Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

S E L J tr K s
His son and successor, Kaik4vtis, made peace with Lascaris
and extended his frontiers to the Black Sea by the con¬
quest of Sinope (1214). On this occasion he was fortunate
enough to take prisoner the Comnenian prince (Alexis)
who ruled the independent empire of Trebizond, and he
compelled him to purchase his liberty by acknowledging
the supremacy of the Seljuks, by paying tribute, and by
serving in the armies of the sultan. Elated by this great
success and by his victories over the Armenians, Kaikavus
was induced to attempt the capture of the important city
of Aleppo, at this time governed by the descendants of
Saladin; but the affair miscarried. Soon afterwards the
sultan died (1219) and was succeeded by his brother, A14
ed-dfn KaikoMd, the most powerful and illustrious prince
of this branch of the Seljuks, renowned not only for his
successful wars but also for his magnificent structures at
Konieh, Alaja, SivAs, and elsewhere, which belong to the
best specimens of Saracenic architecture. The town of
Alaja was the creation of this sultan, as previously there
existed on that site only the fortress of Candelor, at that
epoch in the possession of an Armenian chief, who was
expelled by KaikoMd, and shared the fate of the Armenian
and Frankish knights who possessed the fortresses along
the coast of the Mediterranean as far as Selefke (Seleucia).
Kaikobdd extended his rule as far as this city, and desisted
from further conquest only on condition that the Armenian
princes would enter into the same kind of relation to the
Seljiiks as had been imposed on the Comnenians of Trebi¬
zond. But his greatest military fame was wTon by a war
which, however glorious, was to prove fatal to the Seljiik
empire in the future: in conjunction with his ally, the
Eyyubid prince Al-Ashraf, he defeated the Kharizm shah
JelAl ed-dfn near ArzengMi (1230). This victory removed
the only barrier that checked the progress of the Mongols.
During this war KaikoMd put an end to the collateral
dynasty of the Seljuks of Erzerum and annexed its pos¬
sessions. He also gained the city of Khehit with depend¬
encies that in former times had belonged to the Sh&h-i-
Armen, but shortly before had been taken by Jelal ed-dfn ;
this aggression was the cause of the war just mentioned.
The acquisition of Khel&t led, however, to a new war,
as KaikoMd’s ally, the Eyyubid prince, envied him this
conquest. Sixteen Mohammedan princes, mostly Eyyubids,
of Syria and Mesopotamia, under the leadership of Al-
Malik al-Kamil, prince of Egypt, marched with considerable
forces into Asia Minor against him. Happily for Kaiko-
bftd, the princes mistrusted the power of the Egyptian,
and it proved a difficult task to penetrate through the
mountainous well-fortified accesses to the interior of Asia
Minor, so that the advantage rested with KaikobAd, who
took Kharput, and for some time even held HarrAn, Ar-
Roha, and Rakka (1232). The latter conquests were,
however, soon lost, and KaikobAd himself died in 1234
of poison administered to him by his son and successor,
GhiyAts ed-dfn Kaikhosrau II. This unworthy son in¬
herited from his father an empire embracing almost the
whole of Asia Minor, with the exception of the countries
governed by Yatatzes (Yataces) and the Christian princes
of Trebizond and Lesser Armenia, who, however, were
bound to pay tribute and to serve in the armies,—an
empire celebrated by contemporary reports for its wealth.1
But the Turkish soldiers were of little use in a regular
battle, and the sultan relied mainly on his Christian
troops, so much so that an insurrection of dervishes which
occurred at this period could only be put down by their
assistance. It was at this epoch also that there flourished
at Konieh the greatest mystical poet of Islam, and the
founder of the order of the Mawlawis, JelAl ed-dfn Riimf
1 See the details in Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, bk.
xxx. chaps. 143, 144.
637
(d. 1273; see RuMf), and that the dervish fraternities
spread throughout the whole country and became power¬
ful bodies, often discontented with the liberal principles
of the sultans, who granted privileges to the Christian
merchants and held frequent intercourse with them. Not¬
withstanding all this, the strength and reputation of the
empire were so great that the Mongols hesitated to invade
it, although standing at its frontiers. But, as they crossed
the border, Kaikhosrau marched against them, and suffered
a formidable defeat at KuzadAg (between ArzengAn and
SivAs) in 1243, which forced him to purchase peace by
the promise of a heavy tribute. The independence of the
Seljuks was now for ever lost. The Mongols retired for
some years; but, Kaikhosrau dying in 1245, the joint
government of his three sons gave occasion to fresh in¬
roads, till one of them died and Hulagu divided the
empire between the other two, Tzz ed-dfn ruling the dis¬
tricts west of the Halys and Rokn ed-dfn the eastern
provinces (1259). But the former, intriguing with the
Mameluke sultans of Egypt to expel his brother and gain
his independence, was defeated by a Mongol army and
obliged to flee to the imperial court. Here he was im¬
prisoned, but afterwards released by the Tatars of the
Crimea, who took him with them to Sarai, where he died.
Rokn ed-dfn was only a nominal ruler, the real power
being in the hands of his pervAneh, Mufn ed-dfn SulaimAn,
who in 1267 procured an order of the Mongol KhAn
Abaka for his execution. The minister raised his infant
son, GhiyAts ed-dfn Kaikhosrau III., to the throne,- and
governed the country for ten years longer, till he was
entangled in a conspiracy of several emirs, who proposed
to expel the Mongols with the aid of the Mameluke sultan
of Egypt (Beybars or Bibars). The latter marched into
Asia Minor and defeated the Mongols in the bloody battle
of AblastAn (1277); but, when he advanced farther to
Caesarea, the pervAneh retired, hesitating to join him at
the very moment of action. Beybars, therefore, in his
turn fell back, leaving the pervAneh to the vengeance of
the khAn, who soon discovered his treason and ordered a
barbarous execution. GhiyAts ed-dfn continued to reign
in name till 1284, though the country was in reality
governed by a Mongol viceroy. Mas'fid, the son of Tzz
ed-dfn, who on the death of his father had fled from the
Crimea to the Mongol khAn and had received from him
the government of SivAs, ArzengAn, and Erzerum during
the lifetime of GhiyAts ed-dfn, ascended the Seljuk throne
on the death of GhiyAts. But his authority was scarcely
respected in his own residence, for several Turkish emirs
assumed independence and could only be subdued by
Mongol aid, when they retired to the mountains, to re¬
appear as soon as the Mongols were gone. Masud fell,
probably about 1295, a victim to the vengeance of one of
the emirs, whose father he had ordered to be put to death.
After him KaikobAd, son of his brother FarAmarz, entered
Konieh as sultan in 1298, but his reign is so obscure that
nothing can be said of it; some authors assert that he
governed only till 1300, others till 1315. With him ended
the dynasty of the Seljuks ; but the Turkish empire founded
by them continued to exist under the rising dynasty of the
Ottomans. (See Turkey.)
Bibliography.—The best, though insufficient, account of the Sel¬
juks is still De Guignes, Histoire Generale des Hims, bks. x.-xii.,
from whom Gibbon borrowed his dates. Among translations from
original sources (of which the most trustworthy are yet unedited),
comp. Mirkhond’s Geschichte der Seldschulcen (ed. Yullers), Giessen,
1838 ; Tarikh-i-Guzideh, French translation by Defremery in the
Journal Asiatique, 1848, i. 417 sq., ii. 259 sq., 334 sq. ; Seid
Locmani ex Libro Turcica qui Oghuzname inscribitur Excerpta (ed.
J. H. W. Lagus), Helsingfors, 1854 (on the Seljuks of Asia Minor
exclusively, but of little value). Information respecting certain
periods is given incidentally in the well-known works of Yon
Hammer and D’Ohsson. (M. T. H.)