| Kaykhusraw II | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Sultan of Rum | |||||
| Reign | 1237–1246 | ||||
| Predecessor | Kayqubad I | ||||
| Successor | Kaykaus II | ||||
| Born | 1215 | ||||
| Died | 1246 (aged 30–31) | ||||
| Consort | Gurju Khatun Ghaziya Khatun | ||||
| Issue | Izz al-Din Kaykaus II Rukn al-Din Kiliç Arslan IV Alauddin Kayqubad II | ||||
| |||||
| House | House of Seljuq | ||||
| Father | Alâeddin Kayqubad I | ||||
| Mother | Mahpari Khatun[1] | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||
Ghiyath al-Din Kaykhusrawibn Kayqubād orKaykhusraw II (Persian:غياث الدين كيخسرو بن كيقباد) was the sultan of theSeljuqs of Rûm from 1237[2] until his death in 1246. He ruled at the time of theBabai uprising and theMongol invasion ofAnatolia. He led the Seljuq army with its Christian allies at theBattle of Köse Dağ in 1243. He was the last of the Seljuq sultans to wield any significant power and died as a vassal of the Mongols.
Kaykhusraw was the son ofKayqubad I and his wife Mahpari Khatun, who wasByzantine Greek by origin,[3] Christian Byzantine Greek women being the dominant origin of theslave-concubines and wives of theSeljuk harem.[4]
Although 'Kaykhusraw was the eldest, the sultan had chosen as heir the younger ‘Izz al-Din, one of his two sons by theAyyubid princess Adila Khatun, daughter ofal Adil I, sultan of Cairo and the Jazira[5][6] In 1226, Kayqubad assigned the newly annexedErzincan to Kaykhusraw. With the general Kamyar, the young prince participated in the conquest ofErzurum and laterAhlat. Kaykhusraw himself married Ghazia Khatun, the daughter of the emir ofAleppo,Al-Aziz Muhammad.[7]
In 1236–37, raidingMongols assisted by theGeorgians devastated theAnatolian countryside as far as the walls ofSivas andMalatya. In response, Kayqubad moved to punish the Georgians. As the Seljuq army approached,Queen Russudan ofGeorgia sued for peace, offering her daughterTamar in marriage to Kaykhusraw.[a] This marriage took place in 1238.[9]
Upon the death of Kayqubad in 1237, Kaykhusraw seized the throne with the support of the great emirs of Anatolia. The architect of his early reign was a certainSa'd al-Din Köpek, master of the hunt and minister of works under Kayqubad. Köpek excelled at political murder and sought to protect his newfound influence at the court with a series of executions.[10] He capturedDiyarbekir fromAyyubids in 1241.
While theMongols threatened the Seljuq state from the outside, a new danger appeared from within: a charismatic preacher,Baba Ishak, was fomenting rebellion among the Turkmen ofAnatolia. This revolt is known as theBabai revolt.
Nomadic Turkmen had begun moving into Anatolia a few years prior to theBattle of Manzikert. After 1071, Turkic migration into the region went largely unchecked. Both their number and the persuasive power of their religious leaders, nominally Islamizedshamans known as babas or dedes,[11] played a large part in the conversion of formerly Christian Anatolia. The Persianized Seljuq military class expended considerable effort keeping these nomads from invading areas inhabited by farmers and from harassing neighboring Christian states. The Turkmen were pushed into marginal lands, mostly mountainous and frontier districts.
Baba Ishak was one such religious leader. Unlike his predecessors, whose influence was limited to smaller tribal groups, Baba Ishak's authority extended over a vast population of Anatolian Turkmen. It is not known what he preached, but his appropriation of the titlerasul, normally applied toMuhammad, suggests something beyond mainstream Islam.
The revolt began ca. 1240 in the remote borderland of Kafarsud in the easternTaurus Mountains and quickly spread north to the region ofAmasya. Seljuq armies atMalatya and Amasya were destroyed. Soon the very heart of Seljuq Anatolia, the regions aroundKayseri,Sivas, andTokat, were under the control of Baba Ishak's supporters. Baba Ishak himself was killed, but the Turkmen continued their rebellion against the central Seljuq authority. The rebels were finally cornered and defeated nearKırşehir, probably in 1242 or early 1243.Simon of Saint-Quentin credits the victory to a large number of Frankish mercenaries employed by the sultan.[12]
In the winter of 1242–43, theMongols underBayju attackedErzurum; the city fell without a siege. The Mongols prepared to invadeRum in the spring. To meet the threat, Kaykhusraw assembled soldiers from his allies and vassals.Simon of Saint-Quentin, an envoy ofPope Innocent IV on his way to the Great Khan, offers an account of the sultan's preparations. He reports that the king of Armenia was required to produce 1400 lances and the GreekEmperor of Nicaea 400 lances. Both rulers met the sultan inKayseri to negotiate details. TheGrand Komnenos of Trebizond contributed 200, while the youngAyyubid prince ofAleppo supplied 1000 horsemen.[13] In addition to these, Kaykhusraw commanded the Seljuq army and irregular Turkmen cavalry, though both had been weakened by the Baba Ishak rebellion.
The army, except for the Armenians who were then considering an alliance with (or submission to) the Mongols, assembled atSivas. Kaykhusraw and his allies set out to the east along the trunk road towardsErzurum. On 26 June 1243, they met the Mongols at the pass atKöse Dağ, betweenErzincan andGümüşhane.[14][15] Kaykhusraw built a large army to confront the invasion, but his 80,000-strong force lacked the discipline and cohesion of the Mongols. A feigned retreat by the Mongol horsemen disorganized the Seljuqs, and Kaykhusraw's army was routed. The sultan collected his treasury and harem atTokat and fled toAnkara. The Mongols seized Sivas, sacked Kayseri, but failed to move onKonya, the capital of the sultanate.
In the months following the battle,Muhadhdhab al-Din, the sultan's vizier, sought out the victorious Mongol leader. Since the sultan had fled, the embassy seems to have been the vizier's own initiative. The vizier succeeded in forestalling further Mongol devastation in Anatolia and saved Kaykhusraw's throne. Under conditions of vassalage and a substantial annual tribute, Kaykhusraw, his power much diminished, returned to Konya.
According toRustam Shukurov, it is likely that Kaykhusraw II, who was born from a Greek mother, and was yet another Seljuk Sultan with a great interest in Greek women, "bore a dual confessional and ethnic identity".[16]
Kaykhusraw died leaving three sons:'Izz al-Din Kaykaus, aged 11, son of the daughter of a Greek priest; 9-year-oldRukn al-Din Kilij Arslan, son of a Turkish woman ofKonya; and'Ala al-Din Kayqubad, son of the Georgian princessTamar and at age 7 youngest of the three boys.[17]
Kaykhusraw had named his youngest child Kayqubad as his successor, but because he was a weakly child, the new vizierShams al-Din Isfahani placed Kayqubad's two underage brothersKaykaus II andKilij Arslan IV on the throne as well, as co-rulers. This was an attempt to maintain Seljuq control of Anatolia in the face of the Mongol threat.
Although weakened, Seljuq power remained largely intact at the time of Kaykhusraw's death in 1246. The Mongols failed to capture either the sultan's treasury or his capital when they had the chance, and his Anatolian lands escaped the worst of the invaders’ depredations. The real blow to the dynasty was Kaykhusrev's inability to name a competent successor. With the choice of the three young brothers, Seljuq power in Anatolia no longer lay with Seljuq princes but instead devolved into the hands of Seljuq court administrators.
Between 1240 and 1243 (638 and 641 A.H.) a series of remarkable silverdirhams were struck in Kaykhusraw's name atSivas andKonya depicting alion and sun.[18] While coins with images are not unknown in Islamic lands, particularly in the centuries following theCrusades, some Islamic traditions forbid representations of living things.
Several explanations of the lion and sun have been offered. One suggests that the images represent the constellationLeo, theastrological sign of Kaykhusraw's belovedGeorgian wifeTamar.[19] Another says that the lion represents Kaykhusraw and the sun Tamar.[19]
In the Turkish television seriesDiriliş: Ertuğrul, Kaykhusraw II is portrayed by Turkish actorBurak Dakak.[20]
It is possible, even likely, thatthe Tamar portrayed here is the same woman who married the Seljuk Sultan Giyath al-Din Kaykhusraw II in 1238. In Seljuk sources she is known as Guji Khatun ("the Georgian Lady"). (...) She was married first to Kaykhusraw II and then to Mu'in al-Din Sulayman (d. 1277), the parwāna, the Mongol-appointed admin-istrator and de facto ruler of the Sultanate of Rüm in the third quarter of the thirteenth century. In 1277, the Ilkhan Abaqa executed the parwāna, and it is possible that, after his death, she marriedthe local elite depicted here.
Following Mahperi, Kayqubad's second marriage was to an Ayyubid princess, the daughter of al Adil I, sultan of Cairo and the Jazira
| Preceded by | Sultan of Rûm 1237–1246 | Succeeded by |
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