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

and old Akkoyunlu begs. The events recorded in this chapter of Kemalpaşazāde’s
history all took place, as Kemalpaşazāde indicates in the same paragraph, in 905 / 1499-
1500. 1447 It becomes clear, then, that Selim embarked gazās on Georgia at least by 1499.
On the other hand, Kemalpaşazāde mentions elsewhere another invasion of Selim on
Gerogia. He states that in the early months of 914 / middle of 1508, Prince Selim moved
from Trabzon with a big army by the intention of gazā. 1448 Any other incursion of Selim
on Georgia after 1508 seems not to be possible since from then on, the struggle between
princes for the throne was intensified. Just like his brothers, Selim was occupied with
this struggle too much. Indeed, as will be discussed, the polemic between Prince Selim
and the Porte started soon after his return from Georgia with abundant captives and
spoils.
Consequently, based on Şükrī’s explanation, Prince Selim conducted three incursions in
Georgia, the first being in 905 / 1499-1500 and the last in 914 / 1508-9. Regarding the
other chronicles, however, this number might be increased. Kemalpaşazāde and Şükrī
congruently underlines that Selim returned from the last raid with plenty of booty and
slaves. According to Kemalpaşazāde, gāzis returned with more than 10.000 slaves and
the booty flowed into Trabzon like a river. 1449 Selim dispatched many valuable presents
from this booty to Bayezid with a letter explaining his victory (fetih-nāme). 1450
Kemalpaşazāde states that after Selim’s envoy arrived at the Porte, his son Süleyman
1447
KPZ8a, p. 233.
1448
KPZ8b, pp. 30-31. This information reinforces my argument on the date of Selim’s second attack on
Erzincan. If Selim marched on Georgia in the summer of 1508, then he must have attacked Erzincan in
previous summer.
1449
KPZ8b, pp. 32-33. For similar accaounts, also see SKB, p. 65; YSF, p. 24.
1450
KPZ8b, p. 33; SKB, p. 65; YSF, p. 24.
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