The Divrigi branch of the Mengujekids holds the town of Divrigi, the Byzantine Tephrike, once the Paulician capital, in a side valley of the Calti above the Euphrates.
Its lords are builders: Sayf al-Din Shahanshah son of Suleyman raised the Castle Mosque (576 AH / 1180-81), with an architect from Maragha, and in 592 AH (1196) a tomb was built for him (later named Sitti Melik after his wife) and another for his chamberlain and treasurer Kamar al-Din. Shahanshah is last firmly attested after 593 AH (1197); by the modern list his son Suleyman II has ruled since about 1198 and will reign until 1227.
Who he is
- Name
- Suleyman (Suleymanshah II) son of Sayf al-Din Shahanshah
- Title
- Emir (melik) of Divrigi
- Since
- about 1198, on his father's death
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- Mengujekid, Divrigi branch (descended from Suleyman son of Ishak)
- Confidence
- medium
Wikipedia's list (after Pancaroglu 2013) gives Shahanshah 1162-1198 and Suleyman II 1198-1227; TDV 'Mengucukluler' has Shahanshah alive after 593 AH (1197) and makes Ahmad Shah (by 626 AH / 1228-29) Suleyman's son and Shahanshah's grandson. The 1198 change is a list date, not a dated event.
Overlord
None formally; kin of the Erzincan line; at peace with Konya.
What it holds
- Divrigi with its castle
- the Calti valley
How it was acquired
The Divrigi share went to Suleyman son of Ishak when the house split in 1142.
Allies and rivals
Kin and ally of Bahramshah of Erzincan (Bahramshah's daughter Turan Melek later marries Ahmad Shah of Divrigi).
How things stand that morning
The Divrigi line holds the town and valley quietly.
Wealth
The valley's farms and the road from Sivas to the Euphrates.
Military
The castle of Divrigi.
Threats
- Absorption by the sultan in the long run.
Places of note
- Castle Mosque of Divrigi: 576 AH (1180-81).
Where the sources disagree
- TDV gives no date for Shahanshah's death beyond 'after 593 AH (1197)'; the list date 1198 for Suleyman II's accession is followed. If Shahanshah lived longer, he is the lord on 1 January 1200.
Evidence: Inscriptions and coins only.
On the map: The district's limits are a guess.
Primary sources for Mengujekids
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
- The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online
Sources and studies
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Mengucukluler' (F. Sumer, history; N. C. Akcil, architecture), vol. 29, 2004
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Divrigi' (A. Balgalmis), vol. 9, 1994
- Wikipedia, 'Mengujekids' (ruler lists; citing O. Pancaroglu, 'The House of Mengujek in Divrigi', in Peacock and Yildiz (eds.), The Seljuks of Anatolia, 2013)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.