Mahmud II ( 1105 – 1131) was the Seljuk sultan of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

from 1118–1131 following the death of his father

Muhammad I Tapar Abu Shuja Ghiyath al-Dunya wa'l-Din Muhammad ibn Malik-Shah ( fa, , Abū Shujāʿ Ghiyāth al-Dunyā wa ’l-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Malik-Šāh; 1082 – 1118), better known as Muhammad I Tapar (), was the sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1105 to 111 ...

. At the time Mahmud was fourteen, and ruled over

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Biography

During Mahmud's early reign, his vassal king

Garshasp II Garshasp II (Persian: گرشاسپ), was the last Persian Kakuyid Emir of Yazd and Abarkuh. He was the son of Ali ibn Faramurz. Biography After the death of Garshasp's father Ali ibn Faramurz in 1095 in a battle near Ray, he succeeded him as ...

, who was a favorite of his father Muhammad I, fell into disgrace. Slander about him spread to the court that made him lose confidence, and made Mahmud send a military force to

Yazd Yazd ( fa, یزد ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Isfahan. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,138,533. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a Wor ...

where Garshasp was arrested and jailed in

Jibal Jibāl ( ar, جبال), also al-Jabal ( ar, الجبل), was the name given by the Arabs to a region and province located in western Iran, under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates. Its name means "the Mountains", being the plural of ''jabal'' (" ...

, while Yazd was granted to the royal cupbearer. Garshasp, however, escaped and returned to Yazd, where he requested protection from Mahmud's rival

Sistan Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan ( ...

and of

Khwarazm Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...

, and two other unnamed kings. After being victorious, Ahmad then restored the domains of Garshasp II. Ahmad then proceeded as far as Baghdad, whereupon Mahmud was married to one of Sanjar's daughters, made his uncle's heir, and forced to give up strategic territories in northern Persia. Mahmud's younger brother

Mas'ud Masoud (; ) is a given name and surname, with origins in Persian and Arabic. The name is found in the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Russia, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and China. Masoud has spelling varia ...

revolted against him in 1120, but the civil war ended the following year due to the intervention of the

atabeg of Mosul This is a list of the rulers of the Iraqi city of Mosul. Umayyad governors * Muhammad ibn Marwan (ca. 685–705) * Yusuf ibn Yahya ibn al-Hakam (ca. 685–705) * Sa'id ibn Abd al-Malik (ca. 685–705) * Yahya ibn Yahya al-Ghassani (719–720) * ...

Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi Qasīm al-Dawla Sayf al-Dīn Abū Saʿīd Āqsunqur al-Bursuqī (), also known as Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, Aqsonqor il-Bursuqi, Aksunkur al-Bursuki, Aksungur or al-Borsoki, was the atabeg of Mosul from 1113–1114 and again from 1124–1126. Accessi ...

, and Mas'ud was pardoned. In 1126, al-Bursuqi was murdered by

Assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. Assassin may also refer to: Origin of term * Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins Animals and insects * Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...

, believed have been under orders from Mahmud. In 1127, he appointed Anushirvan ibn Khalid as his

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...

, but had him removed from the office the following year. In 1129 Mahmud officially recognized the authority of

Imad al-Din Zengi Imad al-Din Zengi ( ar, عماد الدین زنكي; – 14 September 1146), also romanized as Zangi, Zengui, Zenki, and Zanki, was a Turkmen atabeg, who ruled Mosul, Aleppo, Hama, and, later, Edessa. He was the namesake of the Zengid ...

, who had supported him against a revolt led by

al-Mustarshid Abu Mansur al-Faḍl ibn Ahmad al-Mustazhir ( ar, أبو منصور الفضل بن أحمد المستظهر; 1092 – 29 August 1135) better known by his regnal name Al-Mustarshid Billah ( ar, المسترشد بالله) was the Abbasid caliph ...

, caliph of Baghdad, in Syria and northern Iraq. Mahmud, then aged 26, died in 1131. His death was followed by a civil war between his son Dawud, and his brothers

, Suleiman-Shah, and

Toghrul II Tughril II ( 1109 – October–November 1134) was the Sejluk sultan of Persian Iraq briefly in 1132. He maintained power through the support of his uncle, the principal Seljuk sultan Ahmad Sanjar (); when the latter left for Transoxiana to su ...

. His other son Alp Arslan ibn Mahmud was ruler of Mosul with atabeg Zengi.

Family

Around 1119, Mahmud married Mah-i Mulk Khatun, daughter of Sultan

Ahmad Sanjar Senjer ( fa, ; full name: ''Muizz ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Adud ad-Dawlah Abul-Harith Ahmad Sanjar ibn Malik-Shah'') (''b''. 1085 – ''d''. 8 May 1157) was the Seljuq ruler of Khorasan from 1097 until in 1118,Garshasp II Garshasp II (Persian: گرشاسپ), was the last Persian Kakuyid Emir of Yazd and Abarkuh. He was the son of Ali ibn Faramurz. Biography After the death of Garshasp's father Ali ibn Faramurz in 1095 in a battle near Ray, he succeeded him as ...

, the son of

Ali ibn Faramurz ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

and Arslan Khatun, the daughter of

Chaghri Beg Abu Suleiman Dawud Chaghri Beg ibn Mikail, widely known simply as Chaghri Beg (989–1060), ''Da'ud b. Mika'il b. Saljuq'', also spelled Chaghri, was the co-ruler of the early Seljuk Empire. The name ''Chaghri'' is Turkic (Çağrı in modern Turk ...

. They had a son Ala al-Daula Ata Khan. Another wife, who was the mother of Mahmud's son, Alp Arslan, died while living at the residence of Aq Sunqur al-Bursuqi. One of his concubines was the mother of his daughter Terken Khatun, who married Sulaiman Shah, one of the great-grandsons of Qavurt.

References

Sources

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1100s births 1131 deaths Seljuk rulers People of the Nizari–Seljuk wars {{MEast-royal-stub