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 Kilij Arslan II ( 1ca, قِلِج اَرسلان دوم) or ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kilij Arslān ibn Masʿūd ( fa, عز الدین قلج ارسلان بن مسعود) ( Modern Turkish ''Kılıç Arslan'', meaning "Sword Lion") was a Seljuk Sultan of Rû ...

, 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 5 ...

'' hero Kay Khosrow.

Background

Kaykhusraw's date of birth is unknown. He was the eleventh and youngest son of

(). 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 Constantinopl ...

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

, and Greek.

Marriage

Kaykhusraw married a daughter of

Manuel Maurozomes Manuel Komnenos Maurozomes ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός Μαυροζώμης; died ) was a Byzantine nobleman who in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade tried to found an independent principality in Phrygia. His daughter, named ''Dawlat Ra ...

. 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, 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 Jamshid () ( fa, جمشید, ''Jamshīd''; Middle- and New Persian: جم, ''Jam'') also known as ''Yima'' (Avestan: 𐬫𐬌𐬨𐬀 ''Yima''; Pashto/Dari: یما ''Yama'') is the fourth Shah of the mythological Pishdadian dynasty of Iran acc ...

), 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 ...

. 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, 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 use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a wel ...

, 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 (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