Seljuk Sultanate

Lore & Background

Since the 1030s, migratory Turkish groups in search of pastureland had penetrated Byzantine borders into Anatolia. After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, 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 the Byzantine cities of Nicaea and briefly also Nicomedia. Around two years later, he established a Sultanate that, while nominally still a Byzantine vassal state, became increasingly independent after six to ten years. The Sultanate was officially recognized as a vassal state by the Seljuk ruler Malikshah in 1084. Suleiman tried unsuccessfully to conquer Aleppo in 1086 and died in the Battle of Ain Salm. Following the death of sultan Malik Shah in 1092, Suleiman's son Kilij Arslan I was released from imprisonment and established himself in his father's territories between 1092 and 1094. Kilij Arslan, although victorious against the People's Crusade of 1096, was defeated by princely 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 the same year fighting Malik Shah's son, Mehmed Tapar. He was the first Muslim commander against the crusades. Mesud I took Konya in 1116 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, 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 the last of the Danishmends. At the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1176, Kilij Arslan II defeated a Byzantine army led by Manuel I Komnenos.

In Their Own Story

The Sultanate reached the height of its power during the late 12th and early 13th century, when it succeeded in taking key Byzantine ports on 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: Danishmendids, House of Mengüjek, Saltukids, Artuqids. Under Kaykhusraw I and his 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 the Empire of Trebizond his vassal in 1214. Ala Al-Din Kayqubad I 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. 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. In 1243, the sultan was crushed by Baiju in the Battle of Köse Dağ, resulting in the Seljuk Turks being forced to swear allegiance to the Mongols and become their vassals. The sultan himself had fled to Antalya after the battle, where he died in 1246. The Seljuk realm was divided among Kaykhusraw's three sons. In October 1256, Bayju defeated Kaykaus II near Aksaray and all of Anatolia became officially subject to Möngke Khan. 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, among them the Ottoman dynasty which eventually conquered the rest and reunited Anatolia to become the Ottoman Empire.

Reader's Guide

Players controlling the Sultanate of Rum in Crusader Kings will find themselves balancing internal tribal loyalties against external threats from Byzantium and Crusader states. The sultanate's history is marked by key turning points: starting as a vassal of the Seljuk Empire under Malikshah in 1084, then gaining independence. Kilij Arslan I's defeat by the First Crusade forced a retreat to Konya, but he later defeated three Crusade contingents in the Crusade of 1101. The Second Crusade saw the armies of Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany separately defeated by the Seljuk Turks. At the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1176, Kilij Arslan II 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. Managing vassals is crucial, as the sultanate experienced a civil war after Kilij Arslan II's death, with Kaykhusraw I fighting to retain control and losing to his brother Suleiman II in 1196. The sultanate's peak under Kayqubad I allowed expansion along the Mediterranean coast and even a expeditionary force across the Black Sea to Crimea. However, the Mongol threat looms: the forces of the Mongol Empire took Erzurum in 1242, and in 1243 the sultan was crushed at Köse Dağ, becoming a Mongol vassal. After Kaykhusraw II's death, a period of tripartite, then dual, rule lasted until 1260. The Seljuk state started to split into small emirates (beyliks) that increasingly distanced themselves from both Mongol and Seljuk control. In 1277, the Mamluk Sultan Baibars raided Anatolia and defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Elbistan, temporarily replacing them as the administrator of the Seljuk realm. Players must navigate these fractures to avoid the historical dissolution into beyliks, from which the Ottoman dynasty eventually emerged.

Did You Know?

• The name 'Rum' was a synonym for the medieval Roman Empire and its peoples, derived from the Aramaic (romī) and Parthian (frwm) names for ancient Rome.
• Suleiman ibn Qutulmish, the founder, was a distant cousin of Alp Arslan and a former contender for the throne of the Seljuk Empire.
• Kilij Arslan I was the first Muslim commander against the crusades, defeating the People's Crusade of 1096 and three Crusade contingents in the Crusade of 1101.
• The sultanate developed a system of caravanserai for trade through Anatolia from Iran and Central Asia, and formed especially strong trade ties with the Genoese.
• The last Seljuk vassal sultan of the Ilkhanate, Mesud II, was murdered in 1308, and the dissolution left behind many small Anatolian beyliks, including the Ottoman dynasty.