The Unmaking of Byzantine-Seljuk Asia Minor (1256-1303): The Rebellions of Cimri (1277) and Alexios Philanthropenos (1295)

This paper delves deep into the two major social upheavals that the region witnessed in the second half of the century, namely the rebellion of Cimri in 1277 in the Seljuqs of Rum and the rebellion of Alexios Philanthropenos in 1295. The presentation, first, reconstructs the socio-political and demographic implications of Baiju’s second expedition into Anatolia in 1256. It demonstrates that the cataclysm Baiju’s migration created in Anatolia had its most profound effects on the Turcoman groups, ushering in a domino effect that reconfigured the social and political relations in the region. However, the Turcoman groups that fled to the fringes of the Central Anatolian Plateau soon became the most significant competitors of the Seljuk ruling elite in Konya for control of the socio-political networks in Anatolia and Asia Minor. It argues, thus, that Cimri’s rebellion in 1277 was the culmination point of a long struggle that the frontier Turcoman groups undertook to fill the power vacuums created by the disintegration of the Seljuk central authority, accelerated by the second Mongol invasion in Anatolia. With the failure of Cimri’s rebellion, however, the frontier Turcoman groups increasingly shifted their focus to the other side of the frontier, Byzantine Asia Minor, where similar socio-political developments were taking place.