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Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, members of the Ottoman Dynasty, ruled over that vast transcontinental empire from 1299 to 1922. At its height, it spanned from Hungary in the north to Somalia in the south, and from Algeria in the west to Iran in the east. Administered at first from the city of Bursa in Anatolia, the empire's capital was moved to Edirne in 1366 and then to Constantinople (currently known as Istanbul) in 1453 following its capture from the Byzantine Empire.[1] The Ottoman Empire's early years have been the subject of varying narratives due to the difficulty of discerning fact from legend; nevertheless, most modern scholars agree that the empire came into existence around 1299 and that its first ruler was Osman I Khan (leader) of the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz Turks.[2] The Ottoman Dynasty he founded was to endure for six centuries through the reigns of 36 sultans. The Ottoman Empire disappeared as a result of the defeat of the Central Powers with whom it had allied itself during World War I. The partitioning of the empire by the victorious Allies and the ensuing Turkish War of Independence led to the birth of the modern Republic of Turkey.[3]
The Ottoman State was an absolute monarchy during much of its existence. The sultan was at the apex of the hierarchical Ottoman system and acted in political, military, judicial, social, and religious capacities under a variety of titles.[a] He was theoretically responsible only to God and God's law (the Islamic شریعت şeriat, known in Arabic as شريعة sharia), of which he was the chief executor. His heavenly mandate was reflected in Irano-Islamic titles such as "shadow of God on Earth" (Arabic: ظل الله في العالم zill Allah fi'l-alem) and "caliph on the earth" (Persian: خلیفه روی زمین khalife-i ru-yi zemin).[4] All offices were filled by his authority, and every law was issued by him in the form of a decree called firman (فرمان). He was the supreme military commander and had the official title to all land.[5] Ertoghrul served as the elected leader of the Ottomans from 1230 until his death in 1281. In 1281, Ertoghrul's son, Osman, became elected leader of the Ottomans. From 1299 until his death in 1324, Osman served as Osman I "Sultan of the Ottoman Empire."
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman sultans came to regard themselves as the successors of the Roman Empire, hence their occasional use of the titles Caesar (قیصر kaysar) and Emperor.[4][6][7] Following the conquest of Egypt in 1517, Selim I also adopted the title of caliph, thus claiming to be the universal Muslim ruler.[b] Newly enthroned Ottoman rulers were girded with the Sword of Osman, an important ceremony that served as the equivalent of European monarchs' coronation.[8] A non-girded sultan was not eligible to have his children included in the line of succession.[9]
Although theocratic and absolute in theory and in principle, the sultan's powers were limited in practice. Political decisions had to take into account the opinions and attitudes of important members of the dynasty, the bureaucratic and military establishments, as well as religious leaders.[5] From the 17th century onwards, the empire entered into a long-term period of stagnation, during which the sultans were much enfeebled. Many of them ended up being deposed by the powerful Janissary corps. Despite being barred from inheriting the throne,[10] women of the Imperial Harem—especially the reigning sultan's mother, known as the Valide Sultan—also played an important behind-the-scenes political role, effectively ruling the empire during the period known as the sultanate of women.[11]
The declining powers of the sultans are evidenced by the difference in reign lengths between early sultans and later ones. Suleiman I, who ruled the empire when it was at its zenith in the 16th century, had a reign of 46 years, the longest in Ottoman history. Murad V, who ruled in the late 19th-century period of decline, had the shortest reign on record: he was in power for just 93 days before being deposed. Constitutionalism was only established during the reign of Murad V's successor, Abdülhamid II, who thus became the empire's last absolute ruler and its first constitutional monarch.[12] Since 2009, the head of the Ottoman Dynasty and pretender to the defunct Ottoman throne has been Bayezid Osman, a great-grandson of Abdülmecid I.[13]
The table below lists Ottoman sultans, as well as the last Ottoman caliph, in chronological order. The tughras were the calligraphic seals or signatures used by Ottoman sultans. They were displayed on all official documents as well as on coins, and were far more important in identifying a sultan than his portrait. The "Notes" column contains information on each sultan's parentage and fate. When a sultan's reign did not end through a natural death, the reason is indicated in bold. For earlier rulers, there is usually a time gap between the moment a sultan's reign ended and the moment his successor was enthroned. This is because the Ottomans in that era practiced what historian Quataert has described as "survival of the fittest, not eldest, son": when a sultan died, his sons had to fight each other for the throne until a victor emerged. Because of the infighting and numerous fratricides that occurred, a sultan's death date therefore did not always coincide with the accession date of his successor.[14] In 1617, the law of succession changed from survival of the fittest to a system based on agnatic seniority (اکبریت ekberiyet), whereby the throne went to the oldest male of the family. This in turn explains why from the 17th century onwards a deceased sultan was rarely succeeded by his own son, but usually by an uncle or brother.[15] Agnatic seniority was retained until the abolition of the sultanate, despite unsuccessful attempts in the 19th century to replace it with primogeniture.[16]
The official full style of the Ottoman Sultans was:
(Sultan since 1383)
or KANÛNÎ (The Lawgiver)
(The Sublime Khan)
(The True Path Follower)
(The Unifier of Religion (Islam) or The Oneness of Islam)
(The Last Ottoman Caliph Of Islam)
"Sovereign of The House of Osman, Sultan es Selatin (Sultan of Sultans), Khakhan (Khan of the Khans), Commander of the faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the lord of the Universe, Custodian of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Kouds (Jerusalem), Padishah of The Three Cities of Istanbul (Constantinople), Edirne (Adrianople) and Bursa, and of the Cities of Châm (Damascus) and Cairo (Egypt), of all Azerbaijan, of the Magreb, of Barkah, of Kairouan, of Alep, of the Arab and Persian Iraq, of Basra, of El Hasa strip, of Raka, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyâr-ı Bekr, of Cilicia, of the provinces of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, of Van, of Barbaria, of Habech (Abyssinia), of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of Châm (Syria), of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Crete, of the province of Morea (Peloponnese), of Bahr-i Abyâz (Mediterranean Sea), of Bahr-i Siyah (Black Sea), of Anatolia, of Rumelia (the European part of the Empire), of Bagdad, of Kurdistan, of Greece, of Turkestan, of Tartary, of Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Gorjestan (Georgia), of the steppe of Kipchaks, of the whole country of the Tatars, of Kefa (Feodosiya) and of all the neighbouring regions, of Bosnia, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the province of Sirbistan (Serbia), with all the castles and cities, of all Arnaut, of all Eflak (Wallachia) and Bogdania (Moldavia), as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many others countries and cities"
Istanbul, Vienna, Ottoman Empire, Paris, London