Sixth Chapter

In Modern English

It explains and recounts in detail, as far as can be known, the emergence of the Togânîs, that is, the Danishmendids, in the Sanjak of Amasya, the original homeland of the Turks; their manner of government; the circumstances of their beys who governed the Sanjak of Amasya; and their works of civilization.

The conqueror of Amasya, "el-Melikü'l-Mücâhid Şemseddîn Ebû Nasr Ahmed et-Togânî," is known in all Islamic histories by the names "el-Melik Ahmed ed-Dânişmend et-Türkmânî, Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi." When the general histories are compared and applied to the recorded and inscribed documents, it is seen that in writing the said person's lineage names they suffered some differences, that is, misspellings; but these are of a kind that can be brought together and reconciled.

In the endowment deed dated 560 of el-Melik Mecdeddîn Yağıbasan ed-Dânişmendî, grandson of the said melik, he is written as "el-Melik el-Mücâhid Ahmed ibn Alî ibn Ca'fer ibn Hüseyin." The Dânişmendnâme also confirms this; it further says that the said person's fathers and grandfathers were among the Turkmen beys and khan's children living in Khwarazm, and adds some further information.

The summary of this information is written in "Dürretü'l-Eslâk fî Sîreti Mülûki'l-Etrâk" as follows: "Şemseddîn Ahmed ed-Dânişmend ibn Alî ibn Migrâb et-Türkmânî was born of Nazaru'l-Cemâl, daughter of Ömer ibn Nu'mân ibn Ziyâd, emir of Malatya. This Nazaru'l-Cemâl is the daughter of es-Seyyide eş-Şerîfe el-Aleviyye, who was the sister of a person named es-Seyyid Ca'fer ibn Sultân Hüseyin ibn Rebî' ibn Alî ibn Abbâs el-Malâtî, that is, the daughter of Sultan Hüseyin ibn Rebî'."

In the history compilations famous as el-Kâmil, Târîh-i Baybars and Ikdü'l-Cümân, the said melik is written as "el-Melikü'l-Mücâhid Şemseddîn Ahmed ibn Alî ibn Mitrâb ibn Tablu et-Türkmânî." His lineage is recorded in Mesâlikü'l-Ebsâr as "Ahmed ibn Alî ibn Mıdrâb ibn Tablu," and in Revâmîzü'l-A'yân as "Ahmed ibn Alî ibn Nasr ibn Tanlu." Regarding the emir of Antioch, his cousin, it is "Yağbasan ibn Muhammed ibn Nasr," and in Târîh-i Baybars this emir's lineage is written as "Yağbasan ibni Muhammed ibn Alp Arslan ibn Kutlu et-Türkmânî."

In Reyhânetü'l-Ervâh the lineage of this emir, the cousin of the said melik, is written as "Yağıbasan ibn Muhammed ibn Alp Arslan et-Togânî." On the gravestone, readable with great difficulty, in Niksar of Emîr Şâhenşâh, grandson of the other cousin Süli Gâzi Bey, this text is carved: "Emera bi-imârati hâzihi't-türbeti'l-meymûneti el-emîrü'l-isfehsâlâr el-ecellü'l-kebîr el-âlimü'l-âdil Bedreddîn Atabeg Ebû Mansûr Şâhenşâh bin Arslandoğmuş et-Togânî fî târîhi seneti semânin ve seb'îne ve hamsi-mi'e" (meaning: "The construction of this auspicious tomb was ordered by the commander-in-chief of the emirs, the most exalted and great, the just scholar Bedreddîn Atabeg Ebû Mansûr Şâhenşâh ibn Arslandoğmuş et-Togânî; date, 578 [1182-83]").

The Arslandoğmuş (Arslan Togmuş) Bey named in this carved inscription is the son of Suli Gâzi Bey, son-in-law and cousin of the said melik. It is understood from old records that the village of Toganlu in the kaza of Lâdik was held as property by descendants of Suli Bey, Emîr Bahâeddîn Şâhenşâh ibn el-Emîr Sa'deddîn Suli ibn el-Emîr Nûreddîn Ebi'l-mekârim Uluğ³²⁰ ibn el-Emîr Bedreddîn Şâhenşâh, and by his children.

It is now clear that it is possible to bring these accounts and the carved and written records together, compare them, and reconcile them. For above and exactly east of the now-famous tomb of the said melik in Niksar, over the north-facing door of an old tomb, there is an inscription carved in very beautiful Kufic script on reddish marble reading "Hâzâ kabrü'l-meliki'l-ecel el-emîri'l-kebîr el-âlimi'l-âdil şemsi'l-mülûk ve'l-ümerâ'i fi'l-âlem Şemseddîn Ebi'l-Megâzî Ahmed bin Alî" (meaning: "This is the tomb of the most exalted melik, the great emir, the just scholar, the sun of meliks and emirs in the world, Şemseddîn Ebu'l-Megâzî Ahmed ibn Alî"). Here there is no difference in his name and his father's name. Only the name of his grandfather Ca'fer Alp Arslan was corrupted and wrongly written by copyists as Ca'fer, Nasr, Mitrâb, Mıdrâb, Migrâb, Alp Arslan; this is beyond doubt.

As mentioned above, in the early days of Islam the Turkmens did not give up their national names for a long time, and added Arabic names to their own for good luck; this is seen in history. For example, the rulers of Balasagun, Hârûn Buğra Han, Mansûr Arslan Han, Yusuf Kuduz Han, Ömer Karahan and Nasr İlik Han, are very famous. The Seljuk rulers Muhammed Tuğrul Han and Muhammed Alp Arslan Han, and their brothers and their fathers Muhammed Çağrı and Dâvud Yabgu Beys, are also recorded in history and spoken of in the popular tongue.

On the basis of these historical observations, the grandfather of the said melik, himself one of the notables of this time, was named Ca'fer Alp Arslan and became famous under the name Ca'fer. His Turkish name was later dropped and he was called Ca'fer Alp; later copyists corrupted this and wrote it in various forms such as Mitrâb, Mıdrâb, Migrâb and Nasr. Hüseyin Kutlu Bey, the father of Ca'fer Alp Arslan, was also split in two and recorded as one Hüseyin and one Kutlu; then the word Kutlu was also corrupted and took forms such as Katlu, Tablu (تابلو), Tablu (طبلو) and Tanlu; this is understood.

According to what these historical records show, Emîr Ebû Nasr Ahmed et-Togânî is "Melik Mücâhid Şemseddîn Ebu'l-Megâzî Ahmed ibn Alî ibn Ca'fer Alp Arslan ibn Hüseyin Kutlu Bey," chief of the clan known as Toganlu, of the descendants of Oguz Han, of the grandsons of Kınık Han to whom the Seljuks belong. It is strongly thought that he had kinship with the Seljuks, even through the paternal line.

For since it is written in Reyhânetü'l-Ervâh that "Süleyman ibn Kutalmış conquered Antioch, which had been in the hands of the Greeks since 458, and his maternal uncle Emîr Ahmed conquered Malatya," it is understood that the said Süleyman Han, ruler of Konya, was the son of the sister of Melik Ahmed Gâzi Bey.

The ancestors and grandfathers of the Seljuk sultans made it a custom to marry the daughters of persons who were cousins of one another, that is, not to take concubines, and took great care to preserve their lineage on both the mother's and father's side; this is known historically. On this basis it is thought that Kutlu Bey, the most distant grandfather of the said melik, was the paternal uncle of Togan ibn Ertuğrul's son, that is, of Selçuk ibn Togan ibn Ertuğrul.³²¹

As for Melik Ahmed Gâzi's becoming famous by the epithet "Dânişmend": judging by the phrase "el-âlimü'l-âdil" on the gravestone and by Khorasanian terms, it is understood that since among the relatives of the said melik there was a scholar who had studied in Khorasan in particular and obtained an icazet, that is, a dânişmend, he became famous as "Ahmed Dânişmend." For in Khorasan a scholar with an icazet is called "dânişmend"; this epithet is not given to a children's school teacher. Consequently the children of this Dânişmend Gâzi were generally called "Dânişmendlü," some of the children of his cousins "Toganlu," and some "Tursanlu."

In short, as written in the Dânişmendnâme, on the day Melik-i Mücâhid Şemseddîn Ahmed Dânişmend Gâzi conquered and took the fortress of Harşene, the administrative center of the land of Rum, and the city of Amasya, he laid the foundation of the Danishmendid state in Amasya by appointing the army kadı Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân el-Harezmî to the kadılık of Amasya.

Then, the female captive who was the daughter of the governor of Ankara and was presented to the said melik in Amasya was offered Islam and told that she would be married to the melik; since the girl did not accept Islam voluntarily she rejected this offer, but she consented to marriage.

Although in some quarters it was suggested to the melik that the captive be forced to Islam, Melik Ahmed Gâzi refused this in accordance with the verse "lâ-ikrâhe fi'd-dîn"³²² (there is no compulsion in religion). Although the captive remained Christian, she was given the name "Gülnûş Bânû," and the marriage was performed by Abdurrahmân el-Harezmî, the kadı of Amasya. After Melik Ahmed Gâzi entered the bridal chamber in the palace of Şettât in the fortress of Harşene on Friday night, Gülnûş Bânû voluntarily accepted Islam.

After entering the fortress of Harşene, Melik Ahmed Gâzi, applying retaliation, executed Jutatius, governor of Amasya, because a few days earlier he had hanged in the fortress's powder magazine the envoy whom the melik had sent to him to propose the surrender of the fortress. He left Vengiyus, the patriarch of Amasya, in his office and rewarded him, and then granted amnesty to the Greeks who asked for quarter.

The fortress commander Mihrân and Raminos, son of Jutatius, took refuge in Melik Ahmed Gâzi's pardon and accepted Islam, and both were rewarded. Some of the guards in the fortress of Harşene had been killed and the rest had been honored with Islam; for this reason the vacated Church of Andronikos was converted into a mosque and prayer was performed in it on Friday.

As written in Cerîdetü'l-Acâ'ib, the division of Anatolia under Greek administration is as follows: "Arzu'r-Rûm, that is, Anatolia, is eleven amel (provinces). Amel-i Harbiyye consists of five, Amel-i Usâh of three, Amel-i Osîkî of ten, Amel-i Afşîn of four, Amel-i Harsenûn of forty, Amel-i Yelkân of sixteen hısn (mostly livâ)." In this Arabic phrase Harsenûn is Amasya and Yelkân is Lycaonia, that is, the provinces of Konya. From this it is understood that when the province of Amasya was rescued from the hands of the Greeks it was a large provincial center made up of forty fortresses.

The Amasya historian Kara Müftüzâde Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi, in his history that he named "Belâbilü'r-Râsiye fî Riyâzi Amâsiyye," says: "Amasya and its surroundings were conquered by some three hundred sûhtes who came from Baghdad, led by Re'sü'l-Menâbir, and Re'sü'l-Menâbir became the first conqueror of Amasya." The expression "sûhtes" must be an allusion to the word "Dânişmend," and the epithet Re'sü'l-Menâbir (Head of the Pulpits), since sermons were read at the head of pulpits in his name, to the name "Melik Ahmed Gâzi"; but the expression "some three hundred" is in all likelihood legend.³²³

Yet if the accounts of the various histories that give the necessary information on the Danishmendids, such as Dürretü'l-Eslâk, el-Aylem, Câmiu'd-Düvel and Mirkâtü'l-Cihâd, are put together, it is understood that Melik Ahmed Gâzi's general force reached a crowd of about sixty thousand. In that case one must double the three hundred and put two more zeros in front of it.

Moreover, after the conquest of Amasya, since Turkmen and Turkish peoples flocked in from the Khorasan and Khwarazm regions and were settled in every part of the province, the influence and standing of the Danishmendids grew stronger year by year. The saying "coming like a people (ulus)" used in Amasya of those who come in large groups is a historical memory of this time.

When the names of the villages and encampments in what is now the province of Sivas, famous as the Pontus Continent, are examined, it is understood that each became known by the name of a clan or encampment that came and settled in these times and later. Therefore the ancestors of the present Muslim Turks living in this province are precisely the Turkish ghazis of this time, Turks who came from Turkestan regions such as Khorasan and Khwarazm; this is certain.

After the conquest of Amasya, Melik Ahmed Gâzi gave a large military unit under the command of his cousin Çavlı Bey; he sent it against Nastûr, who had taken refuge in Nikonya, and sent among the emirs Karatigin and Serkis Ahmed Gâzis to join the said emir. He also sent to Lâdik and its surroundings a unit under the command of his other cousin Suli Bey, assigning Ilgaz Muhammed Bey among the emirs to him.

Suli Bey conquered the city of Lâdik in one stroke, moved toward the Canik area and strove to take the whole sanjak of Samsun. But when it was reported that Çavlı Bey's repeated attacks had been fruitless because the Kastamonu unit, which had set out to come to Amasya's aid, supported Nastûr, bey of Nikonya, Melik Ahmed Gâzi Bey at once took a sufficient force and went with İltigin Gâzi to Nikonya in 468.

Melik Ahmed Gâzi Bey heavily dispersed the Kastamonu unit and conquered the fortress of Nikonya. While he was capturing its bey Nastûr through Serkis Ahmed and taking him prisoner, news came that a son had been born to him; in gratitude he gave the child the name "İzzeddîn Muhammed." He gave the livâ of Nikonya to İlyâs Bey, chief of the famous Çorumlu Clan,³²⁴ descended from the Alayuntlu line of the Turkmens; after assigning Çavlı Bey with Karatigin Gâzi to the conquest of Çankırı, he took Nastûr and turned toward Eflenus (Osmancık).

This information given by the Dânişmendnâme is written in Dürretü'l-Eslâk as follows: "Şemseddîn Ahmed Dânişmend then set out, and when he came to the city of Harşene, the center of the unbelievers' country in those parts, its master (governor) Şettât resisted. After the people of Islam besieged and conquered the city, on the day he conquered the city of 'Nikonya,' famous today as 'Çorumlu,' he was given the good news that a son had been born to him."

Melik Ahmed Gâzi Bey, after conquering the fortress of Eflanus by force with İltigin and giving its emirate to Osmân Bey,³²⁵ chief of the Sorkunlu Clan, again of the Alayuntlu line, came before the fortress of "Mangıriyye, Gümüş." After besieging it for a few days, when the people of Mangıriyye³²⁶ and then of Merzifon asked for quarter, Melik Ahmed Gâzi took them. To complete the conquests he sent several of the emirs, each with a sufficient force, to take the towns of "Kavuz, Havza" and "Tenuşin, Köprü," and he himself returned to Amasya.

Melik Ahmed Gâzi hanged and executed Nestûr in Amasya because his earlier crimes and cruel attacks were known; his young son accepted Islam. The famous muhaddith Ebû Abdullah Muhammed ibn Nestûr er-Rûmî el-Harşenî is this one. In this campaign of Melik Ahmed Gâzi Bey, his deputy in Amasya was his silahtar Mübârekşah, who had been his slave, and whom, after freeing him, he had appointed kethüda to his wife Gülnûş Bânû.

In short, Canik, Karahisar-ı Şarkî and its surroundings were conquered through the efforts of Suli, Çankırı and its surroundings of Çavlı, and Kayseri, Ankara and their surroundings of Tursân Beys, and the old Pontus and Cappadocia continent was brought entirely under the rule of Melik Ahmed Dânişmend Gâzi Bey. The Byzantine emperor Alexios, being very busy with the Normans, was compelled to surrender, at various dates, the provinces of Konya and Aydın to Mansûr-ı Selçûkî, who had come as far as the city of Iznik, and the provinces of Sivas, Ankara and Trabzon to the Danishmendids, who had crossed the Ankara frontier and come toward Üsküdar.

But although Mansûr-ı Selçûkî, appointed by Sultan Alp Arslan to the administration of Anatolia, sent his assessed tribute to Sultan Melikşah, Sultan Melikşah found the tribute he sent small for the vast lands he had conquered. Understanding this, Emîr Barsak (Porsuk Bey), one of the emirs, persuaded Sultan Melikşah to have him appointed to the administration of Anatolia, and when he came and killed Mansûr Han and seized his administration, it deeply grieved Mansûr's brother Süleyman Han.

Thereupon Süleyman Han ibn Kutlumuş Han, after a time, went to Baghdad, told his trouble to Sultan Melikşah, complained of Porsuk Bey's injustice, declared himself worthy and entitled to his father's and brother's administration, and obtained his consent. Returning and coming with the force he had, he drove Porsuk Bey away and took his father's administration. Dürretü'l-Eslâk relates these but does not state the years.

After these events, estimated to have taken place between 468 and 472, Sultan Süleyman Han, ruler of Anatolia, made Konya his seat of government and became famous for taking the towns of Antioch and Nikya, that is, Iznik. Melik Ahmed Han, ruler of Amasya, after entirely taking the dependencies of the province of Amasya, gave the emirate of Kayseri to Tursan Bey, the emirate of Ankara to Çavlı Bey, the emirate of Sivas to Yağıbasan Bey, and the emirate of Trabzon and its surroundings to Süli Bey, and acted together with his nephew Sultan Süleyman Han.

For since these persons appointed to the emirates were cousins of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Han, it is thought that he wished to make use of the influence and standing they held among the Turkmens to secure internal administration. The said melik's grandfather Alp Arslan is known to have had three sons named Muhammed, Ali and Hasan. Yağıbasan was the son of Muhammed Bey, Tursan, Çavlı and Suli Beys were the sons of Hasan Bey, and Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han was the son of Ali Bey.

In these years, since Sultan Süleyman and Melik Ahmed Han got on well with each other and strove for gaza with raids into the land of Rum, Melik Ahmed Han conquered the Sinop area and Sultan Süleyman entirely conquered the Izmir area. Tursan and Çavlı Beys also attacked toward Üsküdar and spread fear among the Greeks.³²⁷

But as Sultan Süleyman's conquests expanded his pride grew, and while he showed harshness in every direction he set his eyes on some places on the southern border of his maternal uncle Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han and, taking advantage of Tursan Bey, governor of Kayseri, not being at his emirate's center, on those places. For this reason relations with Yağıbasan Bey, governor of Sivas, had been spoiled.

When the Byzantine emperor Alexios learned of this, while trying to turn back Tursan and Çavlı Beys, whose hearts were already hurt, he gave sufficient soldiers under the command of General Kalidis and sent him against Amasya from the direction of Karahisar-ı Şarkî; he had added to him Mîhâ'il, formerly bey of Niksar.

Suli Bey, commander of the Black Sea coasts, whose soldiers were not enough to repel this great force, was forced to withdraw and asked for help from Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han. Kalidis crossed the border and besieged Niksar (478).

The beginning of this siege, while Yağıbasan Bey was busy repelling Sultan Süleyman's attacks on the Elbistan area, angered Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han. Taking at once a sufficient force, he went to Niksar and routed the columns of Kalidis and Mihâ'îl. Pursuing them in disarray, he protected his land from the attack; in place of Hüseyin Gâzi Bey, emir of Niksar, who had fallen a martyr, he appointed his silahtar Mübârekşah. A quarter in Niksar named after Mübârekşah and the tomb of Hüseyin Gâzi are famous.

The Seljuk Sultan Süleyman, who had routed Emîr Yağıbasan Bey and taken the Elbistan area, set out in 479 to take the Aleppo area, which was under the administration of Tâcu'd-Devle (Tanış Han-ı Selçûkî), ruler of Damascus; defeated in battle, he was killed and gave up his life; Emîr Yağıbasan retook Elbistan, and conquered and took places as far as the city of Antioch.

When Emîr Yağıbasan took advantage of this success and declared his independence in the place of the Seljuks, relations with his cousin Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han were spoiled. The ruler of Asia, Sultan Melikşah-ı Selçûkî, around 480 appointed Dâvud Han, the eldest son of Sultan Süleyman, ruler of Konya; he reminded him to get on well with Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han, ruler of Amasya, and, leaving Emîr Yağıbasan in the emirate of Antioch and its surroundings, reconciled all three.

Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han had a lofty palace built in Amasya in what is now Gök Medrese Quarter. In front of the palace, that is, the places along the river (extending from above the Yörgüç Pasha Bathhouse to the end of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque), he had a beautiful garden made. That this garden was later divided into six sections and therefore called "Altı Bahçeler" (Six Gardens), and that his grandson Yağıbasan Gâzi later endowed the palace and Altı Bahçeler, is understood from his endowment deed of 560.

While Sultan Dâvud Han, thus ruler of Konya, was getting on well with Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han, the Danishmendid ruler residing in Amasya, Sultan Süleyman's other son Kılıç Arslan gathered the Turkmen emirs and killed Dâvud Han in battle in the city of Nikya (Iznik) and in 483 became ruler of the Rum Seljuks.

As partly written in Dürretü'l-Eslâk, Sultan Melikşah-ı Selçûkî was angered on hearing of this move of Kılıç Arslan. He appointed İmâdeddîn Boran Bey, one of his emirs and governor of Ruha (Urfa), as governor of the Rum Seljuk land and sent him with a sufficient force. Boran Bey came and besieged Sultan Kılıç Arslan in the city of Nikya, captured him, and sent him to Sultan Melikşah-ı Selçûkî in early 485, and took the Rum province.

But the Byzantine emperor Alexios, watching these civil wars, guessing that the situation in Anatolia would help him, constantly observed the movements of the Seljuks and the Danishmendids, and intended to fight at once when he understood that his hope would be realized.

It was at this time, that is, in Şevval of the year 485, that Sultan Celâleddîn Melikşah, the Seljuk ruler who had the greatest military power in Asia, died. Seeing the princes killing one another, Emperor Alexios understood that the very time of opportunity had come and began military preparations.

As written in the said history (Dürretü'l-Eslâk), when Sultan Mahmûd, the young prince who had sat on the Seljuk throne in place of Sultan Melikşah, was removed and the elder prince Sultan Rükneddîn Berkyaruk Han became Seljuk ruler, Kılıç Arslan ibn Sultan Süleyman applied to the said sultan. Having obtained the administration of his fathers and grandfathers in Anatolia, he came to the land of Rum by the sultan's order, removed Boran Bey in 486 and became ruler of Konya.

The Greek emperor Alexios, taking advantage of the war of the Seljuk princes among themselves in Asia and of the disputes that arose between the Seljuks and the Danishmendids in Anatolia, drew Kılıç Arslan to his side and sent a great army of a hundred and twenty thousand men, organized solely against the Danishmendids.

In 487 Tursan Bey, governor of Kayseri, who had come as far as Alem Dağı, met fierce defense and fell a martyr in the battle. Emîr İlmeddîn Gümüştigin, whose service, courage, self-sacrifice and merit in many wars were established, was appointed governor of Kayseri by Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han.

Since Çavlı Bey, governor of Ankara, was limited to guarding the Greek frontiers, Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han fully understood that there was no recourse other than endurance and perseverance to fight an army of a hundred and twenty thousand, and invited Sultan Kılıç Arslan Han, ruler of Konya, to an alliance in order to act in unity. Kılıç Arslan would not respond unless he was given the western half of Sivas; Tâceddîn İbrahim Bey, emir of Sivas and son of Melik Gâzi, rejected this demand; finally Melik Gâzi proposed to Kılıç Arslan that if he took his daughter he could give the city of Elbistan as dowry; Kılıç Arslan rejected this too. In short, they could not reach an understanding.

While Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han, ruler of Amasya, was ill with a sickness, Sultan Kılıç Arslan, with youthful ardor, attacked to take Elbistan and its surroundings by fighting. While İbrahim Bey, emir of Sivas, was busy repelling his attack together with Mengücek Bey, emir of Erzincan, the Greeks, probably in 488, marched into the Danishmendid land from the direction of Sinop; they were advancing continuously, burning the coasts with fires.

Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han, leaving his eldest son Seyfeddîn Ismail Bey as deputy in Amasya, met the Greeks together with Suli, emir of Trabzon, and Saltık Bey, emir of Erzurum. İltigin Gâzi wore the Greeks down in this battle, and when Melik Gâzi and the other emirs attacked at once, the Greeks scattered and fled on the Kamanit (Komanit) Plain. Melik Gâzi won the battle and returned in triumph.

Then Melik Ahmed Han with the force he had fought Sultan Kılıç Arslan, who had taken Elbistan. He retook Elbistan by fighting and also persuaded Kılıç Arslan and secured his alliance; the emirs of the surrounding area congratulated him on his successive successes. Melik Ahmed Han's influence and standing rose extraordinarily; for he was an elder of lofty rank, both the abaga³²⁸ and the maternal uncle of the Rum Seljuks and the mainstay of the Turkmens in Anatolia.

Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han had devoted his life in Anatolia for thirty years to fulfilling the obligation of jihad, had endured every kind of hardship, toil and calamity for the sake of the faith, and had selflessly reached a goal that even Arab ghazis had not attained. For this reason the Pontus and Cappadocia continents had entirely come under his rule, he had carried his influence as far as the places where Mithridates VII, king of Pontus, had reigned, and he had come to hold extraordinary influence among the ghazi Turks.

The Danishmendid realm had reached to the Caucasus in the east, to Bithynia in the west, to the Black Sea in the north and to the last border of Malatya in the south; it was a vast territory including what are now the provinces of Sivas, Mamuretülaziz, Erzurum, Trabzon, Kastamonu and Ankara. In his time the Seljuk realm did not have such breadth. For since it was repeatedly dispersed, fragmented, killed and seized, it could not preserve its structure. But since the Seljuks' power later overshadowed the Danishmendid state, it is understood that even historians wrote the Danishmendids to the Seljuks' account.

These conclusions drawn from the Dânişmendnâme and the general histories cannot be put forward as historical facts. However, it is thought that the conclusions that would be reached, after following and comparing the events recorded by history compilations written in three languages and by translated Western histories, and then collecting and examining the recorded documents, would amount to no more than these.

As written in Western histories, the Byzantine emperor Alexios, understanding that he could not defeat the Danishmendids and Seljuks, who had rescued their old homeland from foreign hands and settled in Anatolia, with his own power, applied (488) to Pope Urban II, the infallible head of all Christendom in Rome, and entreatingly asked for help from the pope's spiritual power.³²⁹ In order to secure the help of European Christians for the East, a priest named "Peter the Hermit," going about all the cities and towns and as far as the villages in shabby attire, stirred all Europe, raised it against the Islamic world and formed the columns of the "People of the Cross" famous in history.

Muhammed ibn el-Azîmî el-Halebî, one of the notables of this time, says in his history: "In the year 490 three hundred thousand Franks, from the warships that came before Istanbul, landed with their melik Sete and made an agreement with the melik of the Greeks to hand over to them every place they conquered, and marched on the Muslim lands from every side. While conquering every place they passed through, they burned it. Melik Dânişmend and Ibn Süleyman Kılıç Arslan allied and, before the Franks' eyes, burned all their goods and property and held the places where the Frankish unbelievers would find shelter. A great number of them perished."

As is understood from the Dânişmendnâme, the Greek emperor Alexios sends a large unit under the command of Aklidis (Kalidis), one of his famous generals, by way of the Black Sea against the Danishmendid land. Melik Gâzi Dânişmend Ahmed Han learns that the Greeks, having landed at Trabzon and taken it, are marching toward Helkine (Karahisar-ı Şarkî); leaving his son Seyfeddîn Ismail Bey in Harşene, he goes at once with the force he has to the city of Helkine.

His son too, taking an auxiliary force, runs after his father to the battlefield. While Melik Gâzi Dânişmend Ahmed Han fights the Greeks before Helkine, he falls from the effect of many arrows that struck his body; but the Greeks too are broken. While his son Ismail Bey pursues the Greeks, he learns that the Germans under the command of Selâhil and a great number of Franks under the command of Ataric have landed from the ships that came to Sinop and are marching toward Harşene, burning the cities and towns in their way.

Ismail Bey at once gives up pursuing the Greeks and, taking his wounded father, goes toward Harşene; when he reaches Niksar, his Excellency Melik Gâzi Dânişmend Ahmed Han departs to the abode of grace; this grieves everyone deeply. The Danishmendid emirs in the army appoint Ismail Bey, the said melik's eldest son, melik over themselves, and after burying the deceased in Niksar they come to Harşene (Amasya).

No explicit record of the date of Melik Dânişmend's death could be found in the general histories and the recorded documents. But from these recorded historical reports it is strongly thought that the said melik died in 490. For it is combined that in the history of Muhammed ibn el-Azîmî the said melik is alive in 490, and that, as written in Târîh-i Baybars, Ismail ibn ed-Dânişmend is present as emir in 491. Compared with this information given by the Dânişmendnâme, the conclusion emerges that he died in 490.

Since no coins of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Bey have been found, it could not be understood whether he had coins struck. According to the records he had three sons famous by the names Seyfeddîn Ismail, Tâceddîn İbrahim and İzzeddîn Muhammed. Since one of his sons-in-law was his cousin Suli Bey and the other Sultan Kılıç Arslan Han, it is thought that, with Ayşe Gâzi, he had three daughters. Tâceddîn İbrahim Bey had endowments in the livâ of Niğde; in his endowment deed dated 507 he is written as "İbrahim Bey ibn Dânişmend."

But Gümüştigin Gâzi, emir of Kayseri, although called in most Arabic histories İbnü'd-Dânişmend, that is, a son of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi, is not his son; perhaps he is a spiritual son, that is, an emir whom he loved as a son when he was his slave. For in the endowment deed of 500 showing the endowments Gümüştigin Gâzi set aside for the children of Abdulhamîd-i Şirvânî while he was emir of Kayseri, he is written as "el-Emîrü'l-Kebîr el-Mücâhid Alemüddîn Gümüştigin ibn Abdullah."

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• ammizâde: cousin (son of a paternal uncle)
• hafîd: grandson
• mahdûm: son
• dâmâd: son-in-law
• nâsih: a person who copies old works by hand, a copyist (scribe)
• tahrîf: corrupting a word and writing or saying it wrongly
• vakıf-nâme: endowment deed, the founding document of a waqf
• kitâbe: inscription carved on stone
• istinsah: copying a work by hand
• mühâcir, iskân: immigrants and settlement
• abaga: paternal uncle, family elder, an elder who is a mainstay
• hutbe: the address read at Friday and festival prayers, in which the ruler's name is also mentioned
• livâ, sancak: an administrative division smaller than a province
• emân: granting safety of life to one who surrenders
• sikke: coin, struck metal money

The Subject of the Section and the Author's Method

This section is the introduction to the part of the book devoted to the Danishmendids. Hüsameddin first dwells on the name and lineage of the person who conquered Amasya, then recounts in order the conquests made after the taking of Amasya, relations with the Seljuks, and the struggle against Byzantium and the Crusaders. The place where the author labored most is the genealogy. In the various histories, very different names such as Ca'fer, Nasr, Mitrâb, Mıdrâb, Migrâb and Alp Arslan are found for Ahmed's grandfather. Hüsameddin argues that these arose from the corruption of one person's name during copying and cites the carved inscriptions in Niksar as the basis of this interpretation. This kind of comparative method is often seen in Hüsameddin's book: he places written histories, inscriptions carved in stone, endowment deeds and local traditions side by side and tries to reconcile them.

Dânişmend Gazi and Gümüştegin: One or Two?

The point at which this section differs most clearly from today's research is its treatment of "Melik Ahmed Gâzi" as a single person. Hüsameddin presents Dânişmend Ahmed Gazi, who took Amasya, as a single ruler who died around 490, fought the Crusaders, and had sons named Ismail, İbrahim and Muhammed. Of Gümüştigin, emir of Kayseri, he says "not a son, but a spiritual child."

The entry on Dânişmend Gazi in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi draws a different picture. Dânişmend Gazi is the founder of the dynasty; he is accepted to have died around 1085 (the exact date is unknown). He was succeeded by his son Gümüştegin Gazi. The capture of Bohemund, the taking of Malatya and the relations with Kılıçarslan I are attached to this second ruler, who died in 1104. Gümüştegin's successor was his eldest son Emîr Gazi (Melik Gazi).

On the other hand, a tomb presentation argues that these names, which in old sources are described as if two separate persons, Dânişmend Gazi and his son Gümüştegin Gazi, are counted in modern historiography as belonging to a single founder. Since the sources differ on this, no judgment can be given here; one can only see this: Hüsameddin's "Melik Ahmed Gâzi" is a ruler merged into one person, and the details of the ruler who fought the Crusaders are disputed as to which person they belong to.

Another finding Hüsameddin draws from the endowment deed is that Gümüştigin, emir of Kayseri, is called "bin Abdullah" (son of Abdullah). He counts this as evidence that he was not Dânişmend's own son but his freed slave. Although this emir of Kayseri bears the same name as the ruler the TDV mentions as Dânişmend Gazi's son, whether they are the same person cannot be understood from these sources.

The Conquest of Amasya and the Danishmendid Period

The details Hüsameddin gives on the conquest of Amasya (patriarch Vengiyus's asking for quarter, the conversion of the Church of Andronikos into a mosque, the marriage with Gülnûş Bânû) rest on the Dânişmendnâme tradition. The TDV entry on the Dânişmendnâme notes that this work is an epic romance rather than a historical source; for this reason the names of persons and the order of events should be received with caution. From the Persian and Arabic sources considered more reliable, the following information stands out: after Manzikert, Sivas, Tokat, Amasya, Kayseri and Niksar were granted as iktâ to Dânişmend Gazi, who conquered and settled this region. The dynasty reigned from 1071 to 1178 in Sivas, Tokat, Amasya, Kayseri, Malatya and their surroundings.

Hüsameddin's explanation of the epithet "Dânişmend" is noteworthy: he says that this word was used in Khorasan in the sense of a scholar with an icazet and was not given to a children's school teacher. The TDV, for its part, reports that Ibn al-Athir writes that Dânişmend's real name was Taylû and that he taught the Turkmens. Hüsameddin's emphasis runs contrary to this information. The TDV also notes that some historians explain this epithet merely as knowing how to read and write.

Hüsameddin's findings on the Danishmendid traces in Amasya rest on local documents: the melik's palace in Gök Medrese Quarter, the "Altı Bahçeler" along the river, Yağıbasan's endowment deed of 560. These are the record of Amasya Tarihi itself; this book also appears in the bibliography of the TDV entry on the Danishmendids. The same entry mentions, as works remaining in Amasya from the Danishmendid period, the Çağlayan (Çalakçalık) Bridge and the foundations of the Küçük Ağa Complex; it is understood that the Çağlayan Bridge was built in the first half of the 12th century by Hüsâmüddevle Hasan, son of İltegin Gazi, one of Yağıbasan's emirs. The TDV entry on Amasya says that the oldest Turkish structure in the city is the mosque built by the Danishmendid Melik Gazi on the site of today's Şamlar Mosque, just east of the citadel.

The Crusaders, Kılıçarslan and the End of the Dynasty

The last part of the text recounts the request for help by the Byzantine emperor Alexios and Pope Urban, the arrival of the Crusaders and the death of Melik Ahmed Gâzi. On the Crusades the TDV's account is as follows: in August 1101 a new Crusader army made up of Lombards, French and Germans turned in the direction of Çankırı to go to Amasya and Niksar, but Gümüştegin, Kılıçarslan I and their allies routed this army near Merzifon. The Crusader account Hüsameddin reports from the Dânişmendnâme and Muslim historians generally coincides with this framework. It is noted that Bohemund was taken captive by Gümüştegin in 1100, taken to Sivas and then Niksar, and released for ransom in 1103. Afterwards relations with Kılıçarslan were spoiled, Gümüştegin was defeated near Maraş in August 1103 and died in Sivas in 1104.

In Hüsameddin's account that "Melik Gâzi Ahmed Han, while fighting the Greeks before Helkine (Karahisar-ı Şarkî) in 490, was gravely wounded, died on reaching Niksar and was buried there," the death at Niksar and the tomb being there agree with what the Dânişmendnâme says; the details of the battle at Helkine were not encountered in other sources. The author himself says that the date of death is not explicitly given in any record and that 490 is an inference. The TDV writes that the date of Dânişmend Gazi's death is not known exactly and that around 1085 is considered reasonable, and that Gümüştegin died in Sivas in 1104. On the tomb in Niksar, another source relates that the body of Ahmed Gazi, who died in Niksar, was first buried secretly to protect it from Crusader and Byzantine attacks; the original inscription of the building has not come down to the present and it is not certain for whom or when it was built. The tomb was heavily damaged in the 1939 Erzincan and 1942 Niksar earthquakes and underwent a comprehensive repair in 2017.

The question of Yağıbasan also draws attention. In the text Hüsameddin mentions two Yağıbasans: the emir of Sivas who was Ahmed's cousin, and his grandson who drew up the endowment deed of 560. According to the TDV, in the inscription dated 552 (1157) found in Niksar, Yağıbasan's name appears as "Yağıbasan b. Melik Gāzî b. Melik Dânişmend"; that is, according to the inscription he is a grandson of Dânişmend and his rule is between 1143 and 1164. This agrees with Hüsameddin's presenting the owner of the endowment deed as "hafîd" (grandson). The Danishmendids' rule in Amasya lasted about a hundred years and ended with Kılıç Arslan II's taking Amasya in 1175.

Points Worth Noting

The principal value of the text is that it supports the Danishmendid traces in Amasya with local documents and inscriptions. In particular the readings of the tomb inscriptions in Niksar and the endowment records are material still consulted today for the dynasty's family tree (the references to Amasya Tarihi in the TDV's bibliography show this). On the other hand, the reader must be cautious about the order and dates of events and about the nature of the sources Hüsameddin counts as "reliable." The author himself points out this caution: he plainly writes that the results he obtained cannot be put forward as established historical facts.

In addition, the place-name explanations given in footnotes (that the name Çorum comes from a word meaning "content," the name Osmancık from Osmâncık Bey, emir of Sorkun, and the old name of the town of Gümüş from "Gümüş Pazarı") are Hüsameddin's own interpretations; no confirmation of them was found in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 2, p. 315–322. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Abdülkerim Özaydın, "Dânişmend Gazi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 8, İstanbul 1993, p. 467–469: https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/danismend-gazi
• "Dânişmendliler", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi: https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/danismendliler
• Sefer Solmaz, "Melik Gazi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 2019: https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/melik-gazi
• "Amasya", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi: https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya

Other sources

• "Dânişmendliler Beyliği", Vikipedi: https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dânişmendliler_Beyliği
• "Danişment Ahmet Gazi Türbesi", Kültür Envanteri (Engin Mutlu, 2023): https://kulturenvanteri.com/yer/danismend-ahmet-gazi-turbesi/