Melik Zünnun (died 1175) was the fifth ruler of

Danishmendids The Danishmendids or Danishmends ( fa, دودمان دانشمند; tr, Dânişmendliler) was a Turkish beylik that ruled in north-central and eastern Anatolia from 1071/1075 to 1178. The dynasty centered originally around Sivas, Tokat, and N ...

Life

First reign

Zünnun was declared as successor by his father Melik Mehmed Gazi, however he was derecognized by

Yağıbasan Nizamettin Yağıbasan, or simply Yağıbasan (meaning "enemy raider" or "smashing the enemy") was the sixth ruler of Danishmendids and the uncle of Melik Zünnun. Background After Alp Arslan of Seljukids defeated the Byzantine army in the battle ...

. Yağıbasan and his other two brother Ayn el-Devle and Nasreddin Muhammed marched into Kayseri and Zünnun took refuge to

Mesud I Rukn al-Dīn Mesud ibn Kilij Arslan or Mesud I (Modern tr, I. Rükneddin Mesud or ''Masud'' () was the sultan of the Sultanate of Rûm from 1116 until his death in 1156. Reign Following the defeat and death of his father Kilij Arslan fighting a ...

which was his father-in-law. Mesud wanted to incorporate Danishmends to

Sultanate of Rum fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchyTriarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = By ...

Second reign

After Melik İsmail was killed in a palace revolt, Zünnun was in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

at the time. With the support of Nuraddin Zengi, he entered Sivas with 3,000 troops. However after death of Nur ad-Din, the troops returned to Syria. Kilijarslan II started to attack the Danishmendids and took

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...

Niksar Niksar, historically known as Neocaesarea (Νεοκαισάρεια), is a city in Tokat Province, Turkey. It was settled by many empires, being once the capital city of the province. Niksar is known as "Çukurova of the North-Anatolia" due to i ...

and

Tokat Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is located at the confluence of the Tokat River (Tokat Suyu) with the Yeşilırmak. In the 2018 census, the city of Tokat had a population of 155,00 ...

. Zünnun took refuge in Byzantine Empire, and the Sivas branch of Danishmendids collapsed.

References

Muslims of the First Crusade 1175 deaths Year of birth unknown 12th-century monarchs in the Middle East Danishmends {{Turkey-bio-stub