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ulama” played important roles as the which De Graaf and Pigeaud dubbed the devout members of the Muslim representative in Pajang, built up his
holders of effective political control within “the smaller kingdom” compared to communities. own power irrespective of the control of
the kingdoms. Demak, is likely to have taken place After the death of Sultan Trenggana, Demak that had begun to weaken. After
in the first half of the 16 century. In Aria Penangsang’s victory, Jaka Tingkir
th
Gresik, to discuss one of the leading Demak slowly declined rise of following
kingdoms in the eastern regions of Java, this period, Sunan Dalem, another the establishment of the kingdoms of immediately attacked and defeated Jipang
to consolidate his power. Then in about
developed into an Islamic empire that name for Sunan Giri, was not only a Pajang and Mataram. Especially the 1582, Jaka Tingkir finally proclaimed
dominated the eastern tip of Java. The religious leader; he also held political Mataram marked the beginning of himself the “sultan” of Pajang which,
prominence of this kingdom cannot be power in Gresik. However, as far as the decline of Demak and that of the according to Javanese traditional sources
the available historical data go, there
seen without paying attention to one of other Islamic kingdoms in Java this was said to have occurred after he had
the great “wali sanga” (lit. nine saints), are no detailed records of his policies phenomenon simultaneously initiated the secured Sunan Giri’s political support.
i.e. Sunan Giri, who is considered and political behavior as ruler of emergence of the hinterland kingdoms From then on Pajang established itself as
responsible for the Islamization of Java. Gresik. The only thing that we can be as the dominate power. Pajang and an empire while Demak declined because
assured of is that the ruler of Gresik
Therefore, the development of Gresik Mataram were located in the interior of political conflicts among the royal family
was supported by the spiritual prestige of successfully created a kingdom that of Java, in the areas now known as and finally it succumbed to Pajang and
its leader as the leading religious scholar held political autonomy, even when Surakarta and Yogyakarta. The move of then Mataram.
Mataram had ahead dominate Central
in Java. Located at the eastern end of the Java. However, Amangkurat I, the king the power center to the hinterland had
north coast of Java, from the beginning far-reaching implications for the cultural It is important to underline that Pajang
Gresik had been the center of commerce of Mataram manage to control Gresik and religious orientation of the Javanese did not last long and historians tend to
and he diminished the role of all coastal
and Islamization for its surrounding kingdoms in northern Java. However, community which turned rural, feudalistic, consider it a phase in the transitional
regions. Tome Pires’ notes illustrate that in the religious domain, Gresik became and religiously syncretic, replacing the process from Demak’s coastal to
since the beginning of the 16 century into the center of Islam in the eastern coast-cultural elements of north coast Mataram’s inland kingdom. During
th
Gresik had become the richest and most part of the archipelago, next to its Java, which was cosmopolitan, urban, his short rule, the ruler of Pajang had
important maritime-trade city in Java. A function as the center of the economic and pious. indeed gained recognition as Demak’s
large part of the business transactions activities of the maritime-trade. It should Sunan Prawoto, the heir to the throne successor and supreme ruler over the
took place in this city, conducted by be noted that Gresik had become the of Demak, was unable to maintain kings of the coastal Islamic kingdoms
international traders who called at basis for the Islamization of Lombok, the territorial integrity of the kingdom. in the eastern part of Java. However,
Gresik were the merchants from Gujarat, West Nusa Tenggara, and Makassar in This condition was exacerbated when this recognition did not seem to give
Calicut, Bengal, and from the Eastern South Sulawesi. In this regard, it is also Sunan Prawoto came into conflict with him the political legitimacy he needed
parts of Nusantara, especially Maluku important to note that Gresik was an his challenger, Aria Penangsang of to sustain the continuity of his kingdom.
Immediately after the demise of
and Banda.
urban and cosmopolitan kingdom and Jipang, his own nephew, which ended in Adiwijaya, Pajang’s second ruler, the
The early beginning of Gresik’s growth the location of the well-known Islamic Prawoto’s death. Meanwhile Jaka Tingkir, kingdom suffered a setback and then
into one of the Islamic empires, “santri”, a Javanese term referring to Trenggana’s son-in-law who was Demak’s continued under the control of Mataram,

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