El-Melik Seyfeddîn Ismail ed-Dânişmendî

In Modern English

After the said melik Gâzi Ismail Han succeeded his father upon the latter's death and became ruler of the Danishmendid realm, he came to Amasya with his emirs and soldiers. The kadı of Amasya was Abdurrahmân el-Harezmî, the atabeg of the state was Nâsıruddevle İltigin Gâzi, and the secretary of the government council was Alî ibn Ebi'l-Ma'âlî. Gâzi Ismail Han began to conduct affairs of state through them; he left in their posts the emirs appointed in his father's time and secured the loyalty of each.

However, the Crusader host of Germans and Frenchmen, which had burst forth from the direction of Sinop like a flood disaster, was advancing with great violence toward Amasya, the center of the Danishmendid government, destroying the places it passed through. When the news of the death of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi spread, the Greeks at once turned back and retook Helkine; the Crusader host also crossed the Kızılırmak and marched on Amasya.

Melik Ismail Han was growing uneasy in Amasya as these bitter reports arrived. For Gümüştigin, governor of Kayseri, and Fetih Han, governor of Ankara, the ghazis, were on the frontier, and his brother-in-law Sultan Kılıç Arslan Han was extremely busy with Crusader attacks at Iznik. The governors of Sivas and Erzurum had also taken part in the first battle, and the soldiers with them had suffered heavy losses. For this reason none of them was in a position to help him. Yet the flood disaster before him was approaching in a most terrifying manner.

Examining this terrible situation, Ismail Han, ruler of Amasya, followed the opinion of İltigin Gâzi, atabeg of the state, and decided as follows: he would first fight a pitched battle with the approaching enemy at Argun (Suluova); if victory proved impossible, rather than shutting himself in the fortress and giving the enemy the opportunity to seize everything, he would burn and destroy everything the Crusaders could make use of and withdraw to the mountaintops; then, harassing and troubling the enemy greatly with guerrilla warfare and night raids, he would in the meantime drive out the Crusaders and prepare an army ready for every sacrifice.

As written in many old histories such as El-Aylemü'z-Zâhir and Târîh-i Âl-i Dânişmend, Melik Ismail Gâzi fights a pitched battle near Amasya; although the soldiers with him were very few, he attacks the Crusaders like a lion; even Ayşe Gâzi, his sister or wife, surpasses others in attacking the enemy of the faith and shows valiant courage; the mujahids fight with the utmost self-sacrifice, but since the Crusaders were so many compared to them, victory could not be possible.

Of necessity Melik Ismail Gâzi withdraws in good order and comes to Amasya, burns everything and destroys the places that could give shelter, moves southward gathering his soldiers and all the Muslim Turks in one place, withdraws with them to the mountains and begins preparations. The Crusaders enter Amasya and stay at a place still known as Filingir (the Franks). The Greeks take Niksar.

Melik Ismail Gâzi, with the bands he formed in the mountains where he had withdrawn, constantly occupies the Greeks and the Crusader columns, harasses them with night raids and gives them no respite, plundering their armies whenever he finds an opportunity; on the other hand, he sends a delegation to Baghdad under the leadership of İltigin Gâzi and asks for help from the Seljuk ruler Berkyaruk Han.

But the Crusaders, extremely worn down by Melik Gâzi Ismail Han's bands and night raids, must have understood that their difficulties would grow the longer they stayed in Amasya; whether because they learned of the said melik's preparations or because they were in distress from lack of food and military supplies, after staying in Amasya about three months they were forced to destroy the town of Semendû (Ziyâre) and the remaining places, leave Amasya and go back to where they had come from.

But Amasya and its surroundings, ruined by the military movements of both the Danishmendids and the Crusader columns, had turned into heaps of rubble. For this reason not a single church or building from the early ages remained in Amasya. A large old patriarchate around today's Veng (Vengiyus) in Amasya, the churches built by the Cumans, palaces, and the churches famous under the names Aya Vasilus and Fokas had become heaps of stone. It is thought that those who destroyed them were in all likelihood the Crusader columns.

For at that time the sectarian enmity between the eastern and western churches in the Christian world was very terrible, and it is known historically that the Crusaders destroyed eastern churches in other places too, to spite the Greeks. It is also very probable that the Greeks who took Niksar, because of this sectarian enmity, harassed the Crusader columns together with the Danishmendids, and that the Crusaders took revenge by destroying the old works belonging to the Greeks. Otherwise, the Muslim Turks could have destroyed such solid and heavy buildings during the conquest of Amasya. It is not possible that, having not destroyed them then, they destroyed them while withdrawing hastily from Amasya.

Seeing the Crusaders withdraw from Amasya, Melik Ismail Gâzi comes after them and tries to repair the ruined Amasya. But since the terror that the Crusader columns constantly spread through Anatolia wounded the heart of Muslims, that is, of every individual who knows humanity, Melik Ismail Gâzi kept his military strength ready against every possibility; acting in alliance with Kılıç Arslan Han, ruler of Konya, the two together became an iron barrier in Anatolia against the Crusader armies.

After Melik Ismail Gâzi came to Amasya, while he was rescuing the cities of Niksar and Karahisâr-ı Şarkî and their surroundings from the Greeks and giving them to Hüseyin Gâzizâde Ahmed Bey, the news spread that the Crusader columns had defeated Sultan Kılıç Arslan, ruler of Konya, and were marching on Kayseri.

For as is understood from the general histories, the Crusader commander Count Bemind (Bohemond), who had forced Kılıç Arslan to withdraw in the Iznik area, was marching on Kayseri with a large force and trying to take it, but in the battle he entered with Alemüddîn Gümüştigin, governor of Kayseri, the Crusaders were routed and he himself fell captive to Gümüştigin Gâzi.

Then the routed Crusader columns gathered under General Simyon and attacked the Ankara side. Fetih Han Gâzi, governor of Ankara, defended to the end with his available soldiers, numbering a few thousand mujahids, but since the Crusader columns grew from day to day, Fetih Han was forced to withdraw and came to the sanjak of Çorum.

The Crusader columns, having taken Ankara and massacred all the believers living in it, followed Fetih Han and marched on Çorum, their target being the center, Amasya. After hearing of these terrible events in Amasya, Melik Ismail Gâzi went in 491 [1097-98] to the city of Çorum with his available soldiers, about five thousand mujahids; before the unscrupulous columns of the Crusaders arrived he prepared a stratagem of war.

He placed Fetih Han, governor of Ankara, in an ambush with three thousand very strong mujahids, and he himself, after a small pitched battle, shut himself in the fortress of Nikonya (Çorum). While defending from the fortress, one day he suddenly made a sortie, fought a little and then pretended to be broken; as the Crusader columns followed this they fell right into the ambush. The three thousand mujahids who came out of the ambush attacked the Crusaders violently, like lions, and Melik Ismail Gâzi turned back and encircled the Crusaders.

Melik Ismail Gâzi and Fetih Han Gâzi fought valiantly and with great self-sacrifice against the Crusader columns numbering fifty or sixty thousand, and there were great losses on both sides. But the result was won only by three hundred mujahids who, though wounded, sacrificed their lives to exalt humanity and to keep Islam alive; after suffering great losses the Crusader columns fled. Melik Ismail Gâzi and Fetih Han followed them and, with the auxiliary force of Emîr Gümüştigin, drove all of them out of the Ankara frontier.

In Târîh-i Baybars this terrible event is summarized as follows: "In 491 the Franks, after being routed in battle by Gümüştigin ibn ed-Dânişmend, gathered and marched on the fortress called Engûriyâ. After taking it and killing all the Muslims in it, they marched on a fortress around Harşene and besieged it. Ismail ibn ed-Dânişmend, who was in this fortress, gathered his soldiers and, after fighting, lured the Franks into the ambush he had prepared. Ismail ibn ed-Dânişmend joined those who came out of the ambush, and they broke the Franks and put most of them to the sword. Those in the ambush were three thousand men, and only three hundred wounded men prevailed over the Franks."

In this year Yağıbasan et-Togânî, emir of Antioch, cousin and father-in-law of Melik Ismail Gâzi, fell a martyr in the Crusader war. Although Ayşe Gâzi, who is buried in Amasya, is described as the daughter of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi, she is thought to be the daughter of Emîr Yağıbasan and the wife of Melik Ismail Gâzi. Abdurrahmân el-Harezmî, kadı of Amasya, died in these years and Alâ'eddîn Ebû Nasr Muhammed el-Harezmî became kadı of Amasya in his place; likewise in this same year, when Abdulhamîd eş-Şirvânî, kadı of Kayseri, fell ill, Sadreddîn Muhammed ibn Muhammed el-Geylânî el-Hüseynî became kadı of Kayseri.

Melik Gâzi Ismail Han, ruler of Amasya, by succeeding in dispersing the Crusader columns that had defeated the Seljuks, raised the influence and prestige of the Danishmendid government in Anatolia; although he had lost the Trabzon and Sinop areas in the Crusader wars, he achieved successes that sustained the existence of the Danishmendid government. But Emîr Alemüddîn Gümüştigin, governor of Kayseri, grew proud for having captured the Crusader commander Bohemond, and his loyalty to the center diminished.

For this reason two matters spoiled relations between Melik Ismail Gâzi and Emîr Gümüştigin. The first: when the Crusader columns were being driven out of the Danishmendid realm, Emîr Gümüştigin had also come with an auxiliary force and rescued Ankara, so he wanted Ankara to remain within his emirate. Melik Ismail Gâzi, however, since the self-sacrificing services of Fetih Han Gâzi, the former governor of Ankara, came first, thought it appropriate that the emirate of Ankara remain under Fetih Han's administration again.

The second: the Crusaders were trying to free Count Bemind (Bohemond), whom Emîr Gümüştigin had taken captive, by giving a very large sum. Melik Ismail Gâzi was of the opinion that if Bohemond were freed from captivity for money, he would increase his oppression and attacks against the Muslims to recover what he had paid; he did not consent to Bohemond's being returned. Emîr Gümüştigin, however, taking into account the soldiers' need for money, handed Bohemond over to the Crusaders under some ordinary conditions in return for the large sums he received.

Seeing that the second matter had been settled in this way, Melik Gâzi Ismail Han became angry and himself settled the first matter too by appointing Fetih Han governor of Ankara. But Emîr Gümüştigin, angered by this, not only claimed that he was the great successor of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi and declared his independence, but around 492 [1098-99], in exchange for Ankara, took Sivas and Malatya and their surroundings entirely and drove Melik Dânişmend's second son İbrahim Bey out of them.

That it is written in Mesâlikü'l-Ebsâr "in 493 [1099-1100], Gümüştigin ibn Tablu, emir of Kayseri, known as İbnü'd-Dânişmend, who was master of Sivas and Malatya," shows this historical fact. The reason some Arab histories call Emîr Gümüştigin "İbnü'd-Dânişmend" (son of Dânişmend) is this event. The endowment deed this emir had drawn up in 500 [1106-07] is among the legal proofs that refute this claim.

This attack of Emîr Gümüştigin had angered Sultan Kılıç Arslan, ruler of Konya and brother-in-law of Melik Ismail Han. But since on the one hand the terrible attacks of the Crusaders and on the other Emîr Gümüştigin's excessive loyalty to the Seljuk ruler Sultan Berkyaruk Han occupied his mind, he did not spoil political relations with Emîr Gümüştigin and was engaged in defense against the Crusaders in alliance.

However, Melik Ismail Gâzi, affected by this move of Emîr Gümüştigin, complains of Gümüştigin to Sultan Berkyaruk Han in Baghdad; he drew his attention by reporting the harm that disputes arising among Muslim emirs during the Crusaders' terrible attacks would cause. Sultan Berkyaruk Han, to settle such disputes by peace, in 494 [1100-01] appointed Gümüştigin Gâzi, emir of Kayseri, to the şıhnelik of Baghdad (the city's security post) and summoned him to Baghdad. He settled and put right the disputes with ease; he left Kayseri and Malatya and their surroundings under Gümüştigin's administration as before, and gave the emirate of Sivas to Melik Dânişmendzâde Gâzi İbrahim Bey.

In 495 [1101-02] the Seljuk Kılıç Arslan had fought the Crusaders, driven them from his land and increased the influence of his government. In 497 [1103-04] he took Malatya from Anuştigin, the deputy whom Emîr Gümüştigin had left in Kayseri. At the time Gümüştigin, the şıhne of Baghdad, heard of this, his master Berkyaruk Han died in early 498 [1104-05]; he was removed from the şıhnelik of Baghdad and returned to Kayseri. But having lost his former influence, he was necessarily attached to Melik Ismail Gâzi, ruler of Amasya.

As written in important histories such as Mesâlikü'l-Ebsâr, in 500 [1106-07], when Cigermiş (Çigremiş) Bey, governor of Mosul, died and his son Zengî Bey declared his emirate, Çavlı Bey had been appointed and sent as governor of Mosul by the Seljuk ruler Sultan Gıyâseddîn Muhammed Han. The people of Mosul, knowing Zengî Bey's weakness against Çavlı Bey's power, declared their allegiance to Sultan İzzeddîn Kılıç Arslan Han, ruler of Konya, and invited him.

Upon this invitation Sultan Kılıç Arslan, taking a sufficient force, set out from Konya and entered Mosul on the twenty-fifth day of Receb of the year 500. After taking the city over he gave its governorship to his eleven-year-old son Mes'ûd; then, fighting Çavlı Bey, who had been appointed governor of Mosul, he was defeated; while withdrawing he fell into the Habur (Abur) river and drowned in the month of Şevval or Zilkade of the same year. After this Alemüddîn Gümüştigin, emir of Kayseri, also died in Kayseri. Thus the Seljuk realm and the province of Kayseri were left without an owner.

Çavlı Bey, after his success in the war, took Mosul and captured Sultan Mes'ûd ibn Kılıç Arslan, who was its governor, and sent him to the Seljuk Sultan Gıyâseddîn Muhammed; and Melik Gâzi İbrahim Bey, governor of Sivas, with the help of his elder brother, first took Kayseri, captured Anuştigin et-Türkmânî, who had occupied it at Gümüştigin's death, and sent him to Amasya to Melik Gâzi Ismail ed-Dânişmendî. Then, when the Turkmen emirs living in the Seljuk land offered their allegiance to the ruler of Amasya, Gâzi İbrahim Bey took the Seljuk land and became, by his brother, governor of the Seljuk province.

From this date the Danishmendid realm united with the Seljuk realm; Melik Gâzi Ismail Han, ruler of Amasya, became ruler of Anatolia, and the city of Amasya the center of the Anatolian government. Since Sultan Kılıç Arslan had not obeyed the Seljuk ruler Sultan Gıyâseddîn Muhammed Han's command on the matter of the governorship of Mosul and had acted against him, Sultan Muhammed Han did not mind the passing of the Seljuk realm to the Danishmendoğulları; for the Danishmendoğulları were a branch of the Seljuk dynasty, that is, cousins of one another.

Sultan Seyfeddîn Ismail Han, ruler of Anatolia, residing in Amasya, gave the emirate of Kayseri to his younger brother İzzeddîn Muhammed Bey and the emirate of Sivas to Gâzi Ahmed Bey, lord of Niksar, and after conquering Trabzon and Sinop for the second time, is estimated to have died in Amasya in 506 [1112-13]. He had in Amasya a tomb, a zaviye in Şâmlar Quarter and a mosque in İçeri Şehir known as Loğ Minâre; he briefly rebuilt the town of Semendû (Ziyâre), which the Franks had destroyed, and gave it the name "Dânişmendiyye." It is understood from old records that when this town was later expanded and divided into quarters, the Dânişmendiye Town was counted as a quarter and called "Dânişmend Mahallesi."

When the news of the death of Sultan Ismail Han, who died around 506, reached Melik Şemseddîn İbrahim Bey, governor of Konya, he succeeded his brother and became ruler of Anatolia, made Konya his seat of government, and gave the governorship of Amasya to Fetih Han Gâzi Bey, governor of Ankara. If one considers that Kılıç Arslanzâde Sultan Mes'ûd was young and that the Seljuk ruler Sultan Gıyâseddîn Muhammed Han was hostile to Kılıç Arslan, Sultan İbrahim Han's rulership of Anatolia cannot be seen as far-fetched.

For in the endowment deed dated 507 [1113-14], which states that Sultan İbrahim Han "endowed several villages in the district of Şâmardı within the kaza of Niğde, in the Konya region, to the zaviye of Sheikh Turasan and his children," he is seen to be named with an Arabic title meaning "the great sultan, ruler of nations, Şemseddîn İbrahim, son of Dânişmend Bey," and in the record he is called by the epithets "Tâcü'd-devle, Tâcü'd-dîn, Şemsü'd-dîn."

Sultan Mes'ûd's succession to his father in Konya is written as falling in 503 [1109-10] in Mesâlikü'l-Ebsâr, 510 [1116-17] in Câmiu'd-Düvel, and 512 [1118-19] in some Arab histories. Since it is historically certain that Kılıç Arslan died at the end of the year 500, it is understood from legal documents that during the interregnum of the Seljuks in Konya, of three or ten or twelve years, in any case, first Sultan Ismail Han and then his brother Sultan İbrahim Han of the Danishmendids were rulers of Konya.

In the same way, after Sultan Mes'ûd took back the government of Konya from the Danishmendids, it is historically certain that he directed his feelings of revenge toward removing the Danishmendid government from Anatolia, occupied the Danishmendid land after the death of Melik Muhammed Gâzi Bey, and, taking Amasya, the center of the Danishmendid government, made it the center of the Seljuk sultanate; this is among the clear works and proofs that demonstrate the accuracy of this legal document and that this historical event took place.

Fetih Han Bey, governor of Amasya, was the son of Kılıç Bey, chief of the Koyunlu tribe, and became governor of Amasya around 506 [1112-13]. Because he had the Eleni Church at his residence in Amasya renovated and converted into a mosque and repaired its quarter, the church and its quarter were given the name "Fethiye Camii, Fethiye Mahallesi." It is mentioned in the Mukaddime that his tomb was near the mosque and was later moved to the Cumûdâr Tomb adjoining the Burma Minâre Mosque.

Sultan İbrahim Han, ruler of Anatolia, during his reign of about four years, appointed his son Aynu'd-Devle Ahmed Bey to Malatya and his nephew Mecdeddîn Sunkur Bey to the emirate of Niksar, was engaged in the Crusader wars, and most probably died in 510 [1116-17]. This is understood from the fact that on that date Sultan Mes'ûd ibn Kılıç Arslan, by order of Sultan Gıyâseddîn Muhammed Han, came, took the Seljuk land and became ruler of Konya.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• müşârün-ileyh: the person named, spoken of
• ehl-i salîb: the Crusaders
• Rûm: Greek Christians subject to Byzantium, Byzantines
• atabeg: a senior statesman who acted as the ruler's deputy and adviser
• seyl-i belâ: a disaster that comes like a flood
• hud'a-i harbiyye: stratagem of war
• tard: expulsion, driving away
• ric'at: withdrawal
• mülhakât: places attached to a place, surroundings
• sedd-i âhenîn: iron barrier
• i'mâr: repairing and making flourishing
• nasb: appointment to a post
• ma'zûl: removed from office
• şıhne: the senior official responsible for a city's security and order
• halîle: wife
• ammizâde: cousin (son of a paternal uncle)
• kuyûd-ı atîka: old records
• vesâ'ik-i şer'iyye: legal documents such as endowment deeds and court records
• fâsıla-i saltanat: interregnum between two reigns

Hüsameddin's Sequence of Rulers and Today's List

Hüsameddin relates that after Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi his son Ismail became ruler in Amasya and reigned until around 506 [1112-13]. The ruler list given in encyclopedias today follows a different sequence. After Dânişmend Gazi comes his son Gümüştegin; after Gümüştegin's death in 1104 his eldest son Emîr Gazi (Melik Gazi) heads the dynasty and reigns until 1134. The name Ismail appears in this list only after 1164, among those who followed Yağıbasan. In one genealogical chart the name Ismail also appears among the sons of Dânişmend Gazi, but he has no place in the sequence of rulers. This ruler of Amasya, whom Hüsameddin deduces from his own sources, does not find a counterpart in this form in the contemporary studies I read.

Gümüştegin and Bohemond

In the text Gümüştigin appears as governor of Kayseri and not of the Danishmend line, but as an emir subordinate to the ruler. In contemporary research, however, Gümüştegin is a son of Dânişmend Gazi and the second ruler. During the Crusade he allied with Kılıçarslan I, the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan, and took part in the clash on the plain of Eskişehir in 1097. In the following years he besieged Malatya; he ambushed and captured Bohemund, Prince of Antioch, who came to the city's aid, and imprisoned him at Niksar in the summer of 1100. Malatya surrendered to him on 18 September 1102. Bohemund was released for ransom in 1103; some sources give the ransom as 260,000 dinars.

The ransom question opened a rift between Kılıçarslan and Gümüştegin. Kılıçarslan, as an ally, demanded a share of the ransom and also feared that a new Crusader alliance would arise in the region. In August 1103 he defeated Gümüştegin near Maraş, and Gümüştegin died in Sivas in 1104. The dispute Hüsameddin describes also revolves around the ransom, but the party opposite is not Kılıçarslan but Ismail, ruler of Amasya. That is, the same ransom dispute is attached to two different pairs in the two accounts. Moreover, the name of the lord of Kayseri who stood beside Gümüştegin at the clash of Eskişehir in 1097 appears in the sources as Hasan; this record does not coincide with Hüsameddin's Gümüştigin, governor of Kayseri.

The Crusade of 1101 and the Road to Amasya

The Crusader march Hüsameddin describes, the taking of Ankara, the advance toward Çorum and the target being Amasya, coincide with the route of the Crusade of 1101. This expedition, made up of Lombards, French and Germans, had set out to rescue Bohemund on learning that he had been taken captive. The army, which departed from Kivetot on 3 June 1101, after taking Ankara turned toward Çankırı to go to Amasya and Niksar, and in August 1101 was routed near Merzifon by the combined force, of about 20,000, of Gümüştegin, Kılıçarslan, Ridvan, the Seljuk melik of Aleppo, and Karaca, emir of Harran. That is, the expedition was stopped at Merzifon before reaching Amasya. Hüsameddin ties the event to 491 [1097-98], whereas contemporary sources say 1101. I did not come across, in the sources I read, the information that the Crusaders entered Amasya, stayed three months and destroyed the city.

The Death of Kılıçarslan

The Mosul episode in the text largely coincides with today's sources. The Great Seljuk Sultan Muhammed Tapar had appointed Çavlı to Mosul, the people of the city invited Kılıçarslan, and Kılıçarslan entered Mosul on 25 Receb 500 (22 March 1107). Defeated in the battle with Çavlı on the bank of the Habur (13 July 1107), Kılıçarslan, being armored, could not cross the river and sank into the waters with his horse. His body was found a few days later and taken to Mayyafariqin; the information in the footnote is this.

The accounts diverge after this. Hüsameddin relates that after Kılıçarslan's death the Danishmendid and Seljuk lands united and that Ismail and his brother İbrahim became rulers in Konya. In the contemporary account, by contrast, Emîr Gazi first recognized the Seljuks as superior, then after 1107 took advantage of the struggle for the throne among the sons and supported his son-in-law Mesud, and Mesud came to the throne in 1116 thanks to him. The information that Danishmendid rulers reigned in Konya was not encountered in the sources I read. The date 510 [1116-17] that Hüsameddin gives for Mesud's accession agrees with 1116.

What Remains in Amasya Today

The grave of Ayşe Gazi is in Şamlar Quarter, within the registered Roman necropolis. It is a plain structure made up of a single grave, rectangular and open at the top; the gravestones at the head and foot carry inscriptions. It is called a türbe, but it has no closed superstructure as in traditional Seljuk tombs. The cultural inventory entry points in its publication index to the first volume of Hüsameddin's book. In the inventory entry the cultural period is written as Ottoman; the view that the grave belongs to the Danishmendid period is not confirmed by this record. The text reports two views on the woman's identity: the daughter of Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi, or the daughter of Emîr Yağıbasan and wife of Ismail.

The building Fetih Han converted into a mosque is today the Fethiye Mosque. It is an old Byzantine church, and in some sources it is thought to have been built by Helena, daughter of the Emperor Phocas; it is related that Fetih Gazi, who was governor of Amasya in the Danishmendid period, converted it into a mosque and for this reason named it Fethiye. Very little remains of the mosque's church state; it is set up in the apse section. The name Helena is the counterpart of the name Eleni that Hüsameddin mentions. Hüsameddin notes in a footnote that the stones of the destroyed old churches were used in later buildings, in the case of the Torumtay and Halifet Gazi buildings. The fact that the marble sarcophagus on the lower floor of the Halifet Gazi Tomb bears reliefs of a ram's head, a winged eros and Medusa also suggests that ancient material was used afterwards.

The founding of the Küçük Ağa Complex in Amasya goes back to the Danishmendid period, but the building was altered almost entirely and raised anew in the Ottoman period in the late 15th century. No information was found in the sources I read on the present condition of the Loğ Minâre named in the text, the zaviye in Şâmlar and Ismail's tomb.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 2, p. 322–327. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Abdülkerim Özaydın, "Dânişmendliler", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/danismendliler
• Işın Demirkent, "Kılıçarslan I", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kilicarslan-i
• Faruk Sümer, "Mesud I", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mesud-i
• Sefer Solmaz, "Melik Gazi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/melik-gazi
• M. Baha Tanman, "Dânişmendliler (Mimari)", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/danismendliler#2-mimari

Official sources

• "Ayşe Hatun (Ayşe Gazi) Türbesi", T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kültür Portalı, Kültür Envanteri, https://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/amasya/kulturenvanteri/ayse-hatun-ayse-gazi-turbesi
• "Halifet Gazi Türbesi", Kültür Portalı, https://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/amasya/gezilecekyer/halfet-gaz-turbes
• "Fethiye Camii", T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kültür Portalı, Amasya Gezilecek Yerler (kaynak: Amasya İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü)

Other sources

• "Dânişmendliler Beyliği", Vikipedi, https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dânişmendliler_Beyliği