The Sultanate of Rûm was a Seljuk sultanate in Anatolia from 1077 to 1307.

In the 1070s, Süleyman Ibn Kutalmish, a distant cousin of Malik Shah, the ruler of Great Seljuk, rose to power in western Anatolia. In 1075, Süleyman captured the Byzantine cities of Nicaea (Iznik) and Nicomedia (Izmit). In defiance of Malik Shah, he declared himself sultan in 1077 and established the capital at Nicaea. The Sultanate expanded, but when Süleyman was killed in Antioch (Antakya) in 1086 by Tutush I, the Seljuk ruler of Syria, the dynasty saw a certain end when Süleyman's son Kilij Arslan was imprisoned. When Malik Shah died in 1092, Kilij Arslan was released and immediately re-conquered his father's territories. He was eventually beaten by Crusaders in 1097 and was driven back into Anatolia where he established his state around Iconium (Konya). In 1107 he captured Mosul but died the same year fighting Mehmed Tapar, son of Malik Shah.

Konya had been captured by another Malik Shah but was taken by Kilij Arslan's son Mas'ud in 1116 with the help of the Danishmends whose land eventually was included in the sultanate. At the death of Mas'ud in 1156 the realm included almost all of Anatolia. Izz ad-Din Kilij Arslan II (1156–1192), the son of Mas'ud, conquered the last remnants of the Danishmends in 1174 after the death of Nur ad-Din, who had proclaimed eastern Anatolia and Armenia a protectorate. A Byzantine invasion of Manuel I Comnenus was thwarted at the Battle of Myriocephalon on September 17 1176. The Frankish warriors of the Third Crusade occupied Konya in 1190. With the foundation, in 1198, of the Crusader State of Cilicia (Armenia Minor), the sultans of Konya had got a Christian neighbor.

After the death of the last sultan of Great Seljuk, Toğrül III, in 1194, the Seljuks of Rüm became the sole representatives of the dynasty. Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau I seized Konya in 1205 and proclaimed himself sultan for the second time of his life. Under the rule of Kay Khusrau and his two successors, Izz ad-Din Kay Ka'us I (1211-1220) and Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh I (1220–1237), the Seljuks of Rüm reached the zenith of their power. Kay Khusrau's most important achievement being the capture of the harbour of Attalia (Antalya) on the Mediterranean coast in 1207. Kay Ka'us captured Sinope and made Trebizond a vassal in 1214 and subjugated Cilicia, though he was forced to surrender Aleppo to Saladin in 1218. Kay Qubadh conquered the Mediterranean coast from the Byzantines in 1221 to 1225. In 1225 he also sent an expeditionary force across the Black Sea to Crimea. In the east he defeated the Mangujakids and Artuqids.

Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau II (1237–1246) began his reign by conquering the realm of Amida (Diyarbakir), but in 1239 he had to face an upspring led by the popular preacher Baba Ishaq. After three years, when he had finally quelled the revolt, Crimea was lost and the state and army was weakened. Now, Kay Khusrau had to face a far more dangerous threat, the Mongols. They took Erzurum in 1242 and in 1243 the sultan was crushed by Bayju at the Battle of Köse Dag (a mountain between Sivas and Erzincan) and the Seljuks became Mongol vassals. The sultan fled to Antalya, where he died in 1246.

The Seljuk realm was divided among Kay Khusrau's three sons. The eldest, Izz ad-Din Kay Ka'us II (1246–1260), assumed the rule in the area west of the river Kizil Irmak. His younger brothers, Rukn ad-Din Kilij Arslan IV (1248–1265) and Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh II (1249–1257) were set to rule east of the Kizil Irmak under the Mongol administration. In October 1256 Bayju defeated Kay Ka'us II near Aksaray and all of Anatolia was now officially subject to the warlord Möngke Khan. In 1260 Kay Ka'us II fled from Konya to Crimea where he died in 1279. Kilij Arslan IV was executed in 1265 and Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau III (1265–1284) became the puppet ruler of all of Anatolia. By now, however, the former Seljuk state was splitting into small emirates that did not recognize either Mongol or Seljuk control. In 1277 Anatolia was invaded by the Mameluk ruler Baybars I and replaced the Mongols as administrators of the Seljuk realm, but soon they lost interest in it and Mongol leadership was re-assumed, at least officially.

At the end of his reign, Kay Khusrau III could actually claim sovereignty over what was left of the Seljuk realm (i.e. the lands around Konya and a small coastline with the port of Kayseri (Caesarea Mazaca)). Some of the rulers of Anatolia loosely recognized the supremacy of the sultan in Konya and Kay Khusrau and his successors called himself Fahreddin, the 'Pride of Islam'. When Kay Khusrau was executed in 1282, the Seljuk dynasty suffered hard from internal struggles which would last until 1303 when the son of Kay Ka'us II, Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II, established himself as sultan in Kayseri. He was murdered in 1307 and his son Mas'ud III soon afterwards. A distant relative to the Seljuk dynasty installed himself as emir of Konya, but he was defeated and his lands conquered by the Karamanids in 1328.

The Dynasty

Kutalmish 1060-1077
Süleyman Ibn Kutalmish (Suleiman) 1077-1086
Dawud Kilij Arslan I 1092-1107
Malik Shah 1107-1116
Rukn ad-Din Mas'ud 1116-1156
Izz ad-Din Kilij Arslan II 1156-1192
Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau I 1192-1196
Süleyman II (Suleiman) 1196-1204
Kilij Arslan III 1204-1205
Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau I (second time) 1205-1211
Izz ad-Din Kay Ka'us I 1211-1220
Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh I 1220-1237
Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau II 1237-1246
Izz ad-Din Kay Ka'us II 1246-1260
Rukn ad-Din Kilij Arslan IV 1248-1265
Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh II 1249-1257
Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau II (second time) 1257-1259
Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau III 1265-1282
Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II 1282-1284
Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh III 1284
Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II (second time) 1284-1293
Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh III (second time) 1293-1294
Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II (third time) 1294-1301
Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh III (third time) 1301-1303
Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II (fourth time) 1303-1307
Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud III 1307

The Dynasty

See also

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