Suleiman ibn Qutulmish

Timeline

1. c. 1040–1071Khorasan / heartland of the Great Seljuk Empire · KhorasanSuleiman was the son of Qutulmish, a descendant of Seljuk, founder of the Seljuk family, and kinsman of Sultan Alp Arslan. After his father died in a failed bid for the throne in 1064, Suleiman, as a member of the losing branch, lived a relatively marginal existence in the empire's east but retained considerable military strength. The Byzantine Empire's catastrophic defeat at Manzikert in 1071 created a historic opportunity for Suleiman's westward advance into Anatolia.
2. 1071–1077Anatolian Plateau · AnatoliaAfter Manzikert, Suleiman exploited Byzantine civil strife, sweeping across most of Anatolia with his army, successively capturing Konya, Ankara, and other major cities, and taking the old Byzantine capital Nicaea in 1075 as his political center, effectively establishing an independent regime and laying the territorial foundation for formally assuming the title of sultan.
3. 1077–1086Nicaea · BithyniaIn 1077 Suleiman formally assumed the title of sultan, establishing the Sultanate of Rum with Nicaea as its capital, continuing to fight the Byzantine Empire and extending his domain to western Anatolia. In 1086 he marched south in an attempt to annex the Syrian Seljuk lands, fought a decisive battle with Tutush near Aleppo, was defeated and killed, and was succeeded as sultan by his son Kilij Arslan I.