Source : Google photo of Ertugrul and Halime Sultan
Synopsis : It is said that all great things have a small
beginning. When a brave fighter of the Kayi tribe in Turkey took up his sword
to protect the poor and helpless from bandits and tyrants to give them justice,
he became the star who rallied all the tribes that came under his leadership to
root out the evil hordes of Genghis Khan and later the Knight Templars and the
Byzantine rulers. This is the story of Ertugrul Bey and his incredible struggle
to lay the foundation of the greatest empire that his son Osman 1 founded later
called the Ottoman empire. Ertugrul fought for equality, justice for all and
protection of the poor and needy. He never turned away anyone who needed
his help.
How many of you have ever heard of
Ertugrul the brave heart? I suspect most people do not know their own
history let alone Ertugrul, the brave heart. He lived a long time ago in the
11th century but left behind an empire that lasted over 600 years called The
Ottoman empire based in Turkey. It was an empire that outlasted all others and
was known as the glorious period in the Islamic world that left its mark in the
annals of history as the one that started when a young man stepped forward to
fight injustice and tyranny during his time.
He was the son of a great warrior
Suleiman Shah who was the head of the Kayi tribe and his equally illustrious
mother Hayme who taught young Ertrugul that fighting injustice and tyranny
anywhere was a very noble cause so the young dashing boy grew up believing it
and trained very hard for his cause just like his other brothers and the young
men of his tribe.
They were nomads who wanted peace
and lived in tents that they moved to greener pastures for the goats and sheep
but they were assailed on all sides by their enemies that included the Knights
Templars, the Mongol marauders, other tribes that wanted their land, bandits
who attacked them and their markets where they sold their beautiful rugs and
later the Byzantine Christians who saw them as threats to their ambition to
rule the world from Constantinople. Those who at first dismissed them as goat
herders soon learned to their dismay the superb fighting skills of the
tribe under Ertugrul who emerged as their leader they would die for in battle.
The Kayi tribe was known for its
most excellent woolen rugs of intricate designs and dazzling colors woven by
the Kayi women that were highly prized in many European countries and in the
Middle East. With the income from the sale of their carpets and rugs, they
bought food and other necessities but every woman knew the dangerous time they
all lived in and trained in horse riding ,archery and how to defend themselves
so they all carried knives in their waist.
The young men constantly honed their
skill in sword fighting, archery, horse riding and in hand to hand combat
because they never knew when they would be attacked. They were peace loving
people who were generous to a fault to anyone who sought their protection and
shelter and extended their protection to other tribes that often came under
attack. There were many such tribes spread out over a vast area of the present
day Turkey that a noble Sultan tried to bring together to fight their common
enemy that put their very existence in jeopardy. This was Genghis Khan and his
blood thirsty hordes that wanted to conquer the whole world and nearly did. The
Knight Templars also posed a serious threat to all Moslems who lived in the
area because they too wanted to capture Moslem territories and expand their
influence so they occupied Jerusalem causing a lot of bloodshed.
They fought the Byzantine soldiers
because by this time the Christian Church was divided into the Catholics ruled
by the Pope in the Vatican and the Orthodox Christians ruled by a king from
Niceae and later from Constantinople who was also their Pope. The world’s
greatest Orthodox Christian church was built in Constantinople that still
stands today but not as a Church anymore. It has been turned into a mosque now.
The Templars were the military arm of the Catholic church who protected
Jerusalem from the Moslems and made lots of money through trade and loaning
money at usurious rates to the European kings who sent many crusades to
Palestine to occupy Jerusalem.
Ertugrul who was the third son of
the tribe chief Sulayman Shah changed the history forever but even he did not
know how his fight for truth, justice and equality would lay the foundation of
a vast empire that someday would shine as a glorious beacon to all that would
outshine all the empire building powers of that period.
This is the mesmerizing story of a
great man who fought his enemies tooth and nail, suffered a great deal when his
enemies captured him and tortured him, beat him to break his bones, nailed his
hand to a tree with a spike, poisoned him, kidnapped his baby son and posed a
direct threat to his beautiful wife Halime Sultan, his mother Hayme and to his
tribe. He never let down his father Suleyman Shah who came to trust the
judgment of Ertugrul more than all his other sons. But he fought on and managed
to survive his imprisonment and tortures escaping many times to regain his
strength to continue his struggle. His trusty fighting campanions Bamsy,
Turgut, Abderrahman, Artuk Bey and Dundar Bey among others formed a very
formidable fighting force and fought numerous battles and won most of them.
His story starts when one day while
hunting in the forest for deer, he came upon a group of heavily armed Templar
soldiers who had in their custody a beautiful princess , her father and younger
brother. The Templars were on their way to their castle to lock up their
prisoners in their dungeon to use them as pawns for political bargaining in
their effort to expand their territory.
Ertugrul and a few of his close
associates came upon the scene and promptly killed all the Templars and rescued
the princess called Halime Sultan. He gave them shelter in his tribe and vowed
to protect them all the time. He also fell in love with the beautiful princess
who also fell in love with him so his parents gave their blessing to their
marriage later.
Halime was no ordinary princess. She
came from a ferocious tribe that had fallen on hard times. She was very
educated and superbly trained in sword fighting, horse riding and archery. She
was an artist when it came to design beautiful patterns in the carpet and
introduced dazzling colors that she extracted from plants and barks of some
trees to dye the wool so her new designs and colors drew great admiration in
the market. The traders paid in gold a good price that increased the income of
the tribe.
He fought many battles with the
Templars who were the enemy of all Moslems and eventually captured their castle
and killed them all. He found huge amount of gold in their castle that he
distributed to all the poor people of his tribe who had lost their sons in the
battle. He equally helped Christians, Greeks and others who needed his help and
protected them. But the Mongol warlord Noyan gave him the most trouble whom he
was able to kill when he managed to escape from his captivity in the Mongol
camp.
Source : Google photo of Mongol warlord Noyan who tortured Ertugrul
The Real History of Ertugrul and Halime
The following information on
Ertugrul Bey, Halime and his parents, brothers and other important persons in
the life of Ertugrul are drawn from the Islamic history , written records of
Ibn Arabi and other sources like Byzantine records, records of Knight Templars
etc . The photos shown here are from the Turkish U tube episodes called Dirilis
meaning Insurrection that is wildly popular.
Source : Google photo of Ertugrul Bey
With the small part of Kayi tribe,
Ertugurl with only 400 tents, went on the challenging path toward the West and
made foundation for one of the greatest empires. After Sultan Aladdin was
poisoned by Sadettin Kopek who was his vizier, Ertugrul revolted against
Kopek’s government, and proclaimed his own State, the City of Sogut its
capitol.
His love and respect for his wife
was widely known. He had four sons with Halime Sultan, and he died when he was
90 years old. The last ten years of his life were spent quietly in his tribe
when due to the old age, he transferred all his responsibilities to his
youngest son Osman. A historical proof of his life are the coins minted by
Osman which identify Ertuğrul as the name of his father, but beyond this not
much is known about him apart from folklores.
There is information and historical
facts about him that are kept in Turkish archives, within Ibn Arabi’s
chronologies, in Western archives about Templars, in Byzantine’s chronologies
and in legends – but this information only amounts to around 7 pages according
to the actor Engin Altan Duzyatan, who gave life to this great character.
Despite this Engin considers it a great privilege to play Ertugrul as he was
the first person in Turkish history to move away from the nomadic lifestyle and
look to establish a state that went on to last 600 years.
We do know he was buried in Sogut in
1280. Around his tomb are graves of Halime Sultan, Hayme Mother, his sons,
Gunduz, Savci Bey, Saru Batu and Osman, his brother Dundar, Turgut Alp, Samsa
Alp, Abdurahman, and many others of his Alps, who reached Sogut with Ertugrul
Bey. The ones that were not buried there, died along the way.
We all know that everything comes to
an end someday so did the life of Ertugrul in Sogut one day when he was 90 .He
is buried here in Sogut but what wrenched my heart was to see the simple grave
of Halime Sultan near the entrance to the mausoleum of Ertugrul as shown in the
following video. How tragic it is that in death they were separated.
Source : Google photo of the grave
of Ertugrul Bey in Sogut , Turkey
https://youtu.be/ftN4wlfV930
Source : U tube video of the grave
of Ertugrul in Sogut, Turkey
Here you will find the short
description of the principal characters who played a decisive role in the life
of Ertugrul and Halime starting with Osman1.
Osman 1:
Source : Google photo of Osman 1 , founder of the Ottoman empire, 4th son of Ertugrul and Halime Sultan
Osman is known as the father of the
Ottoman Empire as from his Beylik (principality) the expansion of the Ottoman
territory began. In the history books you will often see Ottoman rule referred
to as the Osmanli dynasty. Osman came very late to his parents. He was born
late in Ertugrul and Halime’s life. When Osman was born in 1258, Ertugrul was
around 67 years old, and as Halime was older too, when normally women cannot
have children anymore, he was considered a Miracle child sent by God.
Historians consider a black hole in Ottoman history during Osman’s life as what
is written was discovered more than 100 years
after his death.
Gundogdu & Sungurtekin :
They did not support Ertugrul’s path
and as we know, and over time faded in history. They lived a quiet and
unremarkable life, not much is known or written about them. There are only
verbal accounts, which were told by people through generations. According to
that, they suffered big losses during a great Mongol invasion, and what was
left of them, they lived subserviently under the Mongol’s rule.
Dundar Bey :
Source : Google photo of Dundar Bey
He was a brave and renowned warrior,
a goodhearted and loving man, devoted to his brother, his tribe, and his
family. He was the younger brother of Ertrugul but history documents him as of
a weak personality and he made a lot of mistakes throughout his long
life. He died aged 92 or 93, by Osman’s hand. He rebelled against one of
Osman’s decision and that was the last straw for Osman.
Turgut Alp :
Source : Google photo of Turgut Alp
He was one of the greatest and most
renowned warriors in Turkish history, a blood-brother to Ertugrul and his best
follower and supporter, a very smart and capable man. He lived an unusually
long life, even for our time. He outlived Ertugrul Bey by 35 years, and he was
killed in a battle, with his legendary battle-axe in his hand aged 125 years
old! After Ertugrul passed away, Turgut become the main support to Osman, and
when Osman established his Sultanate, he rewarded Turgut with the highest
position, as a Governor of the new State.
Bamsi Beyrek :
Source : Google photo of Bamsi
He was a legendary hero; his life
has been described in the book of medieval Ottoman’s chronologies of that time,
titled ‘’The book of Dede Korkut” . He was a fierce warrior, goodhearted and
very funny man. His love life was legendary, since his heart was divided
between two loves. He spent 16 years in a dungeon in a Byzantine castle where
the Princess, who lived in that Fortress fell in love with him and helped him
escape. It is not known when he died or how long he lived; only that he lived
for a long time and he was ambushed by trickery and killed in a battle leaving
behind a wife and children.
Ibn Arabi :
Source : Google photo of Ibn Arabi,
mystic, philosopher, poet,sage
As many of us know Ibn Arabi is a
famous chronologist, mystic, philosopher, poet, sage, he is one of the world’s
great spiritual teachers. Ibn ‘Arabi was born in Murcia, Andalusia, in Spain in
1165 and his writings had an immense impact throughout the Islamic world and
Christian world. The universal ideas underlying his thought are of immediate
relevance today. He was great inspiration and support to Ertugrul Bey. He died
in 1240 aged 75. He was the spiritual master of Ertugrul and gave many advice
and support to him when he was struggling.
After his death, Ertugrul Bey continued
to draw support from Ibn Arabi, through his numerous writings, books, diaries,
teachings and his other spiritual works, and through his followers.
Halime Sultan :
Source : Photo of Halime Sultan, wife of Ertugrul Bey and the love of his life
She was a Seljuk Princess, very
dedicated to her husband and his greatest supporter. She gave up her title and
her Palace’s life due to her love and dedication to Ertugrul Bey. Through her
marriage to Ertugrul Bey, Seljuk Turks and Oguz Turks, two greatest Turkish
branches were irrevocably united by blood ties.
Hayme Mother :
She lived a long life and she came
with them all the way to Sogut. She was a smart, caring and brave woman,
who acted as the Bey of her tribe, after Suleyman Shah had died. She was widely
much respected and she was called ‘’the Mother of the people’’. It is not clear
whether she gave birth to Gundogdu, she certainly brought him up. According to
one line of sources, Gundogdu was her own son. But, since Suleyman Shah had
lost his first wife, before marrying Hayme, there are some who believe that
Gundogdu was the son of Hayme.
Suleyman Shah :
Source : Google photo of Suleyman
Shah, father of Ertugrul Bey
He was a greatly respected figure of
that time, he had 4 sons with Hayme Mother. He died by drowning in River
Euphrates, and the spot near Aleppo, where he was buried in a sacred place for
Turks which is now in modern day Syria, and that territory still belongs to
Turkey. It is guarded by Turkey’s military guards and you need a passport to
get in there to see the mausoleum of Suleyman Shah although due to the
emergence of ISIS and the recent ruin of shrines and tombs from extremists, the
remains were temporarily removed last year due to the situation around Aleppo
and brought to Turkey to preserve.
Saddetin Kopek
According to Ottoman sources
Saddetin Kopek is considered an ambitious and evil man, his only good
quality was his devotion to his State. He eventually managed to kill Sultan
Alladdin, his second wife, the Ayyubid Princess and their two sons by poisoning
in 1238. He then proclaimed Sultan Alladdin’s third and oldest son (from his
first marriage), as a new Sultan through whom Kopek gained total power.
However, only one year later, he was hanged from the Palace wall. He always
conspired against Ertugrul and tried to kill him many times whom he considered
his enemy..
Artuk Bey
Source : Google photo of Artuk Bey , fighter and healer
Known as Ertugrul Bey’s right hand
man in the TV series, but there is so much more to his story! Artuk Bey (also
known as “Son of Eksük” or Ibn Eksuk) was a Turkish General of the Great Seljuk
Empire in the 11th century. He was the Seljuk governor of Jerusalem
between 1085–1091. Artuk Bey lived in Qüddus up to his death in 1091.
Artuk Bey was one of the commanders
of the Great Seljuk Empire army during the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. After the
battle, he took part in the conquest of Anatolia on behalf of the Seljuk
Empire. He captured the Yeşilırmak valley in 1074. He also served the sultan by
quashing a rebellion in 1077.
His next mission was a campaign to
capture Amid (modern Diyarbakır) from the Marwanids. In this campaign he
quarrelled with the Commander in Chief Fahrüddevlet who tended to make peace
with Marwanids. In a surprise attack he defeated reinforcements to Marwanids.
However, when the Sultan Malik Shah I heard about the event he suspected Artuk
Bey of dissension.
Artuk Bey left the battle field and
attended to Tutush I who was Malik Shah’s discordant younger brother in Syria
in 1084. In 1086 he was instrumental in defeating Süleyman, the sultan of
Seljuks of Turkey in a battle between Süleyman and Tutush.
The Beylik of Artukids was named
after him, founded 11 years after his death by his sons. His valiant sons are
El Gazi ibn Artuk who battled Baldwin II of Edessa at the Battle of Hab, Syria
(1119) but lost and Soqman ibn Artuk, the ally of the hot tempered Tugtekin
Bey, The Governor of Damascus against the Crusaders in 1104 at the Battle of
Harran near Raqqa.
On this battle the Seljuk Army
finally captured Crusader Knights Baldwin Il of Edessa who called himself, King
of Tripoli and Jerusalem and Joscelin of Courtenay who called himself Prince of
Galilee. Although, they managed to escape later. Soqman ibn Artuk become famous
and a true honour to the late Artuk Bey.
End of the Ottoman empire : By the
time the British arrived in the Middle East and started spreading its
influence, the great Ottoman Empire was in decline so their rule and influence
waned. When Lawrence of Arabia came to unite the scattered Bedouins of Arabia
to form a viable state later named Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he gave a decisive
blow to the Turkish rule there by training the Bedouins and leading them to
attack the Turkish troops. His attack on Aqaba was the final blow when he
crossed the Nefud desert to surprise the Turks from behind.
At the end of the first world war,
the Ottoman empire collapsed entirely giving rise to a young army officer
called Kamal Ataturk who established the modern dayTurkey, banned veils for
women, encouraged education for all and rapid development of the country under
a democratic government. This was somewhat similar to what Ertugrul himself
promoted centuries ago . His remaining descendants were exiled to various
countries thus ending the Ottoman rule forever after some 600 years. The last
descendant of the great Ertugrul just died a few weeks ago.
Thus ends the story of the handsome
fighter Ertugrul and his beautiful wife Halime Sultan who lie in their eternal
sleep in Sogut , Turkey but what a tumultuous life they led, how they suffered
and how they overcame their challenges together ! It is a great inspiring story
that comes from a forgotten past.
Note : To know the story of Ertugrul in
detail, please watch the movie called Resurrection ( Dirilis) in U tube that
has English sublitles.
Note : My blogs are also available
in French, Spanish, German and Japanese languages at the following links as
well as my biography. My blogs can be shared by anyone anytime in any social
media.
La
biografía de anil en español.
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