c. 1300 – 1355
Christians under the beys
Most people in the Ottoman lands of Bithynia and Thrace are Greek Christians. Those who stay in the towns that surrender keep their goods and their faith and pay the poll tax, and over the following generations many convert to Islam. Byzantine lords also join the beys. Köse Mihal, the lord of Harmankaya, rides with Osman and becomes a Muslim between 1304 and 1313, and by one account Saroz, the commander of Bursa, enters Orhan’s service in 1326.
Christian women also enter the bey’s household. Murad’s mother Nilüfer is a Greek woman who enters Orhan’s household as a slave around 1325. In 1346 Orhan marries Theodora, daughter of John VI Kantakouzenos, whom his envoys receive at a ceremony at Selymbria. Theodora remains a Christian at Orhan’s court and helps the Christians under his rule.
The imaret that Murad I built in İznik in 1388 in memory of his mother NilüferWikimedia Commons, Kurmanbek, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Nilüfer Hatun Imaret in January 2023 04.jpg)
In 1354 Turks capture Gregory Palamas, archbishop of Thessalonica, at sea near Gallipoli on his way to Constantinople. He is held at Lampsacus (Lapseki), then taken to Bursa and Nicaea, and spends about a year at Orhan’s court, where he is treated well. In his letters he describes the Christians of the Ottoman towns and his debates with Muslim scholars. In 1355 his ransom is paid and he returns to Thessalonica.
Gregory Palamas, archbishop of Thessalonica, in an icon of the early 15th century, Pushkin MuseumWikimedia Commons, unknown painter, Public domain (Gregor Palamas by North Greece anonym (15th c., Pushkin museum).jpg)
Sources
- Anna Philippidis-Braat, “La captivité de Palamas chez les Turcs: dossier et commentaire”, Travaux et mémoires 7 (1979), pp. 109–222.
- Speros Vryonis, The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor (1971).
- Donald M. Nicol, The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c. 1295–1383 (1996).
- Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (1993).
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