Orhan

Orhan Ghazi (c. 1281–1362), son of Osman I, was the second Ottoman ruler and the man who turned a frontier principality into a state. He succeeded in 1323/24, and Bursa surrendered in 1326 after its Byzantine commander went over to him; it became his capital.

In 1329 Andronikos III was routed at Pelekanon and never again fought the Ottomans in the field; Nicaea fell in 1331. In 1345 he annexed the Turkish emirate of Karesi, and Ottoman tradition credits him with founding the Janissaries, drawn from boys of conquered Christian families.

The Byzantine civil wars worked in his favour: in 1346 the regent John VI Kantakouzenos gave him his daughter Theodora and used Ottoman warriors. In 1354 his son Süleyman Pasha occupied Gallipoli, securing a bridgehead in Europe. Orhan died at Bursa in March 1362, and Murad I succeeded him.