manuscript made for
Halil of Karaman.
Konya, 1314.
Mevlâna Museum The Karamanids traced their ancestry from Hodja Sad al-Din and his son
Nure Sufi Bey, who emigrated from
Arran (roughly encompassing modern-day
Azerbaijan) to
Sivas because of
the Mongol invasion in 1230. The Karamanids were members of the
Salur tribe of
Oghuz Turks. According to others, they were members of the
Afshar tribe, which participated in the
revolt led by
Baba Ishak and afterwards moved to the western
Taurus Mountains, near the town of
Larende, where they came to serve the
Seljuks.
Nure Sofi worked there as a woodcutter. His son,
Kerîmeddin Karaman Bey, gained tenuous control over the mountainous parts of
Cilicia in the middle of the 13th century. A persistent but spurious legend, however, claims that the
Seljuq Sultan of Rum,
Kayqubad I, instead established a Karamanid dynasty in these lands.
Karaman Bey expanded his territories by capturing castles in
Ermenek,
Mut,
Ereğli,
Gülnar, and
Silifke. The year of the conquests is reported as 1225, during the reign of
Ala al-Din Kaykubadh I (1220–1237), which seems excessively early. Karaman Bey's conquests were mainly at the expense of the
Kingdom of Lesser Armenia (and perhaps at the expense of
Rukn al-Din Kilij Arslan IV, 1248–1265); in any case it is certain that he fought against the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia (and probably even died in this fight) to such extent that King
Hethum I (1226–1269) had to place himself voluntarily under the sovereignty of the great
Khan, in order to protect his kingdom from
Mamluks and
Seljuks (1244). The rivalry between
Kilij Arslan IV and
Izz al-Din Kaykaus II allowed the tribes in the border areas to live virtually independently. Karaman Bey helped Kaykaus, but Arslan had the support of both the Mongols and
Pervâne Sulayman Muin al-Din (who had the real power in the sultanate). The
Mongolian governor and general
Baiju was dismissed from office in 1256 because he had failed to conquer new territories. Still, he continued to serve as a general and appeared, the same year, fighting
the Sultan of Rum, who had not paid the tax, and he managed to defeat the sultan a second time. Rukn al-Din Kilidj Arslan IV got rid of almost all hostile
begs and
amirs except Karaman Bey, to whom he gave the town of
Larende (now
Karaman, in honour of the dynasty) and Ermenek (c. 1260) in order to win him to his side. In the meantime, Bunsuz, brother of Karaman Bey, was chosen as a
Candar, or bodyguard, for
Kilij Arslan IV. Their power rose as a result of the unification of Turkish clans that lived in the mountainous regions of Cilicia with the new Turkish population transferred there by Kayqubad. Good relations between the
Seljuqs and the Karamanids did not last. In 1261, on the pretext of supporting
Kaykaus II, who had fled to Constantinople as a result of the intrigues of the chancellor
Mu'in al-Din Suleyman, the Pervane, Karaman Bey and his two brothers, Zeynül-Hac and Bunsuz, marched toward
Konya, the Seljuq capital, with 20,000 men. A combined
Seljuq and
Mongol army, led by the Pervane, defeated the Karamanid army and captured Karaman Bey's two brothers. After Karaman Bey died in 1262, his older son,
Mehmet I of Karaman, became the head of the house. He immediately negotiated alliances with other
Turkmen clans to raise an army against the
Seljuqs and
Ilkhanids. During the 1276 revolt of Hatıroğlu Şemseddin Bey against Mongol domination in Anatolia, Karamanids also defeated several Mongol-Seljuq armies. In the
Battle of Göksu in 1277 in particular, the central power of the Seljuq was dealt a severe blow. Taking advantage of the general confusion,
Mehmed Bey captured
Konya on 12 May and placed on the throne a pretender called
Jimri, who claimed to be the son of
Kaykaus. In the end, however, Mehmed was defeated by Seljuq and Mongol forces and executed with some of his brothers in 1278. Despite these blows, the Karamanids continued to increase their power and influence, largely aided by the
Mamluks of
Egypt, especially during the reign of
Baybars. Karamanids captured Konya on two more occasions at the beginning of the 14th century but were driven out the first time by emir
Chupan, the
Ilkhanid governor of Anatolia, and the second time by Chupan's son and successor
Timurtash. An expansion of Karamanoğlu power occurred after the fall of the Ilkhanids in the 1330s. A second expansion coincided with
Karamanoğlu Alâeddin Ali Bey's marriage to
Nefise Hatun, the daughter of the Ottoman sultan
Murat I, the first important contact between the two dynasties. As Ottoman power expanded into the
Balkans, Aleaddin Ali Bey captured the city of
Beyşehir, which had been an Ottoman city. However, it did not take much time for the
Ottomans to react and march on Konya, the Karamanoğlu capital city. A treaty between the two kingdoms was formed, and peace existed until the reign of
Bayezid I.
Timur gave control of the Karamanid lands to Mehmet Bey, the oldest son of Aleaddin Ali Bey. After
Bayezid I died in 1403, the Ottoman Empire went into a political crisis as the
Ottoman family fell prey to internecine strife. It was an opportunity not only for Karamanids but also for all of the Anatolian
beyliks. Mehmet Bey assembled an army to march on
Bursa. He captured the city and damaged it; this would not be the last Karamanid invasion of
Ottoman lands. However, Mehmet Bey was captured by Bayezid Pasha and sent to prison. He apologized for what he had done and was forgiven by the Ottoman ruler. Ramazanoğlu Ali Bey captured
Tarsus while Mehmet Bey was in prison. Mustafa Bey, son of Mehmet Bey, retook the city during a conflict between the Emirs of
Sham and
Egypt. After that, the Egyptian sultan
Sayf ad-Din Inal sent an army to retake Tarsus from the Karamanids. The
Egyptian Mamluks damaged
Konya after defeating the Karamanids, and Mehmet Bey retreated from
Konya. Ramazanoğlu Ali Bey pursued and captured him; according to an agreement between the two leaders, Mehmet Bey was exiled to Egypt for the rest of his life. During the
Crusade of Varna against the Ottomans in 1443–44, Karamanid
İbrahim Bey marched on
Ankara and
Kütahya, destroying both cities. In the meantime, the Ottoman sultan
Murad II was returning from
Rumelia with a victory against the
Hungarian Crusaders. Like all other Islamic emirates in Anatolia, the Karamanids were accused of treason. Hence, İbrahim Bey accepted all Ottoman terms. The Karamanid state was eventually terminated by the Ottomans in 1487, as the power of their Mameluke allies was declining. Some were resettled in various parts of Anatolia. Large groups were accommodated in northern Iran on the territory of present-day
Azerbaijan. The main part was brought to the newly conquered territories in north-eastern Bulgaria – the
Ludogorie region, another group – to what is now northern Greece and southern Bulgaria— present-day
Kardzhali region and
Macedonia. Ottomans founded
Karaman Eyalet from former territories of Karamanids. ==Power of the Karamanid state in Anatolia==