Kaykhusraw I ( 1ca, كَیخُسرو or Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Kaykhusraw ibn Kilij Arslān; fa, غياث الدين كيخسرو بن قلج ارسلان), the eleventh and youngest son of Kilij Arslan II, was Seljuk Sultan of Rûm. He succeeded his father in 1192, but had to fight his brothers for control of the Sultanate, losing to his brother Suleiman II in 1196. He ruled it 1192–1196 and 1205–1211.

Name

The name "Kaykhusraw" is based on the name of the legendary ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...

'' hero Kay Khosrow.

Background

Kaykhusraw's date of birth is unknown. He was the eleventh and youngest son of Kilij Arslan II (). His mother was of

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

ancestry. Kaykhusraw received a good education during his upbringing, learning other languages besides his native

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, which was Persian,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

, and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Marriage

Kaykhusraw married a daughter of Manuel Maurozomes. Manuel Maurozomes would hold the castles of Chonae and Laodicea as a vassal of Kaykhusraw.

Reign

In 1192/93, Kaykhusraw returned the Byzantine nobleman, Theodore Mangaphas, to Emperor Isaac II after receiving assurances of Mangaphas treatment. With his brother,

Rukn ad-Din Suleiman Shah The Five Pillars of Islam (' ; also ' "pillars of the religion") are fundamental practices in Islam, considered to be obligatory acts of worship for all Muslims. They are summarized in the famous hadith of Gabriel. The Sunni and Shia agree on ...

, quickly advancing towards

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

, Kaykhusraw fled to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

in 1196. He lived in Constantinople from 1197–1203, possibly even being baptised. A '' mathnawi'' written by Kaykhusraw himself compares his destiny during that period to that of the legendary Iranian hero Jam ( Jamshid), who had to go into exile after losing his divine fortune ('' farr''). After Suleiman's death and Kilij Arslan's ascension to the sultanate, Kaykhusraw forced his way into Konya, removed Kilij from power and was enthroned for a second time. Kaykhusraw seized Antalya in 1207 from its Niceaen garrison which furnished the Seljuk sultanate with a port on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

. It was during this year, Kaykhusraw founded a mosque in Antalya. Kaykhusraw was killed at the Battle of Antioch on the Meander in 1211. His son

Kayqubad I Alā ad-Dīn Kayqubād ibn Kaykhusraw ( fa, علاء الدين كيقباد بن كيخسرو; tr, I. Alâeddin Keykûbad, 1190–1237), also known as Kayqubad I, was the Seljuq Sultan of Rûm who reigned from 1220 to 1237. He expanded th ...

, by Manuel Maurozomes' daughter, ruled the Sultanate from 1220 to 1237, and his grandson,

Kaykhusraw II Ghiyath al-Din Kaykhusraw ibn Kayqubād or Kaykhusraw II ( fa, 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 ...

, ruled from 1237 to 1246. Kaykhusraw's body was taken to Konya, where it was buried in the ancestral tomb of his family.

Identity

According to Rustam Shukurov, Kaykhusraw I "had dual Christian and Muslim identity, an identity which was further complicated by dual Turkic/Persian and Greek ethnic identity".

Culture

Kaykhusraw wrote poetry in Persian.

Muhammad ibn Ali Rawandi Muhammad ibn Ali Rawandi ( fa, محمد بن علی راوندی; died after 1207), was a Persian historian who wrote the '' Rahat al-sudur wa ayat al-surur'' during the fall of the Great Seljuk Empire and the subsequent invasion by the Kharwarzmi ...

(died after 1207) dedicated his historical chronicle of the

Seljuk Empire The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to ...

, '' Rahat al-sudur wa-ayat al-surur'', to Kaykhusraw.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaykhusraw 01 1211 deaths Sultans of Rum Monarchs killed in action Byzantine–Seljuk wars Year of birth unknown 13th-century Turkic people