An ''Uç Bey'' or ''Uch Bey'' ( ota, اوج بگ, uc beğ, ) was the title given to semi-autonomous warrior chieftains during the

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

and the Rise of the Ottoman Empire. As leaders of '' akinji'' warrior bands, they played a leading role during the conquests of the Byzantine Empire and the other Christian states of the Balkans. The term is analogous to Persian '' marzban'' or Western European margrave. Uç Beys were proclaimed ghazis and as a rule were dervishes. After Michael VIII Palaiologos removed the '' akritai'' and the land grants through which they survived, many Byzantine renegades went over to Ottoman service

Rumelia Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Names of the Greeks#Romans (Ῥωμαῖοι), Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians f ...

's first ''Uç Bey'' was

Lala Şahin Pasha Lala Şahin Pasha ( tr, Lala Şahin Paşa), 1330 – 1388(?), was an Ottoman commander and first Beylerbey of Rumelia. He was the teacher (''lala'') of Sultan Murad I, and when Murad succeeded the throne, Şahin led the Ottoman campaign of Th ...

, who conquered Edirne,

Boruj Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. Name The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieval ...

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

, and was later the

beylerbey ''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit=bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks ...

of the Rumelia Eyalet.

Pasha Yiğit Bey Pasha Yiğit Bey or Saruhanli Pasha Yiğit Bey ( sh, Pašait-beg, also ''Pasaythus'' or ''Basaitus'' d. 1413) was an Ottoman civil and military officer at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century. Life He was born in Manisa and wa ...

was an ''Uç Bey'' from Skopje to the Serbian and Greek lands, advancing to

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

and the Morea.

References

Ottoman titles Military history of the Ottoman Empire 14th century in the Ottoman Empire 15th century in the Ottoman Empire {{Ottoman-stub

See also

References