36 | Changing Perceptions along the Frontiers
Seyyid Battal’s first campaign, Sarı Saltuk set out to wage gaza against the ruler
of Harcenevan (Haraşna in the Danişmendname; the area around Amasya),
who had poisoned his father. The initial frontier with Rum in the Saltukname was
marked by Harcenevan, because its ruler Tırbanos stated that he held the gate
to Rum (Rumun kapusu bendedür). The eastern frontier of Rum (Rum haddi)
was the Euphrates, because the Pope (Pap) had pointed to the area beyond the
Euphrates when he asked the Muslims to leave the territory of Rum.
According to the Saltukname, there were seven rulers associated with seven
mountains in Rum. These were Eflak (Wallachia, in today’s southern Romania),
Üngürüs (Hungary), Alaman, As (Alans), Leh (Poles), Çeh (Czech country), Rus
(parts of today’s Belarus and northern Ukraine), and Çesar (emperor? Maybe
referring to the Holy Roman emperor). Later in the text, although Alaman,
Üngürüs, and As are again mentioned as being in Rum and next to Abadanlık
(Albania), they are farther in the direction of Ayurusapur (Avrupa? That is, Eu-
rope), and Alaman is also called Frenk.
After several victories against the allied infidel armies of Rum (including
now the Balkans and stretching as far as Central Europe), Sarı Saltuk crossed
the Black Sea and made Kefe (today’s Feodosia, in Russia) on the southeastern
coast of Crimea his military base. His gazas around the Crimea were of particu-
lar importance because Sarı Saltuk did not engage much in gaza on his own but
devoted himself to praying, assisted by hundreds of abdals, wandering dervishes,
while other gazis fought against the infidel Rus.
The last parts of the Saltukname concentrate on the emergence of the Turk-
ish emirates in medieval Anatolia on the eve of the disintegration of the Seljuks
of Rum. The emphasis was put on two emirates: those of Osman and Aydın, both
emerging from Yunan and predetermined by Sarı Saltuk to conquer all the
lands of Rum. In these parts, Sarı Saltuk was less a warlord and more a dervish
figure building his zaviye (convent) in Baba—Babadag in northern Dobruç (to-
day’s Dobruja) in southern Romania—giving other gazis his blessing and sanc-
tioning their gaza activities in the Balkans and also paying visits to Rum in times
of crisis to give guidance to Osman and Umur Beys. Sarı Saltuk prophesied in
the Saltukname,
Gazis! From the province of Yu n a n emerge two gazis who will become the fu-
ture sultans. They will cross over the territory of Rum and conquer it entirely.
This territory will become the abode of Islam. One of the rulers will pass by.
The other’s descendants will rule over the country generating many magnifi-
cent sultans.The Ottomans not only will become the undisputed leaders of the Muslim
world, according to Sarı Saltuk’s prophesy, but are also designated as the heirs of