The founder we know least about.

Ertuğrul Gazi was the father of the man who founded an empire spanning three continents. Yet there is something odd about him: no historian writing in his own era says a word about him.

The problem of sources

Almost everything we know about Ertuğrul Gazi comes from Ottoman chronicles first written in the early fifteenth century — that is, a hundred to a hundred and fifty years after the events.

Why that matters becomes clear from a simple observation. Georgios Pachymeres, a Byzantine historian and Ertuğrul's contemporary, never names him; neither do the fourteenth-century Byzantine historians Ioannes Kantakouzenos and Nikephoros Gregoras. The same is true of the Muslim writers İbn Fazlullah al-Umari and Ibn Battuta, who wrote in the mid-fourteenth century and discuss Osman Bey while saying nothing at all about his father.

This does not mean Ertuğrul Gazi never existed. It is entirely ordinary for a tribal chief on the frontier to attract no attention until his son founds a state. But it does mean that the finer details of the story — his age at death, which battles he joined — should be read with that gap in mind.

Who was his father: Gündüz Alp or Süleyman Şah?

The early Ottoman historians split on this. Ahmedî, Enverî and Karamânî Mehmed Paşa name Gündüz Alp; Oruç b. Âdil, Âşıkpaşazâde and Neşrî name Süleyman Şah.

A coin largely settled the argument. A surviving coin of Osman Bey carries the inscription "Osman b. Ertuğrul b. Gündüz Alp" — making Gündüz Alp the father. The Süleyman Şah version, firmly lodged in popular tradition, is now widely set aside.

How did they reach Söğüt?

By historical tradition the Kayı tribe did not arrive in Anatolia in one move but in stages: first the region of Ahlat, then Mardin under Mongol pressure, then west again — after further Mongol raiding — to the plain of Pasinler near Erzurum.

The best-known scene in the story begins here. Near Sivas, Ertuğrul Gazi sees a Seljuk army struggling against the Mongols, rides to its aid, and turns the battle. This engagement is often identified with the Battle of Yassıçimen in 1230. One caution, though: the scene appears only in Neşrî's Cihannümâ — a single-source account.

Sultan Alâeddin Keykubad I then granted him Karacadağ and its surroundings near Ankara (1230). Some time later Ertuğrul Gazi sent his son Savcı Bey to the sultan to ask for new land, and settled westward on the Byzantine frontier around Söğüt, in the lower Sakarya basin.

In 1231, in the fighting between Seljuk forces and troops of the Empire of Nicaea at Ermeni Derbendi, between present-day Pazaryeri and Bozüyük, Ertuğrul Bey's raiders proved decisive. The sultan rewarded him with Eskişehir and its district. Shortly afterwards he took over the siege of Karacahisar and captured the fortress (629/1231-32), sending a fifth of the spoils to the sultan.

Söğüt in winter, Domaniç in summer

Ertuğrul Gazi's way of life was not settled but semi-nomadic: winters at Söğüt, summers on the pastures of Domaniç. None of the buildings you see in Söğüt today date from his time — because what stood here then was not a town but an encampment.

He is recorded as being on good terms with neighbouring Greek lords, particularly the tekfurs of Bilecik and Osmaneli (Lefke). Seasoned frontier commanders such as Akça Koca, Samsa Çavuş, Konuralp and Aykut Alp gradually gathered around him. That is what grew the principality: alliance as much as war.

When did he die?

The usual date is 680/1281-82, and he is said to have passed ninety. But the sources also give 1288 and 1289. There is no certain date.

In 1279 he is recorded as receiving the Seljuk Sultan Gıyâseddin Keyhusrev III and declaring his loyalty. After that he appears to have grown frail and handed the leadership of the tribe to his son Osman Bey.

The tomb: nineteenth century, not thirteenth

The structure you visit does not date from the day Ertuğrul Gazi was buried. The layers run roughly like this:

• Late 13th century — laid out by Osman Gazi as an open grave.
• Early 15th century — roofed over and turned into a tomb by Çelebi Mehmed (Mehmed I).
• 1757 — restored under Mustafa III so thoroughly that the original form largely disappeared.
• 1886 — restored again by Abdülhamid II, who added a fountain beside it. This is the intervention that defines its present appearance.
• 1905 — houses around the tomb were expropriated and the ceremonial ground enlarged.

A conflict in the dates. The Söğüt District Governorship page gives 1737 for the Mustafa III restoration. Since Mustafa III came to the throne in 1757, that date cannot be right; the 1757 given on Wikipedia is the consistent one. The records of the Directorate General of Foundations would settle it.

The building is hexagonal in plan and covered by a dome. Its walls are built in one course of stone to two of brick — an alternating bond imitating early Ottoman work. The dome is sheathed in lead. There are two windows at the entrance, and rectangular windows in the west and south-east walls of the chamber holding the cenotaph.

Two inscriptions survive from the restorations: one on the fountain beside the door, the other above the tomb entrance. Both are in verse and record the sultan who ordered the work and its date.

1921: the tomb destroyed

Söğüt and its surroundings suffered heavy damage during the War of Independence. In the official declaration "Âlem-i İnsaniyete Beyanname", dated 12 April 1921, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, listed among the acts of the Greek army the blowing up of the Ertuğrul Gazi Tomb at Söğüt with dynamite.

The tomb was later repaired. But bullet marks from that period are still visible on the walls and windows — look for them when you visit.

Who is buried in the graveyard?

Immediately outside and near the tomb lie many graves from the founding period. The principal ones are:

• Halime Hatun — wife of Ertuğrul Gazi
• Savcı Bey — his son
• The cenotaph of Osman Gazi (his actual grave is in Bursa)
• His brother Dündar Bey
• Comrades in arms: Konur Alp, Karamürsel, Abdurrahman Gazi, Hasan Alp, Saltuk Alp, Aykut Alp, Gündüz Bey, Aydoğdu Bey, Pazarlı Bey, Akbıyık Bey and others

The Karakeçili and the origin of the festival

The Söğüt Festival did not begin as a municipal event. Members of the Kayı tribe, and the Karakeçili in particular, made the tomb a place of pilgrimage after Ertuğrul Gazi's death, coming here for years to hold feasts and to honour their ancestors with games such as jereed and wrestling.

When the expropriation of 1905 opened a broad space around the tomb, the custom hardened into a regular ceremony: each year the Karakeçili came to Söğüt in period dress, paraded on horseback and recited verses. That is the core of today's festival.

Visiting

• Open: 09.00 – 18.00
• Location: in central Söğüt, on Ertuğrulgazi Caddesi. Some sources place the tomb on the Söğüt–Bilecik road about 1 km east of the centre.
• The tomb is a place of respect: keep quiet, and ask staff before taking photographs.
• Visitor numbers rise sharply during festival week. Choose another date if you want to see the building in peace.

Sources

This page is compiled from the following. Go to them directly for detail:

• Fahameddin Başar, "Ertuğrul Gazi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 11, pp. 314-315 (1995)
• Ertuğrul Gazi Türbesi — Wikipedia (Turkish)
• Ertuğrul Gazi Türbesi — Söğüt District Governorship

The text draws on information in these sources; it is not a quotation. Where the sources give conflicting dates, the conflict is noted in the text.