Suleiman ibn Qutalmish founds the Sultanate of Rum at Nicaea
Suleiman ibn Qutalmish, a kinsman of the Seljuk sultans, built a Turkish state out of the chaos that followed Manzikert, serving one Byzantine pretender after another until he made Nicaea, not far from Constantinople, his capital. The Sultanate of Rum — the "land of the Romans" — outlived its founder and, after the crusaders and Byzantines took Nicaea (1097), ruled central Anatolia from Konya until the early 14th century.
- Date
- between 1075 and 1081exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Nicaeatoday: İznik, Bursa Province, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Suleiman ibn Qutalmish, Sultanate of Rum, Seljuk Empire, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Balkans and Anatolia (11th–12th c.)
- Also known as
- Foundation of the Sultanate of Rum; Основание Румского султаната; Seljuks of Rum; Конийский султанат
After Manzikert rival Byzantine generals fought for the throne with the help of Turkish warbands. Suleiman, whose father Qutalmish had died in 1064 fighting Alp Arslan for the sultanate, had gathered a following among the Turkmen tribes beyond the frontier. In 1078 he backed Nikephoros Botaneiates, whose bid for the throne succeeded, and his Turkmen were allowed to settle on the Asian shore of the Bosporus; around 1080 he supported another pretender, Nikephoros Melissenos, who opened the gates of Nicaea to him. The chronology is uncertain: the chronicler al-Azimi dates the capture of Nicaea to 1075, other historians to 1078–1081, and 1077 is the traditional founding date of the sultanate. Malik-Shah, the Great Seljuk sultan, is said to have recognized Suleiman as ruler of Rum, and historians debate whether Suleiman was a vassal or an independent sovereign.
Suleiman took Antioch in 1084 or 1085 but died in 1086 near Aleppo in battle against his kinsman Tutush, and Malik-Shah held his son Kilij Arslan hostage. After Malik-Shah's death in 1092 Kilij Arslan returned and restored the sultanate at Nicaea; he lost it to the First Crusade and the Byzantines in 1097, and his successors made Konya their capital.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Battle of Manzikert26 August 1071 · Balkans and Anatolia
Related events
- First Crusade1096 – 12 August 1099 · Western and Central EuropeNicaea, the capital of the Sultanate of Rum, returned to Byzantium in June 1097
Same participants
- Norman conquest of SicilyMay 1061 – between 1090 and 1091 · Western and Central Europevia Byzantine Empire
- Battle of Dyrrhachium18 October 1081 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- Hasan-i Sabbah takes Alamut1090 · Middle East and Egyptvia Seljuk Empire
Same place
- First Council of Nicaeabetween May and June 325 – between July and August 325 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Council of Nicaea24 September – 23 October 787 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Walk to Canossa25–28 January 1077
- Norman conquest of SicilyMay 1061 – between 1090 and 1091
- Investiture Controversy1075 – 23 September 1122
Middle East and Egypt
- Mahmud al-Kashgari compiles the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turkbetween 1072 and 1077
- The caliphate of al-Mustansir and the ‘Mustansirite hardship’13 June 1036 – 29 December 1094
Africa
- Hummay founds the Sayfawa dynasty: Islam at the court of Kanembetween 1075 and 1085
- The Almoravids: from a desert reform movement to an empirebetween 1039 and 1046 – 1147
- K2 (Bambandyanalo) and the rise of Mapungubwec. 1000 – c. 1220
- Igbo-Ukwu: bronze casting in the West African forest800–899 – 1100–1199
East Asia
- Wang Anshi’s New Policies26 February 1069 – 16 September 1086
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Battle of the Như Nguyệt Riverbetween January and March 1077
- Polynesians settle the Society Islandsbetween 1025 and 1120
- Anawrahta builds the Pagan Empire1044–1077
North America
- Classic Mimbres: the painted bowls of the Mogollonc. 1000 – between 1130 and 1150
- Pueblo II: stone pueblos and the Chaco worldc. 900 – c. 1150
Latin America
- Collapse of Tiwanakuc. 1000 – c. 1150
- Eight Deer Jaguar Claw unites the Mixtec kingdomsc. 1083 – 1115
- Tula and the Toltecs: the leading city of central Mexicoc. 900 – c. 1150
- Middle Sicán: the Lambayeque culture at its height at Batán Grandec. 900 – c. 1100
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Sultanate of Rum
- Wikipedia (English): Suleiman ibn Qutalmish
- Wikipedia (English): Kilij Arslan I
- Wikipedia (Russian): Румский султанат
- Wikipedia (Russian): Сулейман ибн Кутулмыш
- Cahen C. Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A General Survey of the Material and Spiritual Culture and History c. 1071–1330 / tr. J. Jones-Williams. — New York: Taplinger, 1968.
- Peacock A. C. S. The Great Seljuk Empire. — Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015.