Byzantium and the Turks in the Thirteenth CenturyAt the beginning of the thirteenth century Byzantium was still one of the most influential states in the eastern Mediterranean, possessing two-thirds of the Balkans and almost half of Asia Minor. After the capture of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, the most prominent and successful of the Greek rump states was the Empire of Nicaea, which managed to re-capture the city in 1261 and restore Byzantium. The Nicaean Empire, like Byzantium of the Komnenoi and Angeloi of the twelfth century, went on to gain dominant influence over the Seljukid Sultanate of Rum in the 1250s. However, the decline of the Seljuk power, the continuing migration of Turks from the east, and what effectively amounted to a lack of Mongol interest in western Anatolia, allowed the creation of powerful Turkish nomadic confederations in the frontier regions facing Byzantium. By 1304, the nomadic Turks had broken Byzantium's eastern defences; the Empire lost its Asian territories forever, and Constantinople became the most eastern outpost of Byzantium. At the beginning of the fourteenth century the Empire was a tiny, second-ranking Balkan state, whose lands were often disputed between the Bulgarians, the Serbs, and the Franks. Using Greek, Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman sources, Byzantium and the Turks in the Thirteenth Century presents a new interpretation of the Nicaean Empire and highlights the evidence for its wealth and power. It explains the importance of the relations between the Byzantines and the Seljuks and the Mongols, revealing how the Byzantines adapted to the new and complex situation that emerged in the second half of the thirteenth century. Finally, it turns to the Empire's Anatolian frontiers and the emergence of the Turkish confederations, the biggest challenge that the Byzantines faced in the thirteenth century. |
Contents
The Thirteenth Century | 1 |
The Sources | 7 |
The Nicaean Paradox | 40 |
The Sultanate of Rūm Preliminary Remarks | 81 |
NicaeanSeljuk Relations | 111 |
The Mongols | 170 |
The Age of Revolts The Loss of Byzantine Asia Minor | 217 |
The Aftermath Asia Minor after 1303 | 282 |
Byzantium in the Thirteenth Century Diplomatic Success and Military Failure | 289 |
Glossary | 298 |
Bibliography | 304 |
351 | |
365 | |
371 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abū According Aksarayi Alā Alexios alliance Anatolia Andronikos Angelos Antalya Arabic Armenian army Asia Minor Baiju Bar Ebrāyā Bar Hebraeus Bar Hebraeus Budge Bartusis Barzos battle Baybars brother Byzantine border Byzantium Cahen campaign Cheynet Choniates chronicle Constantinople Denizli diwān Dölger dynasty Emperor John Empire of Nicaea Ghiyāth Grand Komnenos Greek Gregoras Histoire Hülegü Ibn al-Athir Ibn Bībī Ibn Bibi Duda Īlkhān Izz al-Din John III Batatzes Kastamonu Kay-Kāwūs Kay-Khusraw Kay-Qubad Kazhdan Khān Kirakos Kılıç Arslān Konya Korobeinikov lands Laodikeia Latin Maeander malik Mamluk Manuel Maurozomes mentioned Michael Palaiologos Michael VIII Palaiologos military Mongol Muslim Nicaean emperors Nicaean Empire nomadic Ottoman Pachymeres Paphlagonia Persian pronoia Rashid al-Din Rukn al-Din ruler Rüm Russian translation Sangarios Seljuk Seljukid Shukurov sources Sultanate of Rüm Tārīkh-i Tärikh-i al-i Saljuq territory Thackston Theodore I Laskaris Theodore Metochites thirteenth century treaty Trebizond Turan Turkish Turks Uzluk Zhavoronkov