The View from Byzantium

Abstract

Abstract This chapter is based on the Byzantine sources, especially the detailed history of the contemporary Pachymeres, who presents the decline of Byzantine power in western Asia Minor. Emperors could deal with settled states—the Seljuks and the Mongols—but they couldn’t keep out the marauding Turkish tribes, among whom Osman was still a minor figure who only appears on the scene in 1302 when he defeated a Byzantine army. It discusses the other Turcoman tribes as well as the Grand Catalan Company, hired by Byzantium in vain. Relations between Byzantium and the Mongols are another theme: this chapter advances a novel thesis that Osman met defeat and possibly death at the hands of the Mongols in 1307 and notes the 20-year gap in the Turkish tradition. Turning to the south, the spectacular career of Umur of Aydin who became an ally of the empire is presented.