Ottoman Emirate

  General Description   The polity of the Ottomans was originally one of many small Turkish principalities on the border of the Byzantine realm ^[1] against whom their ghazi chieftain launched raids for territory and plunder. Through both warfare and diplomacy with farmers, townspeople and Christian nobles, they eventually forced the submission of the western Balkans and then annexed their rival Turkish principalities in western Anatolia. ^[1] The massive expansion of the Ottoman polity (18,000 km2 in 1320 CE to 690,000 km2 by 1400 CE) came to an abrupt halt with the invasion of Timur in 1402 CE who conquered the Ottomans and made its ruler a vassal. There was then a civil war for control of the Ottoman state which ends the first period (1290-1402 CE).
As the polity rapidly expanded, the Ottoman government was run out of a succession of capitals: Sogut (1299-1325 CE), Bursa (1326-1364 CE), and Adrianople (1364-1413 CE) all provided a base for a period. The title of Sultan was introduced in 1383 CE by Murat I (1362-1389 CE). His government was an extension of his court and the top officials were directly appointed, and increasingly powerful through the period. ^[2] An Imperial Council (divan) ^[3] issued his decrees and made less important and administrative policy decisions. ^[3] Viziers in the government were able to make some appointments in the name of the Sultan at the very least by the fifteenth century. ^[4] The date when the Grand Vizier became the most powerful official in the state is disputed; some scholars believe this occurred c1360 CE ^[5] while Ottoman tradition has it when Mehmed II stopped attending meetings in early 15th century. ^[6]
Provinces with governors probably did not exist until the 1380s CE. ^[7] The rapid increase in size of the Ottoman state meant that the winner of the Ottoman civil war would gain control of territory that held 5 million people.

[1]: (Lapidus 2012, 429) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

[2]: (Imber 2002, 148) Colin Imber. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.

[3]: (Imber 2002, 154) Colin Imber. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.

[4]: (Imber 2002, 156) Imber, Colin. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.

[5]: (Shaw 1976, 22) Stanford J Shaw. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume 1, Empire of the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1280-1808. Cambridge University Press.

[6]: (Imber 2002, 156) Colin Imber. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.

[7]: (Imber 2002, 177) Colin Imber. 2002. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650. The Structure of Power. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.