High Middle Ages · Middle East · Politics

1159

Kilij Arslan II reunifies the Sultanate of Rum

1159

The young Seljuk sultan of Rum defeated his brother and various Danishmendid rivals to reconsolidate Turkish power across the Anatolian plateau, establishing the city of Konya as a prosperous and cultured capital. Under his long and stable reign, the sultanate would become a powerful magnet for Persian poets, wandering Sufi mystics, and displaced scholars - presaging the brilliant court culture that would flourish there before the Mongol storm.