40 | Changing Perceptions along the Frontiers
. I rely on Cemal Kafadar’s definition of gaza, according to which the term “implied
irregular raiding activity whose ultimate goal was (or at least the warriors and their support-
ers could imagine that it was) the expansion of the power of Islam.” Kafadar, Between Two
Worl d s, 80.
. Tekin and Tekin, Battalname; Mélikoff, La geste de Melik Danişmend: Etude critique
du Danişmendname;Demir, Danişmendname; EbuɆl-Hayr-i Rumi, Saltukname; EbuɆl-Hayr-i
Rumi, Saltuk-name.
. Dedes, “Introduction,” in Tekin and Tekin, Battalname, 1:1; Kafadar, Between Two
Worl d s, 66. Following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the house of Danişmend ruled until the
Seljuks of Rum captured their administration center, Malatya, in 1177. Kafadar, Between Two
Worl d s, 3–4.
. That there is no mention of the Ottomans leads us to assume that the text dates from
before 1392 and the annexation of Tokat by the Ottomans. Mélikoff, La geste, 55, 59.
. EbuɆl-Hayr-i Rumi, Saltuk-name, 3:365–366. All translations in this chapter are mine.
. Marius Canard, Encyclopaedia of Islam, online ed., s.v. “al-ɇAwāৢim”; C. E. Bosworth
and J. D. Latham, Encyclopaedia of Islam, online ed., s.v. “al-Thughūr.”
. Because of graphical confusion between the letters ɇayn (ω) and mim (ϡ), the Arabic
rendition of Amorium, ɇAmuriyya, is transformed in the story to Maɇmuriyye. Other such
examples exist in the Danişmendname, in which Çanqiriyya (Byzantine Gangra, modern day
Çankırı) is transformed to Mankuriya because of the visual resemblance between the letters
gayn (ύ)and mim(ϡ). Tekin and Tekin, Battalname, 2:613; Mélikoff, La geste, 154.
. Tekin and Tekin, Battalname, 2:367.
. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, 120.
.Tekin and Tekin, Battalname, 2:414.
. Bosworth, “The City of Tarsus and the Arab-Byzantine Frontiers in Early and Middle
Abbasid Times,” 270–271. For the preeminence of Syria in Islamic ideology, see also Sivan,
Islam et la Croisade.
. It is rendered as Harşana or Haraşna in the Danişmendname; Harcane in the Battal-
name; and Harcenevan, Harcene, or Bercan in the Saltukname. While Yorgos Dedes identi-
fies “Harcane” in the Battalname as Charsianon, the Byzantine citadel and the capital of the
theme of the same name west of the Pass of Melitene, north of Cappadocia, the Haraşna of the
Danişmendname is located much farther to the northwest and is identified as Amasya rather
than the citadel of Charsianon. The capital of the Charsianon theme was actually Muşalim
Kale, situated in a dominant position between two mountain ranges, Akdağ and Yıldız Dağ,
southwest of Sivas on the military road between Sivas and Amasya. This famous site of Arabo-
Byzantine confrontations in the Battalname seems to be transported farther northwest in the
Danişmendname in accordance with the advance of the Muslim Turks in Anatolia. Tekin and
Te k i n , Battalname, 2:643; Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor, 265; Honigmann,
Bizans devletinin doğu sınırı, 46–47.
. In the Danişmendname, “Canik” refers to the area around modern-day Samsun.
. Demir, Danişmendname, 1:8 (italics added).
. Mélikoff, La geste, 114–115; Demir, Danişmendname, 1:49–53.
.Harkümbed, or Halkümbed, is identified as modern-day Çalca near Niksar. Demir,
Danişmendname, 2:219.
. Mélikoff, La geste, 110.
. Demir, Danişmendname, 1:201–203.
.Harcenevan is used interchangeably with Diyar-ı Harcana (Land of Harcana) and
Amasya is described as being within its territory. The point of reference is again the Char-