Nomads in the Prose of Medieval Turkish Folklore “Battal-name” and “Danishmendname”

Absztrakt

The traditional Turkish epic Battal-name and Danishmend-name are considered to have been
constructed in the period of the beginning of the formation of Turkish literature (the 14th
century), when the Ottoman state emerged and united the separated Anatolian beyliks through
aggressive campaigns against the Byzantine lands.
Beside the Korkut tales among the Oguz tribes, the so-called “military epic stories” began to take shape in Turkish folklore. These stories depict the campaigns and battles and are imbued with ideas of gazawat as a holy war for the faith. Despite the fact that the historical background of the “Battal-name” was the Arab-Byzantine wars, it is based on the tradition of the Turkic heroic epic. Both Melik Danishmend (the main hero of “Danishmend-name”, a local governor in Asia
Minor) and Battal (and their associates) represent the image of the epic hero, empowered with the traditional nomadic Turkic virtues that have been contaminated with the features of a Muslim devotee. “Battal-name” and “Danishmend-name” retained their popularity in Ottoman Turkey until the 19th century.