PersonPolitics

Kaykhusraw I

Kaykhusraw I (Old Anatolian Turkish: كَیخُسرو or Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Kaykhusraw ibn Kilij Arslān; Persian: غياث‌الدين كيخسرو بن قلج ارسلان), the eleventh and youngest son of Kilij Arslan II, was Seljuk Sultan of Rûm.

Born~Died 1177 ~ 12110 views in 30 daysLast edited Oct 15, 2026, 3:28 PM

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Details

Born ~ Died: 1177 ~ 1211
Reign: 1192–1196
Predecessor: Kilij Arslan II
Successor: Süleymanshah II
Reign: 1205–1211
Predecessor: Kilij Arslan III
Successor: Kaykaus I
Born: 1169, Kuyucak, Sultanate of Rum
Died: 1211 (aged 41–42), Kuyucak, Sultanate of Rum
Burial: Konya, Turkey
Consort: daughter of Manuel Maurozomes, Barduliya Khatun
Issue: Kaykaus I, Kayqubad I, Muzaffar al-Din Numan
Dynasty: Seljuk
Father: Kilij Arslan II
Mother: Ummuhan Khatun
Religion: Sunni Islam (Hanafi), Eastern Orthodox Christianity (alleged)

Contents

1.Name
2.Background
3.Marriage
4.Reign
5.Identity
6.Culture
7.Sources
8.Notes

Kaykhusraw I (Old Anatolian Turkish: كَیخُسرو or Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Kaykhusraw ibn Kilij Arslān; Persian: غياث‌الدين كيخسرو بن قلج ارسلان), the eleventh and youngest son of Kilij Arslan II, was Seljuk Sultan of Rûm. He succeeded his father in 1192, but had to fight his brothers for control of the Sultanate, losing to his brother Suleiman II in 1196.¹ He ruled it 1192–1196 and 1205–1211.

Name

The name "Kaykhusraw" is based on the name of the legendary Shahnameh hero Kay Khosrow.²

Background

Kaykhusraw's date of birth is unknown.³ He was the eleventh and youngest son of Kilij Arslan II (r. 1156–1192). His mother was of Byzantine ancestry; Christian Greek women were the dominant origin of the slave-concubines in the Seljuk harem.⁴ Kaykhusraw received a good education during his upbringing, learning other languages besides his native Turkish, which was Persian, Arabic, and Greek.³

Marriage

Kaykhusraw married a daughter of Manuel Maurozomes.⁵ Manuel Maurozomes would hold the castles of Chonae and Laodicea as a vassal of Kaykhusraw.⁶

Reign

In 1192/93, Kaykhusraw returned the Byzantine nobleman, Theodore Mangaphas, to Emperor Isaac II after receiving assurances of Mangaphas' treatment.⁷ With his brother, Rukn ad-Din Suleiman Shah, quickly advancing towards Konya, Kaykhusraw fled to Constantinople in 1196.⁸ He lived in Constantinople from 1197–1203, possibly even being baptised.⁹ A mathnawi written by Kaykhusraw himself compares his destiny during that period to that of the legendary Iranian hero Jam (Jamshid), who had to go into exile after losing his divine fortune (farr).¹⁰

After Suleiman's death and Kilij Arslan's ascension to the sultanate, Kaykhusraw forced his way into Konya, removed Kilij from power and was enthroned for a second time.¹¹

Kaykhusraw seized Antalya in 1207 from its Niceaen garrison which furnished the Seljuk sultanate with a port on the Mediterranean.¹² It was during this year, Kaykhusraw founded a mosque in Antalya.¹³

Kaykhusraw was killed at the Battle of Antioch on the Meander in 1211.¹⁴ His son Kayqubad I, by Manuel Maurozomes' daughter, ruled the Sultanate from 1220 to 1237, and his grandson, Kaykhusraw II, ruled from 1237 to 1246.¹⁵ Kaykhusraw's body was taken to Konya, where it was buried in the ancestral tomb of his family.¹⁶

Identity

According to Rustam Shukurov, Kaykhusraw I "had dual Christian and Muslim identity, an identity which was further complicated by dual Turkic/Persian and Greek ethnic identity".¹⁷

Culture

Kaykhusraw wrote poetry in Persian.³ Muhammad ibn Ali Rawandi (died after 1207) dedicated his historical chronicle of the Seljuk Empire, Rahat al-sudur wa-ayat al-surur, to Kaykhusraw.³¹⁸

Sources

Beihammer, Alexander D. (2011). "Defection across the Border of Islam and Christianity: Apostasy and Cross-Cultural Interaction in Byzantine-Seljuk Relations". Speculum. 86 (3 JULY): 597–651. doi:10.1017/S0038713411001138. S2CID 162690013.
Bosworth, C.E. (1996). The New Islamic Dynasties. Columbia University Press.
Brand, Charles M. (1989). "The Turkish Element in Byzantium, Eleventh-Twelfth Centuries". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 43: 1–25. doi:10.2307/1291603. JSTOR 1291603.
Cahen, Claude (1997). "Kaykhusraw". In Van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, CH. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. IV. Brill.
Crane, H. (1993). "Notes on Saldjūq Architectural Patronage in Thirteenth Century Anatolia". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 36 (1): 1–57. doi:10.1163/156852093X00010.
Durand-Guédy, David (2013). Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-25700-9.
De Nicola, Bruno; Yıldız, Sara Nur; Peacock, A.C.S., eds. (2015). Islam and Christianity in Medieval Anatolia. Ashgate Publishing Company.
Özgüdenli, Osman G. (2017). "Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev I". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
Peacock, A.C.S.; Yildiz, Sara Nur, eds. (2013). The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East. I.B.Tauris. 978-0857733467.

Notes

Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 29. ↩
Durand-Guédy 2013, p. 191. ↩
Özgüdenli 2017. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East. (2012). Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. ↩
Brand 1989, p. 18. ↩
Treadgold 1997, p. 714. ↩
Beihammer 2011, p. 605. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 78. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 128. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2013, p. 176. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, pp. 178–179. ↩
De Nicola, Yıldız & Peacock 2015, p. 121. ↩
Crane 1993, p. 6. ↩

Name

The name "Kaykhusraw" is based on the name of the legendary Shahnameh hero Kay Khosrow.²

Background

Marriage

Kaykhusraw married a daughter of Manuel Maurozomes.⁵ Manuel Maurozomes would hold the castles of Chonae and Laodicea as a vassal of Kaykhusraw.

This page is based on “Kaykhusraw I” from English Wikipedia, (r1378598340) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.

Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 3:28 PM · r113099 · Text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 29. ↩
Durand-Guédy 2013, p. 191. ↩
Özgüdenli 2017. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East. (2012). Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. ↩
Brand 1989, p. 18. ↩
Treadgold 1997, p. 714. ↩
Beihammer 2011, p. 605. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 78. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 128. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2013, p. 176. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, pp. 178–179. ↩
De Nicola, Yıldız & Peacock 2015, p. 121. ↩
Crane 1993, p. 6. ↩
Van Tricht 2011, p. 375. ↩
Bosworth 1996, p. 213. ↩
Durand-Guédy 2013, p. 199. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2013, p. 133. ↩
Cahen 1997, p. 816. ↩

Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 29. ↩
Durand-Guédy 2013, p. 191. ↩
Özgüdenli 2017. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East. (2012). Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. ↩
Brand 1989, p. 18. ↩
Treadgold 1997, p. 714. ↩
Beihammer 2011, p. 605. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 78. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, p. 128. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2013, p. 176. ↩
Peacock & Yildiz 2015, pp. 178–179. ↩
De Nicola, Yıldız & Peacock 2015, p. 121. ↩
Crane 1993, p. 6. ↩

Kaykhusraw I

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Kaykhusraw I

Name

Background

Marriage

Reign

Identity

Culture

Sources

Notes

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Name

Background

Marriage

Opinions 0

Reign

Identity

Culture

Sources

Notes

Footnotes

Other languages

Sub-pages

Name

Background

Marriage

Reign

Identity

Culture

Sources

Notes

Footnotes

Opinions 0