TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

Most of the events mentioned in the hagiography occurred in the second half of
the fourteenth century, particularly during the reign of Orhan (1326-1362) and Murad I
(1362-1389). It seems from the text and archival evidence that Seyyid Ali Sultan, Seyyid
Rüstem and other dervishes settled down during the reign of Bayezid I (1389-1402) and
founded their hospices in several districts in Thrace. 335 From contemporary sources it
can be seen that a centralistic tendency gained impetus during the reign of Bayezid I
especially under the initiative of the Çandarlı Family. 336 But the bureaucratic Imperial
dream of Bayezid I turned into a nightmare by Timur in the Çubuk Valley, which was
followed by a civil war among the sons of Bayezid I. It was after some ten years that
Çelebi Mehmet, the youngest prince managed to eliminate his brothers and reunify the
Ottoman territories. From then on the centralistic tendency in the state organization
continued. Towards the last years of Bayezid I and later, though not being an emperor
like Mehmet the Conqueror and his successors, the Ottoman Sultans could be no more
be regarded as tribal chiefs as Osman and Orhan had been.
The hagiography gives Seyyid Rüstem’s date of death as 1421. This can be
interpreted that the first part of the narration corresponds roughly to the time of Orhan
and Murad I and perhaps to the early years of Bayezid I’s reign, while the second part,
after the seclusion, must correspond to the reigns of Mehmed I and Murad I, when the
nomadic tribal basis of the Ottoman state had already seriously diminished. 337 Hence, in
this perspective, the sharp change in the attitude of the hagiography towards state
representatives seems quite meaningful.
335
See Beldiceanu-Steinherr , “Osmanlı Tahrir Defterlerinde Seyyid Ali Sultan: Heterodox Đslam’ın
Trakya’ya Yerleşmesi”, p. 62.
336
See, for example, Halil Đnalcık, The Ottoman Empire The Classical Age, 1300-1600, London, 1973, p.
16; Feridun Emecen, “Kuruluştan Küçük Kaynarca’ya”, in Osmanlı Devleti Tarihi, cil I, Ekmeleddin
Đhsanoğlu, ed., Đstanbul, 1999, p. 18.
337
The first registers of land surveys were drawn up during the reign of Murat II.
128