'Ertuğrul' ('أرطغرل'), also 'Ertoğrul' (with title 'Ertuğrul Gazi'), (
1198 –
1281) was the father of
Osman I, the founder of the
Ottoman Empire. 'Ertugrul Gazi' was the leader of the
Kayi clan of the
Oghuz Turks.
In 1227 he inherited the command of the
Kayı tribe of the
Oghuz Turks following the drowning of his father,
Süleyman Shah, in the river
Euphrates, fleeing from the
Mongol onslaught. Ertuğrul was given the lands of
Karaca Dağ, a mountain near Angora (now
Ankara), by
Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh I, the
Seljuk Sultan of
Rüm. Later he was also given the village of
Söğüt with the surrounding lands. That village became the Ottoman capital in 1299 under Ertuğrul's son Osman I.
Like his son and descendants, Ertuğrul is often referred to as a ''
Ghazi,'' a champion fighter for the cause of
Islam.
In the 19th century, the
Ottoman Navy frigate ''Ertuğrul'' was named in his honor.