Battle of Aynu Seylem | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Seljuk Empire | Sultanate of Rûm | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Tutush Artuk Beg | Suleiman ibn Qutalmish † |
The battle of Ain Salm was a battle between the forces of Tutush, the Seljuk ruler of Syria and brother of the Seljuk sultan Malik Shah, and Suleiman ibn Qutalmish, the Seljuk ruler of Anatolia in June 1086 close to the city of Aleppo.
In 1081, Suleiman had come to an agreement with Emperor Alexios I Komnenos about the division of Western Anatolia between their two powers which allowed Alexios to focus on the Norman invasion of the Balkans and Suleiman to consolidate his power and expand into Eastern Turkey and Syria. In 1083, Suleiman had taken Tarsus and he proceeded to conquer Antioch in December 1084. [1] This brought him into conflict with the Uqaylid ruler of the neighbouring city of Aleppo, Muslim ibn Quarysh, and the latter was defeated and slain in a battle in June 1085. Suleiman attempted to capture Aleppo the same year but failed. Tutush, the Seljuk ruler of Syria, felt threatened by Suleiman's action who was additionally a cousin and thus a possible threat to the throne. Although he did not control Aleppo directly, the city was in his sphere of influence.
When Suleiman tried to conquer Aleppo the following year again, Tutush responded to the calls for help of Aleppo's ruler and came with an army against Suleiman. [2]
The two armies met at Ayn Saylam and Süleiman's all-out attack was routed by Turkmens under Artuk Beg. It seems that Süleiman was abandoned by a number of his closest companions as Tutush succeeded in winning them over before the battle. [1]
In the aftermath, Suleiman was killed. [lower-alpha 1] [5] [6] [7] It was only in late 1092 after Malik Shah's death that Kilic Arslan could escape and attempt to reclaim his father's dominion which had started to fracture into various principalities under independent warlords such as Tzachas, Elchanes and Poulchanes.
Tutush took briefly control of Aleppo but then retreated. While it has been suggested that he fled the approach of his brother Malik Shah in fear of retribution for killing their relative, it is more likely that he went to relieve his capital Damascus which had come under siege by the Fatimids. [1]
Alp Arslan, born Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri, was the second sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. He greatly expanded the Seljuk territory and consolidated his power, defeating rivals to the south and northwest, and his victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert, in 1071, ushered in the Turkmen settlement of Anatolia.
Kilij Arslan ibn Suleiman (1079–1107) was the Seljuq Sultan of Rum 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. Kilij Arslan was the first Muslim and Turkish commander to fight against the Crusaders, commanding his horse archers as a teenager.
The Sultanate of Rûm was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples (Rûm) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert (1071). The name Rûm was a synonym for the medieval Eastern Roman Empire and its peoples, as it remains in modern Turkish. The name is derived from the Aramaic (rhōmī) and Parthian (frwm) names for ancient Rome, via the Greek Ῥωμαῖοι (Romaioi).
Abu Sa'id Taj al-Dawla Tutush or Tutush I, was the Seljuk emir of Damascus from 1078 to 1092, and sultan of Damascus from 1092 to 1094.
Abu Said Aq Sunqur al-Hajib was the Seljuk governor of Aleppo under Sultan Malik Shah I. He was beheaded in 1094 following accusations of treason by Tutush I, the ruler of Damascus.
Ridwan was a Seljuk emir of Aleppo from 1095 until his death.
Suleiman Shah I ibn Qutalmish founded an independent Seljuk Turkish state in Anatolia and ruled as Seljuk Sultan of Rûm from 1077 until his death in 1086.
Muhammad I Tapar, was the sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1105 to 1118. He was a son of Malik-Shah I and Taj al-Din Khatun Safariya.
The Uqaylid dynasty was a Shia Arab dynasty with several lines that ruled in various parts of Al-Jazira, northern Syria and Iraq in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. The main line, centered in Mosul, ruled from 990 to 1096.
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids, Seljuqs, also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans or the Saljuqids, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture in West Asia and Central Asia. The Seljuks established the Seljuk Empire (1037–1194), the Sultanate of Kermân (1041–1186) and the Sultanate of Rum (1074–1308), which stretched from Iran to Anatolia and were the prime targets of the First Crusade.
The Seljuk Empire, or the GreatSeljuk Empire, was a high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, established and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. The empire spanned a total area of 3.9 million square kilometres from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to the Hindu Kush in the east, and from Central Asia in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south, and it spanned the time period 1037–1308, though Seljuk rule beyond the Anatolian peninsula ended in 1194.
Atsiz ibn Uwaq al-Khwarizmi, also known as al-Aqsis, Atsiz ibn Uvaq, Atsiz ibn Oq and Atsiz ibn Abaq, was a Turkoman mercenary commander who established a principality in Palestine and southern Syria after seizing these from the Fatimid Caliphate in 1071.
Yağısıyan, also known as Yaghi-Siyan was a Seljuk Turkoman commander and governor of Antioch in the 11th century. Although little is known about his personal life he was an important figure of the First Crusade.
Zaheer-ul-Daulah Artuk Beg, known as Artuk Bey, was a Turkoman commander of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century, chief of the Oghuz tribe of Döğer, and eponymous founder of the Artuqid dynasty. His father's name was Eksük. He was the Seljuk governor of Jerusalem between 1085–1091. Although the Artuqid dynasty was named after him, actually the dynasty was founded by his sons Sökmen and Ilghazi after his death. He was also father to Alp-Yaruq, Bahram, Abd al-Jabar, and three other sons.
Abu'l-Makarim Muslim ibn Qirwash also known by the honorific title Sharaf al-Dawla, was the Uqaylid emir of Mosul and Aleppo. He died in June 1085.
Afshin ibn Bakji Bey was a Turkoman general of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century. He served three Sultans: Chaghri Beg, Alp Arslan and Malik-Shah I. He is believed to have disappeared after 1077.
Irtash was a Seljuk emir of Damascus in 1104. Irtash was born to Taj ad-Dawla Tutush, the brother of the Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I who established a principality in Syria after his brother gave the region and the adjacent areas to him. Following the death of Malik-Shah, Tutush claimed the Seljuk crown, but he was killed by the forces of his nephew Berkyaruq near Ray. Subsequently, Irtash's brother Ridwan moved to Aleppo and proclaimed himself the new emir. Irtash's other brother Duqaq's declaration of a new emirate in Damascus separated the Syrian Seljuk state into two and started a rivalry between the two brothers. Duqaq then imprisoned Irtash for nine years in Baalbek.