Süleymanshah II

Who he is

Name

Rukn al-Din Süleymanshah II

Title

sultan of Rum

Since

Tokat from the share-out of 1186; Konya from 8 Dhu'l-Qa'da 592 (3 October 1196)

Born

about 1158 (not pinned)

Family

Seljuk, son of Kılıç Arslan II

Confidence

high

TDV 'Süleyman Şah II'; Brand pp. 149-151.

Overlord

None in practice; recognised by the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir.

What it holds

• Konya (capital) and the Konya plain
• Aksaray (mint)
• Kayseri (mint)
• Sivas (mint)
• Tokat, his first appanage
• Niksar and Koyulhisar (from Barkyaruqshah, Muharram 594, late 1197)
• Amasya (from his brother, Muharram 594, late 1197)
• Niğde (walls repaired under him in 1196)
• Ereğli (recovered from Leo of Cilicia in 595 AH, 1198-1199)
• Karaman (Laranda)
• Akşehir (Philomelion) with the Greek captives settled in 1196-1197
• Ilgın
• the Beyşehir lake district (the town of Beyşehir is a foundation of the 1290s)
• Uluborlu (Sozopolis), Kaykhusraw's old seat
• Kırşehir
• Samsun (Aminsos), the Black Sea port 'recently taken by the Turks' (Choniates)
• overlordship of Tughrilshah of Elbistan

How it was acquired

Tokat by his father's grant (1186). Konya by siege and agreement in October 1196 (or 1197). Sivas, Aksaray and Kayseri after Qutb al-Din Malikshah's death, which the coins and inscription of 593 AH in Malikshah's name place in or after 1197. Niksar and Amasya in Muharram 594 (about 14 November to 13 December 1197). Ereğli and the lands towards Adana by campaign against Leo in 595 AH (about November 1198 to October 1199). Samsun before 1200 (not pinned).

Allies and rivals

Overlord of Tughrilshah. Rivals: his brothers Qaysarshah (Malatya) and Mas'ud (Ankara), the exiled Kaykhusraw, King Leo of Cilicia. At peace with Alexios III of Byzantium.

How things stand that morning

Master of the plateau from Akşehir and Uluborlu in the west to Sivas, Tokat and Niksar in the north-east, and from Samsun on the Black Sea to Niğde and Ereğli under the Taurus. Ankara, Malatya and Elbistan are his brothers' (Mas'ud of Ankara, Qaysarshah of Malatya, Tughrilshah of Elbistan). West of Uluborlu and Akşehir the frontier Turkmen act largely on their own (Western uç Turkmen). Across the Taurus lies Leo's Cilicia (cil); across the Euphrates, Harput (harput); east of Koyulhisar and Sivas, Şebinkarahisar (Saltukid that winter by TDV's account) and the Mengujekids of Divriği and Erzincan (saltukids, mengujekids); along the Black Sea coast beyond Samsun, the Byzantine towns (byzantium).

Wealth

The caravan roads of the plateau, the trade with Byzantium and through Samsun, salt from the Tuz Gölü basin, horses and flocks, the revenues of the old Danishmendid cities, and the yearly payment owed by the emperor under the peace (TDV; no sum given here).

Military

The household troops and the emirs' iqta' contingents; city citadels at Konya, Kayseri, Sivas, Tokat, Niksar (walls repaired by him), Amasya and Niğde (walls repaired 1196). Record: took Konya by siege without a battle (1196), took Niksar and Amasya (1197), campaigned in Cilicia (1198-1199). No numbers.

Threats

• Kaykhusraw's return with Byzantine or Turkmen help
• Qaysarshah and the Ayyubids
• Leo's raids over the Taurus
• the uç Turkmen dragging him into war

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200Quarrel with Alexios III over the Samsun shipping and the murder plot; peace renewed in the autumn (see the realm record).Depends on: Byzantine piracy and refusal of compensation. Stopped by: prompt compensation.

Later, on the likely course

1. 23 June 1201: laterTakes Malatya.Depends on: no Ayyubid relief. Stopped by: an Ayyubid army.

Places of note

• Citadel and palace of Konya (the Alaeddin hill): The sultans' palace and the great mosque begun under Mas'ud I and Kılıç Arslan II; Kılıç Arslan II is buried there.
• Niğde castle: Walls repaired under Süleymanshah in 1196; the inner citadel on the north of the hill.
• Niksar castle: The old Danishmendid capital; walls repaired by Süleymanshah (TDV, year not given).

Where the sources disagree

• Konya taken October 1196 (TDV) or 1197 (Brand).

Evidence: Cities and dates of conquest are from Ibn Bibi and Ibn al-Athir via TDV; governors and emirs for 1200 are not named.

On the map: Districts are drawn round the cities on modern units; the sultan's actual rights were the cities, their castles and revenues, and the roads between them. The south-western Pisidian edge and the Taurus edge were frontier.

Primary sources for Sultanate of Rum

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 Anonymous Syriac Chronicle to 1234, Anonymous (a Syrian Orthodox writer, probably of Edessa) (about 1234 to 1240). An Edessene chronicle independent of Michael the Syrian in its later part, with a secular section reaching 1234 that gives the Jazira, Edessa, Harran, Mardin and Melitene about 1200 under al-Adil's sons and the Artuqids, the Seljuks of Rum, the Armenians of Cilicia and the Franks of Antioch, and a church section to 1207 on the Jacobite succession after Michael's death in 1199. Read online
• 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 Chronicle of Smbat Sparapet (Sempad the Constable), Smbat Sparapet, brother of King Hetum I of Cilicia (about 1270 to 1276). The Cilician court chronicle, drawing on Matthew of Edessa for its early part and on family memory later. Read online
• The Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abu'l-Faraj) (about 1275 to 1286). A later compilation that for 1200 relies on Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir, but adds the Jacobite church's own memory of the Jazira, Mosul, Melitene and the Artuqid and Zangid courts, and carries Michael's story past 1195: the Seljuk brothers' war in Rum, the Khwarazmian and Ghurid wars in the east, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah, and the caliph al-Nasir. Read online
• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• The Cream of the History of Aleppo, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim (about 1240 to 1260). The annals of Aleppo. Read online
• History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
• The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online

5 more in the sources library for Anatolia and the Caucasus.