emirate · Anatolia and the Levant
Emirate of Erzincan
Origins
Mutahharten was a governor of Erzincan under the Eretnids. As that dynasty collapsed in the late 1370s, he made the city and its fertile plain an independent emirate, competing with Kadi Burhan al-Din of Sivas.
Rule and society
Mutahharten ruled a mixed population of Turks, Armenians and Greeks and kept close ties with the Empire of Trebizond. Threatened by Kadi Burhan al-Din and by Bayezid I, he accepted Timur's overlordship and helped provoke the conflict between Timur and the Ottomans. The Castilian envoy Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo passed through Erzincan in 1404 on his way to Samarkand.
Decline and legacy
Mutahharten died around 1403. His successors could not hold out, and the Qara Qoyunlu took Erzincan in 1410.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Emirate of Erzincan was a vassal of Timurid Empire1387 CE – 1405 CE
- Emirate of Erzincan was conquered by Qara Qoyunlu1410 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Emirate of Erzincan. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/emirate-of-erzincan
- MLA
- “Emirate of Erzincan.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/emirate-of-erzincan. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Emirate of Erzincan.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/emirate-of-erzincan.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Emirate of Erzincan’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/emirate-of-erzincan (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻