Malik Shah I. (Rum)

Assumed tomb of Malik Shah in Konya on an engraving from 1849

Malik Shah I , also called Shahanshah (ruler of the rulers) ( Turkish Melikşah ; * 1096 ; † 1117 in Konya ), was the Seljuk Sultan of Rum from 1110 to 1116. He was the older son of Kilij Arslan I. He must not be confused become with the eponymous Malik Shah I , who was a son of Alp Arslan .

His father had successfully fought several battles against the Crusaders and was also at war with his Muslim neighbor. Among them were the Danischmenden and the Great Seljuks. Kilij Arslan I had taken the Danish Mossul in 1107 and installed Malik Shah, who was about eleven years old, as administrator and General Bozmış as his atabeg . In the same year, however, Kilij Arslan drowned in the Chabur River after he had lost a battle against the combined forces of the Ortoqid Ilghazis , the Seljuk administrator in Syria Radwans and the Greater Seljuk general Emir Çavlı.

After this battle, Malik Shah was taken as a prisoner of war and hostage to Isfahan at the court of the Seljuks, where he stayed for three years. Bozmış escaped with Malik Shah's mother and little brother to Malatya , where the brother was proclaimed ruler. But with the death of Kilij Arslan, the Byzantines were able to recapture previously lost territories in western Anatolia. The Rum Seljuks therefore had to withdraw to Central Anatolia . During the crisis of the Rum Seljuks, the Danischmenden rose to become the strongest Turkish force in Anatolia.

When Malik Shah was released in 1110, he returned to Konya and was made Sultan. Some sources also claim that Malik Shah was not released, but escaped himself at a favorable opportunity. He had his brothers locked up and raised an army to wrest Western Anatolia from Byzantium. But he could not prevent further loss of territory; Among other things, an attack on the principality of Lesser Armenia, which was ruled by Thoros I , failed in 1111 . Byzantium under Emperor Alexios I prepared itself to attack Konya in 1114 in order to forestall Malik Shah, who with the help of other Turkish princes gathered a large army. The Byzantines did not set out until 1116 and conquered Akşehir on their way to Konya . The fights went back and forth. But when Malik Shah's brother Mas'ud escaped from custody and made a pact with the Danes to overthrow Malik Shah, he made peace with Byzantium. Both rulers met in person and signed a peace treaty. From here Malik Shah set out to face his brother. He lost the following battle because, among other things, many of his own men defected to Mas'ud. Malik Shah was blinded and placed under arrest in Konya. The new ruler Sultan Mas'ud I had his brother strangled by a bowstring in 1117.

source

• Malik Shah I. in Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Turkish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Kılıç Arslan I.	Sultan of Rum 1110–1116	Mas'ud I.