Kaykhusraw III

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Kaykhusraw III (Arabic/Persian: غياث الدين كيخسرو بن قلج ارسلان, Ghīyāth al-Dīn Kaykhusraw bin Qilij Arslān; Turkish: III. Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev) was between two and six years old when in 1265 he was named Seljuq Sultan of Rum. He was the son of Kilij Arslan IV, the weak representative of the Seljuq line who was controlled by the Pervane, Mu’in al-Din Suleyman.

The Pervane, quarreling with the father of the sultan and empowered by the Mongol khan Abagha to deal with his Turkish subjects however he liked, had Kilij Arslan strangled in 1265. The young Kaykhusraw became no more than a figurehead. He played no part in the events of his reign which were dominated first by the Pervane and later by the Mongol vizier of Rum, Fakhr al-Din Ali. In 1283 Kaykhusraw was co-opted by the Mongol Kangirtay in a revolt against his brother, the new Ilkhan sovereign Ahmad. He was executed in March of 1284. Kaykhusraw III was the last Seljuq sultan buried in the dynastic mausoleum at the Alaeddin Camii in Konya.

The throne of Kaykhusraw III, a fine example of Seljuq woodcarving, survives in the Ethnography Museum of Ankara. The throne was previously housed in the Kızıl Bey Camii in Ankara.

[edit] Sources

Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey: a general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history, trans. J. Jones-Williams, (New York: Taplinger, 1968) 284 ff.
Blue Guide: Turkey (London: A&C Black, 1995) 602.