Sarı Saltuk and the Nomads in 13th-Century Dobruja Pre-Ottoman Sources and Realities

Absztrakt

In his Oğuznāme (“Book of the Oghuz”), the 15th-century Ottoman historian Yazıcıoğlu ʿAlī wove into the narrative of his main source, Ibn Bībī’s Persian history of the Rūm Seljuks, a set of interpolations tracing the fate of a large group of Anatolian Turkmens. They reportedly followed the Seljuk Sultan ʿIzz al-Dīn Kaykāʾūs II (r. 1246–61) after his flight to Byzantium in 1262 and settled in the region of Dobruja in the Northeastern Balkans under the leadership of the famous mystic Sarı Saltuk. This story has become the cornerstone of a longstanding historiographic discussion since the early 20th century, not least because of its supposed relation to processes of greater historical significance such as the formation of the 14th-century Principality of Dobruja and the genesis of the Gagauz, a population of Turkish-speaking Christians, in the area. As a number of questions remain unanswered in the light of the increasing acceptance of the truthfulness of Yazıcıoğlu ʿAlī’s account in recent research, the present study aims to reignite the discussion and challenge some unfounded yet widespread conclusions by revisiting the relevant pre-Ottoman evidence, both written and material. It highlights the Tatar (Golden Horde) context of Sarı Saltuk’s presence in late 13th-century Northern Dobruja and in the town of Sakçı (Isaccea) in particular, but casts serious doubt on his connection with the alleged Anatolian migrants as well as with Babadag, a town that was (re)established and associated with him in Ottoman times.