ginning of his Succeffor's Reign An. Heg. 727. whence indeed it would follow that Ottoman's Reign began An. Heg. 698; answering to a leffer part of A. D. 1298, and a greater of A. D. 1299. Now, tho' this be fo, yet almost all Hiftorians from other (a) Evidence and Circumftance, conclude, that the Date of his Reign could not be fo foon, but must be delay'd for a year or two later; tho' fill at the fame time they don't correct this Number, which has been fo great an occafion of "Miflake, and is fo contrary to their other Aflertions. Now that this Number is a Miftake, and ought to be fmaller, is not only the Confequence of all the other Teftimonies, but is the exprefs and conjoint Affirmation of two Arabick Hiftorians, Ahmed Ebn Yufeph, and Al Jannabius, as the moft Learned Dr. Pocock affures us; who both give but (6) 26 years to his Reign; and from whofe Numbers that miftaken one in the Turkish Annals ought therefore moft certainly to be corrected. I obferve,

(3.) That fince the fame Year of the Hegira, (by which Ara all the Turkish Accounts are determin'd,) I mean the last of the feventh Century An. Heg. 700. correfponds to the latter Months of A. D. 1300, and to the former of A. D. 1301. 'Tis no wonder at all if the generality of Chriftian Hiftorians, who feldom count more nicely than by whole Years, fhould afcribe that which happen'd in any part of An. Heg. 700. to A. D. 1300. not only on account of their being both fuch remarkable Numbers, as the laft of their respective Centuries, and fo making an agreeable Coincidence and Epocha; but chiefly, because in our Annals and Chronological Tables all Foreign Years are generally reduc'd to those of our Christian Æra in which they begin, and are made to stand in correfpondence to 'em: and this the more easily happens in moft Cafes, because the

(a) Poftea cum Soltan Ala'ddin fenio fractus, a Tartarorum incurfionibus vexatus fatis habuit res fuas curare, Othman Beg ifte Soltani nomen fibi affumpfit in urbibus quas Græcis eripuit: ac eo titulo primum in fuggeftis fata eft ejus mentio anno 699. quod & Soltani Ala'ddini permiffu factum vơ lunt nonnulli, Pocock. Suppl. Abul. Pharag.p. 42.

(b) Vixifle annos fexaginta novem, Viginti fex regnaffe teftantur Al Jannabius, & Ahmed Ebn Yufeph. p. 43.

Month

Month or Time of the Year is generally omitted by Hiftorians : and fo 'tis no wonder if an Accident that happen'd fometime An. Heg. 700. without any farther obvious Notation of the Time of the Year, fhould be generally plac'd A. D. 1300. fince therein that Turkish Year began. So that the generally receiv'dOpinion thatOttoman began A.D. 1300. is no confiderable Prejudice to any other which fhall place the Date of his Reign any time within An. Heg. 700. fuppofing there be other direct Evidence that it ought to be fo plac'd. I obferve,

(4) That the true Date of Ottoman's Reign and Empire, is to be begun from his taking upon himself the Title and Power (c) of Sultan, and the cauling Publick Prayers to be first made

(c) Quamvis autem Jus Sultanex dignitatis adhuc Aladine fuperftite confecutus fuerat Ofman Galis, tamen ut Aladinem honore fummo fe profequi, planeque venerari teftaretur, nec monete nummorumve fignandorum jus, nec carum precum quæ Turcis Hutbe dicuntur, & concipi fingulis feftis hebdomadariis in cætu publico pro falute felicitateque Principis folent, eo vivo. fibi volait ufurpare; fed integrum Sultano Aladini utrumque refervavit, ejufque nomine fieri ambo juffit. Ne tamen quod confecutus ab Aladine vivo fuerat, (eo mortuo) negligere videretur ftatim præcepit & ordinavit ut legis peritus quidam, vir religiofus, cui nomen erat Durfun-Fakiches Judex. pariter & Epifcopus effet in oppido fuo Caratze-chifare; & Hutben five publicas pro falute profperitateque Principis preces, ipfius Ofmanis nomine deinceps conciperet. Hoc itáque modo primum omnium Hutbex preces Of manis nomine veluti jam Sultani Caratze-chifare conceptæ fuerunt. Nonnulli tamen Ofmani tympana cum vexillo prius quam ab eo capta Bilezuga fuiffet, aliquot fcilicet ante hoc tempus annis, a Sultano Aladine, tanquam principatus infignia fuiffe donata commemorant: adeoque referunt id temporis quum Caratze-chifar in poteftatem Ofmanis veniffet Sultanum Aladinem ei figna poteftatis fupreme per Actemurem fratris Jundufis filium mififfe. Addunt etiam Sultanum Aladinem, quum ei vexillum illud afferri juffiffet in mandatis Actemuri dediffe, fuo nomine diceret Ofmani, quicquid Mufulmane religionis hoftibus Chriftianis eripuiffet bona cum Aladinis ipfius pace fibi retineret: itidemque fe Olmani fignandæ pecuniæ poteftatem concedere; cum precibus Hutbeis die Veneris, hebdomadario Mufulmannorum fefto pro ipfius incollumitate dicendis: quæ duo duntaxat ad jus regium pertineant. Ut ut vero fe res habeat, hoc quidem conftat, poftea quam ab Of mane Judex & Antiftes facrorum factus fuiffet ille Durfum-fakiches, Hutben ab eo primam nomine Olmanis in oppido Caratze-chifare de fuggeftu fuifle pronunciatam. Primum vero poft initum ab Ofmane principatum Bairami feftum quod inftar pafchatis Chriftianorum Mufulmanni celebrant, inftitutum fuit in Ofmanis oppido Eski-Schehere, quo Palæpolis aut Civis vetus

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for himself as fuch at Charatze Chifar, whether this happen'd before the Death of the Old Sultan Aladin, or not till after it. The reafon of the Obfervation is this, that whereas the Hiftorians are divided about the one, namely, whether Aladin was Alive or Dead at the beginning of Ottoman's Reign; yet they agree well enough about the other; namely that his claiming the Title of Sultan, and caufing the Publick Prayers call'd Vid. Teftim. Hutbe, to be every Fryday put up for him as fuch, was the true Pocockii prius Epocha of his Reign. And Leunclavius, as we have just now feen, p.182. affures us, that its Date among the Turks themselves, was originally taken from theCommencing of thofe Publick Prayers, tho' he is not able poffitively to determin whether thatwas before or after the Death of Aladin. I observe,

(5.) That this beginning of the Reign of Ottoman appears to have been about the middle or towards the latter end of A. D. 1301. i.e. about May, June, July, August, or the beginning of September that Year. For not only the common Opinion of Hiftorians agrees well enough to this time, as we have already feen; but, what I mainly aim at in this place, the best Testimonies we have, do fix it here alfo. For both, Al Jannabius and Ahmed Ebn Yufeph, the two Arabick Hiftorians abovemention'd, and Choja Aphendi, another famous Turkish Hiftorian, all Quoted by Dr. Pocock, and Noaman in Hiftorica Eruditorum Turcarum, as our very Learned Profeffor of the Hebrew Language, Dr. Syke, informs me; and theTurkish Annals themselves Publifh'd by Leunclavius, agree that Ottoman dy'd, and his Son Urchan Beg fucceeded either at the conclufion of An. Heg. 726. or at the beginning of An. Heg. 727. (d.) Choja Aphendi (1) Abraham Zacuth, (d.) and Noaman, exprefly.

fignificatur; Ibidemque tunc Hutbexe preces etiam pro felicibus Ofmanei Re gni aufpiciis publice recitaté fuerunt. Quapropter ab hoc exordio precum Hutbexrum Ofmanis nomine conceptarum, Quem Turci pofthæc Chanem five Regem fuum Adpellarunt, fcribi deinceps Ofmanei primus annus Impeii cœpit. Leunclav. Hift. Musulman. Coll. 151.

(d) Choja Aphendi, Celebris apud Turcas Hiftoriæ Autor, Urchanem natum anno 680. perhibet, imperare cæpiffe 726. regnaffe annos 35. Pocock. ubi fupra.

† Anno 726. Obiit Sultan Othmens Zacuth apud Scalig. Can.Ifag.p. 146. (d) Urchan Patri successit anno 726.

fix the Death of Ottoman, and the Date of Urchan Beg's Reign to An. Heg. 726. The (e.) Turkish Annals to An. Heg. 727. Al(f.) Fannabius, and Ahmet Ebn Yufeph, to the beginning of An. Heg.727. So that the Death of Ottoman will most agreeably to all thefe Authentick Teftimonies compar'd together, be fix'd to the very end of An. Heg. 726. So that if we fubtract from that time the Years of his Reign, which we have feen from the united Teftimonies of Al Jannabius, and Ahmed Ebn Yufeph, were no more than 26, we muft hence be ob blig'd to date the Reign of Ottoman, or the beginning of the Ottoman Empire, even tho' there were a few redundant, or deficient Months, about the latter end of An. Heg. 700.i.e. about the middle or towards the latter end of A. D. 1301. as was to be prov'd. I obferve,

(6.) That this time of theRife of the Ottoman Empire agrees well enough with an ancient and valuable Teftimony of (g) Abraham Zacuth, the Author of the Jewish Chronology, call'd Fuchain, which was written about 200 years ago; who afferts that Aladin did not dye till An. Heg. 702. anfwering to part of A. D. 1302. and part of A. D. 1303. Altho' it has hitherto generally been esteem'd contrary to all the other Accounts of thefe Matters. Whereas if we fuppofe, which I confess seems to me the most probable Opinion, that Aladin was alive when Ortoman began his Reign, as this Teftimony alfo confirms, it will very well agree with our present Stating of thefe Matters; fince 'tis own'd that Aladin offer'd the Title of Sultan to Ottoman whilft he was alive, and that he was then very Old and broken with Age alfo: which fuits our prefent Accounts very well; he not furviving more than a year or two in the prefent Hypothefis. I obfervé,

(e) Ejus loco rerum administrationem confecutus eft Urchan filius, Anno Mahumetano 727. p. 5.

(f) Urchanes autem, (confentientibus Al Jannabio & Ahmede,) regnare cœpit ineunte Anno Hegira 727 Pocock. ubi Supra p. 43.

(g) Aladin Perfarum Rex, qui Othmen præfecerat Carmaniæ, & Regio titulo ornarat, moritur Anno Hegira 702. Apud Calvis: ad A. D. 1303. Vide & Scalig. Canon. Ifagog. p.146. 317. 318.

A a

7. That

1

Vid. Teftim. fupra Citat. p, 183, 18

(7) That tho' none of the Hiftorians directly mention the Month, or exact time of the Year when the Date of Ottoman's Reign began, yet Leunclavius tells us fo much as is equivalent thereto, namely that it was a little before a famous Feast, or Bairam of the Turks, which was Inftituted upon this very Occafion by Ottoman; and that from the first Appointment of the Hutbe, or Publick Prayers for the Felicity of his Reign, a little before this Solemn Inauguration Feaft or Bairam, the Turks themselves dated the beginning of it. We must therefore know that the Turks have, as far as appears, ever since MaVid. Pocockii homet's time had a Feftum Perigrinantium, or Bairam, for Notas in Spe- thofe which went on Pilgrimage to Mecca; which is esteem'd rix Arabum p. at prefent, the smaller Bairam, and is on the 10th day of Dul118. 119.125. heggia, the laft month in the Turkish year: but which does not

cimen Hifto

127. 177.

pire Book 2. Chap. 24.

feen to belong to this Matter. Befides this ancient and leffer Bairam,they have another which is now efteem'd the greater Bairam, and begins the first day of Shawal, or of the 10th month, and follows their month of Fafting Ramadan, as our Eafter follows our Lent: and this feems both by the words of Leunclavius, and by the manner of its Celebration, which wholly See Sir P. Ri. looks like that of an Inauguration Feaft, to be that which was caut's Prefent Inftituted by Ottoman,at the beginning of his Reign. Now this State of the firft day of the 10th month, or great Bairam happen'dA.D.1301. Ottoman Emupon Friday the 9th day of June, a little before which those Preces Hutbee which are mention'd by Leunclavius, as the true date of Ottoman's Reign began: which must therefore have commenc'd about Friday, May 19th that Year, that fo on that day, on the 26th, and on June 2d thofe Publick Prayers might have been put up for the Felicity of Ottoman's Reign, which appear by the Hiftorians to have preceeded that great Bairam, when they were alfo more folemnly put up on the fame Account; and of which the present practice of the Grand Seignior, who that day begins with a Prayer in Santa Sophia feems to be a remain. And if the true reafon why the Inauguration Feaft was not Inftituted at the very first beginning of his Reign, or primary commencement of the Publick Prayers for him, but defer'd till the beginning of the 10th month, was that this first Date happen'd in the month of Fafting Ramadan,

as