Kilij Arslan I

Kilij Arslan I
Kilij Arslan I orders to built bone pyramides after the People's Crusade
Sultan of Rum
Reign	1092–1107
Coronation	1092, Nicaea[1]
Predecessor	Suleyman I (As Sultan) Abu'l Qasim (As Regent)
Successor	Malik Shah
Born	1079
Died	1107 (aged 27–28) Khabur River, near Mosul
Burial	Silvan, Diyarbakır, Turkey[2]
Consort	Aisha Khatun
Issue	Malik Shah Mesud I
House	House of Seljuq
Father	Suleyman I of Rûm
Mother	Seljuka Khatun
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military career
Conflicts	Crusades People's Crusade Battle of Civetot Siege of Xerigordos First Crusade Siege of Nicaea Battle of Dorylaeum (1097) Crusade of 1101 Battles of Heraclea Battle of Mersivan Eastern campaigns Battle of Mosul (1107) Battle of Khabur River

Kilij Arslan I ibn Suleiman (Old Anatolian Turkish: قِلِیچ اَرسلان; Persian: قلیچ ارسلان, romanized: Qilij Arslān; Turkish: I. Kılıç Arslan or Kılıcarslan, lit. "Sword Lion") (‎1079–1107) was the Seljuk sultan of Rûm. He reigned from 1092 until his death in 1107. He ruled the Sultanate during the time of the First Crusade and thus faced the earliest attacks from Christian forces. He also re-established the Sultanate of Rum after the death of Malik Shah I of the Seljuk Empire and defeated the Crusaders in three battles during the Crusade of 1101.^[3] Kilij Arslan was the first Muslim and Turkish commander to fight against the Crusaders, commanding his horse archers as a teenager.^[4]

After the death of his father, Suleiman ibn Qutalmish, in 1086, he became a hostage of Sultan Malik Shah I of Great Seljuq in Isfahan, but was released when Malik Shah died in 1092 in the wake of a quarrel among his jailers.^[5] Kilij Arslan then marched at the head of the Turkish Oghuz Yiva tribe army and set up his capital at Nicaea, replacing Amin 'l Ghazni, the governor appointed by Malik Shah I.

Following the death of Malik Shah I the individual tribes, the Danishmends, Mangujekids, Saltuqids, Tengribirmish begs, Artuqids (Ortoqids) and Akhlat-Shahs, had started vying with each other to establish their own independent states. Alexius Comnenus's Byzantine intrigues further complicated the situation. He married Ayşe Hatun, the daughter of the Emir Tzachas to attempt to ally himself against the Byzantines, who commanded a strong naval fleet. They had four sons: Malik Shah, Mesud I, Arab and Toghrul. In 1094, Kilij Arslan received a letter from Alexius suggesting that the Tzachas sought to target him to move onto the Byzantines, thereupon Kilij Arslan marched with an army to Smyrna, Tzachas's capital, and invited his father-in-law to a banquet in his tent where he slew him while he was intoxicated.^[6]

The People's Crusade (also called the Peasants' Crusade) army of Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless arrived at Nicaea in 1096. They had been able to capture a fort that was a four-day march away from Nicaea, called Xerigordos often referred to as Xerigordon in modern historic literature. A contingent of the crusade overran the castle at Xerigordon and held it until Kilij sent a force to starve them out. Those that renounced Christianity were spared and sent into captivity to the east, the rest were put to death.^[7] Kilij Arslan also cunningly sent spies to trick the Crusaders into thinking Xerigordon was ripe for the taking, and the ill-disciplined Crusaders rushed to Xerigordon despite orders against this. They were consequently ambushed, forcing Peter the Hermit eventually to give up the crusade.

The remainder of Peter's crusade composed almost entirely of unarmed civilians was surprised near the village of Civetot by Kilij Arslan's army.^[7] They were easily overwhelmed and around 17,000 out of the 20,000 remaining Christians died.^[8] He then invaded the Danishmend Emirate of Malik Ghazi in eastern Anatolia.

The First Crusade would start a few months later.

Because of this easy first victory he did not consider the main crusader army, led by various nobles of western Europe, to be a serious threat. He resumed his war with the Danishmends, and was away from Nicaea when these new Crusaders besieged Nicaea in May 1097. He hurried back to his capital to find it surrounded by the Crusaders, and was defeated in battle with them on 21 May. The city then surrendered to the Byzantines and his wife and children were captured. When the crusaders sent the Sultan's wife to Constantinople, to their dismay she was later returned without ransom in 1097 because of the relationship between Kilij Arslan and Alexios I Komnenos.

As result of the stronger invasion, Rum and the Danishmends allied in their attempt to turn back the crusaders. The Crusaders continued to split their forces as they marched across Anatolia. The combined Danishmend and Rum forces planned to ambush the Crusaders near Dorylaeum on 29 June. However, Kilij Arslan's horse archers could not penetrate the line of defense set up by the Crusader knights, and the main body under Bohemond arrived to capture the Turkish camp on 1 July. In this battle, Kilij Arslan and his troops won the respect of their enemy, as the Gesta Francorum states: "had the Turks been Christian, they would be the finest of all races."^[9]

Kilij Arslan was defeated and settled for harassing the Crusader army with guerilla warfare and hit-and-run tactics. He also destroyed crops and water sources along their route in order to hinder the Crusader Army from collecting supplies, ultimately with little success.

Gazi Gümüshtigin captured Bohemond resulting in a new force of Lombards attempting to rescue him. In their march they took Ankara from Arslan upon the Danishmends. In alliance with Radwan the Atabeg of Aleppo he ambushed this force at the Battle of Mersivan. In 1101 he defeated another Crusader army at Heraclea Cybistra, which had come to assist the fledgling Crusader states in Syria. This was an important victory for the Turks, as it proved that an army of Crusader knights was not invincible. After this victory he moved his capital to Konya and defeated a force led by William II of Nevers who attempted to march upon it as well as the subsequent force a week later.

In 1104 he resumed his war with the Danishmends who were now weakened after the death of Malik Ghazi, demanding half the ransom gained for Bohemond. As a result, Bohemond allied with the Danishmends against Rum and the Byzantines.

After the crusades he moved towards the east, taking Harran and Diyarbakr. In 1107 he conquered Mosul, but he was defeated by Muhammad I Tapar supported by Ilghazi of the Artuqids and Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan of Aleppo at the battle of Khabur River.^[10] Having lost the battle, Kilij Arslan drowned trying to escape across the river.^[11]

In January 2021, archaeologists led by professor Ahmet Tanyıldız from the Dicle University discovered his and his daughter Saide Hatun's grave in Silvan, Diyarbakır.^[12] Researchers dug two metres deep across a 35-square-metre area and focused their works on two gravesites in Orta Çeşme Park.^[13]

Info taken from both English and Turkish pages. This is a list of wars involving Kilij Arslan I.

  Seljuk victory

  Seljuk defeat

  Another result

Conflict	Rum and allies	Opponent(s)	Results	Sultan /Regent	Seljuk losses
				Byzantine-Seljuk Conflict (1092) Siege of Nicaea Fall of Kapıdağ and Uluabat regions to Rum. Battles at Land and Sea.	Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan I Arslan's loyalists. Ilhan Muhammad (POW) Turkoman mercenaries.	Byzantine Empire Alexios I Komnenos Byzantine commanders.	Draw Kilij Arslan I forces Alexios I Komnenos to lift the siege of Nicaea. Ilhan Muhammed launched a fierce attack at the entrance to the lake and routed the Byzantines. Land army of Alexios defeats and captures Ilhan Muhammed. Both sides make peace due to heavy losses.	Kilij Arslan I	?
Campaigns of Chaka Bey (1088-1093) Initial conquests.[14] Battle of the Oinousses Islands (1090) Campaigns of Constantine Dalassenos (1091-92) Siege of Abydos and Death. Fall of Smyrna.	Tzachas Chaka Bey X Chaka Bey's loyalists. Pecheneg Turks Byzantine rebels Rhapsomates Karykes Supported by:- Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan  Arslan's loyalists.  Abu'l-Qasim Turkoman mercenaries.	Byzantine Empire Alexios I Komnenos Constantine Dalassenos John Doukas Supported by:- Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Arslan's loyalists.	Other result Chaka Bey was initially supported by Rum, then governed by Abu'l-Qasim, and also in the beginning of Kilij Arslan's reign through a marriage alliance. Alexios I Komnenos incited Kilij Arslan against Chaka Bey which led to the Bey's assassination. Seljuks and Byzantines surround Smyrna by land & sea, leading to its fall. Although Kilij Arslan succeed in his motive, it led to a Seljuk loss by weakening the struggle against Byzantium.	?
People's Crusade (1096) Siege of Xerigordos Battle of Civetot	Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Arslan's loyalists. Seljuk Commanders Turkoman mercenaries. Defensive only:- Jews of France and Hungary.	People's Crusade Crusading peasants Peter the Hermit Walter † Lightly armed mercenaries. Supported by:- Papal States Pope Urban II Byzantine Empire Alexios I Komnenos Constantine Katakalon	Victory Kilij Arslan breaks the Siege of Xerigordos and brutally punishes the crusaders. Kilij Arslan and army annihilate over 60,000 crusaders at Civetot.	150 Turkmen Killed and Displaced civilians.
Siege of Malatya (1096)	Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Arslan's loyalists. Seljuk commanders. Seljuk army. Turkoman mercenaries.	Byzantine Empire Dominion of Gabriel of Melitene Gabriel of Melitene Defenders of Melitene Danishmendid Beylik Gazi Gümüshtigin Danishmendid commanders.	Defeat Kilij Arslan attacked Malatya to capture it before the Danishmendids. Kilij Arslan fails to capture Malatya due to the fierce resistance of Gabriel of Melitene. According to some sources, Kilij Arslan also tended to invade the Danishmendid Beylik in Anatolia, which led to a battle that concluded with peace due to the First Crusade.	?
First Crusade Siege of Nicaea Battle of Dorylaeum (1097)	Anatolia:- Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Arslan's loyalists. Seljuk Commanders. Turkoman mercenaries. Danishmendid Beylik Gazi Gümüshtigin Danishmendid commanders. Levant:- Seljuk Empire Antakya Governate Yağısıyan † Mosul Atabegate Kerbogha Emirate of Damascus Duqaq Emirate of Aleppo Ridwan Emirate of Homs Janah ad-Dawla Fatimid Caliphate al-Musta'li Al-Afdal Shahanshah Jerusalem Governate Iftikhar al-Dawla	Crusader armies Army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles Raymond IV of Toulouse Adhemar of Le Puy Army of Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon Baldwin of Boulogne Army of Hugh of Vermandois Hugh of Vermandois Army of Stephen of Blois Stephen of Blois Army of Robert II of Flanders Robert II of Flanders Army of Robert Curthose Robert Curthose Peasants of Peter the Hermit Peter the Hermit Armies of Bohemond of Taranto Bohemond of Taranto Tancred Army of the Byzantine Empire Alexios I Komnenos Manuel Boutoumites Tatikios Pecheneg mercenaries. Countries:- Kingdom of France County of Toulouse Diocese of Le Puy-en-Velay Duchy of Lower Lorraine County of Boulogne County of Vermandois County of Blois Duchy of Normandy County of Flanders Holy Roman Empire Byzantine Empire Norman Kingdom of Sicily Supported by:- Papal States Urban II	Defeat Large swaths of Anatolia, including Nicaea, fall to the Byzantine Empire. Sack of Nicaea, Iconium and Kayseri. Capital shifted to Konya. Kilij Arslan and allies are defeated at the Battle of Dorylaeum. The Crusaders successfully capture Jerusalem and establish the Crusader states.	Very heavy
Battle with Sweyn the Crusader (1097)	Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Arslan's loyalists. Seljuk commanders. Seljuk army. Supported by:- Danishmendid Beylik Gazi Gümüshtigin Danishmendid commanders. Turkoman mercenaries.	Army of Sweyn the Crusader Sweyn the Crusader Army and Danish loyalists. Supported by:- Crusader armies Army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles Raymond IV of Toulouse Adhemar of Le Puy Army of Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon Baldwin of Boulogne Army of Hugh of Vermandois Hugh of Vermandois Army of Stephen of Blois Stephen of Blois Army of Robert II of Flanders Robert II of Flanders Army of Robert Curthose Robert Curthose Peasants of Peter the Hermit Peter the Hermit Armies of Bohemond of Taranto Bohemond of Taranto Tancred	Victory Death of Sweyn the Crusader. Destruction of his army on way to Jerusalem.	?
Siege of Malatya (1100) Battle of Melitene	Danishmendid Beylik Gazi Gümüshtigin Danishmendid commanders. Turkoman mercenaries. Supported by:- Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Seljuk mercenaries.	Byzantine Empire Dominion of Gabriel of Melitene Gabriel of Melitene Defenders of Melitene Principality of Antioch Bohemond I of Antioch (POW) Army of Bohemond of Antioch	Victory Although Malatya couldn't fall, Gazi Gümüshtigin ambushed and captured Bohemond I of Antioch. It is questioned whether Kilij Arslan supported him or not, as he himself wanted Malatya.	?
Crusade of 1101 Fall of Ankara. Attacks on Gangra & Kastamonu. Battle of Mersivan. Battles of Heraclea.	Anatolia:- Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Arslan's loyalists. Seljuk Commanders. Turkoman mercenaries. Danishmendid Beylik Gazi Gümüshtigin Danishmendid commanders. Levant:- Seljuk Empire Emirate of Aleppo Ridwan Fatimid Caliphate Sama' al-Mulk Husayn	Kingdom of France Duchy of Burgundy Eudes County of Nevers William County of Vermandois Hugh † County of Blois Stephen of Blois † Montlhéry County of Toulouse Raymond Duchy of Aquitaine William County of Burgundy Stephen Holy Roman Empire Constable Conrad Palatine County of Burgundy Duchy of Bavaria Welf Margraviate of Austria Ida County of Roussillon Girard Republic of Genoa Byzantine Empire Alexios I Komnenos General Tzitas Pecheneg mercenaries Papal States Papacy Urban II Milan Anselm †	Victory Kilij Arslan and allies defeat the crusaders at the Battle of Mersivan. Kilij Arslan and army subsequently rout the crusaders at the Battles of Heraclea. Fatimids defeat the crusaders at the Battle of Ramla (1102) and besiege the city of Jaffa.	Relatively low
Campaign to Antioch (1103)	Anatolia:- Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Arslan's loyalists. Seljuk Commanders & Army. Turkoman mercenaries. Supported by:- Danishmendid Beylik Gazi Gümüshtigin Danishmendid commanders.	Principality of Antioch Tancred Army of Tancred and loyalists.	Campaign abandoned Kilij Arslan turns eastward due to Gazi Gümüshtigin's campaign in Malatya.	None
Siege of Dyrrhachium (1107–1108)	Byzantine Empire Alexios I Komnenos Alexios Komnenos Supported by:- Sultanate of Rum Seljuk mercenaries.	Principality of Antioch Bohemond I of Antioch Army of Bohemond and loyalists. Norman Kingdom of Sicily Norman mercenaries.	Victory Siege lifted. Treaty of Devol.	?
Kilij Arslan's Eastern Campaigns Battle of Marash (1103) Siege of Malatya (1005) Siege of Urfa (1106) Fall of Harran Battle of Mosul (1107)	Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan Arslan's loyalists. Seljuk Commanders & Army. Turkoman mercenaries. Supported by:- Seljuk defectors. Beylik of Mayyāfāriqīn Ziyaeddin Mehmed Humar-taş Mosul Atabegate Chökürmish Oğuzoğlu Zengi[15] Abu Muhammed Abdullah bin Kasım Abu'l-Berekat Muhammed bin Muhammed Beylik of Çubukoğulları Mehmet Bey ibn Çubuk Beylik of Diyarbakır İbrahim ibn Yinal[16] Defensive only:- Artuqids of Mardin Ulugh-salar	(1103-06):- Danishmendid Beylik Gazi Gümüshtigin # Sungur[17]  Danishmendid commanders. (1106-07):- Seljuk Empire Seljuk Sultanate Muhammad I Tapar Mosul Atabegate Emir Çavlı Saltuklu Principality Ahlatşahlar Beyliği Sökmen el-Kutbî # County of Edessa Baldwin II Defenders of Edessa	Victory Submission of Malatya, Mayyāfāriqīn, Elbistan, Mosul, Harput and Diyarbekir. Many Eastern Anatolian beyliks submit to Kilij Arslan. Kilij Arslan installs his loyalists as governers of these cities. Despite success, campaigns conducted on crusaders of Antioch and Edessa failed.	?
Battle of the Khabur River (1107)	Sultanate of Rum Kilij Arslan # Arslan's loyalists. Seljuk Commanders & Army. Bozmış Bey Şahin Şah (POW) Mesud (POW) Turkoman mercenaries. Supported by:- Seljuk Allies. Beylik of Mayyāfāriqīn Ziyaeddin Mehmed Humar-taş Mosul Atabegate Chökürmish Oğuzoğlu Zengi[18] Beylik of Çubukoğulları Mehmet Bey ibn Çubuk Beylik of Diyarbakır İbrahim ibn Yinal[19] Other Seljuk Principalities and Overlords. Byzantine mercenaries	Seljuk Empire Seljuk Sultanate Muhammad I Tapar Mosul Atabegate Emir Çavlı Çavlı's loyalists. Artuqid Principality Ilghazi Emirate of Aleppo Ridwan Defectors from Kilij Arslan's Army.	Defeat Death of Kilij Arslan I. Loss of occupied territories to Muhammad I Tapar and allies.	?

• Brand, Charles M. (1989). "The Turkish Element in Byzantium, Eleventh-Twelfth Centuries". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 43: 1–25. doi:10.2307/1291603. JSTOR 1291603.
• Claster, Jill N. (2009). Sacred violence: The European crusades to the Middle East, 1095-1396. University of Toronto Press.
• Maalouf, Amin (2012). Crusades Through Arab Eyes. Saqi Books.
• Runciman, Steven (1952). A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Runciman, Steven (1969) [1955]. "The First Crusade: Constantinople to Antioch". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades. Vol. 1 (Second ed.). Madison, Milwaukee, and London: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-04834-9.

• Turan, Osman (1970). "Anatolia in the period of the Seljuks and the Beyliks". In Holt, Peter Malcolm; Lambton, Ann K. S.; Lewis, Bernard (eds.). The Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 1A. Cambridge University Press.