemalpaşazade,
corroborates the conclusion that the succession of Ertoğrul by Osman around
1299 and of Osman by Orhan in 1324 were a process more of tribal election
than merely hereditary succession from father to son. In contrast, authors
closer to Mehmed II’s imperial policies (such as Karamanlı Nişancı Mehmed
Pasha) and later historians simply state that Osman and Orhan took the place
of their fathers.14 What is important for our aims here is not the tribal charac-
ter of the first Ottomans but the fact that records of it remained valid through-
out the fourtheenth and fifteenth centuries. In other words, the gazi worldview
of a “society of warriors” with a ruler being primus inter pares was still alive
(though, admittedly, in its swansong) even when sultans such as Bayezid I and
Mehmed II were working hard to impose an imperial, autocratic model.
There are instances in which one cannot be sure whether a story or judg-
ment originates from Yahşi Fakih or Aşıkpaşazade. For example, the famous
passage relating the installation of a judge and the organization of the market
in newly-conquered Karacahisar contains a story about a man from Germiyan
who asked to buy the market toll:
The community said: “Go to the ruler!” The man went to the ruler and
made his request. Osman Ghazi said: “What is this market toll?” The man
said: “I am to take money for everything that comes to the market”. Osman
Ghazi said: “Are the people of the market in debt to you, so that you want
their money?” The man said: “My lord, it is a custom. In all countries,13 On the other hand, a similar expression is used for the concealing of Murad II’s death
until the arrival of his successor Mehmed II, a part which cannot belong to Yahşi Fakih:
paşalar meyyiti kimseye bildürmediler. Divanlar etdiler. Tımarlar verdiler (Aşıkpaşazade –
Atsız 1949, 190–191). Here, however, the subject is clearly defined (the pashas). Cf. Vatin –
Veinstein 2003, 82–83.
14 Cf. Lindner 1983, 21–23, for a description of tribal procedures of election as reflected in
the early chronicles; and Sariyannis 2016, 36–39, for a more detailed analysis of such
expressions in Ottoman historiography.