III. The Beginnings of Transformation

BEGINNINGS OF TRANSFORMATION
The same outcome resulted from intermarriage between the Turks and
the local population. This union between Turks and Christians had
already produced a new generation of Anatolians by the early twelfth
century, referred to in the Greek sources as mixovarvaroi, and their presence
is attested to in various Turkish armies. When Alexius was campaigning
against the Turks in the district of Polybotus, a number of the army
of the emir Monolycus were mixovarvaroi who spoke Greek. 246
They are
2 4 7
also mentioned in the army ofthe sultan ofKonya.
Certainly the most
celebrated instance of this intermarriage has to do with Danishmend and
his marriage to a Christian woman. 248
A further example is the case of
Tsiaous (chavush ?) the Turkish official who betrayed Sinope to Alexius.
His mother was a Georgian Christian and his father, a Turk. 249
twelfth-century canonist Balsamon remarks, with disapproval, that though
the Georgians were Orthodox, they were giving their daughters in
marriage to Agarenes. 250
The mixovarvaroi from Anatolia are mentioned
in a very interesting document in which Balsamon comments on canon
eighty-four ofthe Council in Trullo. 251
Though this phenomenon of intermarriage and the appearance of a
new generation of mixovarvaroi is only briefly mentioned by the sources,
one must assume that it was no rare or isolated occurrence. These mixo­
varvaroi suffered occasionally from a dichotomy of political sympathy
and allegiance, but in the long run their appearance in Anatolia resulted
in a process that favored the growth of the Muslim population at the
expense of the Christian population, because Muslim society dominated
politically and militarily. It is interesting, but unprofitable, to speculate
about what would have happened to the Anatolian mixovarvaroi under
different political circumstances.
To the extent that it took place in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,
conversion also had the effect of decreasing the number of Christians
while increasing the Muslim population. There is little in the way of
source material on the subject of conversions, but there seems to be some
indication that in this period conversions to Islam were numerically
significant, though not as extensive as they later were to become. The
Danishmendname reflects one aspect ofthe spirit in which the conquest of
much of Anatolia was made. It attributes a strong proselytizing zeal to
local Christians who assist the slaves in escaping. H. Kopstein, Zur Sklaverei im ausgehenden
Byzanz (Berlin, 1966), pp. 91-94.
2 4 7
Ibid., 207. Such, probably, were also the troops ofTzachas who beseeched the Lord
(in Greek) to save them from their Greek besiegers in Chios in 1090, Ibid., II, 111.
2 4 8
Danishmnendname-Melikoff, I, 129. See also, I, 318, 361, for other examples. E.
Rossi, Il Kitab-i-Dede Qorqut (Vatican, 1952), pp. 32-33, 181 ff.
2 4 8
Anna Comnena, II, 65-66.
2 5 0
Rhalles and Potles, I, 271-272; II, 475.
2 5 1
Ibid., II, 498. For their adoption of Christian baptism see chapter vii, n. 165.
176
The