Sultanate of Rûm Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti (Turkish) سلجوقیان روم (Persian) Saljūqiyān-i Rūm
1077–1308
Double-headed eagle used by the Rum Seljuks Lion and Sun adopted by Kaykhusraw II
Expansion of the Sultanate c. 1100–1240   Sultanate of Rûm in 1100   Conquered from the Danishmendids up to 1174   Conquered from the Byzantines up to 1182   Other conquests until 1243
Status	Independent sultanate (1077–1243) Mongol vassal (1243–1256) Ilkhanid vassal (1256–1308)
Capital	Nicaea (İznik) (1077–1097) Iconium (Konya) (1097–1308) Sebastia (Sivas) (1211–1220)
Common languages	Arabic (numismatics)[1] Byzantine Greek (chancery, spoken)[2] Old Anatolian Turkish (spoken)[3] Persian (official, court, literature, spoken)[4][5]
Religion	Sunni Islam (official), Greek Orthodox (majority of population)[6]
Government	Hereditary monarchy Triarchy (1249–1254) Diarchy (1257–1262)
Sultan
• 1077–1086	Suleiman ibn Qutalmish (first)
• 1303–1308	Mesud II (last)
History
• Battle of Manzikert	1071
• Division from the Seljuk Empire	1077
• Battle of Köse Dağ	1243
• Karamanid conquest	1308
Preceded by Succeeded by Byzantine Empire Seljuk Empire Danishmends Mengujekids Saltukids Artuqids Anatolian beyliks Ilkhanate
Today part of	Turkey

The Sultanate of Rûm^[a] was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples (Rûm) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert (1071). The name Rûm was a synonym for the medieval Eastern Roman Empire and its peoples, as it remains in modern Turkish.^[8] The name is derived from the Aramaic (rhπmÈ) and Parthian (frwm) names for ancient Rome, via the Greek Ῥωμαῖοι (Romaioi).^[9]

The Sultanate of Rûm seceded from the Great 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 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 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.^[10] 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 the Ottoman dynasty, which eventually conquered the rest and reunited Anatolia to become the Ottoman Empire.

History

Establishment

Since the 1030s, migratory Turkish groups in search of pastureland had penetrated Byzantine borders into Anatolia.^[11] 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 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.^[12][13] Nevertheless, it seems that Suleiman was tasked by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos in 1085 to reconquer Antioch and the former travelled there on a secret route, presumably guided by the Byzantines.^[14]

Suleiman tried, unsuccessfully, to conquer Aleppo in 1086, and died in the Battle of Ain Salm, either fighting his enemies or by suicide.^[15] In the aftermath, Suleiman's son Kilij Arslan I was imprisoned and a general of his, Abu'l-Qasim, took power in Nicaea.^[16] 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 the approval of Malik Shah's son and successor Berkyaruq.^[17]

Crusades

Kilij Arslan, although victorious in 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 the same year fighting Malik Shah's son, Mehmed Tapar. He was the first Muslim commander against the crusades.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} Upon Mesud's death in 1156, the sultanate controlled nearly all of central Anatolia.

The Second Crusade 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 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 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^[20] 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 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.^[21] 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.^[21][22]

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 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 the Georgians.^{[23][better source needed]}

Suleiman II died in 1204^[24] and was succeeded by his son Kilij Arslan III, whose reign was unpopular.^[24] Kaykhusraw I seized Konya in 1205 reestablishing his reign.^[24] 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^[25] and made the Empire of Trebizond his vassal in 1214.^[26] 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.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1220s, he sent an expeditionary force across the Black Sea to Crimea.^[27] In the east he defeated the Mengujekids and began to put pressure on the Artuqids.^{[citation needed]}

Mongol conquest

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 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), and the Seljuk Turks were forced to swear allegiance to the Mongols and became their vassals.^[10] 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 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 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 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 the Mongols at the Battle of Elbistan,^[28] 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 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 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 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.

Culture and society

The Seljuk dynasty of Rum, as successors to the Great Seljuks, based its political, religious and cultural heritage on the Perso-Islamic tradition and Greco-Roman tradition,^[55] even to the point of naming their sons with Persian names.^[56] 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.^[57]

As an expression of Turko-Persian culture,^[58] Rum Seljuks patronized Persian art, architecture, and literature.^[59] Unlike the Seljuk Empire, the Seljuk sultans of Rum had Persian names such as Kay-Khusraw, Kay-Qubadh and Kay-Ka'us. The bureaucrats and religious elite of their realm were generally Persian.^[60] In the 13th-century, the majority of the Muslim inhabitants in major Anatolian urban hubs reportedly spoke Persian as their main language.^[61] It was in this century that the proneness of imitating Iran in terms of administration, religion and culture reached its zenith, encouraged by the major influx of Persians refugees fleeing Mongol invasions, who brought Persian culture with them and were instrumental in creating a "second Iran" in Anatolia.^[62][63] Anatolia in the early 13th century was deeply influenced by Iranian cultural, political, and literary traditions.^[64]

Despite their Turkic origins, the Seljuks used Persian for administrative purposes; even their histories, which replaced Arabic, were in Persian.^[59] Their usage of Turkish was hardly promoted at all.^[59] Even Sultan Kilij Arslan II, as a child, spoke to courtiers in Persian.^[59] Khanbaghi states the Anatolian Seljuks were even more Persianized than the Seljuks that ruled the Iranian plateau.^[59] 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.^[65] Even the Tārikh-i Āl-i Saldjūq, an anonymous history of the Sultanate of Rum, was written in Persian.^[66] The sultans of Rum were largely not educated in Arabic.^[67] This clearly limited the Arab influence, or at least the direct influence, to a relatively small degree.^[67] In contrast, Persian literature and Iranian influence expanded because most sultans and even a significant portion of the townspeople knew the language.^[67]

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 the Seljuk nobility, and the native Byzantine (Rûm) peasants remained numerous in the region.^[68][69] 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.^[70] Cultural Turkification in Anatolia first started during the 14th-century, particularly during the gradual rise of the Ottomans.^[71] With 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.^[72]

Architecture

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.^[73] 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 Seljuk period, are particularly remarkable. Along with Persian influences, which had an indisputable effect,^[74] Seljuk architecture was inspired by local Byzantine (Rûm) architects, for example the Gök Medrese (Sivas), and by Armenians.^[75] 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 inherited by the Sultanate of India.^[76]

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 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 former Christian who converted to Islam. There are other particular cases like 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, 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[77]

Dynasty

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History of Turkey
Prehistory Prehistory of Anatolia Palaeolithic Anatolia c. 500,000–  10,000 BC Mesolithic Anatolia c. 11,000–  9,000 BC Neolithic Anatolia c. 8,000–  5,500 BC
Bronze Age Troy 3000–700 BC Hattians 2500–2000 BC Akkadian Empire 2400–2150 BC Luwians 2300–1400 BC Assyria 1950–1750 BC Kussara 1780–1680 BC Achaeans (Homer) 1700–1300 BC Kizzuwatna 1650–1450 BC Hittites 1680–1220 BC Arzawa 1500–1320 BC Mitanni 1500–1300 BC Hayasa-Azzi 1500–1290 BC Lycia 1450–350 BC Assuwa 1300–1250 BC Diauehi 1200–800 BC Neo-Hittites 1200–800 BC Phrygia 1200–700 BC Caria 1150–547 BC Tuwanuwa 1000–700 BC Ionia 1000–545 BC Urartu 859–595/585 BC
Iron Age Diauehi 1200–800 BC Neo-Hittites 1200–800 BC Phrygia 1200–700 BC Caria 1150–547 BC Doris 1100–560 BC Aeolis 1000–560 BC Tuwanuwa 1000–700 BC Ionia 1000–545 BC Urartu 859–595/585 BC Median Empire 678–549 BC Lydia 685–547 BC
Classical Age Classical Anatolia Classical Thrace Achaemenid Empire 559–331 BC Kingdom of Alexander the Great 334–301 BC Kingdom of Cappadocia 322–130 BC Antigonids 306–168 BC Seleucid Empire 305–64 BC Ptolemaic Kingdom 305–30 BC Kingdom of Pontus 302–64 BC Bithynia 297–74 BC Attalid kingdom 282–129 BC Galatia 281–64 BC Parthian Empire 247 BC–224 AD Armenian Empire 190 BC–428 AD Roman Republic 133–27 BC Commagene 163 BC–72 AD Ancient Rome 133 BC-27 BC–330 AD Sasanian Empire 224–651 AD (briefly in Anatolia)
Medieval Age Medieval Anatolia Eastern Roman Empire (330–1453; 1204-1261 in exile as Empire of Nicaea) Rashidun Caliphate (637–656) Great Seljuk State (1037–1194) Danishmends (1071–1178) Sultanate of Rum (1077–1307) Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1078–1375) Anatolian beyliks (1081–1423) County of Edessa (1098–1150) Artuqids (1101–1409) Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461) Latin Empire (1204–1261) Karamanids (1250–1487) Ilkhanate (1256–1335) Kara Koyunlu (1375–1468) Ak Koyunlu (1378–1501)
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History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century
Turkic peoples Oghuz Turks Karluks Kipchaks Onogurs Kumyks Yakuts Dolgans Krymchaks Sabir people Crimean Karaites
Turkic Languages Turkish Azerbaijani Uzbek Kazakh Uyghur Turkmen Tatar Kyrgyz Bashkir Chuvash Qasgqai Karakalpak Sakha Kumyk Karachay-Balkar Tuvan Gagauz Karaim Krymchak
Turkic Mythology Belief system: Tengrism and Shamanism Chief gods and goddesses: Kayra and Ülgen Epics and heroes: Ergenekon and Asena Major concepts: Sheka and Grey wolf
Pre-14th century Yenisei Kyrgyz People 202 BCE–13th CE Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate Dingling 71 BC–?? AD Tiele (Gaoche) Göktürks First Turkic Khaganate 552–581 Western Turkic Khaganate 581–657 (Tokhara Yabghus, Turk Shahis) Eastern Turkic Khaganate 581–650 Second Turkic Khaganate 682–744 Sabiri People Khazar Khaganate 618–1048 Xueyantuo 628–646 Kangar union 659–750 Turk Shahi 665-850 Türgesh Khaganate 699–766 Kimek confederation 743–1035 Uyghur Khaganate 744–840 Oghuz Yabgu State 750–1055 Karluk Yabgu State 756–940 Kara-Khanid Khanate 840–1212 Western Kara-Khanid Eastern Kara-Khanid Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom 848–1036 Qocho 856–1335 Pecheneg Khanates 860–1091 Ghaznavid Empire 963–1186 Seljuk Empire 1037–1194 Sultanate of Rum Cuman–Kipchak confederation 1067–1239 Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231 Kerait Khanate 11th century–13th century Atabegs of Azerbaijan 1136–1225 Delhi Sultanate 1206–1526 Mamluk dynasty Khalji dynasty Tughlaq dynasty Qarlughid Kingdom 1224–1266 Golden Horde 1242–1502 Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) 1250–1517 Bahri dynasty Ottoman State 1299–1922
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As regards with 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.^{[citation needed]}