Patronage and practice in late Seljuk and early Beylik society: Dervish lodges in Sivas, Tokat, and Amasya.

摘要

The Battle of Kose Dag and the defeat of the Seljuks of Rum in 1243 allowed for a fundamental shift from state-owned land to private property accumulated and appropriated by semi-independent local rulers in Anatolia. These local rulers became patrons of architecture and built dervish lodges in important locations within major trading cities. This represented a significant break from the previous century when building activity, primarily funded by the Seljuk sultan, did not include dervish lodges. From the mid-thirteenth century to mid-fourteenth century, at least twelve dervish lodges were built In Tokat, Sivas, and Amasya, major trading cities on two important trade routes. These cities were populated by large numbers of Christians and by immigrants who often traveled with mystic leaders. According to contemporary chronicles, the dervish lodges served as gathering places for many of the immigrants.; In general, modern scholarship has interpreted the endowment of dervish lodges exclusively as a pious act. In thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Anatolia, however, patrons built dervish lodges rather than mosques or madrasas (college for the teaching of law) to encourage institutions that gave focus to religious practices appealing to different audiences than those that congregated around mosques and madrasas. Furthermore, the endowment of dervish lodges enabled these local rulers to extend control over newly acquired land by securing revenues from these properties as waqf, a pious endowment maintained in perpetuity.