The Empire in the Making 61
Osman.65 In the same vein, mythical genealogies celebrating the origin of
Osman were created, beginning with Yazıcıoğlu Ali’s (not to be confused with
Yazıcıoğlu Ahmed Bican) adoption of Ibn Bibi’s history of the Seljuks c. 1425.66
These genealogies, in various forms, traced Ertoğrul’s ancestors back to Oğuz
(and thence back to Noah); again, the version favored by Neşri became defini-
tive, as it provided both a grandfather with a king’s name (Süleymanşah) for
Osman and a lineage coming from the senior branch of the Oğuz family:67
The experts in the knowledge of the foundations of the prophets and
those who know the secrets of the meanings of the [human] works nar-
rate that this great lineage [of the house of Osman] comes from Oğuz son
of Kara Han, who was one of the children of Bulcas, son of Yafes, son of
Noah, peace be upon him! As follows: Ertuğrul son of Süleyman Şah son
of Kaya Alp son of Kızıl Buğa ... son of Bulcas son of Yafes son of Noah.Moreover, in Bayati’s version, composed for Bayezid II’s brother Cem in 1481,
several ancestors (including Oğuz) are linked to prominent prophets of Islamic
theology, thus combining legitimacy by descent and by Islam; indeed, it was
this emphasis on true and orthodox Islam that would prevail as a tool of legiti-
mization from the sixteenth century onwards:68
Oğuz Han: He was given this name, which means “saint”, in his child-
hood because he was seen as being on the right path [i.e. God’s]. Because
he recognized the Oneness of God he fought with his father, and Oğuz’s
army killed the latter. This happened during Prophet Abraham’s times ...
Bozdoğan: He believed in the prophet David—peace be upon him—
and belonged to the community of believers.
Korkulu: He served under the prophet Solomon ...
Kara Han: When he became ruler, he believed in Islam and sent Korkut
Dede to Medina, where he was enlightened by the light of Prophet65 Imber 1987, 15; on Aşıkpaşazade’s version cf. İnalcık 1994b, 152; on Feridun cf. Vatin 2010;
Kastritsis 2013 and see below, chapter 3.
66 On the importance of genealogical trees for political legitimacy and the science of geneal-
ogy before the Ottomans, see Binbaş 2011.
67 Neşri – Unat – Köymen 1987, I:55–57.
68 Bayatlı – Kırzıoğlu 1949, 380–394 (he cites all Osman’s ancestors, beginning not from
Noah but from Adam); cf. Imber 1987, 19–20; Mustafayev 2013. A detailed discussion of
these genealogies was made by Wittek 1925. On the afterlife of imperial genealogies in the
sixteenth century see Flemming 1988.