Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/663

Rh S E L J U K S 637 His son and successor, Kaikaviis, 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, Aid ed-din Kaikobad, 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 Kaikobad, and shared the fate of the Armenian and Prankish knights who possessed the fortresses along the coast of the Mediterranean as far as Selefke (Seleucia). Kaikobad 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 Seljuks as had been imposed on the Comnenians of Trebi- zond. But his greatest military fame was won by a war which, however glorious, was to prove fatal to the Seljuk empire in the future : in conjunction with his ally, the Eyyubid prince Al-Ashraf, he defeated the Kharizm shah JelAl ed-din near Arzengan (1230). This victory removed the only barrier that checked the progress of the Mongols. During this war Kaikobad put an end to the collateral dynasty of the Seljuks of Erzerum and annexed its pos- sessions. He also gained the city of Khelat with depend- encies that in former times had belonged to the Shah-i- Armen, but shortly before had been taken by Jelal ed-din ; this aggression was the cause of the war just mentioned. The acquisition of Khelat led, however, to a new war, as Kaikobad'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- bad, 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-din 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 Vatatzes (Vataces) 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-din Rumi 1 See the details in Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, bk. xxx. chaps. 143, 144. (d. 1273 ; see RUMI), 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, 'Izz ed-din ruling the dis- tricts west of the Halys and Rokn ed-din 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-din was only a nominal ruler, the real power being in the hands of his pervaneh, Muln ed-din Sulaiman, who in 1267 procured an order of the Mongol Khan Abaka for his execution. The minister raised his infant son, Ghiyats ed-din 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 Csesarea, 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-din continued to reign in name till 1284, though the country was in reality governed by a Mongol viceroy. Mas'ud, the son of 'Izz ed-din, 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-din, 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. Mas'ud 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 Huns, 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 GeschicMe der Seldschuken (ed. Vullers), Giessen, 1838; Tarikh-tGuzideh, French translation by Defremery in the Journal Asiatique, 1848, i. 417 sq., ii. 259 sq., 334 sq. ; Seid Locmani ex Libra Turcico qui Oghuzname inscribitur Exzerpta (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 Von Hammer and D'Ohsson. (M. T. H.)