Danishmendids

Template:Short description Template:Infobox Former Country

The Danishmendids or Danishmends (Template:Langx) were a Turkish dynasty.<ref>Template:TDV Encyclopedia of Islam</ref> These terms also refer to the Turkish state in Anatolia.<ref>

Template:Harvnb: "Eastern Anatolia was divided between the Danishmends and several other Turkish kingdoms"
Template:Harvnb "By the time of Qılıj Arslan's death, the first wave of the Turkish invasion of Anatolia had ended and the political lines were roughly drawn among several new Turkish states, those of the Saljuqs and Danishmendids being the most important."
Template:Harvnb: "The establishment of the Seljuk state was not a particularly easy process. While the Turks struggled with Byzantium on the one hand, they also fought the Danişmends, another Turkish state which had control of part of central and eastern Anatolia, on the other."

</ref> It existed from 1071/1075 to 1178<ref>The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual, Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Edinburgh University Press, p.215, Online</ref>Template:Quotation needed and is also known as the Danishmendid Beylik (Template:Langx). The dynasty was centered originally around Sivas, Tokat, and Niksar in central-northeastern Anatolia, and extended as far west as Ankara and Kastamonu for a time, and as far south as Malatya, which they captured in 1103. In the early 12th century, the Danishmends were rivals of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, which controlled much of the territory surrounding the Danishmend lands, and they fought extensively against the Crusaders.

The dynasty was established by Danishmend Gazi for whom historical information is rather scarce and was generally written long after his death. His title or name, Dānishmand ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) means "wise man" or "one who searches for knowledge" in Persian.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

OriginsEdit

The Turkoman Chepni Danishmendid dynasty was founded by Danishmend Gazi.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Sources about Danishmend Gazi's origins however, are steeped in "legendary flavor".Template:Sfn According to Robert Irwin, Danishmend Gazi was a "Turkoman emir of impenetrably obscure origins".Template:Sfn For instance, according to Niketas Choniates, a Byzantine government official and historian and a near-contemporary of Danishmend Gazi, he was of Arsacid descent.Template:Sfn According to the medieval Armenian historians Matthew of Edessa and Vardan Areveltsi, Danishmend Gazi was of Armenian origin, which, as Tahsin Yazici explains, "is not incompatible with Niketas' report".Template:Sfn Yazici adds that other historians explained his origins differently.Template:Sfn Some identified him as a nephew of Malik-Shah I (Template:Reign1072–1092), Sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire.Template:Sfn According to this narrative, Danishmend Gazi was sent by Malik-Shah to conquer Cappadocia.Template:Sfn Others viewed Danishmend Gazi as a maternal uncle of Suleiman ibn Qutulmish (Template:Reign1077–1086), the first ruler of the Sultanate of Rum.Template:Sfn In addition, some historians believed he was one of the Seljuq commanders who fought at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.Template:Sfn According to Yazici: "Osman Turan's suggestion that he was a Seljuq envoy to the Ghaznavid court was based on a misunderstanding of a passage in Abu'l Fazl Bayhaqi's Tarikh-i Bayhaqi and is thus totally erroneous".Template:Sfn According to Robert Gregory Bedrosian (citing Suren Yeremian and Halil Yinanc), Danishmend Gazi was an Armenian Muslim.Template:Sfn Template:Efn The Danishmendnâme, a 14th century (i.e. posthumous) epic romance based on oral traditions dealing with Danishmend Gazi, is likewise filled with "legendary material".Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to the Danishmendnâme, Danishmend Gazi was a native of Malatya.Template:Sfn

HistoryEdit

The dynastyEdit

File:Danishmendids. 'Imad al-Din Dhu'l-Nun, at Kayseri. AD 1142-1176.jpg

Coinage of 'Imad al-Din Dhu'l-Nun, at Kayseri. 1142-1176 CE.

As of 1134, Danishmend dynasty leaders also held the title Melik (the King) bestowed in recognition of their military successes by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mustarshid, although the Beys (Emirs) of Danishmend prior to 1134 may also be retrospectively referred to as Melik. Danishmend Gazi himself was alternatively called "Danishmend Taylu".<ref>Claude Cahen cited in Template:Cite book</ref>

The Danishmends established themselves in Anatolia in the aftermath of the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, in which the Seljuks defeated the Byzantine Empire and captured most of Anatolia. Gazi took advantage of the dynastic struggles of the Seljuks upon the death of the Sultan Suleyman I of Rûm in 1086 to establish his own dynasty in central Anatolia. The capital was likely first established in Amasia.<ref>Fisher, p. 8.</ref>

In 1100, Gazi's son, Emir Gazi, captured Bohemond I of Antioch, who remained in their captivity until 1103. A Seljuk-Danishmend alliance was also responsible for defeating the Crusade of 1101.

In 1116, the Danishmends helped Mesud I become the Seljuk sultan.<ref>"Turkmen Ruling Dynasties in Asia Minor".</ref>

File:Nasir al-Din Muhammad, Malatya, 557-73 H, Danishmendids, Malatya.jpg

CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1130, Bohemond II of Antioch was killed in a battle with Emir Gazi, after coming to the aid of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, which Gümüshtigin had invaded. Gümüshtigin died in 1134 and his son and successor Melik Mehmed Gazi did not have the martial spirit of his father and grandfather. He is nevertheless considered the first builder of Kayseri as a Turkish city, despite his relatively short period of reign.

When Mehmed died in 1142, the Danishmend lands were divided between his two brothers, Melik Yaghibasan, who maintained the title of "Melik" and ruled from Sivas, and Ayn el-Devle, who ruled from Malatya.

In 1155, Seljuk Sultan Kilij Arslan II attacked Melik Yaghibasan, who sought help from Nur ad-Din, the Zengid emir of Mosul. However, when Nur ad-Din died in 1174, the Sivas lands were incorporated into the Sultanate.

Following the death of Fahreddin in a riding accident in 1172, he was succeeded by his brother Afridun.<ref name="Melikoff">Danishmendids, I. Melikoff, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. B. Lewis, C. Pellat and J. Schacht, (Brill, 1986), 111.</ref> By 1175, Nasreddin Muhammed had returned to power, and ruled as a Seljuk vassal.<ref name="Melikoff"/> In 1178, Malatya was occupied. This event marked the end of the Danishmend rule, while the remaining Danishmends joined Seljuk service.<ref name="Melikoff"/>

Culture and legendEdit

Danishmend Gazi, the founder of the dynasty, is the central figure of a posthumous romance epic, Danishmendnâme, in which he is misidentified with an 8th-century Arab warrior, Sidi Battal Gazi, and their exploits intertwined.

Virtually all Danishmend rulers entered the traditions of the Turkish folk literature, where they are all referred to as "Melik Gazi".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hence, there are "tombs of Melik Gazi", many of which are much visited shrines and belong in fact to different Danishmend rulers, in the cities of Niksar, Bünyan, Kırşehir, along the River Zamantı near the castle of the same name (Zamantı) and elsewhere in Anatolia, and Melikgazi is also the name of one of the central districts of the city of Kayseri. The same uniformity in appellations in popular parlance may also apply to other edifices built by Danishmends.

The official title of the Danishmendids was Malik of All Romania and the East/Anatolia, was always inscribed in the local currency in Greek,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> indication of Byzantine influence.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Danishmend's coins, along with being bilingual, included an image of a figure slaying a dragon, thought to represent St. George.<ref>Christian Elements in the Identity of the Anatolian Turkmens (12th-13th Centuries), Rustam Shukurov, Cristianità d'occidente e cristianità d'oriente (secoli VI-XI), CISAM. Spoleto, 2004), 707-64; Khidr and the Changing Frontiers of the Medieval World, Ethel Sara Wolper, Confronting the Borders of Medieval Art, ed. Jill Caskey, Adam S. Cohen, Linda Safran, (Brill, 2011), 136.</ref>

RulersEdit

Danishmends	Reign	Notes
Danishmend Gazi	1075 -d. 1084	Also called Danishmend Taylu
Gazi Gümüshtigin	1084-d. 1104	Son of Danishmend Gazi
Emir Gazi	1104-d. 1134
Melik Mehmed Gazi	1134-d. 1142
Sivas branch (Meliks - The Kings)	1142–1175	Incorporated to Anatolian Seljuks
Melik Zünnun (first rule)	1142–1143	Son of Melik Mehmed Gazi
Yağıbasan	1143–1164	Son of Emir Gazi
Melik Mücahid Gazi	1164–1166
Melik İbrahim	1166-1166
Melik İsmail	1166-1172	Killed in palace revolt.<ref name="Melikoff"/>
Melik Zünnun (second rule)	1172–1174	Son of Melik Mehmed Gazi
Malatya branch (Emirs)	1142–1178	Incorporated to Anatolian Seljuks
Ayn el-Devle	1142–1152
Zülkarneyn	1152–1162
Nasreddin Muhammed	1162–1170
Fahreddin	1170–1172
Efridun	1172–1175
Nasreddin Muhammed	1175–1178	Second reign