Danishmend Gazi, full name Gümüştekin Danishmend Ahmed Gazi or Danishmend Taylu (died 1104), was the founder of the Beylik

Bey

Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...

 of Danishmends

Danishmends

The Danishmend dynasty was a Turcoman dynasty that ruled in north-central and eastern Anatolia in the 11th and 12th centuries. The centered originally around Sivas, Tokat, and Niksar in central-northeastern Anatolia, they extended as far west as Ankara and Kastamonu for a time, and as far south as...

. After the Turkish

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 advance into Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

 that followed the Battle of Manzikert

Battle of Manzikert

The Battle of Manzikert , was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert...

, his dynasty controlled the north-central regions in Anatolia.

Life

The defeat of the Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 army at the Battle of Manzikert

Battle of Manzikert

The Battle of Manzikert , was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert...

 allowed the Turks, including forces loyal to Danishmend Gazi, to occupy nearly all of Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

. Danishmend Gazi and his forces took as their lands central Anatolia, conquering the cities of Neocaesarea, Tokat

Tokat

Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey, at the mid Black Sea region of Anatolia. According to the 2009 census, the city of Tokat has a population of 129,879.-History:Tokat was established in the Hittite era....

, Sivas, and Euchaita

Euchaita

Euchaita was a town in Pontus, in northern Asia Minor . Today the Turkish village Beyözü, which partly lies on the ruins, in the province of Çorum ....

.

During the First Crusade

First Crusade

The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...

, he was directly on the path of the advancing crusaders

Crusaders

The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...

. On the losing side at the Battle of Dorylaeum in 1097, he scored a success in capturing Bohemond I of Antioch in 1100. He continued campaigning, extending southwards and capturing Malatya

Malatya

Malatya ) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province.-Overview:The city site has been occupied for thousands of years. The Assyrians called the city Meliddu. Following Roman expansion into the east, the city was renamed in Latin as Melitene...

 (Melitene) in 1103 (see Battle of Melitene

Battle of Melitene

In the Battle of Melitene in 1100, a Crusader force led by Bohemond I of Antioch was defeated by Danishmend Turks commanded by Malik Ghazi Gumushtekin.After acquiring the Principality of Antioch in 1098, Bohemond allied himself with the Armenians of Cilicia...

).

He was succeeded by his son Emir Gazi Gümüştekin

Gazi Gümüshtigin

Emir Gazi Gümüshtigin was the second ruler of the Danishmend state which his father Danishmend Gazi had founded in central-eastern Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. He is sometimes called Emir Ghazi II....

.

A tomb attributed to him is found in Niksar.

The Danishmendname

Danishmend Gazi is the central figure in the Danishmendnâme, a Turkish language

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 epic romance. In this work, events from the life of Danishmend Gazi are blended with the legendary exploits of the 8th century Arab warrior Sidi Battal Gazi

Battal Gazi

Battal Gazi or Seyyid Battal Ghazi was an Arab Muslim, saintly figure and warrior based in Anatolia during the late Umayyad period whose attributed legends, which also form the bulk of the information available on the historic personality, later became an important part in Turkish...

 and of the Persian hero Abu Muslim.

The legends that compose Danishmendnâme were compiled from Turkish oral tradition

Oral tradition

Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...

 for the first time by order of the Seljuk Sultan Kayqubad I, a century after Danishmend's death. The final form that reached our day is a compendium

Compendium

A compendium is a concise, yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. A compendium may summarize a larger work. In most cases the body of knowledge will concern some delimited field of human interest or endeavour , while a "universal" encyclopedia can be referred to as a compendium of...

 that was put together under the instructions of the early 15th century Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 sultan Murad II

Murad II

Murad II Kodja was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1451 ....

.

Dynasty and titles

Danishmend Gazi is sometimes also referred to by the title Melik

Malik

Malik is an Arabic word meaning "king, chieftain".It has been adopted in various other, mainly Islamized or Arabized, Asian languages for their ruling princes and to render kings elsewhere. It is also sometimes used in derived meanings...

meaning "King", which was actually bestowed upon his grandson in 1134 by the Abbasid Caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

 of Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

 and was sometimes used retrospectively by contemporaries and historiographers to refer also to Danishmend Gazi. The other title, Gazi, denotes a warrior.

There is also some confusion on his name and divergence among names used by scholars. He had the same name as his son, Gümüştekin. The father is often referred to shortly as Danishmend Gazi, while his son is called Emir Gazi, without mentioning the name Gümüştekin common to both. Furthermore, the Danishmend dynasty is also cited as having a family tie to the Seljuk dynasty although the explanations differ.