Conclusion

Summary

The Mongol invasions coincided with a process of Islamisation that had been gathering speed in Anatolia since the second half of the twelfth century. This was accelerated both directly, if not necessarily always intentionally, by Mongol policies and indirectly by the changes Mongol rule wrought on Muslim society. Mongol rule redrew the political landscape of Anatolia, with the collapse of Seljuq authority leading to the emergence of new powers such as the beyliks. From the 1270s, Anatolia became increasingly integrated into the Ilkhanid empire, both through the Mongol military presence there but also the residence of scholars, bureaucrats and even relatively humble artisans such as members of futuwwa organisations from Iran. The marginalisation and eventual abolition of the traditional source of political authority in Anatolia, the Seljuq sultanate, in addition to the broader crisis of authority brought about by the end of the Abbasid Caliphate, forced Anatolia’s new rulers, both Turkmen and Mongol, to seek alternative means to justify their rule. A political rhetoric centred on belief and unbelief took hold, and with the Mongol conversion to Islam its use only increased. Incidents of persecution of non-Muslims, although not systematic, begin to be attested in the sources as the Mongols sought to assert their adherence to the new faith and justify their rule in Islamic terms.