BEKTÄŠIJJAH

BEKTĀŠIJJAH. – A dervish order (v.) whose eponym is the Muslim saint HĀĞĪ BEKTĀŠ VALĪ. According to legendary accounts, he is said to have been born in NĪŠĀPŪR and to have been a disciple of AHMED JESEVĪ. Under Sultan ÖRHAN (1326–59) he is said to have converted the Janissaries to Islam. He does not appear to have been the founder of the Order that later took his name. The B. appear clearly in history from the early 16th century. The religious movement that, in western Turkey, found its systematization in Bektāshism, dates back to an earlier period; the QIZILBĀŠ (Red Heads) in eastern Asia Minor and Kurdistan, and the ‘ALĪ IḤĀḤ (those who deify ‘Alī) in Persia, profess doctrines very similar to those of the B.

In Bektāshī doctrine, the Sufi idea (v. SŪ-FISMO) of the original equality of all religions and the uselessness of external worship survives. Many Christian, Gnostic, and even pagan (shamanistic) elements render the doctrinal picture of this singular sect all the more variegated. Although they often proclaim themselves Sunnis, they are in reality extreme Shi‘ites: they recognize twelve Imāms, and the tombs of saints are so venerated that devotions performed before them even replace ritual prayer. They venerate a kind of trinity (Allāh, Muḥammad, ‘Alī), and in their assemblies, which take place in the mejdān (an arena or meeting hall in the convent), they celebrate a kind of sacred agape in which they distribute bread, wine, and cheese. They confess their sins to their superiors and receive absolution. The prohibition against drinking wine and the veiling of women are abolished. Some of them live in celibacy; indeed, celibacy seems to have been their original rule.

The B. adopted the mysticism of numbers and letters of the alphabet and hold the works of FAŻLULLĀH (founder of the cabbalistic sect of the HURŪFĪ) in high esteem. They also admit metempsychosis.

The Order was directed by a Grand Master who resided in the mother house at HĀĞĪ BEKTĀŠ (between KIRŞEHĪR and CESAREA). The office was not hereditary, but in later times it was constantly transmitted from father to son. The superior of each convent (tekhieh) is called BĀBĀ, the simple dervish is called MŪRID, and the lay brother MŪNTESIB. The B. also had special garments (a white mantle, a segmented cap, etc.). Their political importance was based on their close union with the Janissaries, so much so that they took part in numerous revolts of this turbulent corps; its suppression in 1826 by order of Sultan MAHMŪD II was a severe blow to the B. A great number of convents were destroyed and many leaders were condemned to death. Gradually, however, the Order recovered and flourished notably, until the Turkish Republic delivered the final blow by abolishing the tekhieh and religious Orders (1925).

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BIBL. (Babylonian «lord»). – The name corresponding to the Canaanite BA‘AL (v.), MARDUK (v.). The god ENLIL, «lord of the earth», before the Babylonian dynasty of Hammurapi, bore the title of B.: he was the «lord» who possessed the tablets of destiny. HAMMURABI (HAMMURAPI) (v.) had the supremacy of Enlil overthrown by his theologians, and Marduk took his place, inheriting the title of B.

DANIEL (14:1–21) exposed the fraud of the priests of B.-Marduk to the king of Babylon; JEREMIAH foretells the end of the Babylonian god (5:1–44).

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**BIBL. I** (ALBERTO, ADALBERTO), king of HUNGARY. – Reigned from 1060 to 1063. He succeeded his brother ANDREW I, against whom he had rebelled and whom he defeated at Mosony. After crushing the last pagan rebellion in blood, he devoted himself to the economic development of the country. He founded a Benedictine abbey at Szekszárd. Defeated in turn in 1063 by Henry IV, who supported the rights of Solomon, son of Andrew I, he died shortly afterward.

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**BIBL. II** the Blind, king of HUNGARY. – Reigned from 1131 to 1141. Son of Prince ÁLMOS, while still a child he was blinded by King KÁLMÁN the Book in consequence of an attempt by ÁLMOS to usurp the throne. Upon becoming king, he had, at the instigation of his wife Helena, sixty-eight aristocrats—loyal to the pretender Boris and suspected of having taken part in his blinding—put to death. During his ten years of rule he maintained order and peace in Hungary, which he enlarged by occupying the territory between the Sava and the Drina. Educated by the Benedictines, he always supported the interests of the Church. He died at the age of thirty-two.

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**BIBL. III**, king of HUNGARY. – Reigned from 1172 to 1196. Son of GÉZA II, he spent his youth at the court of the Byzantine emperor MANUEL COMNENUS, with the title of «despotes», i.e., heir to the throne, a right he lost when Manuel unexpectedly had a son. Ascending the throne of Hungary amid general distrust due to his Byzantine upbringing, he succeeded in overcoming all prejudices and remained faithful to family traditions, always supporting the interests of Hungary and the Church. During his reign, new religious Orders settled in the country, spreading especially French culture. Many Hungarian priests also went to study in Paris. B. chose monks to staff the royal chancery, ambassadors, and legislators. Monks were the educators of princes of the blood and the historians of the dynasty, including the so-called *Anonymous Belac Regis Notarius*, who left us the first Hungarian chronicle, the *Gesta Hungarorum*.

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**BIBL. IV**, king of HUNGARY. – Reigned from 1235 to 1270. Upon ascending the throne, he had barely restored political and economic order and royal authority—greatly shaken during the reign of his father ANDREW II—when in 1241 he had to face the Tartar invasion, which forced him to take refuge in Dalmatia. Tartar rule lasted barely a year but left terrible traces in Hungary. With immense fortitude and firm faith in divine aid, B. began the work of reconstruction, for which he found strong support in the Holy See and the Hungarian Church. He supported the mendicant Orders and also looked favorably upon and aided the formation of the Pauline Order. His daughters included the B. CUNEGONDA (Kinga), St. MARGHERITA, and the B. IOLANDA.

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**BIBL. V**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. VI**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. VII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. VIII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. IX**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. X**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XI**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XIII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XIV**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XV**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XVI**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XVII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XVIII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XIX**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XX**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXI**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXIII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXIV**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXV**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXVI**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXVII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXVIII**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXIX**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

**BIBL. XXX**, king of HUNGARY. – Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXI, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXII, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXIII, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXIV, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXV, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXVI, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXVII, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXVIII, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XXXIX, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XL, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLI, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLII, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLIII, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLIV, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLV, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLVI, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLVII, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLVIII, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLIX, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XL, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLI, king of Hungary. - Alessandro Adriandini

BIBL. XLI, king of Hungary.