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The Dānishmendids

Before 490–573/before 1097–1178

Originally in north-central Anatolia, later also in eastern Anatolia

1. The line in Sivas ?–570/?–l175

2. The line in Malatya and Elbistan

The centre of power of the Dānishmendids was originally in north-central Anatolia and Cappadocia, as far west as Ankara and around such centres as Tokat, Amasya and Sivas; they thus controlled the northerly route of Türkmen penetration across Asia Minor, while the Seljuqs of Rūm controlled the more southerly one. The Turkmen founder Dānishmend (Persian, ‘wise, learned man, scholar’) is an obscure figure who appears as a ghāzī or fighter for the faith in Anatolia, clashing in Cappadocia with the First Crusaders but also, in some degree, as a rival to the Seljuq Qïlïch Arslan I. He is the central figure of an epic romance, the Dānishmend-nāme, a. mixture of genuine traditions and legendary elements written down over two centuries after the events described in it, in which he is identified with the earlier Arab frontier warrior of Malatya, Sīdī Baṭṭāl. It is accordingly difficult to disentangle fact from fiction in the elucidation of Dānishmendid origins. The Dānishmendids were at least as powerful as the Seljuqs in the early twelfth century, and Amīr Ghāzī Gümüshtigin fought the Armenians in Cilicia and the Franks in the County of Edessa, and in 521/1127 captured Kayseri and Ankara; because of his warfare against the Christians, the ‘Abbāsid caliph al-Mustarshid bestowed on him the title of Malik ‘king’, making the Amīr a legitimate Muslim sovereign prince.

However, internal disputes among the sons and brothers of the dead Malik Muḥammad brought disunity, and after 536/1142 the Dānishmendid dominions were in effect partitioned between Yaghïbasan in Sivas, his brother ‘Ayn al-Dawla Ismā‘īl in Malatya and Elbistan and Dhu ’1-Nūn in Kayseri. After Yaghïbasan’s death, the Seljuq Qïlïch Arslan II intervened several times in the affairs of the Sivas branch, finally killing Dhu ’1-Nūn in 570/1174 and seizing his lands. At Malatya, the last Dānishmendid Muḥammad had to reign as a Seljuq vassal until Qïlïch Arslan II took over there himelf in 573/1178; according to the historian Ibn Bībī, the surviving Dānishmendids entered the service of the Seljuqs.

Justi, 455; Lane-Poole, 156 (both very fragmentary); Sachau, 15 no. 27; Khalīl Ed’hem, 220–3; Zambaur, 146–7; Album, 29.

EI² ‘Dānishmendids’ (Irène Mélikoff); İA ‘Dânişmendliler’ (M. H. Yınanç), with a genealogical table.

CI. Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, 82–103.

O. Turan, Selçuklular zamanında Türkiye, 112–90.