Kılıç Arslan I.

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Kilitsch Arslan or Kilidsch Arslan I. (also Kylydsch Arslan , قلج أرسلان DMG Qïlïč-Arslan , Turkish Kılıç Arslan , meaning: "The sword-lion"; * 1079 ; † 1107 ) was the Seljuk Sultan of Rum from 1092 .

After the death of his father Suleiman in 1086, Kilitsch Arslan was held hostage at the court of the Seljuq Sultan Malik Shah I and was only released when Malik Shah died in 1092. Kilitsch Arslan established his capital in Nicaea and killed his father-in-law, the Emir Çaka Bey of Smyrna , to stabilize his sultanate.

When the People's Crusade under Peter the Hermit and Walter Sans-Avoir reached Nicaea, Kilitsch Arslan I was able to easily defeat the pilgrims who were inexperienced in battle and thrown together. About 20,000 crusaders were killed, the rest sold into slavery . Because of this easy victory, he did not perceive the main army of the Crusaders, which arrived in Asia Minor a little later , as a serious threat. Kilitsch Arslan I attacked the empire of the Danischmenden in Eastern Anatolia , which was ruled by Malik Ghazi . While Kilitsch Arslan I was fighting the Danischmenden in the east, the army of the First Crusade besieged Nicaea in May 1097 . He rushed back to his capital, found it surrounded by crusaders and defeated them in a battle on May 21st. The city then submitted to the Byzantine Empire . As a result, Kilitsch Arslan I's wife and children came hostage to Constantinople and were later released without a ransom.

As the crusade continued its march through Anatolia, Kilitsch Arslan ambushed Dorylaeum on June 29th . However, his archers could not break through the defense lines of the Crusaders, so that a group of knights under Bohemond of Taranto even conquered the Turkish camp on July 1st ( → Battle of Dorylaeum (1097) ). Kilitsch Arslan then withdrew and did not attack the Christians again. He contented himself with destroying the crops and the water supply along the route of the Crusaders.

In 1101 Kilitsch Arslan defeated another army of crusaders near Herakleia (→ Crusade of 1101 ) - an important victory for the Turks, as he destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the crusaders. After this battle he moved his capital to Iconium .

In 1104 Kilitsch Arslan resumed his war against the Danischmenden, who had not weakened after the death of Malik Ghazi. In 1107 he conquered Mosul , but was then defeated by Radwan of Aleppo and the Seljuk Sultan Muhammad I. Tapar . As he retreated, he drowned in the Chabur River . His mausoleum is in the courtyard of the Alaeddin Mosque in Konya.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Neumann-Adrian / Christoph K. Neumann: Turkey. A country and 9000 years of history, Munich 1990, p. 160
  2. ^ John D. Hoag: History of World Architecture: Islamic Architecture . Electa Architecture, 2004, ISBN 1-904313-29-9 , pp. 124 .
predecessor Office successor
Suleyman I. Sultan of Rum
1092–1107 		Malik Shah I.
personal data
SURNAME Kılıç Arslan I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kilij Arslan; Kylyj Arslan; Dawud Kılıç Arslan ibn Süleiman ibn Kutalmish
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sultan of Rum
DATE OF BIRTH 1079
DATE OF DEATH 1107