Byzantium and the Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, ca. 1040-1130

by Alexander D. Beihammer

The arrival of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia forms an indispensable part of modern Turkish discourse on national identity, but Western scholars, by contrast, have rarely included the Anatolian Turks in their discussions about the formation of European nations or the transformation of the Near East. The Turkish penetration of Byzantine Asia Minor is primarily conceived of as a conflict between empires, sedentary and nomadic groups, or religious and ethnic entities. This book proposes a new narrative, which begins with the waning influence of Constantinople and Cairo over large parts of Anatolia and the Byzantine-Muslim borderlands, as well as the failure of the nascent Seljuk sultanate to supplant them as a leading supra-regional force. In both Byzantine Anatolia and regions of the Muslim heartlands, local elites and regional powers came to the fore as holders of political authority and rivals in incessant power struggles. Turkish warrior groups quickly assumed a leading role in this process, not because of their raids and conquests, but because of their intrusion into pre-existing social networks. They exploited administrative tools and local resources and thus gained the acceptance of local rulers and their subjects. Nuclei of lordships came into being, which could evolve into larger territorial units. There was no Byzantine decline nor Turkish triumph but, rather, the driving force of change was the successful interaction between these two spheres.

Genres: History

450 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 17, 2017

About the author

Alexander Daniel Beihammer

Reviews

[Anatolikon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dense but highly convincing book that explores how so much of the Anatolia and the near east slipped out of the control of Constantinople so quickly from the 1060s to the end of the reign of Alexios I. This is, primarily, an interpretative political narrative history - Beihammer creates a sequence of events backgrounded by his argument that centrifugal tendencies in the eastern Roman Empire led local elites to come to local solutions with various marauding bands of Turkmen when help from Constantinople was not immediately forthcoming. Beihammer creates a detailed narrative through the use of (mainly historiographical) Greek, Arabic, Syriac and Latin texts in the original languages, and Armenian in translation. The picture that emerges from this collection is one of the peoples of a highly complex region coming to a wide range of solutions to their own problems, rather than some sort of grand narrative of Islam vs. Christianity or Byzantine decay or steppe vs. sedentary powers. By putting the Seljuks, and especially their dynastic crises, at the forefront, Beihammer argues for a world that was constantly evolving as steppe rulers tried on new symbols of authority. The conquest of Anatolia, if we can even call it that, is an ad hoc patchwork of military elites grasping about for authority, and overall, a high level of pragmatism prevailed, even in Seljuk notions of jihad which was intended by the sultans to cement their authority and imitate Abbasid notions of Islamic rulership.

This book is a huge step on the way to a better understanding of the new near east of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. To his credit, Beihammer keeps his focus tight, but this also means that broader issues such as the economy fall by the wayside. The limited geographical scope also mean that the Fatimids fall out of the picture early on, and while Beihammer's arguments for various Roman strategies in response to rebels and invaders in Anatolia are convincing, they need to be set into a broader context. For example, the Roman-Norman wars in the Balkans make only a brief appearance, while the ongoing struggle with the Pechenegs are barely mentioned. Additionally, local elites play an important role in this book, but who they are and the role of ecclesiastical hierarchies are completely absent here.

These criticisms are minor, and should not overshadow the massive contribution that Beihammer has made. Those who study anything in regard to the near east in the eleventh or twelfth centuries need to read this book.

[Thomas Ayre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this is a deeply researched and an important (if rare) book on the collapse Byzantine Empire in Anatolia, I believe it maybe strains too far from obvious and honest analysis of the result of Manzikert and prefers to go down an almost revisionist approach for the reasons for the collapse of Byzantine power and the rise of the Anatolian Turkish potentates in the plateau.

Undoubtedly, in my mind, the Battle of Manzikert was a very important power. Unlike previous raids since the time of Zoroastrian Persia, it was the first time an Emperor had met another leader of similar rank. Yes, the chaos of the years afterwards defined the outcome, but to reduce to a raid with an accidental battle reduces it to the not uncommon raids that happened in Eastern Anatolia since the collapse of the Roman Empire in the Near East under Heraclius.

Of course, the scope of the book is broader - delving into the internal politics of the Ere and the changing dynamic of the ERE borderlands in the East - for which this book is a wonder, but I feel it tries too hard to deregate the Battle of Manzikert to something to a bump in the road.

[Gabriel Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting

Are you very interesting book, perhaps not the easiest to read due to the complexity of the events it describes. Nevertheless, it is invaluable for anyone interested in this period or area. Along the way, the author disproves a number of myths, notably the issue of whether, and if so, how the 1071 Battle of Mantzikert was a crucial turning point or not