Episodios
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Following the peace treaty signed with Emperor Alexios Komnenos, the Sultan of Rum Şahinşah begins marching back to Konya. But he does not make it far before being confronted by his half brother Mesud, who rides West with Danishmend support. A new Sultan comes to the throne in Konya, but one who owes his throne and his loyalty to the Danishmend Bey Emir Ghazi - just as a new Emperor dons the purple in Constantinople.
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Following the death of Kılıç Arslan, the Sultanate of Rum falls into disorder and becomes eclipsed by the other beyliks, in particular the Danishmend Beylik to the east ruled by Emir Ghazi. The Sultanate becomes divided between the sons of the dead Sword Lion - the brothers Mesud and Melik Arap in central Anatolia, the young Tuğrul Arslan in Malatya as a puppet of his mother and new stepfather, and Şahinşah in captivity in Iran. Eventually, Şahinşah returns from the East and faces off against Alexis Komnenos in the aging Emperor's final campaign. And the stage is set for the arrival of the next great Roman Sultan - Mesud I.
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As the western half of the Great Seljuk Empire continues to collapse, a string of fortuitous events dramatically improves Kılıç Arslan's position. Like his father before him, the Sword Lion decides to take the ultimate gamble, and sets out to the East. And, also like his father before him, he takes with him his young son...
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Following the Turkish victory over the Crusade of 1101, Kılıç Arslan's position as the leading Turkish potentate in Anatolia is secured, and the Sultanate of Rum is re-established. But the rebirth of the Sultanate of Rum in Konya and Kılıç Arslan's rise from the ashes cause great tension within the Turkish alliance that won the war, in particular, with Gümüştegin Ghazi, the Silver Prince, the leader of the Danishmend Beylik and the strongest member of the alliance. And conflict and even war soon erupt between the Sword Lion and the Silver Prince.
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The Sultanate of Rum lies in ruins following the destruction of the First Crusade and the loss of Western Anatolia to the Byzantine Empire. The Danishmend Beylik led by Gümüştegin Ghazi takes up the mantle of the leading Turkish state in Anatolia, and scores a key victory against the Norman Crusaders in Outremer. And yet more crusaders arrive from the West - both threatening the Sword Lion and providing him with an opportunity to restore his reputation and renew his leadership...
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In the aftermath of the catastrophic Crusader invasion of Anatolia, while the Turks are in crisis, Emperor Alexios Komnenos launches a reconquest. An army led by John Doukas retakes the Aegean coast and Western Anatolia, an army led by Theodore Gabras retakes the Black Sea coast, and the Emperor himself marches out of Pelakanon and into the center of Anatolia. But the Turks rebound and begin to mobilize a response. And the Emperor stops at Akşehir, then called Philomelion, to consider his options.
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Following the fall of İznik, Kılıç Arslan regroups his forces, belatedly calling for aid from across Turkish Anatolia. The Crusaders depart from İznik and begin their march to the Holy Land. Kılıç Arslan springs an ambush near Eskişehir on the Plains of Dorylaeum, leading to disaster yet again. In the aftermath of the great defeat, the Sword Lion is unable to oppose the Crusaders head on, but the war continues as a wide swathe of destruction is cut across Anatolia - and the seeds of a transformed Sultanate of Rum are planted.
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The crusading army marches into a completely undefended Anatolia and right up to the walls of İznik, the capital of the Sultanate of Rum. Finally waking up to the danger, Kılıç Arslan makes a deal with the Danishmends and begins racing back West. Kılıç Arslan fights the Crusaders in front of the walls of İznik and the Turks resist. Meanwhile, as one of the greatest defeats in Turkish history unfolds, tensions continue to rise between Constantinople and the Crusading army.
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The People's Crusade invades Anatolia, and the chaotic army of undisciplined peasants is easily destroyed by the forces of the Sultanate of Rum under Ilhan Bey as Kılıç Arslan besieges Malatya. But the chaos and ineptitude of the People's Crusade proves to be a boon to both the Byzantine Emperor and even the now-assembling First Crusade. In Constantinople, Emperor Alexios uses the chaos and the ineptitude of the People's Crusade to bind the arriving First Crusaders to him. And supremely overconfident and unconcerned, Kılıç Arslan ignores the approaching threat and instead stays in Central Anatolia.
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As Turkish power is entrenched across Anatolia and Kılıç Arslan consolidates the power of the Sultanate of Rum, in Constantinople Emperor Alexios Komnenos calls for aid from the West. The Emperor envisions a relatively large, but still manageable, army of experienced Latin knights of the type that have fought for Byzantium in the past in order to retake Anatolia. But his call for aid coincides with a papal reform movement in Rome seeking to entrench the power of the Papacy, and Pope Urban II uses the opportunity to raise a great host of holy warriors. The Pandora's box is opened, and the crusading era is launched, as the unruly "People's Crusade" makes its way to Constantinople and ultimately comes to the gates of the Turkish world.
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As Kılıç Arslan sits in prison in Esfahan, Emperor Alexios Komnenos attempts to restore imperial authority on the coasts of Anatolia, even if the plateau itself remains lost to him. Constantinople tangles with the Black Sea beylik of Karategin and the Marmara beylik of İlhan. In İzmir, the rebel Turkish Roman General Çaka Bey creates the first Turkish navy and establishes an Aegean beylik - becoming the supreme Turkish potentate in Western Anatolia. This situation is upended as Kılıç Arslan returns to claim the Sultanate. And Emperor Alexis begins to contemplate from where he could possible raise the troops to oppose Turkish rule in Anatolia...
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After the death of Sulayman, his sons Kılıç Arslan and Daud are imprisoned in Esfahan by Melik Shah. In their absence, the Sultanate of Rum is ruled under a quasi-regency by the man Sulayman left in charge of İznik - Ebu'l Kasım. Ebu'l Kasım fights and negotiates with the Roman Emperor and the Great Seljuk Sultan, maintaining the independence of the Sultanate - until Kılıç Arslan and Daud manage to return as Al-Dawla Al-Nizamiyya comes crashing down.
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In 1081, Sulayman reigns in İznik as the Sultan of Rum. But his sultanate is aspirational - really, he is a mere border lord. A bey among beys. And so Sulayman begins to lay the foundations for the Sultanate of Rum, expanding his power across Western Anatolia. Burning with ambition and desire to reclaim the birthright of the line of Kutalmish, Sulayman then invades Antioch and even Aleppo. And the very audacity that allowed him to found the Sultanate of Rum destroys him.
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Following Manzikert, the civil war in Byzantium and the failure of the Roman Empire to retake Anatolia, the first Turkish beyliks emerge in Anatolia. In the anarchy caused by the collapse of the Roman military apparatus, bands of Turks begin making alliances with the settled elites of Anatolia, offering them protection for a price. Soon the Turks are invited into the cities of Anatolia, replacing the now-vanished Roman military to become the lords of new principalities - beyliks. In the east of Anatolia, numerous beyliks emerge - the Mengucekids, the Danishmands, the Saltukids and the Artukids. But in the West, on the very doorstep of Constantinople, another political entity is born as the sons of Kutalmish, and in particular his son Sulayman, dive deep into Byzantine politics. Through canny political maneuvering, Sulayman founds the next great Turkish state - the Sultanate of Rum.
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We resume the narrative, and begin by introducing the land that will come to be the homeland of the Turks.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Manzikert, the Roman state falls into chaos. As a result of civil war, invasion and rebellion, Imperial authority collapses over much of Anatolia. And the Turks begin to enter Anatolia, and the seeds of the coming Beyliks, and even a Sultanate, are sown. -
This is the fifth and last episode in a short series of non-narrative episodes. In this episode we cover the court culture of the Great Seljuk Empire and the greatest cultural achievements of the Empire. How the Sultan and his court lived, and the life and times of two of the most important cultural figures of the Great Seljuk Empire: Al-Ghazali and Omar Khayyam.
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This a standalone episode on the history of the Ismaili Nizaris and their Order of Assassins.
The minority sect of Ismailism first arises as the Abbasid Caliphs keep the Shi'a Imams in confinement in Samarra - a hidden religion, secretive and rigidly hierarchical, and professing a unique system of beliefs drawing heavily from Greek philosophy and Gnosticism. The Ismailis ultimately go on to establish the Fatimid Caliphate, which takes up the mantle of the greatest Muslim state in the world. But after the coming of the Seljuks and their imposition of Sunni orthodoxy in Iran, the Shi'a are put on the back foot. And there comes to be founded in the remote mountain fortress of Alamut in northern Iran the Nizari sect of Ismailism - and the famed and fearsome Order of Assassins. -
This is the fourth episode in a short series of non-narrative episodes. In this episode we cover religion in the Seljuk Empire. How reality differed from the picture of strident Sunnism presented by pro-Seljuk propaganda, and the relationship between the Seljuk and Abbasid dynasties, the treatment of the Shia, the conflict among the Sunni Madhhabs, Sufism, and the treatment of minority religions.
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This is the third episode in a short series of non-narrative episodes. In this episode we cover the economy of the Great Seljuk Empire. The collision of two different economic systems - that of the nomads and that of the settled world - and how this led to an economic transformation.
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This is the second in a short series of non-narrative episodes. In this episode, we cover the Seljuk Military. The composition of the armies, how the armies fought, and the armies relationship to the broader political world.
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