Eretnids

Eretnids (Turkish: Eretna Beyliği) was an Anatolian beylik that succeeded the Ilkhanid governors in Anatolia and that ruled in a large region extending between Caesarea (Kayseri), Sebastea (Sivas) and Amaseia (Amasya) in Central Anatolia between 1328 and 1381. The dynasty was founded by Eretna, an officer of Uyghur[2][3][4][5][6] origin in the service of Ilkhanid governors of Anatolia. Although short-lived, the Beylik of Eretna left important works of architecture. The name of Eretna may be derived from Sanskrit word Ratna "Jewel"[7] or Tuvan (Turkic) "Ertine" (эртине) "treasure, jewel, value, esteem, appreciate, dignify, treasure, cherish".[8][9]

Eretnid dynasty
1335–1381
The Eretnids under Eretna
Status	Beylik
Capital	Sivas and Kayseri
Common languages	Arabic[1] Mongolian Turkish[1]
Religion	Islam
Government	Monarchy
Sultan
• 1336–1352	Eretna b. Jafar, Ala al-Din
• 1380	Muhammad II Chelebi
History
• Established	1335
• Disestablished	1381
Preceded by Succeeded by Ilkhanate Kadi Burhan al-Din Ottoman Empire Karamanids Beylik of Erzincan

The dynasty's founder, Eretna, was a Mongol officer[10] of Uyghur origin in the service of Timurtash, the Ilkhanid governor of Anatolia. After his master unsuccessfully revolted in 1327 to ally with the Mamluks in response to the fate of his father Chupan, Ilkhan Abu Said appointed Eretna a governor of Anatolia. Eretna, who established his own beylik with the title of Sultan under the protection of the Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo),[11] also knew Arabic and was considered a scholar.[1]

After Eretna's death, his lands were nibbled away by the Ottomans in the west and the Aq Qoyunlu in the east due to internal disputes between the Eretnids. The Beylik's last ruler, Muhammad II, was replaced by his vizier Kadi Burhan al-Din who reigned in the same region for another eighteen years, a period some sources consider as a continuation of the same institutional structure, while other sources treat as being separate.

List of Eretna rulers

• Ala al-Din Eretna ibn Jafar 1336–1352
• Giyath al-Din Muhammad 1352–1366
• 'Ali 1366–1380
• Muhammad Çelebi 1380
• Kadi Burhan al-Din

See also

• List of Shia Muslim dynasties

References

1. "Eretna", C. Cahen, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. II, ed. B. Lewis, C. Pellatt, J. Schacht, (Brill, 1991), 706.
2. Bruce Alan Masters, Gábor Ágoston, Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, Infobase, 2010, p.41, Online Edition, "With the death of the Ilkhanid ruler Ebu Said in 1335, administration of Asia Minor was entrusted to his former governor Eretna Bey, originally an Uighur Turk, who eventually declared himself independent..."
3. Yılmaz Öztuna, Devletler ve hânedanlar: Türkiye : 1074 - 1990, Vol.2, Türkiye Kültür Bakanlığı, 2005, p.51, Online Edition
4. John Freely, The companion guide to Turkey, HarperCollins, 1993, p.391, Online Edition "This was erected in 1339 by Eretna, an Uyghur Turk who created an independent principality in central Anatolia after the collapse of the Ilkhanid Mongol Empire in 1335."
5. Jonathan M. Bloom, Sheila Blair, Oxford University Press, 2009, p.60, Online Edition "In the early 14th century, the city passed to the Uighur chief Eretna."
6. Speros Vryonis, The decline of medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor: and the process of Islamization from the eleventh through the fifteenth century, (Berkeley: University of California, 1971), p. 139, Online Edition "When the governor Timurlash fled to Egypt in 1327, he was replaced by Ghiyath al-Din Eretna (of Uighur origin) who succeeded in receiving official appointment from the Ilkhan Abu Sa'id."
7. Clifford Edmund Bosworth-The new Islamic dynasties: a chronological and genealogical manual, p.234
8. Turkic (Tuvan and Turkish) dictionary
9. "9 (Tos) Ertine". Archived from the original on 2014-08-13. Retrieved 2015-02-11.
10. Ibn Batuta, Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D. 1325-1354, Published for the Hakluyt Society at the University Press, 1962, p. 433. "Ertena, a Mongol officer under the Chobanid Timurtash"
11. Encyclopedia of Mongolia and Mongol Empire, see: Turkey and Mongol Empire

External links

• "Köşk Medrese and Tomb (Türbe) in Kayseri". archnet.org. Archived from the original on 2006-02-10.