The Sultanate of Rûm and surrounding states, c. 1200.
The Sultanate of Rûm (also known as the Rûm sultanate (Persian: سلجوقیان روم, Saljuqiyān-e Rum), Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate,Sultanate of Iconium, Anatolian Seljuk State (Turkish: Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti) or Turkey Seljuk State (Turkish: Türkiye Selçuklu Devleti) was a Turko-Persian {!}Sunni Muslim{!} state established in the parts of Anatolia which had been conquered from the Byzantine Empire by the Seljuk Empire, which was established by the Seljuk Turks. The name Rûm was a synonym for Greek, as it remains in modern Turkish, although it derives from the Arabic name for Romans, الرُّومُar-Rūm, itself a loan from Greek Ῥωμαῖοι, "Romans"; ie. citizens superordinately to Latin-speakers.
The Sultanate of Rum seceded from the Great Seljuk Empire underSuleiman ibn Qutulmishin 1077, following the Battle of Manzikert, with capitals first at İznik and then at Konya. It reached the height of its power during the late 12th and early 13th century, when it succeeded in taking Byzantine key ports on the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. In the east, the sultanate absorbed other Turkish states and reached Lake Van. Trade from Iran and Central Asia across Anatolia was developed by a system of caravanserai. Especially strong trade ties with theGenoese formed during this period. The increased wealth allowed the sultanate to absorb other Turkish states that had been established in eastern Anatolia(Danishmends, Mengujekids, Saltukids, Artuqids).
The Seljuq sultans bore the brunt of the Crusades and eventually succumbed to the Mongol invasion in 1243 (Battle of Köse Dağ). For the remainder of the 13th century, the Seljuqs acted as vassals of the Ilkhanate. Their power disintegrated during the second half of the 13th century. The last of the Seljuq vassal sultans of the Ilkhanate, Mesud II, was murdered in 1308. The dissolution of the Seljuq state left behind many small Anatolian beyliks (Turkish principalities), among them that of the Ottoman dynasty, which eventually conquered the rest and reunited Anatolia to become the Ottoman Empire.
Establishment
In the 1070s, after the battle of Manzikert, the Seljuk commander Suleiman ibn Qutulmish, a distant cousin of Malik-Shah I and a former contender for the throne of the Seljuk Empire, came to power in western Anatolia. In 1075, he captured the Byzantine cities of Nicaea (İznik) and Nicomedia (İzmit). Two years later, he declared himself sultan of an independent Seljuq state and established his capital at İznik.
Suleiman was killed in Antioch in 1086 by Tutush I, the Seljuk ruler of Syria, and Suleiman's son Kilij Arslan I was imprisoned. When Malik Shah died in 1092, Kilij Arslan was released and immediately established himself in his father's territories.
Crusades
Kilij Arslan was defeated by soldiers of the First Crusade and driven back into south-central Anatolia, where he set up his state with capital in Konya. In 1107, he ventured east and captured Mosul but died the same year fighting Malik Shah's son, Mehmed Tapar.
Meanwhile, another Rum Seljuq, Malik Shah (not to be confused with the Seljuq 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. Mesud's son, Kilij Arslan II, captured the remaining territories around Sivas and Malatya from 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, dealing a major blow to Byzantine power in the region. 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.
Süleymanshah 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 a pitched battle, the Seljuqid 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 Seljuq 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 the Georgians.
Suleiman II (1196-1204) was routed by the Kingdom of Georgia in the Battle of Basian (1203) and died in 1204. He 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, Seljuq 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 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 the Artuqids.
Mongol conquest
Kaykhusraw II (1237-1246) began his reign by capturing the region aroundDiyarbakır, 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 the expanding Mongols. The forces of the Mongol Empiretook Erzurumin 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), and the Seljuq Turks were forced to swear allegiance to the Mongols and became their vassals. The sultan himself had fled to Antalya after the 1243 battle, where he died in 1246, his death starting a period of tripartite, and then dual, rule that lasted until 1260.
The Seljuq 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 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.
Disintegration
The Seljuq state had started to split into small emirates (beyliks) that increasingly distanced themselves from both Mongol and Seljuq control.In 1277, responding to a call from Anatolia, the Mamluk sultan, Baibars, raided Anatolia and defeated the Mongols, temporarily replacing them as the administrator of the Seljuq 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 the cities of Marash and Behisni, from the Seljuq 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 Seljuq 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 the sultans continued to call themselves Fahreddin, the Pride of Islam. When Kaykhusraw III was executed in 1284, the Seljuq 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 Seljuq dynasty momentarily installed himself as emir of Konya, but he was defeated and his lands conquered by the Karamanids in 1328. The sultanate's monetary sphere of influence lasted slightly longer and coins of Seljuq mint, generally considered to be of reliable value, continued to be used throughout the 14th century, once again, including by the Ottomans.
Culture and society
The Seljuk dynasty of Rum, as successors to the Great Seljuqs, based their political, religious and cultural heritage on the Perso-Islamic tradition, even to the point of naming their sons with Persian names.Though of Turkic origin, Rum Seljuks patronized Persian art, architecture, and literature and used Persian as a language of administration. Moreover, Byzantine influence in the Sultanate was also significant, since Greek aristocracy remained part of the Seljuk nobility, and the local Greek population was numerous in the region.
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 a hundred structures were built during the Anatolian Seljuqs period, are particularly remarkable. Along with Persian influences, which had an indisputable effect, Seljuk architecture was inspired by Christian and Muslim Armenians. As such, Anatolian architecture represents some of the most distinctive and impressive constructions in the entire history of Islamic architecture. Later, this Anatolian architecture would be transmitted to Sultanate 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 depending the latter city, enclosing 3,900 m2 (42,000 sq ft). There are two caravanserais that 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 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 edifice, 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 by his origins, and to have converted to Islam. There are other particular cases like the settlement in Kalehisar (contiguous to an ancient Hittite site) near Alaca, founded by the Seljuq 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, was explored in the 1960s by the art historian Oktay Aslanapa, and the finds as well as a number of 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 ghulams (plural ghilmân, Arabic: غِلْمَان), enslaved youths taken from non-Muslim communities, mainly Greeks from former Byzantine territories. The practice of keeping ghulams may have offered a model for the later devşirme during the time of the Ottoman Empire.
During the reign of Ögedei Khan, the Sultanate of Rum offered friendship and a modest tribute to Chormaqan, a kheshig and one of the Mongols' greatest generals.Under Kaykhusraw II, however, the Mongols began to pressure the sultan to go to Mongolia in person, give hostages and accept a Mongol darughachi [governors].
Battle
Under the leadership of Baiju, the Mongol commander, the Mongols attacked Rum in the winter of 1242-1243 and seized the city of Erzurum. Sultan Kaykhusraw II immediately called on his neighbours to contribute troops to resist the invasion. The Empire of Trebizond sent a detachment and the sultan engaged a group of “Frankish” mercenaries. A few Georgian nobles such as Pharadavla of Akhaltsikhe and Dardin Shervashidze also joined him, but most Georgians were compelled to fight alongside their Mongol overlords.
The decisive battle was fought at Köse Dağ on June 26, 1243. The primary sources do not record the size of the opposing armies but suggest that the Mongols faced a numerically superior force. Baiju brushed aside an apprehensive notice from his Georgian officer regarding the size of the Seljuq army by stating that they counted as nothing the numbers of their enemies: "the more they are, the more glorious it is to win, and the more plunder we shall secure".
Kaykhusraw II rejected the proposal of his experienced commanders to wait for the Mongol attack. Instead, he sent a force of 20,000 men, led by inexperienced commanders, against the Mongol army. The Mongol army, pretending a retreat, turned back, encircled the Seljuq army and defeated it.
When the rest of the Seljuq army witnessed their defeat, many Seljuq commanders and their soldiers, including Kaykhusraw II, started to abandon the battlefield. Eventually, the Seljuq army was left without leaders and most of their soldiers had deserted, without seeing any combat.
After their victory, the Mongols took control of the cities of Sivas and Kayseri. The sultan fled to Antalya but was subsequently forced to make peace with Baiju and pay a substantial tribute to the Mongol Empire.
Aftermath
The defeat resulted in a period of turmoil in Anatolia and led directly to the decline and disintegration of the Seljuq state. The Empire of Trebizond became a vassal state of the Mongol empire. Furthermore, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia became a vassal state of the Mongols. Real power over Anatolia was exercised by the Mongols.
Seljuq of Rome Sultans
Suleiman ibn Qutulmish
Suleiman ibn Qutulmish (Kutalmışoğlu Süleyman) r1077-1086 (W)
Suleiman was the son of Qutalmish, who had struggled unsuccessfully against his cousin Alp Arslan for the throne of Great Seljuq Empire. When Kutalmish died in 1064, Suleiman fled with his three brothers into the Taurus Mountains and there sought refuge with Turkmen tribes living beyond the borders of the empire. Alp Arslan responded by launching a series of punitive expeditions against them. Of the four brothers, Suleiman alone survived the raids and was able to consolidate his leadership of the Turkmen.
In 1078, the Byzantine emperor Michael VII sought the help of Suleiman against Nicephorus Botaneiates, the commander of the Anatolic Theme, who had challenged the emperor for the throne. Suleiman intercepted Botaneiates' small force between Cotyaeum and Nicaea, whereupon the usurper persuaded Suleiman to join his rebellion by offering him incentives superior to those of the emperor. Nicephorus' bid for power was successful, and in return for their support Suleiman's Turkmen were allowed to settle on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, near Constantinople itself. Two years later, Suleiman lent his support to another pretender, Nicephorus Melissenus.It was the latter Nicephorus who opened the gates of Nicaea to the Turkmen, allowing Suleiman to establish a permanent base.All Bithynia was soon under Suleiman's control, a circumstance which allowed him to restrict communication between Constantinople and the former Byzantine subjects in Anatolia.
In 1084, Suleiman left Nicaea, leaving his kinsman Abu'l Qasim in charge.
Suleiman expanded his realm, in 1085 he captured Antioch and proceeded to massacre its inhabitants. Moreover, the treasures of the church of St. Cassianus were stolen and the church was converted into a mosque. He was killed near Antioch in 1086 by Tutush I, the Seljuq ruler of Syria. Suleiman's son, Kilij Arslan I, was captured, and Malik Shah transferred him to Isfahan as a hostage. It is uncertain whether Tutush killed Suleiman out of loyalty to Malik-Shah I or simply for personal gain.
Upon the death of Malik-Shah I, Kilij Arslan I re-established the Sultanate of Rûm.
Kilij Arslan (Old Anatolian Turkish: قِلِج اَرسلان; Persian: قلج ارسلان Qilij Arslān; Modern Turkish: Kılıç Arslan, meaning "Sword Lion") (1079–1107) was the Seljuq Sultan of Rûm from 1092 until his death in 1107. He ruled the Sultanate during the time of the First Crusade and thus faced the attack.[1] He also re-established the Sultanate of Rum after the death of Malik Shah I of Great Seljuq and defeated the Crusaders in three battles during the Crusade of 1101.
Rise to power
After the death of his father, Suleyman, in 1086, he became a hostage of Sultan Malik Shah I of Great Seljuq in Isfahan, but was released when Malik Shah died in 1092 in the wake of a quarrel among his jailers. Kilij Arslan then marched at the head of the Turkish Oghuz Yiva tribe army and set up his capital at Nicaea, replacing Amin 'l Ghazni, the governor appointed by Malik Shah I.
Following the death of Malik Shah I the individual tribes, the Danishmends, Mangujekids, Saltuqids, Tengribirmish begs, Artuqids (Ortoqids) and Akhlat-Shahs, had started vying with each other to establish their own independent states. Alexius Comnenus's Byzantine intrigues further complicated the situation. He married Ayşe Hatun, the daughter of the EmirTzachas to attempt to ally himself against the Byzantines, who commanded a strong naval fleet. They had four sons: Malik Shah, Mesud I, Arab and Toghrul. In 1094, Kilij Arslan received a letter from Alexius suggesting that the Tzachas sought to target him to move onto the Byzantines, thereupon Kilij Arslan marched with an army to Smyrna, Tzachas's capital, and invited his father-in-law to a banquet in his tent where he slew him while he was intoxicated.
The Crusades
People’s Crusade
The People's Crusade (also called the Peasants' Crusade) army of Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless arrived at Nicaea in 1096. A German contingent of the crusade overran the castle Xerigordon and held it until Kilij sent a force to starve them out. Those that renounced Christianity were spared and sent into captivity to the east, the rest were slaughtered.
The remainder of Peter's crusade was surprised near the village of Dracon by Kilij Arslan's army. They were easily defeated and around 30,000 men, women and children were killed. He then invaded the DanishmendEmirate of Malik Ghazi in eastern Anatolia.
First Crusade
Because of this easy first victory he did not consider the main crusader army, led by various nobles of western Europe, to be a serious threat. He resumed his war with the Danishmends, and was away from Nicaea when these new Crusaders besieged Nicaea in May 1097. He hurried back to his capital to find it surrounded by the Crusaders, and was defeated in battle with them on May 21. The city then surrendered to the Byzantines and his wife and children were captured. When the crusaders sent the Sultana to Constantinople, to their dismay she was later returned without ransom in 1097 because of the relationship between Kilij Arslan and Alexius Comnenus.
As result of the stronger invasion, Rüm and the Danismends allied in their attempt to turn back the crusaders. The Crusaders continued to split their forces as they marched across Anatolia. The combined Danishmend and Rüm forces planned to ambush the Crusaders near Dorylaeum on June 29. However, Kilij Arslan's horse archers could not penetrate the line of defense set up by the Crusader knights, and the main body under Bohemond arrived to capture the Turkish camp on July 1. Kilij Arslan retreated and inflicted losses on the Crusader Army with guerilla warfare and hit-and-run tactics. He also destroyed crops and water supplies along their route in order to damage logistical supplying of the Crusader Army.
Ghazi bin Danishmend captured Bohemond resulting in a new force of Lombards attempting to rescue him. In their march they took Ankara from Arslan upon the Danishmends. In alliance with Radwan the Atabeg of Aleppo he ambushed this force at the Battle of Mersivan. In 1101 he defeated another Crusader army at Heraclea Cybistra, which had come to assist the fledgling Crusader States in Syria. This was an important victory for the Turks, as it proved that an army of Crusader knights was not invincible. After this victory he moved his capital to Konya and defeated a force led by William II of Nevers who attempted to march upon it as well as the subsequent force a week later.
In 1104 he resumed once more his war with the Danishmends who were now weakened after the death of Malik Ghazi, demanding half the ransom gained for Bohemond. As a result, Bohemond allied with the Danishmends against Rüm and the Byzantines.
📹 The First Crusade — Battle of Dorylaeum, 1097 (VİDEO)
📹 The First Crusade — Battle of Dorylaeum, 1097 (LINK)
First installment of the First Crusade mini-series, featuring Siege of Nicaea and Battle of Dorylaeum.
📹 Crusaders vs. Seljuk Turks — The Battle of Dorylaeum, 1097 (VİDEO)
📹 Crusaders vs. Seljuk Turks — The Battle of Dorylaeum, 1097 (LINK)
The Battle of Dorylaeum, 1097
In 1095 Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade to bring aid to recapture the Holy Land from the Turks. Bohemond was inspired by the religious zeal of the crusaders, but also saw the chance to win new lands for himself in the east.
By 1097, the army of the First Crusade was marching across the arid territory of Anatolia. To deal with the logistics of feeding an army of 70,000, the Crusade’s leaders divided their force in two: one contingent under Bohemond and Robert Curthose of Normandy marching ahead, and another contingent under Godfrey of Bouillon and Raymond IV of Toulouse marching a few days behind. They planned to rendezvous later at the abandoned town of Dorylaeum.
At first Bohemond and Robert’s march was uneventful. However, on July 1st, they were attacked by a Seljuk Turkish cavalry under Sultan Kilij Arslan.
The Seljuk Turks were mounted archers – something unheard of in the West – who could sweep in on their swift mares and pepper their enemy with arrows, rushing away as rapidly, then wheeling back for another attack.
In the face of this maddening whirlwind ambush, Bohemond and Robert Curthose kept their cool. They saw immediately the danger of their heavily armed knights being picked off if they tried to charge after the faster light Turkish horsemen. Instead, Bohemond ordered the knights to dismount and form a protective shield screen around the horses, supplies, and non-combatant pilgrims. Suddenly, the pestering swift archery of the Turks was useless against a solid wall of crusader shields. Bohemond’s men held firm, until the arrival of the second crusader army under Godfrey and Raymond, which now delivered a devastating charge onto the Turks. In a panic, the Turks fled, and victory belonged to the Christians.
This was an early glimpse of Bohemond’s strategic brilliance. In the face of near disaster, he turned the advantages of the Turks against them, while using the defensive power of the heavily armored Frankish knight to its full effect with ingenious foresight and discipline.
Kayqubad I or Alā ad-Dīn Kayqubād bin Kaykāvūs (Turkish: I. Alâeddin Keykûbad, 1188-1237) was the Seljuq Sultan of Rûm who reigned from 1220 to 1237. He expanded the borders of the sultanate at the expense of his neighbors, particularly the Mengujek Beylik and the Ayyubids, and established a Seljuq presence on the Mediterranean with his acquisition of the port of Kalon Oros, later renamed Ala'iyya in his honor. He also brought the southern Crimea under Turkish control for a brief period as a result of a raid against the Black Sea port of Sudak. The sultan, sometimes styled "Kayqubad the Great", is remembered today for his rich architectural legacy and the brilliant court culture that flourished under his reign.
Kayqubad's reign represented the apogee of Seljuq power and influence in Anatolia, and Kayqubad himself was considered the most illustrious prince of the dynasty. In the period following the mid-13th century Mongol invasion, inhabitants of Anatolia frequently looked back on his reign as a golden age, while the new rulers of the Anatolian beyliks sought to justify their own authority through pedigrees traced to him.
Map of the Seljuk Sultanate during the reign of Kayqubad I (1220-1237) showing the military campaigns, battles, captured towns, vassal states and sieges with dates .(LINK)
Ghiyath al-Din Keyhusrev II or Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Keyhusrev bin Kayqubād (Persian: غياث الدين كيخسرو بن كيقباد) was the sultan of the Seljuqs of Rûm from 1237 until his death in 1246. He ruled at the time of the Babai uprising and the Mongol invasion of Anatolia. He led the Seljuq army with its Christian allies at the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243. He was the last of the Seljuq sultans to wield any significant power and died as a vassal of the Mongols.
Succession
Keyhusrev was the son of Kayqubad I and his wife Mahperi Hatun, who was Greek by origin. Although Keyhusrev was the eldest, the sultan had chosen as heir the younger ‘Izz al-Din, one of his two sons by the Ayyubid princess Ghaziya Khatun, daughter of emir Al-Aziz Muhammad of Aleppo. In 1226 Kayqubad assigned the newly annexed Erzincan to Keyhusrev. With the general Kamyar, the young prince participated in the conquest of Erzurum and later Ahlat.
In 1236-37, raiding Mongols assisted by the Georgiansdevastated the Anatolian countryside as far as the walls of Sivas and Malatya. Since the Mongol horsemen disappeared as quickly as they had come, Kayqubad moved to punish their Georgian allies. As the Seljuq army approached, Queen Russudan of Georgia sued for peace, offering her daughter Tamar in marriage to Keyhusrev. This marriage took place in 1240.
Upon the death of Kayqubad in 1237, Keyhusrev seized the throne with the support of the great emirs of Anatolia. The architect of his early reign was a certain Sa'd al-Din Köpek, master of the hunt and minister of works under Kayqubad. Köpek excelled at political murder and sought to protect his newfound influence at the court with a series of executions. He captured Diyarbekir from Ayyubids in 1241.
The Baba Ishak Rebellion 1240
While the Mongols threatened the Seljuq state from the outside, a new danger appeared from within: a charismatic preacher, Baba Ishak, was fomenting rebellion among the Turkmen of Anatolia.
Nomadic Turkmen had begun moving into Anatolia a few years prior to the Battle of Manzikert. After 1071, Turkic migration into the region went largely unchecked. Both their number and the persuasive power of their religious leaders, nominally Islamized shamans known as babas or dedes, played a large part in the conversion of formerly Christian Anatolia. The Persianized Seljuq military class expended considerable effort keeping these nomads from invading areas inhabited by farmers and from harassing neighboring Christian states. The Turkmen were pushed into marginal lands, mostly mountainous and frontier districts.
Baba Ishak was one such religious leader. Unlike his predecessors, whose influence was limited to smaller tribal groups, Baba Ishak’s authority extended over a vast population of Anatolian Turkmen. It is not known what he preached, but his appropriation of the title rasul, normally applied to Muhammad, suggests something beyond orthodox Islam.
The revolt began ca. 1240 in the remote borderland of Kafarsud in the eastern Taurus Mountains and quickly spread north to the region of Amasya. Seljuq armies at Malatya and Amasya were destroyed. Soon the very heart of Seljuq Anatolia, the regions around Kayseri, Sivas, and Tokat, were under the control of Baba Ishak’s supporters. Baba Ishak himself was killed, but the Turkmen continued their rebellion against the central Seljuq authority. The rebels were finally cornered and defeated near Kırşehir, probably in 1242 or early 1243. Simon of Saint-Quentin credits the victory to a large number of Frankish mercenaries employed by the sultan.
Battle of Köse Dağ 1243
In the winter of 1242-43, the Mongols under Bayju attacked Erzurum; the city fell without a siege. The Mongols prepared to invade Rum in the spring. To meet the threat, Keyhusrev assembled soldiers from his allies and vassals.Simon of Saint-Quentin, an envoy of Pope Innocent IV on his way to the Great Khan, offers an account of the sultan’s preparations. He reports that the king of Armenia was required to produce 1400 lances and the Greek Emperor of Nicaea 400 lances. Both rulers met the sultan in Kayseri to negotiate details. The Grand Komnenos of Trebizond contributed 200, while the young Ayyubid prince of Aleppo supplied 1000 horsemen.In addition to these, Keyhusrev commanded the Seljuq army and irregular Turkmen cavalry, though both had been weakened by the Baba Ishak rebellion.
The army, except for the Armenians who were then considering an alliance with (or submission to) the Mongols, assembled at Sivas. Keyhusrev and his allies set out to the east along the trunk road towards Erzurum. On 26 June 1243, they met the Mongols at the pass at Köse Dağ, between Erzincan and Gümüşhane. A feigned retreat by the Mongol horsemen disorganized the Seljuqs, and Keyhusrev’s army was routed. The sultan collected his treasury and harem at Tokat and fled to Ankara. The Mongols seized Sivas, sacked Kayseri, but failed to move on Konya, the capital of the sultanate.
In the months following the battle, Muhadhdhab al-Din, the sultan’s vizier, sought out the victorious Mongol leader. Since the sultan had fled, the embassy seems to have been the vizier’s own initiative. The vizier succeeded in forestalling further Mongol devastation in Anatolia and saved Keyhusrev’s throne. Under conditions of vassalage and a substantial annual tribute, Keyhusrev, his power much diminished, returned to Konya.
Identity
According to Rustam Shukurov, it is likely that Keyhusrev II, who was born by a Greek wife, and was yet another Seljuk Sultan with a great interest in Greek women, “bore a dual confessional and ethnic identity.”
Keyhusrev had named his youngest child Kayqubad as his successor, but because he was a weakly child, the new vizier Shams al-Din Isfahani placed Kayqubad's two underage brothers Kaykaus II and Kilij Arslan IV on the throne as well, as co-rulers. This was an attempt to maintain Seljuq control of Anatolia in the face of the Mongol threat.
Although weakened, Seljuq power remained largely intact at the time of Keyhusrev’s death in 1246. The Mongols failed to capture either the sultan’s treasury or his capital when they had the chance, and his Anatolian lands escaped the worst of the invaders’ depredations. The real blow to the dynasty was Keyhusrev's inability to name a competent successor. With the choice of the three young brothers, Seljuq power in Anatolia no longer lay with Seljuq princes but instead devolved into the hands of Seljuq court administrators.
Coinage
Between 638 and 641 A.H. (ca. 1240-1243) a series of remarkable silver dirhams were struck in Keyhusrev’s name at Sivas and Konya depicting a lion and sun. While coins with images are not unknown in Islamic lands, particularly in the centuries following the Crusades, some Islamic traditions forbid representations of living things.
Several explanations of the lion and sun have been offered. One suggests that the images represent the constellation Leo, the astrological sign of Keyhusrev's beloved Georgian wife Tamar. Another says that the lion represents Keyhusrev and the sun Tamar.
It had a become a common practice on Turk lands under the Seljuk reign for these “baba’s” to spread their “aggregated band of religiosity under the apparent guise of Sufism.” "Their extra-Islamic beliefs and non-shari'atic practices had a major influence on Turkish masses, especially those who had remained superficially-Islamized Muslims. It was for the same reasons and in the same regions that these non-orthodox Sufis set out a series of clashes against orthodox Sunnite authorities.” "Since the emergence of Babas, the religious distance between the non-orthodox Sufism and orthodox Islam continued to broaden. As the former enlarged their dominance, the tension between the two had grown. At the peak of this tension occurred the first and most severe clash of Anatolian history, known as the Babai Rebellion (1240) wherein Baba Ishak and his followers revolted against the Seljuk sultanate.” ( Heon Choul Kim (2008). "The Nature and Role of Sufism in Contemporary Islam:A Case Study of the Life, Thought and Teachings of Fethullah Gülen". PhD Dissertation, The Temple University, PA, USA. Pg 52-43.)
According to Ibn Bibi, the celebrated Seljuk historian, Baba Ishaq was a Turkish holy man who practiced his gifted magic and its related arts like talismans. Having preached among Turkish tribes, he acquired a large number of followers, Turkmen and Christian alike, in various parts of Anatolia, and became one of the greatest Qalandar babas. Baba Ishak proclaimed himself as the prophet or the messiah, and thus was revered with the title Baba Rasul Allah among his followers. His followers used to think that Baba Ishak was immortal. Baba’s followers clearly wanted to get away from basic orthodox Islamic teaching and wanted to drink alcohol and pray with music. They did not want to go to mosques or fast in Ramadan. Hamad Subani has researched on this further and established a relation between their practices and those of early Jews and Christians.
As the dominance of his influence with this belief was growing enough, Baba excited his followers to do armed “jihad” (misusing an Islamic term to satisfy his personal objectives), against the sultan’s regime. In the consequent clash, while the followers of Baba Ishak took over several prominent cities of the north eastern Anatolia, their Baba, so called, Rasool Allah, was captured and executed (1240).
This uprising is claimed to have contributed to weakening of Seljuk empire eventually leading to takeover of much of Central and Eastern Anatolia by Mongols in 1243.
Sultanate of Rûm was a medieval {!?} state in Anatolia founded by Seljuqs whose ancestors were converted to Islam since 11th century AD and entered Anatolia by 1080. Although initially a part of the Great Seljuk Empire, it lasted longer than the Great Seljuks, reaching its apogee during the reign of Alaattin Keykubat I. But in the mid-13th century, Seljuks faced the problem of refugees.The Mongols had defeated the Khwarazm Empireat the east, and Oghuz Turk clans were escaping from the Turkistan area to Anatolia. These clans were nomadic and mostly Tengriist, i.e. non Muslim. The Seljuk sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev II attempted to settle these people in Southeast Anatolia (Asiatic part of modern Turkey), but they defied his diktat. They started to convert to Islam, but their interpretation of Islam was more tolerant than that of the settled population, and they were regarded as heretics. However they were supported by the nomadic Turkmen people of Central Anatolia who had migrated earlier than the newcomers but had the same problems.
The revolt
Gıyasettin had ceded power to his ministers, notably Sadettin Köpekwho was suspicious of a rebellion from Afshar immigrants who had settled in Anatolia, migrating from Persia after the Mongol invasion. He accordingly imprisoned the suspects which led to their movement towards Aleppo (Syria) in Ismaili dominated areas. He had the leaders of Khwārazm people (like Kirkhan) imprisoned. The revolt began in 1239 around Samsat (in modern Adıyaman Province), and spread quickly to Central Anatolia. Baba Ishak who led the revolt was a follower of Baba İlyas, the kadı (judge) of Kayseri. He declared himself Âmīr’ūl-Mu’minīn Sadr’ûd-Dūnya wa’d-Dīn and Rāss’ūl-Allāh.(Encyclopedia of the Diyanet isleri baskanligi Foundation, vol 4, pages 368-369.) Although the Seljuk governor of Malatya tried to suppress the revolt he was defeated by the revolutionaries around Elbistan (in modern Kahramanmaraş Province). The revolutionaries captured the important cities of Sivas, Kayseri and Tokatin Central and North Anatolia. The governor of Amasya killed Baba Ishak in 1240, but this did not mean the end of the revolt. The revolutionaries marched on Konya, the capital. The sultan saw that his army could not suppress the revolt, and he hired mercenaries of French origin. The revolutionaries were defeated in a decisive battle on the Malya plains near Kırşehir.
Rāss’ūl-Allāh Bābā Eliyās al-Khorāsānī
Rāss’ūl-Allāh Bābā Eliyās al-Khorāsānī († 1240) was an influential mystic from Eastern Persia, who was the murshid of Aybak Bābā who in turn was the murshid of one of the leading actors of the Babais Rebellion, namely Bābā Ishāq Kafarsudī as well. Eventually, Bābā Eliyās Khorāsānī was held responsible for the insurrection organized by Bābā Ishāq Kafarsudī, and consequently executed by Mūbārez’ūd-Dīn-ee Armāğān-Shāh, the supreme commander-in-chief of the armies of the Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti(Sultanate of Rum)..
Aftermath
The revolt was suppressed with much bloodshed. But with the diversion of resources needed to suppress the revolt, the Seljuk army was severely affected. The defence of the eastern provinces was largely ignored, and most of Anatolia was plundered. The Seljuks lost the valuable trade colony in the Crimea, on the north of the Black Sea. The Mongol commander Bayju saw this as an opportunity to occupy East Anatolia, and in 1242 he captured Erzurum. In 1243, he defeated Keyhüsrev's army in the battle of Kösedağ.and the Seljuks became vassals of the Mongols.
The First Crusade (1095-1099) was the first of a number of crusades that attempted to recapture the Holy Land, called for by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095. Urban called for a military expedition to aid the Byzantine Empire, which had recently lost most of Anatolia to the Seljuq Turks. The resulting military expedition of primarily Frankish nobles, known as the Princes' Crusade not only re-captured Anatolia but went on to conquer the Holy Land (the Levant), which had fallen to Islamic expansion as early as in the 7th century, and culminated in July 1099 in the re-conquest of Jerusalem and the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
📹 First Crusade — Part 1 of 2 / EpicHistory (VİDEO)
The First Crusade was one of the most extraordinary, bloody and significant episodes in medieval history.
It began with an appeal for aid from the Christian Byzantine Empire, threatened by the rising power of the Muslim Seljuk Turks. But when Pope Urban II preached a sermon at Clermont in 1095, the result was unlike anything ever seen before.
The Pope offered spiritual salvation to those willing to go east to aid their fellow Christians in a holy war, and help liberate Jerusalem from Muslim rule.
Knights and peasants alike signed up in their thousands, leading to the disastrous People's, or Peasants', Crusade, then to a much more organised and powerful Princes' Crusade. Their forces gathered at Constantinople, where they made an uneasy alliance with Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus. Entering Anatolia, they helped to win back the city of Nicaea, then won a decisive but hard-fought victory at Dorlyaeum, before marching on the great city of Antioch...
📹 First Crusade — Part 2 of 2 / EpicHistory (VİDEO)
Part 2 of Epic History TV's story of the First Crusade continues with the Siege of Antioch.
The Crusaders endure immense hardships outside the city walls, but finally take Antioch thanks to a ruse by Bohemond of Taranto.
Against the odds, and inspired by their recent discovery of a relic believed to be the 'Holy Lance', the Crusaders then defeat the Seljuk army of Kur Burgha. After disagreements within the Crusader camp, the army finally moves on to Jerusalem in the spring of 1099. During a full-scale assault of the city walls, Godfrey of Bouillon's troops gain a foothold in the defences, and Crusader troops pour into the city. A bloodbath follows. Victory results in the creation of four Crusader states, but their existence is precarious, surrounded by hostile Muslim powers, who will one day return with a vengeance.
After the battles of Pasinler in 1048 and Malazgirt in 1071Turks founded a number of states in Anatolia. These were the vassals of Great Seljuk Empire. In fact one of the most powerful of these vassal states had been founded by a member of Seljuk house and the name of this state was the Sultanate of Rum.
The founder of the state was Süleyman I. Paternal grandfathers of the sultan Melik Shah of Great Seljuk Empire and Suleyman I were brothers. But soon, the Seljuks of Rûm began to act independently of the Great Seljuk Empire and annexed the territories of other Turkish states in Anatolia. Their history is notable for:
They were adversaries of the first three Crusades.
Ottoman principality, the future Ottoman Empire emerged within their realm.
Suleyman I is appointed as a governor in Seljuk possessions in Anatolia. But he acts independently and founds a state. Capital İznik (Nicea), Bursa Province, Northwest Anatolia.
1081
Tzachas an independent Turkish seaman, (not a member of Seljuk house, but the father in law of the future sultan) founds a principality in İzmir, giving the Seljuks access to Aegean Sea.
Kılıç Arslan conquers Musul, Iraq, but is defeated in the battle.
1110
Şahinşah (1107-1116) (also called Melikşah, not to be confused with the sultan of Great Seljuk Empire with the same name) Continuous struggle with the Crusades weakens the state.
1116
Mesut I (1116-1156) During the early years of his reign he has to accept the dominance of Danishmends a rival Turkish state in Anatolia.
1142
Mehmed of Danishmends dies and the Sultanate of Rum becomes the leading power of Anatolia for the second time.
Sadettin Köpek the vizier of the inexperienced sultan who has executed some members of Seljuk house and becomes the de facto ruler of the sultanate is killed.
1239
Revolt of Baba Ishak. A revolt of Turkmen (Oguz) and Harzem refugees who have recently arrived in Anatolia. The revolt is suppressed. But the sultanate loses power.
Bayju of Mongols defeats Keyhüsrev II in the battle of Kösedağ, Eastern Anatolia. From now on, the sultanate is a vassal of Ilkhanids.
1246
Keykavus II (1246-1262) Governs together with his two brothers. But the real ruler is vizierPervâne who has married to late sultan's widow Gürcü Hatun.
Karamanoğlu Mehmed Bey conquers Konya and enthrones his puppet Jimri. But Ilkhanids intervene and reestablish Keyhüsrev's reign. (During his short stay in Konya Mehmed Bey declares Turkish as the official language in his realm).
As regards 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 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.
Anatolian Seljuks (also called Seljuks of Rum and Seljuks of Turkey) was a former dynasty in Turkey. Süleyman, the founder of the dynasty, was a member of the Seljuk dynasty. His father was Tuğrul Bey's cousin. In 1077, after capturing Nicaea (modern İznik), Süleyman founded his state as a vassal of the main Seljuk Empire. However, the Seljuks of Anatolia soon became independent of the main empire, and their state survived till the beginning of the 14th century.
Anatolia is a large peninsula in West Asia and forms one of the two passages between Asia and Europe. All through history, many states both completely independent and vassal, were founded. Below is the list of states (including principalities) in Anatolia during the late Middle Ages (11th-15th centuries).
In the list below, only the beyliks that were founded immediately after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, mostly situated towards the Eastern Anatolia, and who were vassals (or sometimes at war) to the centralized power of Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm based in Konya are listed.
A second group beyliks that emerged as a result of the weakening of this central state under the Mongol blow with the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243 which had the indirect consequence of extending the Turkic territory in Western Anatolia toward the end of the 13th century.
