Beylik of Dilmaç (Dimleç or Demleç) was a small principality ( tr, beylik) in

East Anatolia The Eastern Anatolia Region ('' tr, Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'') is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Black ...

(part of modern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

) founded in the 11th century . After the

battle of Malazgirt The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and ...

in 1071, the victorious Turkoman tribes led by ghazi warriors began to settle in Anatolia. One of these warriors was Dilmaç oğlu Mehmet (son of Dilmaç). After the

Great Seljuk Empire The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to t ...

conquered the city of

Bitlis Bitlis ( hy, Բաղեշ '; ku, Bidlîs; ota, بتليس) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The city is located at an elevation of 1,545 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis R ...

the city was given to Mehmet as an ikta i.e., nonheritable property in 1085. After conquering nearby town of Erzen (now a hamlet), Mehmet died in 1104. During the reign of his son Togan Arslan, the beylik was no more a vassal of Great Seljuk Empire. In the early years of his reign, Togan Arslan accepted the suzerainty of Artukids and together with Artukids, participated in a number of military operations against

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

, the most important being Battle of Ager Sanguinis in 1119 where

Roger of Salerno Roger of Salerno (or Roger of the Principate) (died June 28, 1119) was regent of the Principality of Antioch from 1112 to 1119. He was the son of Richard of the Principate and the 2nd cousin of Tancred, Prince of Galilee, both participants on th ...

lost his life.Prof.Yaşar Yücel-Prof Ali Sevim:''Türkiye tarihi Cilt I'', AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, 1991, pp 160 After securing independence he also had to fight against other Turkic beyliks like Sökmenli and former suzerain Artukids to defend Bitlis from attacks. After Togan's death (1134 ?) his successors fought against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Danishmends The Danishmendids or Danishmends ( fa, دودمان دانشمند; tr, Dânişmendliler) was a Turkish beylik that ruled in north-central and eastern Anatolia from 1071/1075 to 1178. The dynasty centered originally around Sivas, Tokat, and N ...

. As the small principalities were replaced by greater powers the beylik had to accept the suzerainty of

Ayyubids The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...

, Harzemshah Sultanate,

Ilkhanids The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm ...

, and

Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kü ...

. After the return of Timur, Akkoyunlu Turcomans captured all of their territory probably around the 1410s.

References

Sources

* {{Medieval states in Anatolia Anatolian beyliks History of Bitlis Seljuk Empire States and territories established in 1085 States in medieval Anatolia History of Bitlis Province