82 | A Shaykh, a Prince, and a Sack of Corn
The travels of Karamani upon his return to Anatolia show that he first tried
to find fertile ground to establish his community outside the core areas of the
Ottoman realm. He first stopped in Ankara to visit Akşemseddin (d. 1459), who
was the celebrated grand shaykh of the Bayramiye order and very close to the
Ottoman dynasty. Karamani then moved between various Anatolian provinces.
During these travels, Karamani went to the lodge of the Bayramiye in Kayseri,
where he probably met Muhyiddin-i İskilibi (d. 1514–1515). İskilibi was the student
and son-in-law of the famous Ottoman scholar Ali Kuşçu (d. 1474).
The relationship between Karamani and İskilibi demonstrates in many ways
the role of networking in the Ottomanization of a Sufi shaykh and his order.
Karamani, though a much older and more experienced Sufi than İskilibi, married
the latter’s daughter. This was a marriage specifically arranged to establish an al-
liance between an experienced Halveti shaykh and a young Bayrami one. İskibili
was a young and upstart Sufi shaykh who needed recognition in central Anatolia.
Karamani could provide this since he belonged to one of the well-known families
of the region and he was the representative of Yahya-i Şirvani, who was quite
popular in central Anatolia. Moreover, Karamani had already traveled widely
for decades to make his own name known. İskilibi on the other hand had more
prestige and connections among the new rulers of central Anatolia, the Otto-
mans, thanks to his father-in-law. İskilibi was more than happy to be related to
Karamani, who was influential in central Anatolia. The two probably left Kayseri
together for İskilip, a medium-sized town in north-central Anatolia. The people
of İskilip were familiar with the Bayramiye Sufi order, to which İskilibi belonged,
as was Prince Bayezid (later Bayezid II, r. 1481–1512), who as the later ruler of
the region was sympathetic to both the Halveti and the Bayrami orders. Lastly,
Bayezid was based in Amasya, an ancient regional capital that had a history with
the Halvetiye. This seemed a perfect alliance for both parties.
Amasya, Prince Bayezid, and the Halvetiyes
Amasya, in north-central Anatolia, is located at the intersection of military and
commercial roads stretching from the Black Sea ports of Anatolia to the Fertile
Crescent and from the Iranian plateau to Istanbul. Lying on both banks of the
Iris River and surrounded by almost vertical cliffs that provide natural defenses,
Amasya became the capital of Pontic kings and then the ecclesiastical and ad-
ministrative center of the Roman and later Byzantine province of Pont. When
Turkish invasions began around AD 1075, the Turcoman Danişmendids captured
the city and its environs.
After the arrival of the Turks, the Turkish parts of Anatolia were divided into
three major political geographies, Rum, Karaman, and the Byzantine frontier
(uç). The frontier was in western Anatolia, whereas Rum and Karaman occupied