TheKarasids orKarasid dynasty (Ottoman Turkish:قرا صي;Turkish:Karesioğulları Beyliği), also known as thePrincipality of Karasi andBeylik of Karasi (Karasi Beyliği orKaresi Beyliği ), was aTurkishAnatolian beylik (principality) in the area of classicalMysia (modernBalıkesir andÇanakkale provinces) from ca. 1297–1345. It was centered inBalıkesir andBergama, and was one of the frontier principalities established byOghuz Turks after the decline of theSeljuk Sultanate of Rum.

They became a naval power in theAegean and theDardanelles.

Karasi's father Kalam (referred to as Calames by Gregoras) was the son of Yaghdi Bey. The epitaphs of members of the Karasi family inTokat, Kutlu Melek and his son Mustafa Chelebi, tie their ancestry to theDanishmendids, a dynasty who ruled over northeastern Anatolia during the 11–12th centuries.^[1] Modern historianClaude Cahen holds that the homonymy between the central Anatolian family and the dynasty in northwestern Anatolia may not be a sufficient evidence for a connection.^[2]

Ottoman sources referred to Karasi as anöker (vassal) during the first reign ofMesud II (r. 1284–97, 1303–8), theSultan of Rum. Kalam and Karasi Bey are thought to have taken over the region aroundBalıkesir during Mesud's reign and claimed independence at an unknown date.^[1] Fifteenth centuryByzantine Greek historianDoukas wrote that they appeared in the region during the rule of theByzantine EmperorAndronikos II (r. 1282–1328).[2] It corresponded to the ancient region ofMysia, excluding the towns ofArtaki,Pegae,Adramytion,Pergamon, andDardanellia.^[1] However, Cahen proposes that the state appeared much later as medieval writersRamon Muntaner andGeorge Pachymeres do not mention the Karasids. Cahen disputes historian Mordtmann's connection of theLamisai mentioned by Pachymeres and the Calames (Karasi's father Kalam) ofNicephorus Gregoras.^[2]

TheByzantines tried to incite beyliks like Karasids against theOttomans. However, routes of conquest and other objectives of beyliks such as Karasids did not initially conflict with the Ottomans. The political situation clearly favored the Ottomans.^[3]

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• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties

• Clifford E. Bosworth,The New Islamic Dynasties, 1996.s.v. The Qarasï (Karasï) Oghullarï",p. 219.
• Cahen, Claude & de Planhol, Xavier (1978)."Ḳarasi̊". Invan Donzel, E.;Lewis, B.;Pellat, Ch. &Bosworth, C. E. (eds.).The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition.Volume IV: Iran–Kha. Leiden: E. J. Brill.OCLC 758278456.
• Günal, Zerrin (2001)."Karesi Bey".TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 24 (Kāânî-i Şîrâzî – Kastamonu) (in Turkish). Istanbul:Turkiye Diyanet Foundation, Centre for Islamic Studies. pp. 487–488.ISBN 978-975-389-451-7.
• Halil Inalcik,The Ottoman Empire - The Classical Age, 1300-1600[1]

• Anatolian beyliks
• History of Balıkesir Province
• History of Bursa Province
• History of Çanakkale Province
• History of İzmir Province
• History of Manisa Province
• States and territories established in 1286
• Sunni dynasties
• Karasids

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Ottoman Turkish (1500-1928)-language text
• Articles containing Turkish-language text
• CS1 Turkish-language sources (tr)