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| CONTENTS |
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.
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