Beyliks of Canik


Beyliks of Canik is a name given to a group of small Turkoman principalities in northern Anatolia during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A. Bryer connects the toponyme Chanik with the name "Chani" which the Laz people call themselves.

Background

After the battle of Kösedağ in 1243, the Ilkhanid Mongols achieved a hegemony over Anatolia. The Seljuk sultans became the puppets of Ilkhanids and the former generals of Seljuks as well as Turkoman tribes within Seljuk realm who accepted the suzerainty of Ilkhanids, established themselves as semi independent principalities called beylik. However, the middle Black Sea region of Anatolia lacked a dominant leader, and a series of beyliks emerged, ruled by the members of the same family. Those beyliks were smaller than the beyliks in the other regions of Anatolia and they were nominal vassals of Eretna. They lived in a frequent warfare and their history is highly turbulent. Historians call all of them Beyliks of Canik.

The beyliks

In the following table the names usually refer to the founder of the beylik, with the exception of Bafra which is the name of the capital city of the beylik.
Name of the beylikCapitalEnd of duration
Beylik of BafraBafra1460
HacıemiroğullarıMesudiye1427
KubatoğullarıLadik1428
KutluşahAmasya1381
TacettinoğullarıNiksar1415
TaşanoğullarıMerzifon1398

All of the beyliks were incorporated in the Ottoman Empire.

The monarchs

Some members of the dynasties are: