1. New Islamic Worlds: 12th-15th Centuries
Battling for Islam – Umayyad Power: February 3

2. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
The ‘Turks’: Seljuk Empire or ‘Seljuk of Rum’
The Mongols: in Western Sphere
The ‘Turks’: Osmanli Dynasty – known as the Ottomans (in the west).

3. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
(1) The Turks:
Met them first when discussing Islamic movement into Central Asia/frontiers with China
Among earliest sources for Turks are 6th c. Chinese
‘khans’ (chiefs) under nominal Tang Dynasty

4. Origins of
Turkish Clans:
Central Asia

5. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Evidence of early Turkic language: c. 730
Islam gaining influence under Umayyads in Asia
[see lecture “End of Umayyad Caliphate”]
Same era (6th-8th c.): Turkish nomads moving West, into Anatolia: enlisted by Byzantines in 7th c. against Sassanians (Persians)

6. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Migrations among Turikish nomadic clans: characterized Central Asia – push/pull factors
Reasons varied (climate e.g. drought; political conflict; attractions of better pasture, trade…)
In process: ‘jostling’ against each other and engaging in different conversions – both Christian and Islamic

7. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Oguz Turks: one of these ‘tribes on the move’
Embraced Islam in the 10th C.
Moved into Transovania under Khan Seljuk (chief of clan ‘Seljuk’)
Later moved further west: entered service of Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad

8. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Turkish clans like Oguz important to Caliphate:
Abbasids exploited internal dissensions between Turkish clans
As protectors of frontiers, often fought against other Turks

9. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1055: Seljuk Khan (Tugrul Bey) occupied Baghdad
One of these clan leaders turned his ‘army’ consisting of gazzi (those claiming to fight in the name of jihad) and mamluks (slave soldiers from various backgrounds) – against the very power it was supposed to be protecting

10. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Emergence of two Powers:
Abbasid Caliph left as nominal ‘Islamic’ authority, but Seljuk Khan demanded recognition as ‘temporal’ leader or ‘Sultan’
Regime eliminated ‘Arabs’ from government and put ‘Persians’ in place: known as ‘Great Seljuk Empire’

11. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
“Champions of Sunni Islam”:
Not only built empire but did so in name of Sunni Islam
Successor prepared campaign against Egypt because it was Shia (Fatimid)
But…developments in Anatolia more engaging

12. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Seljuk administration: based on continued jihad
Depended on warriors to ‘hold’ territory
Gazzis became largely autonomous force: raiding into and looting Byzantine territory
Seljuk Turks needed to move into Anatolia to ‘control’ situation

13. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1071: took on Byzantines at Manzikert
Success opened Anatolia to Seljuk conquest
By 1080: had won control of region
BUT: attention to West had cost them in the East

14. Seljuk Dynasty late 11th C.: shows newly won Baghdad, Anatolia14

15. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Having made peace with the Byzantines the Seljuks intended to attack Egypt:
Khan Alp Arslan learned in Aleppo of the Byzantine advance

16. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
he returned north, met the Byzantines north of Lake Van: Battle of Manzikert

17. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
States carved out under nominal authority of Baghdad:
Had strong Turkish migration
Strongest centred on Konya: known as ‘Sultanate of Rum’ (or ‘Rum Sultanate’) – meaning ‘Rome’, reference to Anatolia being the legacy of ‘Eastern Roman Empire’

19. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Konya:
Ruled as tribal confederation
Ruling family chose Khan: loyalties to Clan
Succession frequently challenged

20. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
“Cost” in terms of two issues:
One: Authorities in Baghdad (still under impotent Abbasid Caliph): not interested in Anatolia
No effort to exert/implement real authority in wake of military success
May have been related to Mongols (Two, below)

21. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Two:
East suffering ongoing attacks by Mongols
(developed below)

22. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Government/Administrative Structure:
Sultan: military leader who left ‘governing’ in hands of viziers (prime ministers): Persians
Emirs: governors, provincial military commanders
Begs : autonomous regional commanders [atabeg – equivalent of emir]

23. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Seljuks essentially replaced Byzantine officials:
New elite was Turkish and Muslim (rather than Byzantine and Christian): little else changed
Impact: gradual conversion to Islam, incorporation of Turkish culture, facilitated by growing levels intermarriage (both urban, rural)

24. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Impact of the Crusades:
First Crusade 1095: goal Jerusalem
Although Baghdad still ‘centre’ (and in Abbasid hands): real Crusade was against the Seljuks
[refer also to Pope Urban’s speech 1095 – made it clear who HE saw as enemy: ‘Persians’]

25. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
First Crusader Attack on Konya:
Defeat of Seljuks decisive and important
Led to re-establishment of Byzantine rule in western part of Anatolia and Coastal Syria – “Crusader States” [last week’s lectures]

26. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1040s: Seljuk Rum empire -- began to re-take many Christian conquests, including Konya
Survived until late 13th c. as ‘vassal’ of Mongols
Mongols had successfully besieged Baghdad [more below]: little interest in Anatolia
treated Seljuks as ‘extensions’ of empire they had just conquered

27. [pre Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1257-8]

28. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
By 1330s: Anatolia, Syria
Several gazzi (term for warriors supposedly fighting jihad) ruled emirates competed for dominance, power against each other – largely autonomous of Eastern Regions
It was in this political chaos that new power emerged: ancestors of Ottomans [see below #3]

29. [post Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1257-8]

30. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
(2) The Mongols:
Mongol Nomads from Central Asia: first drawn into powerful confederation by Genghis Khan c. 1200
This is after Salah ad-Din’s death (1193) but within era of the Ayyubid dynasty of which he was a part ( )

31. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1206
1218
1227

32. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Originally shamanist:
as moved out of Central Asia – embraced range of religions they encountered including Buddhism, Christianity (Eastern)
and Islam: mostly Sunni but Shia in some regions

33. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Gazan Khan (grandson Genghis): converted to Islam ,made it ‘official’ religion ( ) [right]
Coins minted in his name with Arabic/Islamic inscriptions [below]

34. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Late 11th c.: sporadic Mongol attacks on Baghdad
1185: visitor described city as having “no beauty that attracts the eye…”

35. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1242: last Abbasid Caliph came to power in Baghdad
Later Muslim accounts paint him as bad, immoral caliph, surrounded by equally corrupt court
Need to remember practice of ‘adjusting’ later accounts to ‘shape’ history: here he is the literal ‘end’ of the Arab-conquest based empire

36. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Most significant points:
while Caliph and most of Court were Sunni Muslims: vizier was Shia
Many resented, distrusted him: yet he was in ‘key’ position
Also military commander: ‘personally’ ambitious

37. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1254: Khan Hulagu began campaigns into Middle East
Over two years: most local rulers just submitted
Faced resistance in Northern Iran: Ismailis – defeated them
By 1256: on the borders of Abbasid Caliphate

38. Hulagu [left] and his Army [above]

39. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1256: Baghdad struck by major flood (Tigris River)
Led to internal violence: Shia – Sunni divide
Caliph’s son (Sunni) led massacre into Shia neighbourhood
Vizier (Shia) protected 100s of refugees in own palace

40. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Identified by Chronicles as crucial moment:
proof that the Vizier later secretly supported the Mongols in their effort to take Baghdad
1257: Baghdad under siege
1258: last Abbasid Caliph surrendered city to Mongol devastation: looting, burning, killings [see readings]

41. *
Hulagu’s Conquests – “Khanate” [above] Siege of Baghdad [right]

42. Mongol Empire c. 1256

43. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
(3) The Ottomans: Early history shrouded in legends
Khan of Ogzuz Turks fled from violence of Mongol attacks in mid 13th c. into Anatolia
Offered service to Sultan of Seljuk Rum
Given land ‘to defend’ (for empire) near Bursa

44. Rise of New Islamic Worlds*

45. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Well situated to profit from. . .
Rich agricultural land, pasture
sea trade on both Mediterranean and Black Seas
commercial international caravan traffic – natural ‘carrefour’

46. 46

47. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1299: his son Osman succeeded
Founder of Osmanli (‘Ottoman’) Dynasty
Exemplified Anatolian beg: established allies, raided neighbours, married into Christian families (his son married daughter of local Christian Chief)
built principality ‘fiefdom’ (beylick)

48. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
His wealth and ‘success’ in terms of Seljuk values:
attracted followers who brought their with herds
made him attractive to local powerful dervishes [sufis]
drew Islamic scholars to his people -- and his people to Islam as process of conversion accelerated

49. Rise of New Islamic Worlds*

50. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Osmanli beylick: emerged predominant in region
more respected and powerful than competing neighbours but not essentially ‘different’
by time of death (1323/4), Osman able to:
- strike coins in his name
- issue endowment deeds
- undertake long, military operations

51. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Rise of what would become Ottoman Empire explained in legend known as “Osman’s Dream”
written down long after Osman’s death (15th c.)
Dream said to have come to Osman while sleeping in house of traditional holy man (shaykh), Edebali

52. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Upon awaking, Osman spoke to the shaykh:
“…I saw you in my dream. A moon arose from your breast. It rose and rose and then descended into my breast. From my navel there sprang a tree. It grew up and turned green. It branched out and got complicated. The shadow of its branches covered the whole world.
What does it mean?”

53. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
A second version differs slightly: the tree simply ‘sprouted’, its branches ‘encompassed the world’:
“Beneath this shade there were mountains, and streams flowed forth from the foot of each mountain. Some people drank from these running waters, others watered gardens, while yet others caused fountains to flow.
What does it mean?”

54. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
And the Shaykh replied:
“Osman, my son, congratulations for the imperial office [bestowed by God] to you and your descendants,
. . . and my daughter Malhun shall be your wife!”

55. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Legend serves same role as earlier Chronicles:
similar explanation to Hoylands writing of 9th century sources ‘constructing’ particular vision of earlier Islamic conquests, Caliphs and so on
shaped by what was happening at the time of writing (here believed to be mid-to-late 1400s)
legitimized Ottoman religious, military power

56. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Osman took title of ‘Sultan’ in recognition of power of his beylick:
established political administration that engaged gazzi (essentially ‘free-lance’ warriors) to work in interests of state
paid them with loot and plunder from battles

57. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Lifelong goal: to capture Byzantine city of Bursa
laid seige in 1317; Osman’s son Orhan delivered final blow in 1326 (Osman literally on deathbed)
governor submitted: ‘gift’ of precious clothes, 40,000 gold coins -- allowed to leave with family
Bursa became new Capital of Ottoman State

58. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Taking of Bursa: watershed
Marked beginning of ‘sedentarization’ of nomadic society
Byzantines incorporated into Ottoman bureaucracy: literate scribes, trained administrators
origins of new ‘urban’, literate class in society

59. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Osmanli ‘Ottomans’ now well situated for:
raiding into fertile, wealthy Anatolian lands
military expansion into Balkans
[main achievement of Orhan]

60. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
involvement in politics of Constantinople and further profitable alliances e.g. with Genoa
(and ultimately) building of permanent base across Dardanelle straits after capture of Gallipoli (1354)

61. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Under Murad I ( ):
conquered most of “Rumelia” (lands of the Romans) – encircled but did not succeed in taking Constantinople
Ottoman seat of government moved to Edirne

63. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Major setback for Ottomans: Bayzid I ( ) – brought all three ‘new Islamic worlds’ together
strategy for consolidating/defending power in Anatolia involved Byzantine employment of Seljuks – and Seljuk engagement of gazzi as warriors and frontier ‘guards’
gazzi attracted purely by plunder (rather than ‘loyalty’) began defecting to Mongols [see above]

64. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Timur Lenk (“Tamarlane” in the West):
began attacking Osmanli emirates: in 1402 captured Sultan Bayezid I
Taken as prisoner to Timur Lenk

65. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
story: he was ‘displayed in a cage’, then imprisoned – where he died the following year
Mongols then turned back towards Eastern interests, restored emirates to Seljuks/Osmanlis

66. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
By 1420s: Ottoman power ‘reviving’ in Anatolia
goal remained conquest of ‘jewel in crown’ – Constantinople
By mid-century, undertaking campaigns against city

67. Constantinople *

68. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
1451: Sultan Mehmed II took power
it was he who delivered on the hadith that predicted that after the retaking of Jerusalem would come the victory of Muslim forces over the centre of Christendom
After 50-day siege: Mehmed II and his army marched into defeated Constantinople, ending 1400 years of Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire

69. The Battle for the City [below]
The Siege [left]
The Battle for the City [below]

70. Mehmet ‘The Conqueror’ Enters Constantinople after its Fall to Ottomans 1453

71. Rise of New Islamic Worlds
Affirmed new centre for Islamic Caliphate:
Edirne became second capital, Constantinople (only much later named Istanbul) centre of Islam
century later under Suleiman ‘the Magnificent’, Ottoman Empire achieved largest expansion, well into Europe, Africa, Arabia and Asia: this Islamic Empire lasted over 500 years (1923) – much longer than any of its predecessors

72. Suleiman ‘The Magnificent’ tughra (signature) above reads: “Suleiman shah ibn Selim shah khan al-muzzafar al-Daiman” --
“Suleiman Shah son of Khan Selim,
ever (the) victorious” (‘khan’ - Mongol Father, ‘Shah’ - Persian self)