Mural of Saint George flanked by two donators. St George cave church in Ihlara valley, Cappadocia, Turkey - Stock-Fotografie
The St George church (aka Kırkdamaltı Kilisesi) was built in 1283-1295. The woman holding church's model to the right of the saint is Georgian princess Tamar (also known as Gürcü Hatun), the granddaughter of famous Georgian queen Tamar and the wife of Seljuk sultan Kaykhusraw II. The man on the left is Basil Giagoupes (Βασίλειος Γιαγούπης), a Byzantine high-ranking officer at Seljuk service. The honorary inscription on the wall mentions both the Seljuk sultan Mesud II and the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II.

https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/foto/ ... 1012942686

The Seljuk dynasty of Rum, as successors to the Great Seljuqs, based their political, religious and cultural heritage on the Perso-Islamic tradition,[18] even to the point of naming their sons with Persian names. Though of Turkic origin, Rum Seljuks patronized Persian art, architecture, and literature and used Persian as a language of administration. Moreover, Byzantine influence in the Sultanate was also significant, since Greek aristocracy remained part of the Seljuk nobility, and the local Greek population was numerous in the region.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultanate_of_Rum

Kutalmışoglu Suleiman (Old Anatolian Turkish: سُلَیمان بن قُتَلمِش, Persian: سلیمان بن قتلمش‎) founded an independent Seljuq Turkish state in Anatolia and ruled as Seljuq Sultan of Rûm from 1077 until his death in 1086.

Suleiman was the son of Qutalmish, who had struggled unsuccessfully against his cousin Alp Arslan for the throne of Great Seljuq Empire. When Kutalmish died in 1064, Suleiman fled with his three brothers into the Taurus Mountains and there sought refuge with Turkmen tribes living beyond the borders of the empire. Alp Arslan responded by launching a series of punitive expeditions against them. Of the four brothers, Suleiman alone survived the raids and was able to consolidate his leadership of the Turkmen.

In 1078, the Byzantine emperor Michael VII sought the help of Suleiman against Nicephorus Botaneiates, the commander of the Anatolic Theme, who had challenged the emperor for the throne. Suleiman intercepted Botaneiates' small force between Cotyaeum and Nicaea, whereupon the usurper persuaded Suleiman to join his rebellion by offering him incentives superior to those of the emperor. Nicephorus' bid for power was successful, and in return for their support Suleiman's Turkmen were allowed to settle on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, near Constantinople itself. Two years later, Suleiman lent his support to another pretender, Nicephorus Melissenus.It was the latter Nicephorus who opened the gates of Nicaea to the Turkmen, allowing Suleiman to establish a permanent base.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suleiman_ibn_Qutulmish

Kilij Arslan I

After the death of his father, Suleyman, 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. 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 [b]married Ayşe Hatun, the daughter of the Emir Tzachas[/b] 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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilij_Arslan_I

First Crusade

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 May 21. The city then surrendered to the Byzantines and his wife and children were captured. When the crusaders sent the Sultana to Constantinople, to their dismay she was later returned without ransom in 1097 because of the relationship between Kilij Arslan and Alexius Comnenus.

As result of the stronger invasion, Rüm and the Danismends 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 Rüm forces planned to ambush the Crusaders near Dorylaeum on June 29. 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 July 1. Kilij Arslan retreated and inflicted losses on the Crusader Army with guerilla warfare and hit-and-run tactics. He also destroyed crops and water supplies along their route in order to damage logistical supplying of the Crusader Army.

Following the defeat and death of his father Kilij Arslan I fighting against Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan of Aleppo at the battle of Khabur river in 1107, Masud lost the throne in favor of his brother Malik Shah. With the help of the Danishmends, Masud captured Konya and defeated Malikshah in 1116, later blinding and eventually murdering him. Masud would later turn on the Danishmends and conquer their lands. In 1130, he started construction of the Alâeddin Mosque in Konya, which was later completed in 1221.

Masud, towards the end of his reign, fought against the armies of the Second Crusade. There were actually two armies, one led German emperor Conrad III and the other led by the French king Louis VII. Masud defeated both of them; the first army in Dorylaeum near modern Eskişehir in 1147 and the second army in Laodicea near modern Denizli in 1148.

When he died, Masud was succeeded by his son Kilij Arslan II.

One of Masud's daughters married John Tzelepes Komnenos, a member of the royal house of Byzantium who had converted to Islam.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesud_I

Kilij Arslan II (Old Anatolian Turkish: قِلِج اَرسلان دوم) or ʿIzz ad-Dīn Qilij Arslān bin Masʿūd (Persian: عز الدین قلج ارسلان بن مسعود‎) (Modern Turkish Kılıç Arslan, meaning "Sword Lion") was a Seljuk Sultan of Rûm from 1156 until his death in 1192.

As Arnold of Lübeck reports in his Chronica Slavorum, he was present at the meeting of Henry the Lion with Kilij-Arslan during the former's pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1172. When they met near Tarsus, the sultan embraced and kissed the German duke, reminding him that they were blood cousins ('amplexans et deosculans eum, dicens, eum consanguineum suum esse'). When the duke asked for details of this relationship, Kilij Arslan informed him that 'a noble lady from the land of Germans married a king of Russia who had a daughter by her; this daughter's daughter arrived to our land, and I descend from her.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilij_Arslan_II

Kaykhusraw I (Old Anatolian Turkish: كَیخُسرو or Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Kaykhusraw bin Qilij Arslān; Persian: غياث الدين 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.

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

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In 1192/93, Kaykhusraw returned the Byzantine nobleman, Theodore Mangaphas, to Emperor Isaac II after receiving assurances of Mangaphas treatment. With his brother, Rukn ad-Din Suleiman Shah, quickly advancing towards Konya, Kaykhusraw fled to Constantinople in 1196. He lived in Constantinople from 1197-1203, possibly even being baptised.

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Kaykhusraw was killed at the Battle of Antioch on the Meander in 1211. 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.[1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaykhusraw_I

Kaykaus I or Kayka'us I or Keykavus I (Old Anatolian Turkish: كَیکاوس, Persian: عز الدين كيكاوس بن كيخسرو‎ ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kaykāwūs ibn Kaykhusraw) was the Sultan of Rum from 1211 until his death in 1220. He was the eldest son of Kaykhusraw I.

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According to Rustam Shukurov, it is very probably that Kaykaus I and his brother Kayqubad I, who both spent considerable time in Constantinople with their father, had the same dual confessional (Christian and Muslim) and dual ethnic (Turkic/Persian and Greek) identity as Kaykhusraw I, Kaykaus II, and Masud II.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaykaus_I

Kayqubad I or Alā ad-Dīn Kayqubād bin Kaykāvūs (Persian: علاء الدين كيقباد بن كيكاوس‎; Turkish: I. Alâeddin Keykûbad, 1188–1237) was the Seljuq Sultan of Rûm who reigned from 1220 to 1237. He expanded the borders of the sultanate at the expense of his neighbors, particularly the Mengujek Beylik and the Ayyubids, and established a Seljuq presence on the Mediterranean with his acquisition of the port of Kalon Oros, later renamed Ala'iyya in his honor.The sultan, sometimes styled "Kayqubad the Great", is remembered today for his rich architectural legacy and the brilliant court culture that flourished under his reign.

Kayqubad's reign represented the apogee of Seljuq power and influence in Anatolia, and Kayqubad himself was considered the most illustrious prince of the dynasty. In the period following the mid-13th century Mongol invasion, inhabitants of Anatolia frequently looked back on his reign as a golden age, while the new rulers of the Anatolian beyliks sought to justify their own authority through pedigrees traced to him.

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Kayqubad had three sons: Kaykhusraw II, eldest and son of his Greek wife Mah Pari Khatun, and 'Izz al-Din and Rukn al-Din, sons of his Ayyubid princess wife Ghaziya Khatun. Kayqubad originally had his subjects swear allegiance to his son Izz al-Din, but the emirs generally preferred to rally behind the more powerful Kaykhusraw. With no clear successor, conflict broke out between the various factions upon Kayqubad's death.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayqubad_I

Ghiyath al-Din Keyhusrev II or Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Keyhusrev bin Kayqubād (Persian: غياث الدين كيخسرو بن كيقباد‎) was the sultan of the Seljuqs of Rûm from 1237 until his death in 1246. He ruled at the time of the Babai uprising and the Mongol invasion of Anatolia. He led the Seljuq army with its Christian allies at the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243. He was the last of the Seljuq sultans to wield any significant power and died as a vassal of the Mongols.

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Keyhusrev was the son of Kayqubad I and his wife Mahperi Hatun, who was Greek by origin.[

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According to Rustam Shukurov, it is likely that Keyhusrev II, who was born by a Greek wife, and was yet another Seljuk Sultan with a great interest in Greek women, "bore a dual confessional and ethnic identity".

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Keyhusrev died leaving three sons: 'Izz al-Din Kaykaus, aged 11, son of the daughter of a Greek priest; 9-year-old Rukn al-Din Kilij Arslan, son of a Turkish woman of Konya; and 'Ala al-Din Kayqubadh, son of the Georgian princess Tamar and at age 7 youngest of the three boys


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaykhusraw_II