Martyrs and dervishes as witnesses : The transformation of Byzantine identity in the lands of Rum

Abstract

The transformation of Asia Minor and the Balkans between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries constitutes one of the last chapters of social and cultural change in the Mediterranean basin in the Middle Ages. The focus of the dissertation is on the transformation of Byzantine identity between 1261 and 1453 in the former Byzantine lands, which were named as the lands of Rum by the Muslim sources. Due to incursions, raids, conquest, recolonization and reconstruction following the Turco-Muslim migrations and settlement, the physical and symbolic boundaries of the Byzantines as a group were trespassed, there was an encounter with the "other" and through conversion, enslavement and changing sides and places the Byzantines as a group became smaller. The effect of this change on Byzantine identity is researched through the examination of the deftion of "self' and "other" in Byzantine martyria and Turco-Muslim hagiographical sources (menakzbnames) and heroic epics. In this inquiry both Byzantine identity and the identity of "other" are historicized and underlined. The changing meanings of terms such as Christian, genos, patris and barbaros which appear most in the martyria and Muslim, Turk, Rumi and kafir in the menakzbnames and heroic epics which are used to identify "self' and "other" are examined. The close analysis of terminology and the relation of the "self' with the "other" in the sources reflect that while the Byzantine self identity became exclusive as a defense against the shrinking of the group, the Turco-Muslim identity formation was quite inclusive having fluid boundaries between "self' and "other". A dialectic formation of identity can be perceived where the newcomers were themselves being transformed while transforming their environment. This study brings a new approach and interpretation to the frequently assumed sealed civilizational identities.