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117-572: The Sultanate of Rûm seceded from the Seljuk Empire under Suleiman ibn Qutalmish in 1077, just six years after the Byzantine provinces of central Anatolia were conquered at the Battle of Manzikert (1071). It had its capital first at Nicaea and then at Iconium . It reached the height of its power during the late 12th and early 13th century, when it succeeded in taking key Byzantine ports on

234-603: A triumvirate and thus included Musa Yabghu , the uncle of the aforementioned two. During the formative phase of the empire, the Seljuks first advanced from their original homelands near the Aral Sea into Khorasan and then into the Iranian mainland , where they would become largely based as a Persianate society . They then moved west to conquer Baghdad , filling up the power vacuum that had been caused by struggles between

351-733: A Friday mosque with a newly constructed quarter in Baghdad which was surrounded by a wall. The new quarter separated the Shia community from the Sunnis, since there had been frequent outbreaks of violence. Through the influence of Tughril's vizier, al-Kunduri, a Hanafi Sunni, the Ash'ari and Ismaili Shi'ites were exiled from Khurasan and cursed at Friday sermons in Seljuk mosques. Al-Kunduri's vizierate persecuted Ash'aris and Sharifis, although this ended with

468-487: A Persian bureaucracy to administer their new polity with Tughril as its nominal overlord. By 1046, Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im had sent Tughril a diploma recognizing Seljuk rule over Khurasan . In 1048–1049, the Seljuk Turks, commanded by Ibrahim Yinal , uterine brother of Tughril, made their first incursion into the Byzantine frontier region of Iberia and clashed with a combined Byzantine-Georgian army of 50,000 at

585-560: A citadel and a castle near Dizkuh. Following Malik-Shah's death, the familial civil war drew attention away from religious patronage, slowing the building of madrasas and mosques. Although, in 1130, the Seljuk sultan Sanjar ordered the construction of the Quthamiyya madrasa in Samarkand. While the Seljuk sultans were prodigious builders of religious buildings, Seljuk viziers were no different. The Seljuk vizier, Nazim al-Mulk, founded

702-474: A claim to the throne but was killed in battle against Barkiyaruq in February 1096. Upon his death, his sons Radwan and Duqaq inherited Aleppo and Damascus respectively and contested with each other as well, further dividing Syria amongst emirs antagonistic towards each other. In 1118, the third son Ahmad Sanjar took over the empire. His nephew, the son of Muhammad I, did not recognize his claim to

819-575: A contingent of the Knights Templar . In the year 603 AE /1154/ once again the Byzantine emperor Manuel sought to stoke Masud and he sent him twice the amount of treasure as previously, saying: «Quench the burning of my heart toward the Armenian people, destroy their fortresses, and exterminate them.» So the sultan came to Anazarbus with many troops, but he was unable to accomplish anything. He sent one of his grandees, named Yaqub, to ravage

936-585: A hundred structures were built during the Anatolian Seljuk period, are particularly remarkable. Along with Persian influences, which had an indisputable effect, Seljuk architecture was inspired by local Byzantine architects, for example in the Celestial Mosque in Sivas , and by Armenian architecture . Anatolian architecture represents some of the most distinctive and impressive constructions in

1053-666: A model for the later devşirme during the time of the Ottoman Empire . The earliest documented Rum Seljuq copper coins were made in the first part of the twelfth century in Konya and the eastern Anatolian emirates. Extensive numismatic evidence suggests that, starting in the middle of the thirteenth century and continuing until the end of the Seljuk dynasty, silver-producing mints and silver coinage flourished, particularly in central and eastern Anatolia. Most of Kilij Arslan II's coins were minted in Konya between 1177–78 and 1195, with

1170-597: A period of tripartite, and then dual, rule that lasted until 1260. The Seljuk realm was divided among Kaykhusraw's three sons. The eldest, Kaykaus II (1246–1260), assumed the rule in the area west of the river Kızılırmak . His younger brothers, Kilij Arslan IV (1248–1265) and Kayqubad II (1249–1257), were set to rule the regions east of the river under Mongol administration. In October 1256, Bayju defeated Kaykaus II near Aksaray and all of Anatolia became officially subject to Möngke Khan . In 1260 Kaykaus II fled from Konya to Crimea where he died in 1279. Kilij Arslan IV

1287-576: A pitched battle, the Seljukid forces managed to roll back several attacks of the Georgians but were eventually overwhelmed and defeated. Loss of the sultan's banner to the Georgians resulted in a panic within the Seljuk ranks. Süleymanshah himself was wounded and withdrew to Erzurum. Both the Rum Seljuk and Georgian armies suffered heavy casualties, but coordinated flanking attacks won the battle for

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1404-621: A population that included Byzantine Greeks , Armenians , Kurds , Turks, and Persians, the Seljuks were very successful between 1220 and 1250 and set the groundwork for later Islamization of Anatolia. In their construction of caravanserais , madrasas and mosques , the Rum Seljuks translated the Iranian Seljuk architecture of bricks and plaster into the use of stone. Among these, the caravanserais (or hans ), used as stops, trading posts and defense for caravans, and of which about

1521-502: A professional army; however, warfare was a way of life for nearly all of adult male Turkmens. According to a Seljuk vizier , Nizam al-Mulk , by the reign of Malik-Shah I , the sovereign had a large army at his disposal. There were Turkmens , mamluks , a standing army, infantry and the sultan's personal guard. Nizam al-Mulk also estimated Malik-Shah's forces at 400,000 men, and often opposed cost-cutting plans (instituted by Taj al-Mulk ) to bring these to 70,000. Vizier Nizam al-Mulk,

1638-638: A re-establishment of Sunni Islam in Iraq and western Persia since the 10th century. In 1046, Tughril built the madrasa, al-Sultaniya in Nishapur, while Chaghri Beg founded a madrasa in Merv. Tughril and Alp Arslan chose Hanafi qadis and preachers for these madrasas. By 1063, there were twenty-five madrasas scattered throughout Persia and Khorasan, founded by Seljuk princes. In the 12th century there were over thirty madrasas in Baghdad. In 1056, Tughril built

1755-650: A secret route, presumably guided by the Byzantines. Suleiman tried, unsuccessfully, to conquer Aleppo in 1086, and died in the Battle of Ain Salm , either fighting his enemies or by suicide. In the aftermath, Suleiman's son Kilij Arslan I was imprisoned and a general of his, Abu'l-Qasim , took power in Nicaea. Following the death of sultan Malik Shah in 1092, Kilij Arslan was released and established himself in his father's territories between 1092 and 1094, possibly with

1872-458: A situation later exploited by the victorious Turkmens, whose hordes would overrun Khorasan unopposed, wreaking colossal damage on the province and prestige of Sanjar. Sanjar eventually escaped from captivity in the fall of 1156, but soon died in Merv in 1157. After his death, Turkic rulers, Turkmen tribal forces, and other secondary powers competed for Khorasan. In 1181, Sultan Shah , a pretendent to

1989-533: A small amount also occurring in Sivas, which the Rum Seljuks conquered from the Danishmendids. Sivas may have started minting coins in 1185–1186. The majority of Kılıj Arslan II's coins are silver dirhams ; however, there are also a few dinars and one or two fulūs (small copper coins) issues. Following his death the sultanate was divided among his sons. Muhyiddin Mesut, son of Kilij Arslan II, minted coins in

2106-495: Is a representation of the ideal Seljuq king of the Great Age. The image initially appeared on Rum Seljuq copper coins in the late eleventh century. The first to add equestrian iconography to silver and gold coins was Suleiman II of Rûm (r. 1196–1204). Antalya minted coins with Kaykaus I 's name from November 1261 to November 1262. Between 1211 and 1219, the bulk of his coins are minted at Konya and Sivas. A significant portion of

2223-704: The Artuqids against him. This event triggered the launch of the Second Crusade. Nur ad-Din , one of Zengi's sons who succeeded him as atabeg of Aleppo , created an alliance in the region to oppose the Second Crusade, which landed in 1147. Ahmad Sanjar fought to contain the revolts by the Kara-Khanids in Transoxiana , Ghurids in Afghanistan and Qarluks in modern Kyrgyzstan , as well as

2340-471: The Artuqids . Kaykhusraw II (1237–1246) began his reign by capturing the region around Diyarbakır , but in 1239 he had to face an uprising led by a popular preacher named Baba Ishak . After three years, when he had finally quelled the revolt, the Crimean foothold was lost and the state and the sultanate's army had weakened. It is in these conditions that he had to face a far more dangerous threat, that of

2457-679: The Battle of Didgori on August 12, 1121, the Seljuks were routed, being run down by pursuing Georgian cavalry for several days afterward. The battle helped the Crusader states, which had been under pressure from Ilghazi's armies. The weakening of the main enemy of the Latin principalities also benefitted the Kingdom of Jerusalem under King Baldwin II . During this time conflict with the Crusader states

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2574-465: The Battle of Kapetrou on 10 September 1048. The devastation left behind by the Seljuk raid was so fearful that the Byzantine magnate Eustathios Boilas described, in 1051–1052, those lands as "foul and unmanageable... inhabited by snakes, scorpions, and wild beasts." The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir reports that Ibrahim brought back 100,000 captives and a vast booty loaded on the backs of ten thousand camels. In 1055, Tughril entered Baghdad and removed

2691-517: The Battle of Qatwan . He suffered his first defeat in his long career, and as a result lost all Seljuk territory east of the Syr Darya . Sanjar's as well as the Seljuks' rule collapsed as a consequence of yet another unexpected defeat, this time at the hands of the Seljuks' own tribe, in 1153. Sanjar was captured during the battle and held in captivity until 1156. It brought chaos to the Empire –

2808-477: The Byzantine cities of Nicaea (present-day İznik ) and briefly also Nicomedia (present-day İzmit ). Around two years later, he established a principality that, while initially a Byzantine vassal state , became increasingly independent after six to ten years. Nevertheless, it seems that Suleiman was tasked by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos in 1085 to reconquer Antioch and the former travelled there on

2925-636: The Empire of Trebizond his vassal in 1214. He also subjugated Cilician Armenia but in 1218 was forced to surrender the city of Aleppo, acquired from al-Kamil . Kayqubad continued to acquire lands along the Mediterranean coast from 1221 to 1225. In the 1220s, he sent an expeditionary force across the Black Sea to Crimea . In the east he defeated the Mengujekids and began to put pressure on

3042-603: The Hindu Kush in the east, and from Central Asia in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south, and it spanned the time period 1037–1308, though Seljuk rule beyond the Anatolian peninsula ended in 1194. The Seljuk Empire was founded in 1037 by Tughril (990–1063) and his brother Chaghri (989–1060), both of whom co-ruled over its territories; there are indications that the Seljuk leadership otherwise functioned as

3159-631: The Karakum Desert . First, they made their way to the important city of Merv, but perhaps due to its strong fortification, they changed their route westwards to take refuge in Nasa. Finally, the Seljuks arrived on the edges of Khorasan , the province considered a jewel in the Ghaznavid crown. After moving into Khorasan, Seljuks under Tughril wrested an empire from the Ghaznavids . Initially

3276-726: The Kingdom of Georgia began to become a regional power and extended its borders at the expense of the Great Seljuk Empire. The same was true during the revival of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , under Leo II of Armenia , in Anatolia. The Abbasid caliph An-Nasir also began to reassert the authority of the caliph and allied himself with the Khwarezmshah Takash . For a brief period, Toghrul III

3393-613: The Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. In the east, the sultanate reached Lake Van . Trade through Anatolia from Iran and Central Asia was developed by a system of caravanserai . Especially strong trade ties with the Genoese formed during this period. The increased wealth allowed the sultanate to absorb other Turkish states that had been established following the conquest of Byzantine Anatolia: Danishmendids , House of Mengüjek , Saltukids , Artuqids . The Seljuk sultans bore

3510-570: The Mirrors for princes genre, such as the prominent Siyasatnama (Book of Politics) composed by Nizam al-Mulk . During this period, these type of books consciously made use of Islamic and Iranian traditions, such as an ideal government based on the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his successors, or the Sasanian King of Kings Khosrow I ( r.  531–579 ). In most of their coins,

3627-584: The Oghuz Yabghu Ali Tegin and his allies, forcing them to escape from Transoxiana . Initially, the Seljuks took refuge in Khwarazm , which served as one of their traditional pastures, but they were also encouraged by the local Ghaznavid governor, Harun, who hoped to utilise Seljuks for his efforts to seize Khorasan from his sovereign. When Harun was assassinated by Ghaznavid agents in 1035, they again had to flee, this time heading south across

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3744-617: The Ottoman dynasty , which eventually conquered the rest and reunited Anatolia to become the Ottoman Empire . Since the 1030s, migratory Turkish groups in search of pastureland had penetrated Byzantine borders into Anatolia. In the 1070s, after the battle of Manzikert , the Seljuk commander Suleiman ibn Qutulmish , a distant cousin of Alp Arslan and a former contender for the throne of the Seljuk Empire , came to power in western Anatolia . Between 1075 and 1081, he gained control of

3861-568: The Qarakhanids and Ghaznavids had to acknowledge the overlordship of the Seljuks. Seljuk dominion was established over the ancient Sasanian domains, in Iran and Iraq , and included Anatolia , Syria , as well as parts of Central Asia and modern Afghanistan . Their rule was modelled after the tribal organization common among Turkic and Mongol nomadic cultures, resembling a 'family federation' or ' appanage state'. Under this organization,

3978-790: The Shah-Armens and the Mengujekids in Eastern Anatolia, Artuqids in Southeastern Anatolia, Danishmendis in Central Anatolia, Rum Seljuks (Beylik of Suleyman , which later moved to Central Anatolia) in Western Anatolia, and the Beylik of Tzachas of Smyrna in İzmir ( Smyrna ). Under Alp Arslan 's successor, Malik Shah , and his two Persian viziers , Nizām al-Mulk and Tāj al-Mulk,

4095-623: The Siege of Baghdad (1136) , forcing Caliph Al-Rashid Billah to abdicate, but the next Caliph Al-Muqtafi (1136–1160) managed to restore a high degree of independence and successfully resisted the Seljuk Siege of Baghdad (1157) . The army of the earliest Seljuks was not similar to the renowned Turkic military of the classical 'Abbasid era. Their first invasions were more of a great nomadic migration accompanied by their families and livestock rather than planned military conquests. They were not

4212-577: The Sultanate of Rum , and Kerbogha exercised independence as the atabeg of Mosul . During the First Crusade , the fractured states of the Seljuks were generally more concerned with consolidating their own territories and gaining control of their neighbours than with cooperating against the crusaders . The Seljuks easily defeated the People's Crusade arriving in 1096, but they could not stop

4329-596: The Turco-Persian tradition and Greco-Roman world , even to the point of naming their sons with New Persian names. The Seljuks of Rum had inherited the administrative method of Persian statecraft from the Seljuk Empire, which they would later pass on to the Ottomans. As an expression of Turco-Persian culture, Rum Seljuks patronized Persian art , architecture , and literature . Unlike the Seljuk Empire,

4446-560: The Zengids and Ayyubids in the west. The last surviving Seljuk sultanate to fall was the Sultanate of Rum , which fell in 1308. The founder of the dynasty was Seljuk, a warlord, who belonged to the Qiniq tribe of Oghuz Turks . He led his clan to the banks of the Syr Darya river, near city of Jend , where they converted to Islam in 985. Khwarezm, administered by the Ma'munids , was under

4563-481: The tughra . The populace of the Seljuk Empire would have considered this Perso-Islamic tradition more significant than that of steppe customs. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuks also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition , even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia. Under the Seljuks, Persian was also used for books lecturing about politics in

4680-534: The 'Lesser Seljuks'. Much of the ideological character of the Seljuk Empire was derived from the earlier Samanid and Ghaznavid kingdoms, which had in turn emerged from the Perso-Islamic imperial system of the Abbasid caliphate. This Perso-Islamic tradition was based on pre-Islamic Iranian ideas of kingship molded into an Islamic framework. Little of the public symbolism used by the Seljuks was Turkic, namely

4797-709: The Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Iranian Buyid Empire . The subsequent Seljuk expansion into eastern Anatolia triggered the Byzantine–Seljuk wars , with the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 marking a decisive turning point in the conflict in favour of the Seljuks, undermining the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the remaining parts of Anatolia and gradually enabling the region's Turkification . The Seljuk Empire united

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4914-448: The Arab influence, or at least the direct influence, to a relatively small degree. In contrast, Persian literature and Iranian influence expanded because most sultans and even a significant portion of the townspeople knew the language. One of its most famous Persian writers, Rumi , took his name from the name of the state. Moreover, Byzantine influence in the Sultanate was also significant, since Byzantine Greek aristocracy remained part of

5031-399: The Atabegs effectively independent. The breakaway states and dynasties included: After the Second Crusade, Nur ad-Din's general Shirkuh , who had established himself in Egypt on Fatimid land, was succeeded by Saladin . In time, Saladin rebelled against Nur ad-Din ; upon his death, Saladin married his widow, captured most of Syria and created the Ayyubid dynasty. On other fronts,

5148-534: The Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos secretly hindered the crusaders' progress, particularly in Anatolia, where he is alleged to have deliberately ordered Turks to attack them. However, this alleged sabotage of the Crusade by the Byzantines was likely fabricated by Odo, who saw the Empire as an obstacle, and moreover Emperor Manuel had no political reason to do so. Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and participated in 1148 in an ill-advised attack on Damascus, which ended in their retreat. In

5265-401: The Byzantine resistance to the Turkish invasion of Anatolia, although the Georgians were able to recover from Alp Arslan's invasion by securing the theme of Iberia . The Byzantine withdrawal from Anatolia brought Georgia in more direct contact with the Seljuks. In 1073 the Seljuk Amirs of Ganja, Dvin and Dmanisi invaded Georgia and were defeated by George II of Georgia , who successfully took

5382-405: The Crusader states in the Levant Seljuk Empire The Seljuk Empire , or the Great Seljuk Empire , was a high medieval , culturally Turco-Persian , Sunni Muslim empire, established and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks . The empire spanned a total area of 3.9 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to

5499-437: The Danishmends and he conquer some of their lands. In 1130, he started construction of the Alâeddin Mosque in Konya, which was later completed in 1221. in 1146, Mesud successfully fended off a Byzantine attack on his capital and toward the end of his reign, fought against the armies of the Second Crusade , one led by Emperor Conrad III of Germany and the other led by King Louis VII of France . Mesud defeated both of them;

5616-472: The Georgians. Suleiman II died in 1204 and was succeeded by his son Kilij Arslan III , whose reign was unpopular. Kaykhusraw I seized Konya in 1205 reestablishing his reign. Under his rule and those of his two successors, Kaykaus I and Kayqubad I , Seljuk power in Anatolia reached its apogee. Kaykhusraw's most important achievement was the capture of the harbour of Attalia (Antalya) on the Mediterranean coast in 1207. His son Kaykaus captured Sinop and made

5733-409: The Islamic Near East may have experienced a "silver famine" owing to little, or very little, silver mintings from the eleventh and most of the twelfth centuries. However, at the start of the thirteenth century a "silver flood" occurred in Rum Seljuq territory when Anatolian silver mines were discovered. The fineness of Rum Seljuq dirhams is similar to that of dinars ; frequently, both were struck using

5850-447: The Khwarezmian throne, managed to take control of Khorasan, until 1192 when he was defeated near Merv by the Ghurids , who captured his territories. The Ghurids then took control of all Khorasan following the death of his successor Tekish in 1200, as far as Besṭām in the ancient region of Qūmes. The province was finally conquered by Khwarazmians after the Ghurid defeat at the Battle of Andkhud (1204). The Tomb of Ahmed Sanjar

5967-456: The Mongols at the Battle of Elbistan , temporarily replacing them as the administrator of the Seljuk realm. But since the native forces who had called him to Anatolia did not manifest themselves for the defense of the land, he had to return to his home base in Egypt , and the Mongol administration was re-assumed, officially and severely. Also, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia captured the Mediterranean coast from Selinos to Seleucia , as well as

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6084-407: The Oghuz who made their way to Iran between about 1020 and 1040, first moving south to Transoxiana , and then to Khorasan , initially at the invitation of the local rulers, then under alliances and conflicts. Contemporary sources mention places such as Dahistan , Farawa and Nasa , as well as Sarakhs , all in present-day Turkmenistan. Around 1034, Tughril and Chaghri were soundly defeated by

6201-411: The Seljuk Empire. While the Maliknama was compiled from Turkic oral accounts, it was written in Persian and Arabic languages. Steppe traditions influenced Seljuk marriages, with Tughril marrying his brother Chaghri 's widow, a practice despised in Islam . Seljuk ceremonies were based on the Abbasid model, but sometimes ancient Iranian ceremonies were observed. During a night in 1091, all of Baghdad

6318-413: The Seljuk nobility, and the native Byzantine (Rûm) peasants remained numerous in the region. Based on their genealogy, it appears that the Seljuk sultans favored Christian ladies, just like the early Ottoman sultans. Within the Seljuk harem, Greek women were the most dominant. Cultural Turkification in Anatolia first started during the 14th-century, particularly during the gradual rise of the Ottomans . With

6435-443: The Seljuk state expanded in various directions, to the former Iranian border of the days before the Arab invasion, so that it soon bordered China in the east and the Byzantines in the west. Malik Shah's brother Tutush defended Seljuk' interests in Syria in the battle of Ain Salm against Suleiman ibn Qutalmish who had started to carve out an independent state in Anatolia. Nevertheless, despite various attempts to bring afterwards

6552-416: The Seljuk sultanate. Suleiman II rallied his vassal emirs and marched against Georgia, with an army of 150,000–400,000 and encamped in the Basiani valley. Tamar of Georgia quickly marshaled an army throughout her possessions and put it under command of her consort, David Soslan . Georgian troops under David Soslan made a sudden advance into Basiani and assailed the enemy's camp in 1203 or 1204. In

6669-444: The Seljuk sultans of Rum had Persian names such as Kay Khosrow , Kay Kawad/Qobad , and Kay Kāvus . The bureaucrats and religious elite of their realm were generally Persian. In the 13th century, most Muslim inhabitants in major Anatolian urban hubs reportedly spoke Persian as their main language. It was in this century that the proneness of imitating Iran in terms of administration, religion and culture reached its zenith, encouraged by

6786-461: The Seljuk sultans used the Sasanian title of shahanshah (King of Kings), and even used the old Buyid title of "Shahanshah of Islam." The title of malik was used by lesser princes of the Seljuk family. Like the caliphate, the Seljuks relied on a refined Persian bureaucracy. The settlement of Turkic tribes in the northwestern peripheral parts of the empire, for the strategic military purpose of fending off invasions from neighboring states, led to

6903-422: The Seljuk sultans. Despite their Turkic origins, the Seljuks used Persian for administrative purposes; even their histories, which replaced Arabic, were in Persian. Their usage of Turkish was hardly promoted at all. Even Sultan Kilij Arslan II , as a child, spoke to courtiers in Persian. Khanbaghi states the Anatolian Seljuks were even more Persianized than the Seljuks that ruled the Iranian plateau. Persian poetry

7020-462: The Seljuks were repulsed by Mahmud and retired to Khwarezm , but Tughril and Chaghri led them to capture Merv and Nishapur (1037–1038). Later they repeatedly raided and traded territory with Mahmud's successor, Mas'ud, across Khorasan and Balkh . In 1040, at the Battle of Dandanaqan , Seljuks decisively defeated Mas'ud I of Ghazni , forcing him to abandon most of his western territories. Afterwards, Turkmens employed Khorasanians and set up

7137-403: The approval of Malik Shah's son and successor Berkyaruq . Kilij Arslan, although victorious against the People's Crusade of 1096, was defeated by soldiers of the First Crusade and driven back into south-central Anatolia, where he set up his state with its capital in Konya . He defeated three Crusade contingents in the Crusade of 1101 . In 1107, he ventured east and captured Mosul but died

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7254-483: The brunt of the Crusades and eventually succumbed to the Mongol invasion at the 1243 Battle of Köse Dağ . For the remainder of the 13th century, the Seljuks acted as vassals of the Ilkhanate . Their power disintegrated during the second half of the 13th century. The last of the Seljuk vassal sultans of the Ilkhanate, Mesud II , was murdered in 1308. The dissolution of the Seljuk state left behind many small Anatolian beyliks (Turkish principalities), among them that of

7371-443: The cities of Marash and Behisni , from the Seljuk in the 1240s. Near the end of his reign, Kaykhusraw III could claim direct sovereignty only over lands around Konya. Some of the beyliks (including the early Ottoman state) and Seljuk governors of Anatolia continued to recognize, albeit nominally, the supremacy of the sultan in Konya, delivering the khutbah in the name of the sultans in Konya in recognition of their sovereignty, and

7488-505: The crusaders. After pillaging the County of Edessa , Seljuk commander Ilghazi made peace with the Crusaders. In 1121 he went north towards Georgia and with supposedly up to 250,000 – 350,000 troops, including men led by his son-in-law Sadaqah and Sultan Malik of Ganja , he invaded the Kingdom of Georgia . David IV of Georgia gathered 40,000 Georgian warriors, including 5,000 monaspa guards, 15,000 Kipchaks , 300 Alans and 100 French Crusaders to fight against Ilghazi 's vast army. At

7605-440: The dominant power in the region, but the Mongol invasion in 1219–1220 soon destroyed it. The Sultanate of Rum, the last remnants of the Seljuks in Anatolia, ended too with the Mongol invasions of Anatolia through the 1260s, and was divided into small emirates called ' beyliks '. One of these, the Ottomans , would eventually rise to power and conquer the rest. Seljuk power was indeed at its zenith under Malikshāh I, and both

7722-415: The end, the crusade in the east was a failure for the crusaders and a victory for the Muslims. It would ultimately have a key influence on the fall of Jerusalem and give rise to the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century. Mesud's son, Kilij Arslan II , is the first known Seljuk ruler who is known to have used the title of sultan and captured the remaining territories around Sivas and Malatya from

7839-614: The entire history of Islamic architecture. Later, this Anatolian architecture would be inherited by the Sultanate of India . The largest caravanserai is the Sultan Han (built-in 1229) on the road between the cities of Konya and Aksaray, in the township of Sultanhanı , covering 3,900 m (42,000 sq ft). Two caravanserais carry the name Sultan Han , the other one being between Kayseri and Sivas. Furthermore, apart from Sultanhanı, five other towns across Turkey owe their names to caravanserais built there. These are Alacahan in Kangal , Durağan , Hekimhan and Kadınhanı , as well as

7956-417: The expanding Mongols . The forces of the Mongol Empire took Erzurum in 1242 and in 1243, the sultan was crushed by Baiju in the Battle of Köse Dağ (a mountain between the cities of Sivas and Erzincan ), resulting in the Seljuk Turks being forced to swear allegiance to the Mongols and became their vassals. The sultan himself had fled to Antalya after the battle, where he died in 1246; his death started

8073-453: The first at the battle of Dorylaeum near modern Eskişehir in 1147 and the second army in Laodicea near modern Denizli in 1148. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos persuaded Mesud I to attack Thoros II and demand his submission to Sultan's suzerainty. However, the ensuing Seljuk attack, which in fact was provoked by an Armenian raid into Seljuk lands in Cappadocia in the winter of 1154, was routed successfully by Thoros in collaboration with

8190-452: The first madrasa in Baghdad, in 1063, called the Nizamiya . In the madrasas he built, he patronized Shafi'is. The vizier Taj al-Mulk and Malik-shah's widow, Terken Khatun, patronized the building of a madrasa to compete with Nazim's Nizamiya . The region of Iraq was under the control of the Seljuk Empire from 1055 to 1135, since the Oghuz Turk Tughril Beg had expelled the Shiite Buyid dynasty . Tughril Beg entered Baghdad in 1055 and

8307-407: The fortress of Kars . A retaliatory strike by the Seljuk Amir Ahmad defeated the Georgians at Kvelistsikhe . Alp Arslan authorized his Turkoman generals to carve their own principalities out of formerly Byzantine Anatolia, as atabegs loyal to him. Within two years the Turkmens had established control as far as the Aegean Sea under numerous beyliks : the Saltukids in Northeastern Anatolia,

8424-581: The fractured political landscape in the non-Arab eastern parts of the Muslim world and played a key role in both the First and Second Crusades ; it also bore witness to in the creation and expansion of multiple artistic movements during this period By the 1140s, the Seljuk Empire began to decline in power and influence, and was eventually supplanted in the east by the Khwarazmian Empire in 1194 and

8541-812: The greatest advocate of Iranian orientation for the Seljuk empire, admitted the debt dynasty owed to the Turkmens. After the establishment of the Seljuk state, Turkmens continued to be the driving force behind the Seljuk expansion in Anatolia . After the rule of Malik-Shah I, however, there are very few mentions of Turkmens in the Jibali region of the state, especially in their traditional axis of Rayy , Hamadhan and Hulwan . Mesud I Rukn al-Dīn Mesud Klada ibn Kilij Arslan or Mesud I (Modern Turkish : I. Rükneddin Mesud or Masud ( Persian : ركن الدین مسعود )

8658-468: The horses and fled on foot through difficult, marshy places, as though they were persecuting themselves. For at that time Thoros was not in his country. Rather, he had gone to Tsets. When he returned and saw what had unfolded everyone thanked God, for they had been defeated without the use of weapons and without a physical battle. When he died, Mesud was succeeded by his son Kilij Arslan II . Kamero, one of Mesud's daughters married John Tzelepes Komnenos ,

8775-480: The host of Yelu Dashi at the Battle of Qatwan on September 9, 1141. While Sanjar managed to escape with his life, many of his close kin including his wife were taken captive in the battle's aftermath. As a result of Sanjar's failure to deal with the encroaching threat from the east, the Seljuk Empire lost all its eastern provinces up to the river Syr Darya , and vassalage of the Western Kara-Khanids

8892-568: The influence of the Buyid dynasty , under a commission from the Abbasid caliph. Iraq would remain under the control of the Seljuk Turks until 1135. Alp Arslan, the son of Chaghri Beg, expanded significantly upon Tughril's holdings by adding Armenia and Georgia in 1064 and invading the Byzantine Empire in 1068, from which he annexed almost all of Anatolia. Arslan's decisive victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 effectively neutralized

9009-725: The last of the Danishmends. At the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1176, Kilij Arslan II also defeated a Byzantine army led by Manuel I Komnenos . Despite a temporary occupation of Konya in 1190 by the Holy Roman Empire 's forces of the Third Crusade , the sultanate was quick to recover and consolidate its power. During the last years of Kilij Arslan II's reign, the sultanate experienced a civil war with Kaykhusraw I fighting to retain control and losing to his brother Suleiman II in 1196. Following Kilij Arslan II's death,

9126-462: The leading member of the paramount family assigned to family members portions of his domains as autonomous appanages. Seljuks exercised full control over Islamic Central Asia and the Middle East between 1040 and 1157. For most of its history, the empire was split into a western and eastern half and did not have a single capital or political center. In the east, the chief seat of Seljuk rule

9243-542: The major influx of Persian refugees fleeing Mongol invasions, who brought Persian culture with them and were instrumental in creating a "second Iran" in Anatolia. Iranian cultural, political, and literary traditions deeply influenced Anatolia in the early 13th century. The notable historian Ibn Bibi composed a six-volume Persian language poetic work called the Selçukname , modeled after the Shahnamah , which focused on

9360-558: The most prominent development of Malik Shah's rule was the continuous increase in the power of the Nizām al-Mulk. Some contemporary chroniclers refer to the period as "al-dawla al-Nizamiyya", the Nizam's state, while modern scholars have mentioned him as "the real ruler of the Seljuq empire". The 14-century biographer Subki claimed that Nizām al-Mulk's vizierate was "not just a vizierate, it was above

9477-532: The names of the sultans, there are variants in form and spelling depending on the preferences displayed by one source or the other, either for fidelity in transliterating the Persian variant of the Arabic script which the sultans used, or for a rendering corresponding to the modern Turkish phonology and orthography. Some sultans had two names that they chose to use alternatively in reference to their legacy. While

9594-613: The nomadic invasion of the Kara-Khitais in the east. The advancing Kara-Khitais first defeated the Eastern Kara-Khanids, then followed up by crushing the Western Kara-Khanids, who were vassals of the Seljuks at Khujand . The Kara-Khanids turned to their Seljuk overlords for assistance, to which Sanjar responded by personally leading an army against the Kara-Khitai. However, Sanjar's army was decisively defeated by

9711-762: The nominal control of the Samanid Empire . By 999, the Samanids had fallen to the Kara-Khanid Khanate in Transoxiana , while the Ghaznavids occupied the lands south of the Amu Darya . The Seljuks supported the last Samanid emir against the Kara-Khanids before establishing an independent base. Oghuz Turks (also known as Turkmens at the time), led by Seljuk's son, Musa and his two nephews, Tughril and Chaghri, were one of several groups of

9828-535: The northwesterly cities of Ankara, Çankırı, Eskişehir, and Kaztamunu from 1186 to 1200. Tughril ibn Kılıç Arslan II 's reign in Erzurum, another son of Kilij Arslan II, minted silver dirhams in 1211–1212. The sun-lion and the equestrian are the two central motifs in the Rum Seljuq numismatic figural repertoire. The image of a horseman with two more arrows ready and his bow taut represents strength and control and

9945-572: The progress of the army of the subsequent Princes' Crusade (First Crusade), which took important cities such as Nicaea ( İznik ), Iconium (Konya) , Caesarea Mazaca ( Kayseri ), and Antioch ( Antakya ) on its march to Jerusalem ( Al-Quds ). In 1099 the crusaders finally captured the Holy Land and set up the first Crusader states . The Seljuks had already lost Jerusalem to the Fatimids , who had recaptured it in 1098 just before its capture by

10062-519: The progressive Turkicization of those areas. According to the 12th-century poet Nizami Aruzi , all of the Seljuk sultans had a liking for poetry, which is also demonstrated by the large compilation of Persian verses written under their patronage. This had already started under Tughril, who was praised in Arabic and Persian by poets such as Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani and Bakharzi, albeit he could not understand

10179-455: The same dies. The Seljuq silver coinage's superior quality and prominence contributed to the dynasty's affluence throughout the early part of the thirteenth century and explains why it served as a kind of anchor for the local "currency community." The Empire of Trebizond and Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia silver coins were modeled after the fineness and weight specifications of Rum Seljuq coins. ( Tokhara Yabghus , Turk Shahis ) As regards with

10296-580: The same time, the son of Suleiman ibn Qutalmish , Kilij Arslan I , escaped Malikshāh's imprisonment and claimed authority in the former lands of his father . In Persia , Malikshāh's four year old son Mahmud I was proclaimed sultan but his reign was contested by his three brothers Barkiyaruq in Iraq , Muhammad I in Baghdad , and Ahmad Sanjar in Khorasan . Additionally, Malikshāh's brother Tutush I made

10413-492: The same year fighting Malik Shah's son, Mehmed Tapar . He was the first Muslim commander against the crusades. Meanwhile, another Rum Seljuk, Malik Shah (not to be confused with the Seljuk sultan of the same name), captured Konya. In 1116 Kilij Arslan's son, Mesud I , took the city with the help of the Danishmends . Upon Mesud's death in 1156, the sultanate controlled nearly all of central Anatolia. The Second Crusade

10530-542: The settlement in Kalehisar contiguous to an ancient Hittite site near Alaca , founded by the Seljuk commander Hüsameddin Temurlu , who had taken refuge in the region after the defeat in the Battle of Köse Dağ and had founded a township comprising a castle, a madrasa, a habitation zone and a caravanserai, which were later abandoned apparently around the 16th century. All but the caravanserai, which remains undiscovered,

10647-640: The sultanate was divided amongst his sons. Elbistan was given to Tughril ibn Kılıç Arslan II , but when Erzurum was taken from the Saltukids at the start of the thirteenth century, he was installed there. Tughril governed Erzurum from 1192 to 1221. During 1211–1212, he broke free from the Seljuk state. In 1230, Jahan Shah bin Tughril who was allied to the Khwarazmshah Jalal al-Din, lost the Battle of Yassıçemen , allowing for Erzurum to be annexed by

10764-453: The sultanate". The Assassins ( Hashshashin ) of Hassan-i Sabāh started to become a force during his era, however, and they assassinated many leading figures in his administration; according to many sources these victims included Nizām al-Mulk. Ahmad was the son of Malik Shah I and initially took part in wars of succession against his three brothers and a nephew: Mahmud I , Barkiyaruq , Malik Shah II and Muhammad I Tapar . In 1096, he

10881-553: The sultans continued to call themselves Fahreddin, the Pride of Islam . When Kaykhusraw III was executed in 1284, the Seljuk dynasty suffered another blow from internal struggles which lasted until 1303 when the son of Kaykaus II, Mesud II , established himself as sultan in Kayseri . He was murdered in 1308 and his son Mesud III soon afterwards. A distant relative to the Seljuk dynasty momentarily installed himself as emir of Konya, but he

10998-624: The territory of Antioch. When they had crossed the gate, the Brothers /the Knights Templar/ , as though sent by God, swooped upon them at that place and slaughtered all of them, including their chief. When those in the sultan’s army heard about this, they were horrified. This was not all, for the wrath of God was visited upon them. Their horses perished from tapax / diarrhea / and they themselves turned to flight, brother not waiting to help brother, nor comrade, comrade. They hamstrung many of

11115-412: The throne, and Mahmud II proclaimed himself Sultan and established a capital in Baghdad, until 1131 when he was finally officially deposed by Ahmad Sanjar. Elsewhere in nominal Seljuk territory were the Artuqids in northeastern Syria and northern Mesopotamia ; they controlled Jerusalem until 1098. The Dānišmand dynasty founded a state in eastern Anatolia and northern Syria and contested land with

11232-529: The township of Akhan within the Denizli metropolitan area. The caravanserai of Hekimhan is unique in having, underneath the usual inscription in Arabic with information relating to the tower, two further inscriptions in Armenian and Syriac , since it was constructed by the sultan Kayqubad I 's doctor ( hekim ), who is thought to have been a Christian convert to Islam . There are other particular cases, like

11349-855: The two palaces built by Alaeddin Keykubad ;I carry the names Kubadabad Palace and Keykubadiye Palace, he named his mosque in Konya as Alâeddin Mosque and the port city of Alanya he had captured as " Alaiye ". Similarly, the medrese built by Kaykhusraw I in Kayseri, within the complex ( külliye ) dedicated to his sister Gevher Nesibe , was named Gıyasiye Medrese, and the one built by Kaykaus I in Sivas as Izzediye Medrese. Period post-First Crusade Second Crusade Period post-Second Crusade Third Crusade Period post-Third Crusade Fourth Crusade Fifth Crusade Sixth Crusade and aftermath Seventh Crusade End of

11466-549: The various Turkish warlords in Anatolia under control, they largerly maintained their independence. Malikshāh was the one who moved the capital from Ray to Isfahan . The Iqta military system and the Nizāmīyyah University at Baghdad were established by Nizām al-Mulk, and the reign of Malikshāh was reckoned the golden age of "Great Seljuk". The Abbasid caliph titled him "The Sultan of the East and West" in 1087. Internally,

11583-511: The verses. The last Seljuk sultan Tughril III was well known for his Persian poetry. The Saljuq-nama of Zahir al-Din Nishapuri , which was most likely dedicated to Tughril III, indicates that the Seljuk family now used Persian to communicate, and even were taught about the achievements of their forefathers in that language. Tughril relied on his vizier to translate from Arabic and Persian into Turkic for him, and Oghuz songs were sung at

11700-456: The vizierate of Nizam al-Mulk. It was under the vizierate of al-Kunduri that the Islamic scholar, Al-Juwayni was forced to flee to Mecca and Medina. In 1065, Alp Arslan campaigned against the Kingdom of Georgia , subjugated Tbilisi , and built a mosque in the city. In 1092, Malik-shah built the Jami al-Sultan Mosque in Baghdad . At the capital, Isfahan, Malik-shah had constructed a madrasa,

11817-615: The wedding of Tughril to the caliph's daughter. Later sultans, like Mahmud , could speak Arabic alongside Persian, however, they still used Turkic among themselves. The most significant evidence of the importance of Turkic language is the extensive Turkic–Arabic dictionary, or the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk , assembled in Baghdad for Caliph al-Muqtadi by Mahmud al-Kashgari . However, besides the Diwan, no works written in Turkic language survive from

11934-613: Was Marv in present-day Turkmenistan . In the west, various cities, where the Seljuk rulers lived periodically, served as capitals: Rayy , Isfahan , Baghdad , and, later, Hamadan . These western lands were known as the Sultanate of Iraq. After 1118, the Seljuk rulers of Iraq recognized the suzerainty of the Seljuk sultan Sanjar , who mostly ruled from Marv, and was known by the title of al-sultān al-a'zam, 'the Greatest Sultan'. The Seljuk rulers of Iraq were often mentioned as

12051-516: Was also intermittent, and after the First Crusade increasingly independent atabegs would frequently ally with the Crusader states against other atabegs as they vied with each other for territory. At Mosul, Zengi succeeded Kerbogha as atabeg and successfully began the process of consolidating the atabegs of Syria. In 1144 Zengi captured Edessa , as the County of Edessa had allied itself with

12168-527: Was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe. After crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The main Western Christian source, Odo of Deuil, and Syriac Christian sources claim that

12285-544: Was defeated and his lands conquered by the Karamanids in 1328. The sultanate's monetary sphere of influence lasted slightly longer and coins of Seljuk mint, generally considered to be of reliable value, continued to be used throughout the 14th century, once again, including by the Ottomans. The Seljuk dynasty of Rum, as successors to the Great Seljuks, based its political, religious and cultural heritage on

12402-460: Was destroyed by the Mongols led by Tolui , who sacked the city of Merv in 1221, killing 700,000 people according to contemporary sources during their catastrophic invasion of Khwarazm ; however, modern scholarship holds such figures to be exaggerated. When Malikshāh I died in 1092, the empire split as his brother and four sons quarrelled over the apportioning of the empire among themselves. At

12519-573: Was executed in 1265, and Kaykhusraw III (1265–1284) became the nominal ruler of all of Anatolia, with the tangible power exercised either by the Mongols or the sultan's influential regents. The Seljuk state had started to split into small emirates ( beyliks ) that increasingly distanced themselves from both Mongol and Seljuk control. In 1277, responding to a call from Anatolia, the Mamluk Sultan Baibars raided Anatolia and defeated

12636-575: Was explored in the 1960s by the art historian Oktay Aslanapa , and the finds as well as several documents attest to the existence of a vivid settlement in the site, such as a 1463 Ottoman firman which instructs the headmaster of the madrasa to lodge not in the school but in the caravanserai. The Seljuk palaces, as well as their armies, were staffed with ghilmān ( Arabic : غِلْمَان ), singular ghulam ), slave-soldiers taken as children from non-Muslim communities, mainly Greeks from former Byzantine territories. The practice of keeping ghilmān may have offered

12753-486: Was lit with candles under the orders of Malik-Shah I, which resembled the Zoroastrian ritual of sadhak . In 985, the Seljuks migrated to the city of Jend where they converted to Islam. The arrival of the Seljuk Turks into Persia, and their patronage of constructing madrasas, allowed for Sunni Islam to become the dominant sect of Islam. Until the death of Sultan Sanjar, the Seljuks were pious Sunnis, and represented

12870-700: Was named Governor of Mosul, where the Atabegdom of Mosul was formed. The Seljuk control of the Abassids ended in 1135, with direct military confrontation between the Abassids and the Seljuks: after rebuilding the walls of Baghdad and recreating a Caliphal after many centuries, Al-Mustarshid confronted the subordinate Seljuk Sultan of Iraq Mas'ud in battle. The caliph lost and was taken prisoner, and died in captivity in 1135, but conflicts continued with Al-Mustarshid's successors. Mas'ud briefly recaptured Baghdad in

12987-559: Was restricted to the only rule of Iraq, while Sanjar took control of the rest of the Empire. In order to counter the ambitions of Abbasid Caliph al-Mustarshid (1118–1135), who wanted to acquire world dominance, in 1124 Mahmūd granted the city of Wasit to Imad al-Din Zengi as an ıqta , and conferred him the Military Governorship of Basra together with Baghdad and the whole of Iraq in 1126. In 1127, Imad al-Din Zengi

13104-420: Was tasked to govern the province of Khorasan by his brother Muhammad I. Over the next several years, Ahmad Sanjar became the ruler of most of Iran (Persia), and eventually in 1118, the sole ruler of the Great Seljuk Empire, but with a subordinate Sultan in Iraq in the person of Mahmud II . In 1141, Ahmad marched to eliminate the threat posed by Kara Khitans and faced them in the vicinity of Samarkand at

13221-560: Was the Sultan of all Seljuk lands except for Anatolia. He spent his reign conquering cities, destroying the citadel of Ray in the process, but was unable to hold any cities long enough to rebuild them. Toghrul III, however, was defeated by Ala al-Din Tekish , Shah of Khwarazmian Empire , and the Seljuk Empire finally collapsed in 1194. Of the former Empire, only the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia remained. The Khwarazmian Empire took over as

13338-627: Was the first Seljuk ruler to style himself Sultan and Protector of the Abbasid Caliphate. From that time, the Abassids were only "puppets" in the hands of the Seljuks. In 1058, the Abassid Caliph granted to Tughril the title of "King of East and West", officially becoming the temporal protector of Abassid Caliph Qa'im . Iraq remained under the control of the Great Seljuks during the reign of Muhammad I Tapar (1082–1118 CE), but from 1119, his 14 years old son Mahmud II (1118–1131)

13455-440: Was the sultan of the Sultanate of Rûm from 1116 until his death in 1156. Following the defeat and death of his father Kilij Arslan fighting against Ridwan of Aleppo at the battle of Khabur river in 1107, Mesud lost the throne in favor of his brother Malik Shah . With the help of the Danishmends , Mesud captured Konya and defeated Malik Shah in 1116, later blinding and eventually murdering him. Mesud would later turn on

13572-668: Was usurped by the Kara-Khitai, otherwise known as the Western Liao in Chinese historiography. In 1153, the Oghuz Turks rebelled and captured Sanjar. He managed to escape after three years but died a year later. The Atabegs, such as the Zengids and Artuqids , were only nominally under the Seljuk Sultan, and generally controlled Syria independently. When Sanjar died in 1157, the empire fractured even further and rendered

13689-589: Was written by sultans Suleiman II , Kayqubad I , and Kaykhusraw II . The Rahat al-sudur , the history of the Great Seljuk Empire and its breakup, written in Persian by Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi, was dedicated to Sultan Kaykhusraw I . Even the Tārikh-i Āl-i Saldjūq , an anonymous history of the Sultanate of Rum, was written in Persian. The sultans of Rum were largely not educated in Arabic. This clearly limited

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