Osman I

Osman I (c. 1254–1323/1324), called Osman Ghazi, was the founder of the Ottoman dynasty and the Ottomans' first bey. Born at Söğüt, he succeeded his father Ertuğrul around 1281 in Bithynia. He came under the Sufi Sheikh Edebali, whose daughter Rabia Bala he married, and another wife, Malhun Hatun, bore his successor Orhan.

As the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm collapsed, he made himself an independent ruler in Bithynia, traditionally from 1299. His victory over the Byzantines at Bapheus in 1302 laid open the Bithynian countryside, and he laid siege to Bursa. A tale first recorded by Neşri has him shoot his uncle Dündar for opposing an attack on Bilecik.

Gout troubled him in his last years. Bursa fell to Orhan in 1326, and in some accounts Osman heard the news on his deathbed; Orhan carried his body to Bursa. The dynasty he founded ruled until 1922.