Editing Osman I (section)

== Birth, lineage, and early years ==

=== Sources about Osman's early life ===
[[File:Behcetü't Tevârîh ilk sayfa.png|thumb|right|Index of ''[[w:tr:Behcetü't-Tevârîh|Behcetü't-Tevârîh]]'', one of the Ottoman sources that talks about Osman's origins]]
The exact date of Osman's birth is unknown, and very little is known about his early life and origins due to the scarcity of sources and the many myths and legends which came to be told about him by the Ottomans in later centuries.<ref name=birth/><ref>{{Cite book|first=Caroline|last=Finkel|title=Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923|page=12|publisher=Basic Books|date=2005|quote=Beyond the likelihood that the first Ottoman sultan was a historical figure, a Turcoman Muslim marcher-lord of the Byzantine frontier in north-west Anatolia whose father may have been called Ertuğrul, there is little other biographical information about Osman.}}</ref> The reason for the lack of information available about this stage of Osman's life is due to the fact that the oldest-known source about this time period was written about a hundred years after Osman's death. Among these sources are: ''Destan-ı Tevarih-i Al-i Osman'' (The Oral history of the Ottomans), written in the 14th century by the Ottoman poet and court physician {{ill|Tâceddîn İbrâhîm bin Hızîr|tr|Ahmedî}} better known as Ahmedî (1334–1413), ''{{ill|Behcetü't-Tevârîh|tr}}'' (The Joy of histories) by [[Şükrullah]] (d. 1464), and ''{{ill|Tevarih-i Âl-i Osman|tr|Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osman (Âşıkpaşazâde)}}'' (History of the Ottomans) by Derviş Ahmed Âşıkî, known as [[Âşıkpaşazâde]] (1400–1484). Additionally, these remaining sources are not the originals, but rather copies, or copies of the copies that were rewritten over the years, leading to a probable loss or altering in the information.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zachariadou|first1=Elizabeth A.|title=Osmanlı Beyliği, 1300–1389|date=1997|publisher=Türkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı|isbn=9789753330671|place=İstanbul|page=150|language=tr|trans-title=Ottoman Beylik, 1300–1389}}</ref> In fact, it is accepted that Ottoman, European, and Byzantine sources are not very reliable when considering the origins of Osman and his clan. On one hand, the oldest known records originally written by the Ottomans all date back to the period that followed the [[Fall of Constantinople|conquest of Constantinople]] (1453 CE). On the other hand, none of the Byzantine historians did refer in their writings to the origin of the Ottomans. As for European historians, these Turkic Muslim peoples were outside of their interest. However, that changed after a century of this period, when the Ottomans began to pose a threat to Europe.<ref name="Hallak">{{cite book|last1=Ḥallāq|first1=Ḥassān|url=https://archive.org/details/elhilalymohamad_gmail_20170919_0414/page/n25|title=Tārīkh al-shuʻūb al-Islāmīyah al-ḥadīth wa-al-muʻạṣir|publisher=Dar al-nahḍah al-ʻArabīyah|year=2000|edition=1st|place=Beirut|pages=16–17|language=ar|trans-title=Modern and Contemporary History of the Muslim peoples|access-date=23 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319231046/https://archive.org/details/elhilalymohamad_gmail_20170919_0414/page/n25|archive-date=19 March 2020}}</ref>

=== Birth ===
Some sources indicate that Osman was born on 13 February 1258, the exact same day the Mongol hordes invaded Baghdad, killing its inhabitants and ravaging its landmarks.<ref name="Armağan">{{cite book|last1=Armağan|first1=Mustafa|title=al-tārīkh al-sirrī lil-Imbarāṭūrīyah al-ʻUthmānīyah; Jawānib ghayr Maʻrūfa min ḥayāt Salāṭīn Banī ʻUthmān|publisher=al-Dār al-ʻArabīyah lil-ʻUlūm Nāshirūn|year=2014|isbn=9786140111226|edition=1st|place=Beirut|page=11|language=ar|translator-last1=Hamza|translator-first1=Mustafa|trans-title=The Secret History of the Ottoman Empire: Unrecognized Aspects of the Life of the Ottoman Sultans}}</ref> He was most likely born around the middle of the thirteenth century, possibly in 1254/5, the date given by the sixteenth-century Ottoman historian [[Ibn Kemal|Kemalpaşazade]].<ref name=kemalpasazade>{{cite book|first=Rhoads|last=Murphey|title=Exploring Ottoman Sovereignty: Tradition, Image, and Practice in the Ottoman Imperial Household, 1400–1800|publisher=Continuum|place=London|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84725-220-3 |page=24|quote=A reasonable, plausible and, among its peers, probably most reliable account of the early career of Osman by the paragon of Ottoman historians, Kemal Paşa-zade (1468–1534), identifies the ''hijri'' year 652 (21 February 1254 to 9 February 1255) as the date of Osman's birth.}}</ref> The few available sources agree that he was born in the town of [[Söğüt]], which his father [[Ertuğrul]] took as the capital of his [[Sultanate of Rum|emirate]].<ref name="Sakaoğlu2">{{cite book|last1=Sakaoğlu|first1=Necdet|title=Yaşamları ve Yapıtlarıyla Osmanlılar Ansiklopedisi, C.2|date=1999|publisher=Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat Yayıncılık|isbn=9789750800719|pages=392–395|language=tr|trans-title=Encyclopedia of the Lives and Works of the Ottomans}}</ref>

=== Lineage ===
[[File:Osman I's Geneaology.png|thumb|right|Osman's genealogy according to different Ottoman historians]]
According to Ottoman tradition, Osman's father [[Ertuğrul]] led the Turkic [[Kayı tribe]] west from Central Asia into [[Anatolia]], fleeing the [[Mongols|Mongol]] onslaught. He then pledged allegiance to the [[Sultan]] of the [[Sultanate of Rum|Anatolian Seljuks]], who granted him dominion over the town of [[Söğüt]] on the [[Byzantine]] frontier.<ref name="Shaw-132">Stanford Shaw, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=E9-YfgVZDBkC&pg=PA13 History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey]'' (Cambridge: University Press, 1976), vol. 1 {{isbn|9780521291637}}, p. 13</ref> This connection between Ertuğrul and the Seljuks, however, was largely invented by court chroniclers a century later, and the true origins of the Ottomans thus remain obscure.<ref>{{New Cambridge History of Islam|first=Kate|last=Fleet|volume=2|chapter=The rise of the Ottomans|page=313|quote=The origins of the Ottomans are obscure. According to legend, largely invented later as part of the process of legitimising Ottoman rule and providing the Ottomans with a suitably august past, it was the Saljuq ruler ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn who bestowed rule on the Ottomans.}}</ref> According to the [[Karamanid]] historian Shikari, Osman was a lowborn [[Yörük]] and shepherd.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yıldırım |first1=Rıza |title=Aleviliğin Doğuşu: Kızılbaş Sufiliğinin Toplumsal ve Siyasal Temelleri 1300–1501 |date=2018 |page=121 |publisher=İletişim Yayınları |isbn=9789750525018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJeaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT121 |access-date=20 March 2023 |quote=Şikarî daha da ileriye giderek Osman'ı Selçuklunun bir çobanı olarak ifade eder. (...) Şikarî genellikle Osmanlıları soylu kanından olmamak, sadık olmamak, sözlerini tutmamak gibi şeylerle suçlar. (...) "[Karamanoğlu] Osman'ı bir gedā iken şah eyledi. [Osman] Aslı cinsi yok bir yürükoğlu iken bey oldı.}}</ref>

[[File:Sultan Gazi ʻUthmān Han I - السُلطان الغازي عُثمان خان الأوَّل.png|thumb|left|19th-century depiction of Osman, by [[Konstantin Kapıdağlı]]]]
In terms of proportions, the most popular and classic narration is that Osman is the grandson of [[Suleyman Shah|Süleyman Şah]], who died drowning while crossing the [[Euphrates River]] on horseback. The Turkish historian [[Yılmaz Öztuna]] considers that Osman's grandfather, and Ertuğrul's father, is called [[Gündüz Alp]], saying that it is more likely that Süleyman Şah is a name stuck in Anatolian popular memory, and it actually refers to [[Suleiman ibn Qutulmish|Süleyman bin Qutulmish]] who founded the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. Öztuna adds that it is possible that Ottoman historians tried forming a connection between the Ottomans and the Seljuks, especially since the Ottomans appeared on the stage of history claiming to be the legitimate successors of the Seljuks. Based on this, Osman's assumed lineage is as follows: ''Osman bin Ertuğrul bin Gündüz Alp bin Kaya Alp bin Gökalp bin Sarquk Alp bin Kayı Alp''.<ref name="Yilmaz2"/> Other researchers agree that the connection between Ertuğrul, Osman, and the Seljuks may have been largely invented by court chroniclers a century later, and the true origins of the Ottomans thus remain obscure.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fleet|first=Kate|title=The New Cambridge History of Islam|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521839570|volume=2: ''The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries''|place=Cambridge|pages=313|chapter=The rise of the Ottomans|quote=The origins of the Ottomans are obscure. According to legend, largely invented later as part of the process of legitimising Ottoman rule and providing the Ottomans with a suitably august past, it was the Saljuq ruler ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn who bestowed rule on the Ottomans.}}</ref> On the other hand, some Ottoman sources indicate further lineage to Osman and the Oghuz Turks, which is closer to myth than reality, saying that these people are descendants of [[Japheth]], son of [[Noah in Islam|Noah]], and that Osman's genealogical tree contains 52 ancestors or more and ends with the Prophet Noah himself. This lineage includes Gökalp and [[Oghuz Khagan|Oghuz Han]] (who is said to be the father of Gökalp), and all the Oghuz Turkic peoples, including the Seljuks.<ref name="Hallak"/>

===Early years===
The Ottoman historian Kemalpaşazâde mentioned that Osman was Ertuğrul's youngest son and that he was raised in the traditional nomadic Turkic ways: he learned [[w:Greco-Roman wrestling|wrestling]], [[w:Swordsmanship|swordsmanship]], [[Equestrianism|horse riding]], arrow shooting, and [[falconry]], from an early age. He quickly mastered the previously mentioned skills, outperforming all his brothers. He was also taught the principles of [[Islam]], and was influenced by the teachings of [[Sufi]] [[sheikh]]s, mostly his mentor Sheikh [[Sheikh Edebali|Edebali]], and this was reflected in his personality and lifestyle.<ref name="Sakaoğlu2"/>