SELJUQ PROSPERITY
(1072 - 1104)
1072 - 1092 Jalāl ad-Dawla wa'd-Dīn Malik-Shah I Abū'l-Fatḥ, Third Seljuq Sultan. Born 1053-6, he inherited a massive empire from his father and traditional accounts were not slow to note that he added little to it, saying things like "his fathers did the conquering, he did the ruling; they planted the tree of the dynasty and he enjoyed its fruits." This is perhaps not entirely fair. On coming to the throne he faced a major rebellion from his uncle Qawurd, which he put down in 1073. Subsequently, he led his armies northeast to carry out the campaign against the Qarakhanids which his father had been unable to complete. By 1078, he had conquered Samarkhand and made vassals from the overlords of his grandfathers.
After that, however, it is fair to say that he was less active, allowing most matters of governance to be handled by his father's very capable vizier Nizam al-Mulk. This was a good decision. The vizier maintained an armed force of 50,000 men, enfiefed throughout the empire. With the riches of empire (including a million dinar per year in tribute from the Byzantine empire), he removed the tax on pilgrims to Mecca, paid a generous stipend to the Sharif of Mecca & Medina and erected a new capital at Isfahan, which he decorated with massive gardens and guarded with castles.
He would have spent the rest of his reign hunting and dallying in the harem, but unfortunately intrigue found its way into his court in the later years of his reign. His heir had long been his eldest son Barkyaruq, but he now favoured his very young son, Maḥmūd. The former was supported by Vizier Nizam al-Mulk, the latter by the Queen Tarkān. While he was attending to business in Nehevend, Nizam al-Mulk was stabbed by agents of the Assassins, thus meeting the same death by intrigue that he had wrought on his predecessor. A month later, Malik-Shah died in Baghdad.
He married (first) his cousin Zubayda Khātūn, daughter of Yāqūtī (see above)
He married (second) Tarkān. As mentioned above, she supported her very young son Maḥmūd as heir to the throne and was probably responsible for the assassination of Nizam al-Mulk in 1092. In the aftermath, she cleared his supporters out of the government and appointed her ally, Tāj al-Mulk Abū'l-Ghanāʿim as vizier instead. She had her son crowned at Malik Shah's death a month later, but was unable to prevent Barkyaruq from escaping and raising an army. She used the funds in the treasury to pay army after army to attack Barkyaruq, but died in 1094.
He took as a concubine Bashūlī
1) Rukn ad-Dunyā wa'd-Dīn Abū'l-Muẓaffar Barkyaruq, Fifth Seljuq Sultan (son of Zubayda) (see below)
2) Ghiyāth ad-Dunyā wa'd-Dīn Abū Shujāʿ Muḥammad I, Sixth Seljuq Sultan (son of Bashūlī) (see below)
3) Nāṣir ad-Dawla wa'd-Dīn Abū'l-Qasim Maḥmūd I, Fourth Seljuq Sultan (son of Tarkān) (see below)
4) As-Salātīn Muʿizz ad-Dunyā wa'd-Dīn Abū'l-Ḥārith Sanjar, Eighth Seljuq Sultan (son of Bashūlī) (see below)
5) Malik al-Mulūk Aḥmad (son of Tarkān).
6) Malik Ṭughrīl.
7) Malik Dāwūd (son of Tarkān)
8) Amīr Khumārīn, who was born covered in white hair.
9) A son of Bashūlī, who died young
8) A son of Tarkān, who died young
1) Mahmalak, who married Al-Muqtadi, Twenty-Seventh Abbasid Caliph (see ABBASIDS)
a) Jaʿfar, who was set up as a counter-Caliph by Queen Tarkān in 1092. She eventually returned him to his father Caliph al-Muqtadi in return for recognition of her son Maḥmūd as Sultan.
b) Maḥmūd Qarakhanid, Sultan of Nishipur (1156)
1092-1094 Nāṣir ad-Dawla wa'd-Dīn Abū'l-Qasim Maḥmūd I Fourth Seljuq Sultan. Born 1086, his mother went to great lengths to get him made his father's heir, but no official order had been made when Malik Shah I died in 1092. His mother was unable to prevent the official heir, Barkyaruq, from taking the throne in Rayy, but she maintained Maḥmūd as Sultan in Isfahan. His position was seriously undermined by her death in 1094 and fatally so by his own death from smallpox a few months later, at the age of eight.
1094 - 1104 Rukn ad-Dunyā wa'd-Dīn Abū'l-Muẓaffar Barkyaruq, Fifth Seljuq Sultan. Born 1081, he was his father's heir from birth. His step-mother, the Queen Tarkān, worked tirelessly to replace him with one of her own sons, Maḥmūd. Barkyaruq's strongest ally in court was the all-powerful Vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who was assassinated in 1092. Before Queen Tarkān could have Barkyaruq replaced as heir, however, the Sultan died.
Tarkān had her son crowned immediately, but Barkyaruq sneaked out of Isfahan and was crowned at the old capital, Rayy. From there he led an army to Isfahan and beseiged Tarkān, who bought his army off. She then paid his uncle Ismaʿīl, who ruled the northwestern territories, to lead an army against Barkyaruq, who defeated Ismaʿīl at the Battle of Karaj in 1093, only to find that another uncle, Tutush, the ruler of Syria, was marching against him. In 1094 Tarkān died and Barkyaruq rode into Isfahan, expecting a glorious welcome. The vizier Taj al-Mulk threw him into prison on behalf of the child-sultan Maḥmūd, but had to release Barkyaruq and crown him when the child-sultan died suddenly of smallpox. Now that he was clearly in charge of the central region, Barkyaruq marched west and dealt to his uncle Tutush (1095). He then turned northeast to deal with a third uncle, Arslan Arghū, ruler of Khorasan (1096). After that, he was out of uncles.
But not out of opponents. In two years of rule, Bakyaruq had already gone through three viziers (all sons of his father's vizier Nizam al-Mulk). One of these, Mu'ayyid al-Mulk was upset at having been demoted and appointed Bilga Bey, an adopted son of Malik Shah, Sultan in Isfahan. He marched on Reyy, but Bilga Bey was killed by the assassins in 1097, so Mu'ayyid al-Mulk had to start over - he fled to Ganja, where he convinced Barkyaruq's half-brother Muḥammad to rebel (1099). Barkyaruq led an army to deal with this latest threat, but it mutinied because the Shi'ite treasurer Majd al-Mulk had offended them. When Barkyaruq refused to hand Majd al-Mulk over to them, they deserted and joined Muḥammad. Barkyaruq was able to raise a new army and defeated Muḥammad repeatedly. After one battle, he captured Mu'ayyid al-Mulk, the ex-vizier who was responsible for the rebellion. Calmly, he demanded Mu'ayyid al-Mulk pay a fine for his transgression. Mu'ayyid al-Mulk refused and, allegedly for the first time in his life, Barkyaruq lost his temper and sliced Mu'ayyid al-Mulk in half. At the next battle, in 1104, Barkyaruq was defeated and killed by Muḥammad.
1) Malik Shah
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