The Turks in the Islamic World before 1300

830-850, Turkish mercenaries from Central Asia found in service of Abbasid caliphs

850-905, Tulunids (Turkish generals) rule Egypt virtually independently of the Abbasids

900, Samanids rule in eastern Persia and borderlands of Turkistan; Turks are exposed to Persianate Islamic culture;
preparation far incorporation of Turks into main body of Middle Eastern Islamic civilization

10thc. , term sultan (Arabic abstract noun meaning sovereign authority) begins to be used to designate rulers

c.1000 , Ghaznavids establish rule in Afghanistan, break Samanid power, and expand into Persia below Oxus River;
champions of Sunni Islam within a predominantly Persian cultural context

1040, Seljuks take Khorasan from Ghaznavids; soon control most of Persia with center at Isfahan; from there
advance to defeat Buwayhids (Shii Persians) who had dominated Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad for a century

1055, Seljuk sultans become de facto rulers in Abbasid Baghdad; two centuries of turmoil is ended and unity
restored in eastern Islamic region; Persia and Mesopotamia are reunited and northern Syria added to the Great
Seljuk state

1071 , Battle of Manzikert ( Malazgirt ) a decisive victory for Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan over Byzantines; break
Byzantine line of defense in Eastern Anatolia; Turkish-speaking Muslims raid and settle in area now known as
Turkey; much of the Greek/ Christian veneer of indigenous Anatolian population gradually replaced by a
Turkish/Muslim veneer

1092 , death of Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah and his great vizier, Nizam al-Mulk; dynastic strife ensues

1118, Seljuk Empire splits into principalities ruled by princes of the family, often over- shadowed by their atabeys
( tutor guardians )

12th c. , Seljuks of Rum ( Konya, Anatolia ) rule centra1 Anatolian plateau with center at Konya (Iconium) .

1204 , Byzantium fatally weakened by 4th. Crusade and Latin occupation

c.1200 , high point of Seljuks of Rum; by absorption of smaller Turkish principalities (beyliks), Seljuks extend their
jurisdiction to south coast of Anatolia; Turkish nomads (gazis) active in western border/march region adjacent to
Byzantium

1243, Mongols under Hulagu Khan move west, defeat Selcuk Sultan Kaykhusrav II, and establish overlordship in
Seljuk Anatolia

1258, Mongols conquer Baghdad and bring Abbasid Caliphate to an end

Later 13th c., Turkish Anatolia fragmented as Mongol control weakens and is withdrawn; many small principalities
( beyliks ) emerge, one of them led by Osman (Turkish form of the Arabic/Muslim name, Uthmm; European
corruption of Osman is Ottoman) in northwest Anatolia (around Iznik and Bursa) adjacent to Byzantine territories.

1071-1300, Anatolia witnesses swift military penetration, ragged political conquest, partial and superficial
cultural/linguistic conquest by Muslim Turks who, in their upper ranks were carriers of Persianate Muslim culture.
That group was small in number but powerful . Below them, Turkish-speaking Muslims mix with indigenous
population. Folk culture and folk religion often at odds with high culture and Islamic orthodoxy represented by the
religious and political elite in the society.

The Ottomans: Anatolian March Principality, 1300-1366

1299-1324 , Osman I Gazi. Establishes rule around Bursa in NW Anatolia

1324-1360 , Orhan I Gazi. Crosses into Balkans in 1345 as ally of Byzantine Emperor, John Cantacuzenus, against
Serbs; marries his daughter, Theodora; 1353, John C. Again calls in Orhan and this time Ottomans stay; set up base
at Gallipoli; JohnC. seeks help from Bulgars and Serbs against Ottomans but they refuse; John C. abdicates (1354 )
and is succeeded by John Palaeologus. Ottoman capital at Bursa.

The Ottomans: Balkan Kingdom, 1365-1403

1350-1389, Murat I. Successful campaign in Thrace obliges John V, Palaelogus, to recognize capture of
Philippopolis and Adrianople (Edirne) and to agree to become Ottoman vassal (1363); Murat moves Ottoman capital
to Edirne in 1366; origins of Janissary Corps and the devshirme probably date to Murats reign. King Sisman of
Bulgaria defeated, accepts vassal status in 1379; Serbs defeated and dynasty of Stephen Dusban ended; John V
appeals to Christian Europe but gets no help; his vassaldom deepens, must render military service to sultan and give
over his son as hostage far punctual performance of his obligations; Macedonia is conquered; completion of
subjugation of Bulgaria and Serbia; Sofia falls in 1385; one last concerted effort by Balkan Slavs against Ottomans
at Battle of Kossovo (1389) ends in complete Ottoman victory, but during the battle Sultan Murat assassinated by a
Serb pretending to be a traitor, Milosh Obilic. Murats son, Bayezit, assumes command and immediately executes
his brother to avoid possibility of a dynastic struggle.

1389-1403, Bayezit I, Yildirim(The Thunderbolt). Bayezit takes the throne and finishes off the victory at Kossovo,
captures and executes Lazar (last Serbian tsar) whose daughter, Despina, becomes a wife of the Ottoman sultan.
1393, Bulgarian dynasty is extinguished and Bulgarian patriarchate ended; Bulgarian lands are absorbed and
Bulgarian church reduced to dependence on Greek patriarchate at Byzantium. 1394, Pope Boniface IX proclaims
crusade at urging of King Sigismund of Hungary; led by Sigismund, Catholic forces are defeated by Ottomans in
Battle of Nikopolis (1396). With no effective resistance remaining, Ottomans conquer most of Greece and southern
Albania. The Balkans, except for the immediate areas around Constantinople, Athens, and Salonika and the extreme
southern Morea are ruled by Bayezit from his capital at Edirne. Administrative structure strengthened and
centralized through elaboration of tahrir-defter (cadastral survey-record books) system based on military fiefs
(timars). Expansion of Ottoman rule eastward over Anatolian principalities through combination of diplomacy,
dynastic marriages, and military expeditions brings Ottomans into conflict with Timur Leak (Tamerlane) who
invades Anatolia and challenges Bayezit at battle of Ankara in 1402. Bayezit is defeated, captured, dies in captivity
in 1403.