Seljuks

Afterwards there arose a natural rivalry between the Seljuks and the Danishmand, which ended with the extinction of the latter about 1175. Kilij Arslan took possession of Mosul in 1107, and declared himself independent of the Seljuks of 'Iraq; but in the same year he was drowned in the Khaboras through the treachery of his own amirs, and the dynasty seemed again destined to decay, as his sons were in the power of his enemies. The sultan Mohammed, however, set at liberty his eldest son Malik Shah, who was succeeded by his brother MasUcl, who established himself at Konia (Iconium), from that time the residence of the Seljuks of Rum. During his reign—he died in "55—the Greek emperors undertook various expeditions in Asia Minor and Armenia ; but the Seljuk was cunning enough to profess himself their ally and to direct them against his own enemies. Nevertheless the Sel jilkian dominion did not rise to significance till his son and suc cessor, Kilij Arslan II., had subdued the Danishmands and ap propriated their possessions, though he thereby risked the wrath of the powerful atabeg of Syria, Nuredclin, and afterwards that of Saladin. But as the sultan grew old his numerous sons, each of whom held the command of a city of the empire, embittered his old age by their mutual rivalry, and the eldest, Kutb ed-din, tyrannized over his father in his own capital, exactly at the time that Frederick I. (Barbarossa) entered his dominions on his way to the Holy Sepulchre (I190). Konia itself was taken and the sultan forced to provide guides and provisions for the crusaders. Kilij Arslan lived two years longer, finally under the protection of his youngest son, Kaikhosrau, who held the capital after him (till 1199) until his elder brother, Rukneddin Suleiman, having vanquished his other brothers, ascended the throne and obliged Kaikhosrau to seek refuge at the Greek emperor's court. This valiant prince who died in 1204 saved the empire from destruc tion and conquered Erzerum, which had been ruled during a considerable time by a separate dynasty, and was now given in fief to his brother, Mughit ud-din Toghrul Shah. His son, Kilij Arslan III., was soon deposed with Greek assistance by Kaikhos rau. After the establishment of the Latin empire of Constan tinople the Turks were the natural allies of the Greeks and the enemies of the crusaders and their allies, the Armenians. Kaik hosrau, therefore, took in 1207 from the Italian Aldobrandini the important harbour of Attalia (Adalia) ; but in 1211 perished in battle with Theodore Lascaris, emperor of Nicaea. His son and successor, Kaikails, made peace with Lascaris and extended his frontiers to the Black sea by the conquest of Sinope (1214). On this occasion he took prisoner the Comnenian prince (Alexius) who ruled the independent empire of Trebizond, and compelled him to acknowledge the supremacy of the Seljuks, to pay tribute, and to serve in the armies of the sultan. Elated by this great suc cess and by his victories over the Armenians, KaikaUs attempted the capture of Aleppo, at this time governed by the descendants of Saladin ; but the affair miscarried.

Advance of the

afterwards the sultan died (1219) and was succeeded by his brother, Ala ud-din Kaikobad I., the most powerful and illustrious prince of this branch of the SeljUks, renowned not only for his successful wars but also for his magnificent structures at Konia, Alaja, Sivas and elsewhere, which belong to the best specimens of Saracenic architecture. The town of Alaja was his creation. He extended his rule as far as Seleucia, and desisted from further conquest only on condition that the Armenian princes would enter into the same kind of relation to the Seljuks as had been imposed on the Comnenians of Trebizond. But his greatest military fame was won by a war which, however glorious, was to prove fatal to the Seljuk empire in the future: in conjunction with his ally, the Ayyubite prince Ashraf, he defeated the Khwarizm shah Jalal ud-din near Erzin gan (123o). This victory removed the only barrier that checked the progress of the Mongols. During this war Kaikobad put an end to the collateral dynasty of the Seljuks of Erzerum and an nexed its possessions. He also gained the city of Khelat with dependencies that in former times had belonged to the Shah-i Armen, but shortly before had been taken by Jalal ud-din ; this aggression was the cause of the war just mentioned. The acquisi tion of Khelat led, however, to a new war, as Kaikobad's ally, the Ayyubite prince, envied him this conquest. Sixteen Mohammedan princes, mostly Ayyubite, of Syria and Mesopotamia, under the leadership of Malik al-Kamil, prince of Egypt, marched with considerable forces into Asia Minor against him. Happily for

Kaikobad, the princes mistrusted the power of the Egyptian, and it proved a difficult task to penetrate through the mountainous, well-fortified accesses to the interior of Asia Minor, so that the advantage rested with Kaikobad, who took Kharput, and for some time even held Ijarran, Ar-Roha and Rakka (1232). The latter conquests were, however, soon lost, and Kaikobad himself died in 1234 of poison administered to him by his son and suc cessor, Ghiyass ed-din Kaikhosrau II., leaving an empire embrac ing almost all Asia Minor, with the exception of the countries governed by Vatatzes (Vataces) and the Christian princes of Trebizond and Lesser Armenia, who, however, were bound to pay tribute and to serve in his armies. It was an empire containing Christian as well as Mohammedan elements, for the sultan relied in war mainly upon his Christian troops, and granted extensive privileges to Christian merchants. In appearance it was so strong that the Mongols hesitated to invade it, although standing at its frontiers. Their attack was deferred until 1243, but in that year Kaikhosrau was defeated at Kuzadag (between Erzingan and Sivas), and forced to purchase peace by the promise of a heavy tribute. The independence of the SeljUks was now for ever lost. The Mongols retired for some years; but, Kaikhosrau II. dying in 1245, the joint government of his three sons gave occasion to fresh inroads, till one of them died and Hulagu divided the em pire between the other two, Izz ed-din (Kaikaus II.) ruling the districts west of the Halys, and Rukneddin (Kilij Arslan IV.) the eastern provinces (1259). But Izz ed-din, intriguing with the Mameluke sultans of Egypt to expel his brother and gain his independence, was defeated by a Mongol army and obliged to flee to the imperial court. Here he was imprisoned, but after wards released by the Tatars of the Crimea, who took him with them to Sarai, where he died. Rukneddin was only a nominal ruler, the real power being in the hands of his minister, Muin ed-din Suleiman, who in 1267 procured an order of the Mongol Khan Abaka for his execution. The minister raised his infant son, Ghiyass ed-din Kaikhosrau III., to the throne, and governed the country for ten years longer, till he was entangled in a con spiracy of several amirs, who proposed to expel the Mongols with the aid of the Mameluke sultan of Egypt, Bibars (Beibars or Beybars). The latter marched into Asia Minor and defeated the Mongols in the bloody battle of Ablastan, the modern Albistan (1277) ; but, when he advanced farther to Caesarea, Muhl ed din Suleiman retired, hesitating to join him at the very moment of action. Bibars, therefore, in his turn fell back, leaving Sulei man to the vengeance of the khan, who soon discovered his treason and ordered a barbarous execution. Kaikhosrau III. con tinued to reign in name till 1284, though the country was in reality governed by a Mongol viceroy. Masud, the son of Izz ed-din, who on the death of his father had fled from the Crimea to the Mongol khan and had received from him the government of Sivas, Erzing5,n and Erzerum during the lifetime of Kaik hosrau III., ascended the Seljuk throne on his death. But his authority was scarcely respected in his own residence, for several Turkish amirs assumed Independence and could only be subdued by Mongol aid, when they retired to the mountains, to reappear as soon as the Mongols were gone. Masud fell, probably about 1295, a victim to the vengeance of one of the amirs, whose father he had ordered to be put to death. After him Kaikobad, son of his brother Faramarz, entered Konia as sultan in 1298, but his reign is so obscure that its very length is uncertain. With him ended the dynasty of the Seljuks; but the Turkish empire founded by them continued to exist under the rising dynasty of the Otto mans. (See TURKEY.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The best, though insufficient, account of the Seljuks is still de Guignes, Histoire generale des Huns, bks. x.—xii., from whom Gibbon borrowed his dates. Among translations from original sources (of which the most trustworthy are yet unedited), see Mirkhond, Geschichte der Seldschuken (ed. Vullers, Giessen, 1838) ; Tarikh-i Guzideh, French translation by Defremery in the Journal asiatique, 1848,i. 417 sqq., ii. 259., sqq., 334 sqq• Information respecting certain periods is given incidentally in the works of von Hammer and d'Ohsson (see bibliography to TURKEY: History), and in S. Lane Poole, Mahommedan Dynasties (1894) . (M. T. H. ; F. M. S.)