The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum (1077-1307 CE) was probably founded by Suleman Qotlomos after a Turkmen tribe in Syria asked him to lead them.
[1]
The early years of the Sultanate are, however, extremely murky as it is unlikely that any local Muslim chronicles were written.
[1]
It is likely that the government was a largely military arrangement. The regional apparatus was organised with military officials overseeing local tax collectors. The amirs were granted land by the Sultan in return for military service
[2]
At his royal court a core of senior bureaucrats and scribes assisted with the central administration.
[1]
Land, and the right to collect revenue for it, was also distributed by the Sultan to senior officials.
[1]
These positions and the land grants often became hereditary.
[1]
The early 13th century was probably the high point of the Sultanate of Rum
[1]
before Anatolia came under the authority of invading Mongols in the 1240s CE.
[1]
Konya was the largest city of the polity with 30,000-40,000 inhabitants. Crusaders who reached there in 1190 reckoned it was “the size of Cologne".
[3]
[1]: (Peacock 2010) Andrew Peacock ’Saljuqs iii. Saljuqs of Rum. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
[2]: (Fodor 2009, 197) Pal Fodor. “Ottoman Warfare, 1300-1453.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[3]: (Cahen 2001, 121) Claude Cahen. 2001. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman.
| vassalage to [---] | |
| nominal allegiance to [---] |
| Islam |
| Mongol Empire |
| cultural assimilation |
| Preceding: Byzantine Empire III (tr_byzantine_emp_3) [absorption] |
| confederated state |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| inferred absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| absent |
| absent |
| unknown |
| absent | 1077 CE 1187 CE |
| unknown | 1188 CE 1199 CE |
| inferred present | 1200 CE 1299 CE |
| present | 1300 CE 1307 CE |
| unknown |
| present |
| present |
| absent |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| present |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| present |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| Year Range | Rum Sultanate (tr_rum_sultanate) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1093 CE 1243 CE) | Konya Plain |
"Medieval and modern sources agree that the reign of ʿEzz-al-Din Kaykāvus I’s brother ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Kayqobād I [1220 - 1237 CE] marks the apogee of the sultanate of the Saljuqs of Rum."
[1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
1077 - "The role of the Saljuq family in this confusing and poorly documented period is unclear. The first reliable evidence for the activities of Solaymān b. Qotlomoš, traditionally regarded as the founder of the Sultanate of Rum, indicates that because of the prestige of his Saljuq lineage he was called on in 1074 by some Turkmen of Syria to lead them"
[1]
1307 - the last full year of the reing of the last Saljuq sultan Masʿud II. Although Anatolia had already been under Mongol authority since 1240s.
[1]
"This first century of the Saljuq sultanate in Anatolia is the most obscure part of Saljuq history. Our understanding is inhibited by our lack of any local Muslim sources, so that we are mostly dependent on Christian sources in Syriac, Armenian, Latin, and above all Greek, as well as the occasional references in works by authors from the central Islamic lands, for whom Anatolia was an obscure frontier region. This poverty of information probably suggests that no local Muslim chronicles were written, for the historian Ebn-e Bibi (d. after 1285) remarked that it was impossible to find information about Anatolia before the reign of Ḡiāṯ-al-Din Kayḵosrow (Ebn-e Bibi, 1956, p. 11)."
[1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
’nominal allegiance’ to the Caliphate - and the Mongols from 1240s CE? or vassal state?
’nominal allegiance’ to the Caliphate - and the Mongols from 1240s CE? or vassal state?
The Sultanate of Rum was part of the wider Medieval Islamic World, a primary religious supercultural entity, with artistic and symbolic elements as well.
The Mongols defeated the Sultanate’s army in 1243. From then on Anatolia was under Mongol, later Il-Khnate, authority to varying degrees. The Sultans carried on as a dynasty till Masʿud II. [1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
Given the presence of the Turks in the region before the 1070s there was not large population change. However it was a clear end to Byzantine rule. [1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
(Relationship): Given the presence of the Turks in the region before the 1070s there was not large population change. However it was a clear end to Byzantine rule.
[1]
(Entity): In the period from 1030-1070 Byzantine officials were still in their posts in Eastern Anatolia, although the Turkish tribes were roaming "with more or less impunity, in search of plunder and pasture".
[2]
[1]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
[2]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
Turkish poetry and Turkish spoken, or more prominent from 13th century. The court culture was Perso-Islamic as scholars came from Persia to settle in Anatolia. [1]
[1]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp.72, 75.
Konya probably the largest city. The crusaders who reached there in 1190 thought it was “the size of Cologne".
[1]
The population of Cologne had about 40,000 in 1180 CE.
[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001.p.121.
5-6 million in Turkey-in-Asia at this time. [1] However, the polity covered only 40% of the land area and possibly not the most densely populated area because it was landlocked. 2,400,000 would be just above the upper limit for a range so perhaps 1.5-2 million.
[1]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 135) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd. London.
levels.
1. Capital - Konya was also probably the largest city.
[1]
2. Cities - Sivas, the second city. Also Antalya, Erzincan, Malatya which were all all important trading cities.
[1]
3. Small cities/ towns - e.g. Erzurum, Amasya, Aksaray.
[1]
4. villages. Rural life was arranged around villages.
[2]
Ibn Said “believed that in his time the Seljukid realm comprised 400, 000 villages, 36, 000 of which were in ruins. No doubt one would go too far either to accept these figures as valid, or to dismiss them as useless, since he did not make them up.”
[3]
[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001. P.121.
[2]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001. P.78 .
[3]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001. Pp.88-89
levels.
1. Caliph.
2. Sultan. The title ’sultan’, "carried with it the notion of defender of the faith, but ... did not commit them to holy war".
[1]
3. Jurists. The central concern of the madrasa was the study of law in this period.
[2]
4. Imams
[1]: Michael Brett, ‘State Formation and Organisation’, in Maribel Fierro (ed.), The New Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 2: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 562.
[2]: Muhammad Qasim Zaman, ‘Transmitters of Authority and Ideas across Cultural Boundaries, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries’, in David O. Morgan and Anthony Reid (eds), The New Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 3. The Eastern Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 582-610.
levels.
Originally the Seljuks in Anatolia had been tribal warriors. After establishing the sultanate they adopted some of the military organisation of other Middle Eastern polities. By the mid 13th century their force consisted of: Turcoman tribes; “the elite of ghulam slave-soldiers (many of whom were freed on the completion of their military training); cavalrymen performing military service in return for lands or fiefs known as iqta; local mercenaries; Western European or ‘Frankish’ mercenaries; and assorted allied contingents”
[1]
The professional warriors were supported by a system of land grants "on whose revenues the warriors, their mounts and weapons could be supported."
[2]
1. Sultan.
The Sultan appointed the military governors, tribal leaders owed allegiances to him in times of war.
[1]
2. Sultan’s retinues.Seljuks, Ottomans and Mongols all had a version of ‘military retinue’ system, “a group of armed, mainly free men (the majority of them foreigners), who served on a voluntary basis and were attached personally to the leader. They were his closet companions, friends and servants; they commanded the troops in wars, while a select group of them served as his bodyguard."
[3]
They would have numbered a few thousand.
3, Subasibay or zaim- military governor of large city and commander of cavalry and fortress garrison.
[4]
As the state established itself, land was given to members of the retinue who then ruled it as regional governors.
[3]
The governors
ruled "a territorial unit called avilayet, or larger city, and was the commander (zaimu’l-cuyus) of the ikta-holder cavalry (sipahi) and the fortress garrisons (mustahfiz) under his authority.”
[4]
4. Tribal leaders.They owed allegiances to the Sultan and would provide troops.
[1]
5. Officers and cavalrymen.Professional warriors performing military service in return for land holding.
[1]
6. Soldiers.Ghulam slave-soldiers and mercenaries employed during war.
[1]
[1]: David Nicolle, Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia, rev. and updated ed (London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999). p.208
[2]: ‘Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’, Holmes, Richard, ed., The Oxford companion to military history (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
[3]: Fodor, Pal. “Ottoman Warfare, 1300-1453.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. P.193.
[4]: Fodor, Pal. “Ottoman Warfare, 1300-1453.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. P.197.
levels.
In keeping with their tribal origins the Saljuqs of Rum did not have a bureaucratic apparatus to begin with. As they consolidated their power, they did develop one. A core of senior bureaucrats were based around the royal court, along with scribes. The rest of apparatus was organised regionally with regional officials overseeing local tax collectors.Land, and the right to collect revenue for it, was distributed to the senior officials. There positions and the land grants often became hereditary; certainly they were decided by the Sultan, rather than by an examination systems.
[1]
1. Sultan
2. Court officials.A core of senior bureaucrats were based around the royal court, along with scribes.
[1]
3.4.
_Provincial government_
2. Amirs.Administered regions. They were granted land by the Sultan, often in return for military service.
[2]
3. Governors - of cities and towns.
[3]
4. The ikdis or urban aristocracy who were like a police force or local militia. Later acting as tax collectors or sometime tax assessors.
[4]
[1]: Andrew Peacock SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
[2]: Fodor, Pal. “Ottoman Warfare, 1300-1453.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. P.197.
[3]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001. P.114 .
[4]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001. P.115 .
The ghulam slave soldiers.
[1]
Both officers and soldiers were employed by the polity on a full time basis.
[2]
[1]: David Nicolle, Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia, rev. and updated ed (London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999). p.208
[2]: Fodor, Pal. “Ottoman Warfare, 1300-1453.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. P.193.
e.g. Imans. A full time Islamic priesthood worked in the mosques.
Senior soldiers within the sultan’s military retinue and the military governors.
[1]
Both officers and soldiers were employed by the polity on a full time basis.
[1]
A full time Islamic priesthood worked in the mosques.
[1]: Fodor, Pal. “Ottoman Warfare, 1300-1453.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. P.193.
The system was not meritocratic. Senior position often became hereditary. All positions were ultimately the appointed of the Sultan or the regional officials. [1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
e.g. court scribes.
[1]
In keeping with their tribal origins the Saljuqs of Rum did not have a bureaucratic apparatus to begin with. As they consolidated their power, they did develop one. A core of senior bureaucrats were based around the royal court, along with scribes. The rest of apparatus was organised regionally with regional officials overseeing local tax collectors. Land, and the right to collect revenue for it, was distributed to the senior officials. There positions and the land grants often became hereditary; certainly they were decided by the Sultan, rather than by an examination systems.
[1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
The system was not meritocratic. Senior position often became hereditary. All positions were ultimately the appointed of the Sultan or the regional officials. [1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
The following suggests that the legal profession had been established in the Islamic world by now.
“In order to deal with the essential conditions that Claude Cahen and Gabriel Baer laid down so well in their articles, I would like to take as an example of an Islamic guild the Islamic legal professions, called madhhabs, and their institutional organization of legal education, as of the second half of the ninth century. The first steps toward the pro- fessionalization of legal studies were taken after the Inquisition, Mihna, which ended at the midpoint ofthe ninth century. The Inquisition was the culmination of an on-going struggle between two movements: one, of phil- osophical theology, the other, of juridical theology. It was fought over a theological question: whether the Koran was the created or uncreated word of God? We need retain here only that the philosophically-oriented movement entered the Inquisition supported by the central power; which power fifteen years later, made an about-face and came out in support of the juridically-oriented movement. To put it in simple terms: law won out over philosophical speculation. In the century following the Inquisition, the available sources make possible the recognition of the first colleges where law was taught. In the eleventh century, legal professions reached the height of their development with yet a new set of colleges, and a clear-cut structure of scholastic personnel, with various grades and functions.”
[1]
[1]: (Makdisi 1985) Makdisi, G. 1985. The Guilds of Law in Medieval Legal History: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Inns of Court. 34 Clev. St. L. Rev. 3: 3-16. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4CNJ8Q5/library
Markets in towns “of which there is no special knowledge. Fairs have sometimes been spoken of, but without obvious evidence” [1]
[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.95.
Roads "are best regarded as public works" and initially financed by the State.
Bridges "are best regarded as public works" and initially financed by the State.
Most books written in Anatolia during reign of Kayqubad I “were books and treatises relating to philosophy and natural sciences” [1]
[1]: Yasar Ocak, Ahmet. “Social, Cultural and Intellectual Life, 1071 - 1453.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, 353-422. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.p.420
The Qu’ran, the Hadith. [1]
[1]: Andrew Peacock ’SALJUQS iii. SALJUQS OF RUM’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-iii
Futuwwa literature which “speaks almost wholly of initiation rites and theoretical moral and religious considerations” [1]
[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.118.
Most books written in Anatolia during reign of Kayqubad I “were books and treatises relating to philosophy and natural sciences” [1]
[1]: Yasar Ocak, Ahmet. “Social, Cultural and Intellectual Life, 1071 - 1453.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, 353-422. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.p.420
Silver and gold. [1] When they were a tribal people the Turks and the Seljuks would have accumulated coins through tribute and booty. As they settled down they began to mint their own coins under Sultan Masud I. These early coins were of copper and used in commerce. Silver began to be used under Kilic Arslan II, followed by gold in the 1200s. [2]
[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, Pp.95-96.
[2]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.97
Silver coins minted, "of a fineness superior to other Muslim coinages in the Levant". [1] When they were a tribal people the Turks and the Seljuks would have accumulated coins through tribute and booty. As they settled down they began to mint their own coins under Sultan Masud I. These early coins were of copper and used in commerce. Silver began to be used under Kilic Arslan II, followed by gold in the 1200s. [2]
[1]: Meyers, Eric M., ed., ‘Anatolia in the Islamic Period’, The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
[2]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.97
e.g. coins acquired through booty and tribute. [1] When they were a tribal people the Turks and the Seljuks would have accumulated coins through tribute and booty. As they settled down they began to mint their own coins under Sultan Masud I. These early coins were of copper and used in commerce. Silver began to be used under Kilic Arslan II, followed by gold in the 1200s. [2]
[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, Pp.95-96.
[2]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.97
NB caravenserais were not specialised postal stations, but fulfilled that function among others.
“Most of the dated caravanserais are from the period before the disturbances of the year 659/1261. One group clusters around the Phrygian hills near the source of the Sangarios, between modern Afyonkarahisar and Seyitgazi, and two more survive in the Maeander region, near the town of Denizli. Unfortunately, the inscriptions from the northern set of caravanserais have not survived, although that at Deve Han near Seyitgazi was apparently constructed in 1207–1208, and Egret Han perhaps in 1260. Slightly further from the frontier lies an earlier caravanserai, the Çardak Han, built in 627/1230. As we shall see, there is also literary evidence of other caravanserais in the area that have not survived. The caravanserais, traditionally thought to have been used as rest places for itinerant caravans, suggest cross-border trade, linking the western peripheries of the Seljuk state and the Nicaean Empire to the major economic centres in central Anatolia, Konya and Kayseri, and to Seljuk emporia on the Mediterranean. However, there are few such buildings on the Nicaean side of the border, and it has been suggested that commerce was just one function of caravanserais. They also projected and symbolised the power of the Seljuk state and its officials who built them, and served a variety of purposes to facilitate state administration, among them accommodation for itinerant officials or even sultans, as part of the postal and intelligence system, and supporting tax collection and military manoeuvres.”
[1]
[1]: (Peacock 2014, 278) A.C.S. Peacock (2014) The Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm and the Turkmen of the Byzantine frontier, 1206–1279*, Al-Masāq, 26:3, 267-287, DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2014.956476. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DE43VD2V/library
Postal system mentioned in the following quote.
“Most of the dated caravanserais are from the period before the disturbances of the year 659/1261. One group clusters around the Phrygian hills near the source of the Sangarios, between modern Afyonkarahisar and Seyitgazi, and two more survive in the Maeander region, near the town of Denizli. Unfortunately, the inscriptions from the northern set of caravanserais have not survived, although that at Deve Han near Seyitgazi was apparently constructed in 1207–1208, and Egret Han perhaps in 1260. Slightly further from the frontier lies an earlier caravanserai, the Çardak Han, built in 627/1230. As we shall see, there is also literary evidence of other caravanserais in the area that have not survived. The caravanserais, traditionally thought to have been used as rest places for itinerant caravans, suggest cross-border trade, linking the western peripheries of the Seljuk state and the Nicaean Empire to the major economic centres in central Anatolia, Konya and Kayseri, and to Seljuk emporia on the Mediterranean. However, there are few such buildings on the Nicaean side of the border, and it has been suggested that commerce was just one function of caravanserais. They also projected and symbolised the power of the Seljuk state and its officials who built them, and served a variety of purposes to facilitate state administration, among them accommodation for itinerant officials or even sultans, as part of the postal and intelligence system, and supporting tax collection and military manoeuvres.”
[1]
[1]: (Peacock 2014, 278) A.C.S. Peacock (2014) The Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm and the Turkmen of the Byzantine frontier, 1206–1279*, Al-Masāq, 26:3, 267-287, DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2014.956476. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DE43VD2V/library
Postal system mentioned in the following quote.
“Most of the dated caravanserais are from the period before the disturbances of the year 659/1261. One group clusters around the Phrygian hills near the source of the Sangarios, between modern Afyonkarahisar and Seyitgazi, and two more survive in the Maeander region, near the town of Denizli. Unfortunately, the inscriptions from the northern set of caravanserais have not survived, although that at Deve Han near Seyitgazi was apparently constructed in 1207–1208, and Egret Han perhaps in 1260. Slightly further from the frontier lies an earlier caravanserai, the Çardak Han, built in 627/1230. As we shall see, there is also literary evidence of other caravanserais in the area that have not survived. The caravanserais, traditionally thought to have been used as rest places for itinerant caravans, suggest cross-border trade, linking the western peripheries of the Seljuk state and the Nicaean Empire to the major economic centres in central Anatolia, Konya and Kayseri, and to Seljuk emporia on the Mediterranean. However, there are few such buildings on the Nicaean side of the border, and it has been suggested that commerce was just one function of caravanserais. They also projected and symbolised the power of the Seljuk state and its officials who built them, and served a variety of purposes to facilitate state administration, among them accommodation for itinerant officials or even sultans, as part of the postal and intelligence system, and supporting tax collection and military manoeuvres.”
[1]
[1]: (Peacock 2014, 278) A.C.S. Peacock (2014) The Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm and the Turkmen of the Byzantine frontier, 1206–1279*, Al-Masāq, 26:3, 267-287, DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2014.956476. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DE43VD2V/library
"Lime-burners" are mentioned among the craftsmen who worked on the construction of the walls of Rumeli Hisar. [1] Konya had "a city-wall and a citadel” [2]
[1]: J. M. Rogers, Waqf and Patronage in Seljuk Anatolia: The Epigraphic Evidence Anatolian Studies, Vol. 26 (1976): 85.
[2]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001. P.121.
Not developed until later in history.
References to Seljuks building moat fortification for a different region.
References to Seljuks building ditch fortification for a different region.
All descriptions are of a single wall with towers around the city, with a citadel at the centre in some cases. [1]
[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001. P.121.
Present for the Abbasids, Ayyubids and Fatimids. Unknown for the Seljuks.
First known use of the counter-weight trebuchet was in 1165 CE by the Byzantines at the siege of Zevgminon. [1]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
First known use of the counter-weight trebuchet was in 1165 CE by the Byzantines at the siege of Zevgminon. [1]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
Present for the expert-checked Fatimid period but there is no explanatory text there to confirm whether they were used beyond the 10th century CE. We currently code unknown for Seljuks and the Second Abbasid Caliphate. Lack of data might indicate absence.
Cavalry was important part of the Seljuk armies. [1] The Turcomen tribal soldiers fought on horse back, wore leather-armour, using tactics such as “harassment horse archery” [2] Even when the Seljuks adopted new military organisation mounted archers remained central to their forces. The ghulam slave soldiers “fought and were equipped in much the same manner as the ghulams and mamluks” elsewhere in Middle east [2] At its best equipment was similar to that used in Iran "with perhaps some Byzantine or even Western European influence.” [2]
[1]: ‘Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’, Holmes, Richard, ed., The Oxford companion to military history (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
[2]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.208
The closest reference to elephants currently found are to soldiers who rode on elephants in military parades in the Ayyubid Sultanate. [1] No data for Seljuks, Fatimids or Abbasids. Highly likely to be absent on the basis alone that there were no elephants native to the region.
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 65-69 and in Raymond 2000, 38)
"The Turcomans of Central Asia made use of the two-humped Bactrian camel, which in the Iranian borderlands was often crossed with the female Arabian dromedary to give a more adaptable stock for varied climates. However, it must be borne in mind that neither the Bactrian nor the Arabian camel is a fighting animal. It may be a source of milk or hair, but its principal function is as a baggage carrier." [1] For baggage.
[1]: (Cahen 2001, 77) Claude Cahen. P M Holt trans. 2001. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rum: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Routledge. London.
Even when the Seljuks adopted new military organisation mounted archers remained central to their forces. The ghulam slave soldiers “fought and were equipped in much the same manner as the ghulams and mamluks” elsewhere in Middle east. [1] At its best equipment was similar to that used in Iran "with perhaps some Byzantine or even Western European influence.” [1] General reference for this time period in Europe: cuirasses. [2]
[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.208
[2]: (Rogers 2007, 31) Clifford J Rogers. 2007. Soldiers’ Lives Through History: The Middle Ages. Greenwood Press. Westport.
The Turcomen tribal soldiers fought on horse back, wore leather-armour, using tactics such as “harassment horse archery”. [1] Even when the Seljuks adopted new military organisation mounted archers remained central to their forces. The ghulam slave soldiers “fought and were equipped in much the same manner as the ghulams and mamluks” elsewhere in Middle east. [1] At its best equipment was similar to that used in Iran "with perhaps some Byzantine or even Western European influence.” [1]
[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.208
Even when the Seljuks adopted new military organisation mounted archers remained central to their forces. The ghulam slave soldiers “fought and were equipped in much the same manner as the ghulams and mamluks” elsewhere in Middle east. [1] At its best equipment was similar to that used in Iran "with perhaps some Byzantine or even Western European influence.” [1] General reference for this time period in Europe: cuirasses. [2]
[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.208
[2]: (Rogers 2007, 31) Clifford J Rogers. 2007. Soldiers’ Lives Through History: The Middle Ages. Greenwood Press. Westport.
Their naval base and victories at sea imply the use of military vessels. [1] The Seljuks had a naval base at Sinope, making them a maritime force in the Black Sea. [1]
[1]: Chrysostomides, Julian. “The Byzantine Empire: Eleventh to Fifteenth Century.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, edited by Kate Fleet, Suraiya Faroqhi, and Reşat Kasaba, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. p.25