Umur
Emir of Aydin, corsair
Umur Ghazi, Ghazi Umur, or Umur the Lion (Modern Turkish: Aydınoğlu Umur Bey, c. 1309–1348), also known as Umur Pasha was the second Turkoman bey of Aydin, on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, from 1334 to 1348. He was famous for his naval expeditions. During his reign, he fought off many Crusades against him called out by the Pope.
Career
Umur Ghazi was a loyal ally and friend of Emperor John Cantacuzenus of the Byzantine Empire and provided him with material aid during his military campaigns, especially during the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347. He apparently sent 380 ships and 28,000 men to aid him in the conflict and besieged the city of Demotika in Thrace, Greece. The emperor John reportedly mourned his death. At the height of its power, the Beylik of Aydin possessed 350 ships and 15,000 men.
Umur's preying on Christian shipping led to the declaration of the Smyrniote crusades against him by Pope Clement VI in 1343. In 1348, his fleet was destroyed by an allied fleet from Venice, the Knights of Rhodes and Cyprus.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Umur” is emir of Aydin, corsair. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Umur, Emir and Aydin, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “emir of Aydin, corsair” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q717084. VIAF identifies the subject as 5850490. The Library of Congress control number is no2015067626. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1309, 1348, 1334 and 1341.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Umur”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Umur primary sources, Umur archive and Umur research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Umur”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Umur” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.