3. That Osman and Orkhan carved their state out of the remnants of the Byzantine possessions along the upper end of the Sea of Marmora and in the Valley of the Sangarius--a very small portion indeed of Asia Minor; 4. That Murad, the wonderful conqueror of the Balkan peninsula, was only one of several rulers in Asia Minor, and not the most powerful of these, and that there were large portions of Asia Minor with which neither he nor his successor Bayezid came into contact at all; 5. That neither Bayezid, with his tremendous prestige in Europe, nor his brilliant successors of the fifteenth century, gained undisputed possession of Asia Minor. The Osmanlis were not masters of Asia Minor until long after their inheritance of the Byzantine Empire was regarded in Europe as a _fait accompli_. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES I. Approximate Dates in the Legendary Period. II. Important Events in the First Century of Ottoman History. III. Progress of Ottoman Congress under the First Four Sovereigns. IV. Comparative Table of Rulers. V. The Fourteenth Century in Byzantine History. VI. Relations between Venice and Genoa and the Levant from 1300 to 1403. VII. The Popes and the Moslem Menace in the Fourteenth Century. I. THE LEGENDARY PERIOD 1219--Soleiman Shah, with 50,000 nomad Turkish families, settles in neighbourhood of Erzindjian. 1224--Soleiman Shah is drowned in the Euphrates. Ertogrul and Dundar, two of his sons, settle near Angora. 1230-40--Ertogrul establishes himself in the valley of the Kara Su, north-west of Kutayia. 1259--Osman is born at Sugut. 1289--Ertogrul dies. Osman captures Karadja Hissar and Biledjik. 1290--Osman kills his uncle Dundar. 1290-9--Osman, having extended his possessions westward, founds an emirate, and takes up his residence at Yeni Sheïr. II. IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE FIRST CENTURY OF OTTOMAN HISTORY 1299--Osman, Turkish emir in the valley of the Kara Su, makes Yeni Sheïr, between Brusa and Nicaea, his residence. 1301--Osman defeats the Byzantine heterarch Muzalon at Baphaeon, near Nicomedia. 1308--Kalolimni, island in the Sea of Marmora, is occupied. Ak Hissar and Tricocca are captured. 1317--Investment of Brusa begins. 1326--Brusa surrenders. Osman hears the news on his death-bed at Yeni Sheïr. 1329--Byzantines under Andronicus III are defeated at Pelecanon (Maltepé). Nicaea surrenders. 1333--Alaeddin pasha, brother of Orkhan and first vizier, dies. Death of Bahadur Khan removes the Mongol menace. 1337 or 1338--Nicomedia surrenders. 1338--Karasi, first of the Turkish emirates to be absorbed, is incorporated in Orkhan’s state. _c._ 1338--Osmanlis reach the Bosphorus at Haïdar Pasha. 1343--Empress Anna makes overtures to Orkhan for aid against Cantacuzenos. 1345--Orkhan accepts proposal of alliance with Cantacuzenos. First Osmanlis cross to Europe to fight for Cantacuzenos against Anna.