Interesting aspects of Sultan Melikşah

Abstract

This article is about Sultan Melikşah, who reigned over the Great Seljuk State during its time of greatest splendour, and in particular about his relations with his uncle Kavurt Bey, judge of Kirman and about the deep crisis of discomfort into which he fell after the death of his son Davud and the attempts made by various statesmen to console him. Later we have also studied the relations between the sultan and his brother Tekis, who was the vassal for the Belh and Toharistan provinces, during the latter's second revolt. This event was followed by the sultan's expedition to northern Syria, concerning which we have studied his relations during the expedition with Turkish and non-Turkish vassals of the Great Seljuk State. Later the sultan visited Baghdad for the second time and we have analysed one by one all his activities during this visit. We have made a detailed study of the sultan's relations with his vizier Nizamülmülk. After a study of the personal characteristics of the sultan we have described his dialogue with a merchant and then with a Turkmen during a hunting expedition. Among other matters included there are the conversation of the sultan on various subjects with a preacher, who had been accepted into his presence, the way the sultan always told his soldiers to refrain from plunder, the sultan's response to the injustices wrought by Humartekin, who was an emir of his and his interesting conversation with a female singer. We have also taken up the matter of Sultan Melikşah's alleged loyalty to the Bâtıni: sect and showed how this was not true. Finally we have narrated how the sultan's vizier Nizamülmülk, who had been very seriously wounded by a Bâtıni conspirator, accused the sultan of "having organised this attempt on his life" and how the sultan responded to this accusation. We have presented the above-mentioned interesting aspects of Sultan Melikşah, on the basis of the relevant sources and research work.