After an unexpected victory at the Battle of Karanbük, against Mongol warlords competing to restore the Ilkhanate, Eretna claimed independence declaring himself the sultan of his domains.

Shortly after, he managed to restore his throne, although he could not prevent some portion of his territories from getting annexed by local Turkoman lords, the Dulkadirids to the south, and the Ottomans to the west.

His 13-year-old son, Ala al-Din Ali, was largely not allowed to interfere in administrative matters by the local emirs, who had been enjoying a substantial degree of autonomy since Eretna's demise.

After half a century, the death of the seventh Ilkhan, Ghazan (r. 1295–1304), marked the height of the state, and while his brother Öljaitü was capable of maintaining the empire, his conversion to Shiism sped up the impending fall and civil war in the region.

[1] Of Uyghur stock,[2] Eretna was born to Jafar[3] or Taiju Bakhshi, a trusted follower of the second Ilkhanid ruler Abaqa Khan (r. 1265–82), and his wife Tükälti.

[7] Eretna migrated to Anatolia following his brothers' execution due to a rebellion they joined[8] and his Chobanid master Timurtash's appointment as the Ilkhanid governor of the region by Ilkhan Abu Sa'id[6] and his father, Chupan.

[11] With Abu Sa'id's death in 1335, the Ilkhanid period practically came to an end, leaving in its place continuous wars between several warlords from princely houses, namely the Chobanids and Jalayirids.

[1] Back west, Eretna came under the suzerainty of the Jalayirid viceroy of Anatolia, Hasan Buzurg,[6] but had already established his supremacy in the region to a considerable degree.

[11] Hasan Buzurg left Eretna as his deputy in Anatolia when he departed east to oppose the Oirat chieftain Ali Padishah's attempt to occupy the Ilkhanid throne.

[22] After the battle and Hasan Kuchak's death, Eretna assumed the title sultan, dispersed coins in his name, and formally declared sovereignty as part of the khutbah (sermon).

[23] He faced a reduced number of threats to his rule in this period: Despite the intentions of the new Chobanid ruler Malek Ashraf (r. 1343–57) to wage a war against him, such an expedition never came to be.

The Dulkadirid ruler Qaraja's focus in pillaging the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and tensions with the Mamluk emirs also made an attack from the south unlikely.

[3] Eretna benefited from the support of the significant population of Mongol tribes in Central Anatolia (referred to as Qara Tatars in sources) in asserting his rule.

[29] When he stopped referring to an overlord after 1341–2 and issued his own coins, he utilized the Uyghur script, which was also used for Mongolian,[28] to underline the Mongol heritage he sought to represent.

[6] He promoted and reinforced the sharia law in his domains and showed an effort to respect and sustain the ulama, sayyids, and sheikhs (Islamic dignitaries).

[35] In 1361, as a reprisal to a raid by Tatars of the Chavdar [tr] tribe, Ottoman ruler Murad I captured Ankara Castle from the Eretnids.

[40] This deviates from İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı's earlier work which explains that Khoja Ali Shah led an uprising against Muhammad in 1364 and marched towards Kayseri.

Upon a decree by the Mamluk Sultan, the governor of Aleppo sent his forces to aid Muhammad, with which he subdued and executed Khoja Ali Shah in 1365.

[27] Around that time, the eastern part of the realm, including Erzincan, Erzurum, and Bayburt, had come under the rule of a local figure, Ahi Ayna.

[43] The Emir of Sivas, Hajji Ibrahim, who allied with the leader of Samargar, Hizir Beg, rescued Burhan al-Din and imprisoned Ali instead.

In June of that year, Burhan al-Din was made vizier by the emirs to prevent a possible revolt of peasants disgruntled by Ali's incompetence.

After raiding the Turkomans near Niğde in 1379, Ali took advantage of the death of Pir Husayn Beg, Emir of Erzincan, through a campaign to retake the city, which was also unsuccessful.

[54] Güdük Minaret, also known as the Dabbas Tekke and located in the center of the city of Sivas, was built during Eretna's reign as a burial place for his son Sheikh Hasan, who died in 1347.

One such text was a short Persian tafsir (exegesis) in al-As'ila wa'l-Ajwiba by Aqsara'i commissioned by the Eretnid emir of Amasya, Sayf al-Din Shadgeldi (died 1381).

Briefly in 1338–9, Eretna minted one type of coin for Taghaytimur, although he ruled in Khorasan, far from Anatolia, and was not a direct descendant of Genghis Khan.

According to Philip N. Remler, this signified Anatolia's gradual transition into independence from the states in the east but continued trade along the Silk Road.

The oldest son,[62] Sheikh Hasan was the governor of Sivas[27] and died in December 1347[27] or January 1348[34] due to sickness shortly after he wed an Artuqid princess.

[34] Eretna's successor and youngest son, Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad I was born to Isfahan Shah Khatun, who was a relative of the Jalayirid ruler Hasan Buzurg.

She appears in records as a noble carrying weight in the Eretnid court, where she ordered a copy of the Ilkhanid Tavarikh-i Jahangusha-yi Ghazani.

The possibility that she was Ali's consort is supported by a reference to him as the person of the highest authority, or Shahzada-yi Jahan, along with her, Khuvandegar Khatun, and the remark "may their dominion live on and their majesty be eternal."