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.
The Real History of Ertugrul
Who knew that one TV show could enlighten us in so many ways! As the Muslim world is sucked into the hysteria of Ertugrul and similar Ottoman dramas, its crucial that we uncover what is historical fact, and what is purely for entertainment purposes, if we want to truly benefit from the history of the Ottoman period. I too, love watching Ertugrul and similar shows like ‘The Magnificent Century’ and ‘Yunus Emre’ which teach so many great life lessons, not to mention incorporate Quranic stories and Hadith. But at the same time instead of creating fictional heroes, lets celebrate the truth in the history and appreciate our heroes for what they ACTUALLY did.
I have collated information from various Turkish sources and posts on social media (with references) from emerging information about the many valiant characters that we have grown to love from this TV series. This is not a complete account of their lives, but I have included the information that is historically proven. InshaAllah as more translations come to light we can piece together more about their lives. Enjoy!
CHARACTER PROFILES
Ertugrul Bey
Ertugrul is the father of Osman. 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 Aleaddin was poisoned by Sadettin Kopek, he 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 at 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 folktales.
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 of sources 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 onto 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.
Osman I
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, (1258), Ertugrul was around 67 years old, and as Halime was older too, when normally women cannot have children anymore, he was considered as a Miracle sent by God. Historians consider a black hole in Ottoman history during Osman’s life as what is written about him was uncovered 100 years after he died.
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.
Turgut Alp
He was one of the greatest and most renown 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 Erugrul 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
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