Ertugrul Ghazi

Nothing is known with certainty about Ertuğrul's life, other than that he was the father of Osman; historians are thus forced to rely upon stories written about him by the Ottomans more than a century later, which are of questionable accuracy.[9][10] An undated coin, supposedly from the time of Osman, with the text "Minted by Osman son of Ertuğrul", suggests that Ertuğrul was a historical figure.[6]:31 Another coin reads "Osman bin Ertuğrul bin Gündüz Alp",[3][4] though Ertuğrul is traditionally considered the son of Suleyman Shah.[8]

In Enveri's Düsturname (1465) and Karamani Mehmet Pasha's chronicle (before 1481), Suleyman Shah replaces Gündüz Alp as Ertugrul's father. After[when?] Ottoman historian Aşıkpaşazade's chronicles, the Suleyman Shah version became the official one.[11] According to many turkish sources, Ertuğrul had three brothers named; Sungur-tekin, Gündoğdu and Dündar.[2] After the death of their father, Ertuğrul with his mother Hayme Hatun, Dündar and his followers from the Kayı Tribe migrated west into Anatolia and entered the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, leaving his two brothers who took their clans towards the east.[12][13][14] In this way, Kayı Tribe was divided into two parts. According to these later traditions, Ertuğrul was chief of his Kayı Tribe.[5] As a result of his assistance to the Seljuks against the Byzantines, Ertuğrul was granted lands in Karaca Dağ, a mountainous area near Angora (now Ankara), by Kayqubad I, the Seljuk Sultan of Rum. One account indicates that the Seljuk leader's rationale for granting Ertuğrul land was for Ertuğrul to repel any hostile incursion from the Byzantines or other adversary.[15] Later, he received the village of Söğüt which he conquered together with the surrounding lands. That village, where he later died, became the Ottoman capital under his son, Osman I.[4] Osman's mother has been referred to as Halime Hatun in later myths, and there is a grave outside the Ertuğrul Gâzi Tomb which bears the name, but it is disputed.[16][17]

According to many sources, he had two other sons in addition to Osman: Saru-Batu (Savci) Bey[18][4] and Gündüz Bey.[1][11][19] Like his son, Osman, and their descendants, Ertuğrul is often referred to as a Ghazi, a heroic champion fighter for the cause of Islam.[20]