The Aydinids or Aydinid dynasty ( Modern Turkish: ''Aydınoğulları'', ''Aydınoğulları Beyliği'', ota, آیدین اوغوللاری بیلیغی), also known as the Principality of Aydin and Beylik of Aydin (), was one of the

Anatolian beylik Anatolian beyliks ( tr, Anadolu beylikleri, Ottoman Turkish: ''Tavâif-i mülûk'', ''Beylik'' ) were small principalities (or petty kingdoms) in Anatolia governed by beys, the first of which were founded at the end of the 11th century. A secon ...

s and famous for its seaborne raiding.

Name

It is named after its founder Aydın Mehmed Bey.

Capital

Its capital was at first in

Birgi Birgi is a small town located in the Ödemiş district of İzmir province in Turkey. Its current name is a distortion of its medieval Greek name, Pyrgion (Greek: Πυργίον, meaning "Little Tower"). History In antiquity, the town was known ...

, and later in Ayasoluk (present day

Selçuk Selçuk is a town in İzmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located northeast of the ancient city of Ephesus, that was once home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its previous Greek name, Ag ...

), was one of the frontier principalities established in the 14th century by

Oghuz Turks The Oghuz or Ghuzz Turks (Middle Turkic languages, Middle Turkic: ٱغُز, ''Oγuz'', ota, اوغوز, Oġuz) were a western Turkic people that spoke the Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages, Turkic language family. In th ...

after the decline of

Sultanate of Rûm fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchy Triarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = ...

History

The Aydinids also held parts of the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir) all through their rule and all of the port city with intervals. Especially during the reign of Umur Bey, the sons of Aydın were a significant naval power of the time. The naval power of Aydin played a crucial role in the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, where Umur allied with John VI Kantakouzenos, but also provoked a Latin response in the form of the

Smyrniote crusades The Smyrniote crusades (1343–1351) were two Crusades sent by Pope Clement VI against the Aydinids, Emirate of Aydin under Umur Bey which had as their principal target the coastal city of Smyrna in Asia Minor. The first Smyrniote crusade was th ...

, that captured Smyrna from the beylik. The Beylik was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire for the first time in 1390, and after the passage of Tamerlane in Anatolia in 1402 and the ensuing period of troubles that lasted until 1425, its territories became again part of the Ottoman realm, this time definitively.

Architecture

The Beys of Aydin left important architectural works, principally in

and Ayasoluk (

), their capital cities.

Legacy

The city of

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar'', Ancient and Modern Greek: Τράλλεις /''Tralleis''/) is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of B ...

(ancient Tralles) was named after the dynasty.

List of rulers

#Muharizalsîn Gazi Mehmed Bey (1308–1334)C.E. Bosworth, ''The New Islamic Dynasties'', (Columbia University Press, 1996), 221. # Umur Bey (1334–1348) #Khidr b. Mehmed (1348–1360) # Isa b. Mehmed (1360–1390) * Ottoman rule (1390–1402) #İsaoğlu Musa Bey (1402–1403) #Musaoğlu II. Umur Bey (1403–1405) # İzmiroğlu Cüneyd Bey (1405–1426)

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aydinids History of İzmir Province History of Aydın Province