(Redirected from Ottoman Sultan)
The 'Ottoman Dynasty' (or the 'Imperial House of Osman') ruled the
Ottoman Empire from
1281 to
1923, beginning with
Osman I (not counting his father,
ErtuÄŸrul), though the dynasty was not proclaimed until
1383 when
Murad I declared himself
sultan. Before that the tribe/dynasty might have been known as
Söğüt but was renamed ''Osmanlı'' (Ottoman in English) in honour of Osman.
The sultan was the sole and absolute regent, head of state and head of government of the empire, at least officially, though often much power shifted de facto to other officials (in principle all his subservient creatures), especially the
Grand Vizier, after whose palace the Ottoman government was known as
High Porte, the Sultan's own
Topkapı Palace being mainly a
seraglio, 'harem'.
See the article on
state organisation of the Ottoman Empire for further information on the sultan and the structure of power.
Titles
The Ottoman dynasty is known in Turkish as ''Osmanlı'', meaning "House of Osman". The first rulers of the dynasty never had called themselves sultans, but rather ''
beys'', or "chieftain", roughly the Turkic equivalent of Emir, which would itself become a gubernatorial title and even a common military or honorific rank. Thus they still formally acknowledged the sovereignty of the contemporary Seljuk
Sultanate of Rûm and its successor, the
Ilkhanate.
The first Ottoman to actually claim the title of ''
sultân'' was
Murad I, who ruled from 1359 to 1389. The title
sultan (سلطان)—in Arabic, was in later Arabic-Islamic dynasties originally the power behind the throne of the Caliph in Bagdad and it was later used for various independent Muslim
Monarchs. This title was more prestigious then
Emir; it was not comparable to the title of
Malik 'king' or the originally Persian title of
Shah.
With the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the road was open for the Ottoman state to become an empire, with Sultan Mehmed II taking the title of ''
pâdişah'' (پادشاه), a Persian title meaning "lord of kings" and roughly equivalent to a Christian
emperor as would ultimately be formally established.
In addition to such secular titles, the Ottoman sultan became the
Caliph of Islam, starting with
Selim I, who became khalif after the death of the last Abbasid
Caliph Al-Mutawakkil III, the last of
Abbasid Caliphs in Cairo.
In Europe, Ottoman padishah was often referred to informally by such terms unrelated to the Ottoman protocol as "the Grand Turk".
The sultans further adopted in time many secondary formal titles as well, such as "Sovereign of the House of Osman", "
Sultan of Sultans" (roughly King of Kings), and "
Khan of Khans".
As the empire grew, sultans adopted secondary titles expressing the empire's claim to be the successor in law of the structures of the absorbed states. Furthermore they tended to enumerate even regular provinces, not unlike the long lists of -mainly inherited- feudal titles in the full style of many Christian European monarch.
Some early Ottoman Sultans even had to accept the vassal status in the eyes of a foreign kingmaker. For example,
Tamerlane appointed in 1402 the Ottoman Sultan (deposed in 1410) Sulayman Chelebi Khan, who was styled ''as-Sultan ul-Azam,
Sayyid us-Saladin ul-Arab wal Ajam, Malik ur-Rikaab ul-Umam, Ghiyas ud-Daula wa ud-Dunya, Sultan ul-Islam was ul-Muslimin, as-Sultan ibni us-Sultan, Hasib-i-Nasib-I-Zaman, Amir of
Rumelia''. Again his brother, who ended the Interregnum after the defeat of Ottomans to
Tamerlane, Mehmed I also held his post with a fief from Tamerlane. However the next Ottoman ruler (6th Sultan of House of Osman) was Sultan Murad Khan II (1421 - 1451) took the title 'Abu'l Hayrat,
Sultan ul-Mujahidin, Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, and of the Cities of Edirne and Filibe''.
When
Mehmed II conquered
Constantinople on
May 29,
1453, he claimed the title Emperor of the Roman Empire and protector of the
Eastern Orthodox Church. He appointed the
Patriarch of Constantinople Gennadius Scholarius, whom he protected and whose stature he elevated into leader of all the
Eastern Orthodox Christians. As emperor of the Romans he laid claim to all Roman territories, which at the time before the
Fall of Constantinople, however, extended to little more than the city itself, plus some areas in
Morea (
Peloponnese) and the
Empire of Trebizond.
The conqueror of Constantinople was Sultan Mehmed II Fatih Ghazi 'Abu'l Fath (1451 - 1481, 7th Sovereign of the House of Osman), was still 'simply' styled ''Kaysar-i-Rum'' (=Emperor of [Byzantium = the second] Rome, Caesar of Rome), ''Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, Emperor of the three Cities of Constantinople, Edirne and Bursa, Lord of the two lands and the two seas'' and the first to adopt the 'imperial' style Padishah.
Around 1500 the full style of naming of the ruling Sultan had become practically stabilised, e.g. in 1601 Sultan Mehmed III was called:
:''Sultan Hân N.N.,
::'
Padishah',
::'
Hünkar',
::'
Hakan ül-Berreyn vel-Bahreyn';
::'
Sovereign' of the House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans,
::'
Khan' of Khans,
::Commander ('
Caliph') of the
Faithful and Successor of the
Prophet of the
Lord of the
Universe
::
Servant of the Holy Cities of
Mecca,
Medina and
Jerusalem
::'
Caesar' of the
Roman Empire
::'
Emperor' of The Three Cities of
Constantinople,
Adrianople and
Bursa, and of the Cities of
Damascus and
Cairo, of all
Azerbaijan, of the
Magris, of
Barka, of
Kairouan, of
Aleppo, of Arabic
Iraq and of
Acem, of
Basra, of
Al-Hasa, of
Dilen, of
Ar Raqqah, of
Mosul, of
Parthia, of
Diyarbakır, of
Cilicia, of the
Vilayets of
Erzurum, of
Sivas, of
Adana, of
Karaman,
Van, of
Barbary, of
Abyssinia, of
Tunisia, of
Tripoli, of
Damascus, of
Cyprus, of
Rhodes, of
Candia, of the Vilayet of the
Morea, of the
Marmara Sea, the
Black Sea and also its coasts, of
Anatolia, of
Rumelia,
Baghdad,
Kurdistan,
Greece,
Turkistan,
Tartary,
Circassia, of the two regions of
Kabarda, of
Georgia, of the plain of
Kypchak, of the whole country of the
Tartars, of
Kefe and of all the neighboring countries, of
Bosnia and its
dependencies, of the City and Fort of
Belgrade, of the Vilayet of
Serbia, with all the castles, forts and cities, of all
Albania, of all
Eflak and
Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many others countries and cities.
Heads of the House of Osman
Pre-Imperial Heads of the House of Osman
Imperial heads of the House of Osman (1281-1922)
Post-Imperial Heads of the House of Osman (1922-Present)
''Note'': Although
Abdul Mejid II was chosen as
caliph in 1922, he was no longer Sultan, as the National Assembly had abolished the sultanate to turn Turkey into a republic. The caliphate was abolished in turn in
1924.
It was from the
Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) onwards that the Ottoman Sultans decided to lay claim to the Universal Caliphate. For that to be credible, they needed to establish an acceptable source of legitimacy in the eyes of the world. For that purpose, Turkish propaganda (which was greatly to influence Urdu journalism and Indian Muslim thought), dredged up the mythical story of transfer of the Caliphate to Selim, by al-Mutawakkil in 1517. It was necessary to take resort to that mythical origin of the Ottoman Caliphate which, it was hoped, would reinforce their claim for legitimacy of their Caliphate. If they could show that it had been formally transferred to them by a member of the House of Abbas who was supposed to be the custodian-in-exile of the Abbasid Caliphate and held that legacy until he could transfer it to a Muslim Sultan who possessed secular power that could do justice to that awesome office, their claim, they hoped, would thereby be unchallengeable. The Ottomans resurrected al-Mutawakkil from the grave to prove their Caliphal credentials. The claim is that from 1517 onwards, the Ottoman Sultan was also
Caliph (i.e. successor to the Prophet), which theoretically gave him overlordship over all Muslim rulers in the world. And it is claimed, for example, among the
Mughal Emperors of
India, only
Aurangzeb had the
Khutba read in his own name. However, there is evidence that contradicts this.
See also
★
TuÄŸra-Sultan's Signature
★
Ottoman Empire
★
Valide Sultan
★
Line of succession to the Ottoman throne
References
External links
In English
★
Turkey, includes all the full ruler styles with various biographical data in
the Royal Ark
★
Sultans, Contemporary Paintings by
Ismail Acar
★
Everything about Ottoman Empire Everything about the history, culture and civilization of Ottoman Empire
★
MSN encarta - the Ottoman Empire (see ''Sultanate'')
★
WorldStatesmen- Turkey
★
Ottoman Dynasty meet at Dolmabahçe Palace
★
Ottoman Empire - The Family
In Turkish
★
Osmanlı Sultanları
In French
★
interview with NesliÅŸah Sultan on YouTube, grand-daughter of the last emperor about her family's exile
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