Between Two Worlds Kafadar.pdf

Byzantines and the Mongols, and even the Seljuks, maintained some authority over
the frontiers. Even if that authority was not able to have its representatives
there all the time, even if it was obliged to comply with some cases of fait
accompli, it was needed at least as a referent to provide some credibility to
one's claims.
With respect to the Turco-Muslim side of the western Anatolian frontier in the
final decades of the thirteenth century, one can speak of multiple layers of
authority: (1) the Mongol ilkhanate and its governors, (2) the Seljuk sultanate,
(3) the Mamluk sultanate (mostly in the south and the southwest ), (4)
occasional Seljuk princes who were physically present in the frontiers but whose
eyes were set on the sultanate after establishing a power base for themselves,
(5) begs of the uc, who were appointees of or at least nominally approved by the
Mongols or the Seljuks, (6) begs of tribes, who may also have been begs of the
uc as defined in the previous category, (7) holy figures with a following, and
(8) upstarts who aspired to, and some of whom did, become begs. Given the
complexity and fluidity of the frontier regions, it would be a
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mistake to present the "Turco-Muslim side" as a self-enclosed entity, or a
"national team," as it were. The Byzantine emperor, too, was not without direct
influence among both Muslims and Christians if we consider the case of 'Ali
Amourios (to be discussed below) or the presence of various local Christian
lords and communities of monks. Not all of the powers representing the
established political centers of the region were present with the same force at
any given moment; it is not only their capability but also their interest that
ebbed and flowed. The relations between these layers kept changing as claims and
ambitions dashed or coincided to shuffle different powers into allied or hostile
camps.
Osman apparently displayed considerable political acumen in that environment
where alliances could and did cut across religious, ethnic, and tribal lines;
symbiotic relations developed between nomadic and settled communities. The
YF-Apz narrative relates stories of Osman's neighborly relations with the
Christian chiefs of towns and villages, and there is no reason to assume that
these were fictionalized in the fifteenth century. When he hears his brother
propose that they ought to bum and destroy the area around them, Osman is said
to have replied: "If we destroy these areas, our own town of Karacahisar cannot
prosper. What needs to be done is to maintain mudara (feigned) friendship with
our neighbors." It is also related that Osman's tribe, on its way to summer
pastures, deposited some of their belongings for safekeeping at the fortress of
Bilecik and on their return sent its tekvur, as a token of their appreciation,
"cheese and buttercream in animal skins as well as fine carpets and kilims." The
nature of these gift items also illustrates the nature of the symbiosis that
could develop between the pastoralists and the agriculturalists or townsmen due
to the different items produced by each. Commercial exchange was another facet
of this symbiosis; soon after taking charge of his first urban possession, Osman
is said to have set up a town market that would bring together infidels of the
surrounding areas and Muslims of the Ottoman and Germiyan begliks.[16]
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