pa rt I
th through th Centuries
Emergence and Expansion: From Frontier
Beylik to Cosmopolitan Empire
The Ottoman polity emerged in medieval Anatolia at the end of the thirteenth
century. During the previous century, Anatolia and the Balkans had undergone
enormous transformations as a result of the emigration of Turkish tribes from
Central Asia at the end of the eleventh century and the establishment of Turk-
ish dynasties as rulers in Anatolia. Among the most prominent dynasties were
the Seljuks of Rum who ruled from Nicea (Iznik) and then Konya. This dynasty,
however, disappeared by the late thirteenth century partly because of the expan-
sion of the Mongols into Anatolia. Earlier, as a result of Turkish migration into
Anatolia, the Byzantines had requested military aid from the pope to combat
the Turkish forces, and crusaders from Western Europe had added to the mix of
peoples in Anatolia and the Balkans after 1096, especially after the Fourth Cru-
sade, when crusaders sacked Constantinople and then created a Latin Empire
from 1204 to 1261.
Out of this chaos, many Turkish principalities, known as beyliks, emerged.
Ultimately, the Ottomans proved to be the most successful of the rulers of these
beyliks. Osman (r. 1299–1326) was the founder of a dynasty that bears his name.
He was followed by his son, Orhan (r. 1326–1362), and together in later Ottoman
historiography they were depicted as the leaders of gazis, raiders who were also
believed to be fighting in the name of Islam. They expanded from a tiny state in
Bithynia, conquered the major Byzantine city of Bursa, and then began to expand
into the Balkans. Under Orhan, Ottoman forces conquered Gallipoli and Adri-
anople (today’s Edirne). The Ottoman capital shifted from Bursa to Edirne as
this city became a staging ground for continuous raids into the Balkans. Murad
I (r. 1362–1389) and his son Bayezid I (r. 1389–1402) created an empire composed
of states united under their rule as vassals. By Bayezid’s reign the Ottomans had
begun a levy of boys from Christian peasants of the Balkans, a practice known
as the devşirme. These boys became a source of manpower for the Janissary army
and also for the administration. Bayezid I threatened Constantinople at the end