The Aydinids or Aydinid dynasty ( Modern Turkish: ''Aydınoğulları'', ''Aydınoğulları Beyliği'',

Old Anatolian Turkish Old Anatolian Turkish or Old Turkish, also referred to as Old Anatolian Turkic, (, Perso-Arabic script: اسکی انادولو تورکچه‌سی), was the form of the Turkish language spoken in Anatolia from the 11th to 15th centuries. It dev ...

: آیدین اوغوللاری بیلیغی, also known as the Principality of Aydin and Beylik of Aydin (), was one of the Turkish

Anatolian beylik Anatolian or anatolica may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the region Anatolia * Ancient Anatolians, Anatolians, ancient Indo-European peoples who spoke the Anatolian languages * Anatolian High School, a type of Turkish educational in ...

s and famous for its seaborne raiding.

Name

The Aydinid dynasty is named after its founder, Aydin Bey.

Capital

The Beylik's capital was at first in

Birgi Birgi is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Ödemiş, İzmir Province, Turkey. Its population is 1,832 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (''belde''). Its current name is a turkified version of its medieval Gr ...

, and later in Ayasoluk (present day

Selçuk Selçuk is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 317 km2, and its population is 38,151 (2022). The town Selçuk is located northeast of the ancient city of Ephesus, that was once home to the Temple of Artemis, o ...

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

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic peoples, Turkic Nomad, semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region between the 5th and 7th centu ...

after the decline of the

Sultanate of Rûm The Sultanate of Rum was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples (Rum) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. ...

. Its founders were Onogur who belonged to the Boyasını Tribe.

History

The Aydinids also held parts of the port of Smyrna (modern

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

) 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 The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, sometimes referred to as the Second Palaiologan Civil War, was a conflict that broke out in the Byzantine Empire after the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos over the guardianship of his nine-year-old son ...

, where Umur allied with

John VI Kantakouzenos John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene (; ; – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byza ...

, but also provoked a Latin response in the form of the Smyrniote crusades, that captured Smyrna from the beylik. The Beylik was incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

for the first time in 1390, and after a brief period of independence following the conquests of

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

in 1402 and the ensuing period of troubles that lasted until 1425, its territories once again became part of the Ottoman realm, this time definitively.

Architecture

The

Bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

s of Aydin left important architectural works, principally in

and Ayasoluk (

), their capital cities.

Legacy

The city of

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar; Greek: Τράλλεις)'' 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 Büyük Menderes River (ancient ...

(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)

Genealogy of House of Aydin

References

Bibliography

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