Between Two Worlds Kafadar.pdf

It is time now to go over the gaza thesis in more detail and then turn to its
critics. As indicated above with respect to the methodological Position he
shared with Köprülü, Wittek could not have formulated his thesis without
assuming some sort of diachronic continuum in the gazi traditions of Anatolia,
and of medieval Islam in general, reaching the early Ottomans, as well as some
level of synchronic communication and similarity between the gazis in Bithynia
and elsewhere in Anatolia. That is precisely why he prefaced his account of the
rise of the Ottomans with a survey of the gazi traditions in Anatolia starting
with
― 48 ―
the Danismendids of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries. And that is also
why he found the experiences of other emirates broadly contemporaneous with the
Osmanli relevant for an understanding of the uniquely successful case of the
latter.
The political and military leadership of the frontiers always belonged to the
gazis, according to Wittek. Since the late eleventh century, Anatolian frontier
areas were dominated by gazis, whose independent, sporadic, and unruly
activities did not always conform to the stability-oriented Realpolitik of the
Seljuk administration. There were frequent dashes between Seljuk authorities and
the gazis, whose most notable representatives were the Danismendids in the
twelfth century. In the early thirteenth century, there was a rapprochement
between the gazis and the Seljuks, but the Mongol invasions brought this
situation to an end.
In the second half of the thirteenth century, the western Anatolian marches were
swollen not only by new influxes of nomadic groups and their holy men pushed by
the Mongol invasions but also by "prominent Se1çuks seeking refuge, leaders from
dispersed armies, old gazis whose rapprochement with Konya had come to an end."
The chronicles of that period are therefore filled with accounts of central
armies undertaking campaigns against unruly ucat . Against the backdrop of the
decay of Byzantine defenses in western Anatolia after the end of Lascarid rule
from Nicaea, the revitalization of the marches from the Turkish side led to new
political configurations, signified by the appearance of several small emirates.
According to Wittek, nomadic Turks took part in the invasions, incursions, and
emerging emirates, but they were subordinated to gazis, "those march-warriors
who for generations had attacked and overrun the frontier... the leaders of the
gazis became the princes of the emirates."[51] We have already seen that his
detailed study of the Mentese emirate led Wittek to attribute the formation of
this polity to the successful piratical expeditions of the gazis joined by "the
seafaring inhabitants of the coastal districts" and "a large number of Byzantine
mariners."
Similar small states came into existence in other parts of western Anatolia.
Among these, one was founded by Osman's followers, who, like other gazi
formations, had "adapted themselves to the civilization of the country which
they attacked,' and this "made it all the easier for the Akritai [Byzantine
border warriors] to join them in groups, and for forts and smaller towns to
capitulate voluntarily." Also, these Ottomans "did everything to promote
47