View source for Mesud I

{{Infobox royalty
| type         = monarch
| name         = Mesud I
| more         = 
| image        = File:Rukn al-Din Mas'ud I. AH 510-551 (AD 1116-1156) Half-length facing bust of Byzantine emperor.jpg
| image_size   = 300
| caption      = Coinage of Rukn al-Din Mas'ud I. AH 510-551 (AD 1116-1156). ''Obverse'': Half-length facing bust of Byzantine emperor.
| succession   = [[List of Seljuk sultans of Rûm|Seljuq Sultan of Rum]]
| reign        = 1116–1156
| coronation   = 
| predecessor  = [[Malik Shah (Rûm)|Malik Shah]]
| successor    = [[Kilij Arslan II]]
| full name    = '''Rukn al-Dīn Mas'ūd Klada'''
| house        = [[Seljuq dynasty|House of Seljuq]]
| spouse       = 
| issue        = [[ Kilij Arslan II]]
| father       = [[Kilij Arslan I]]
| mother       = 
| birth_date   = 1095
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = {{death year and age|1156|1095|}}
| death_place  = 
| place of burial = 
| religion     = [[Islam]]
| module       = {{Infobox military person  
| embed = yes
| battles = {{Tree list}}
*[[Expedition to Iconium (1146)]]
*[[Second Crusade]]
**[[Battle of Dorylaeum (1147)]]
**[[Battle of Mount Cadmus]]
*[[Fall of Turbessel]]
*[[Campaign of Danishmendids]]
*[[Campaign of Cilicia]]
*[[Struggle with Malik Shah of Rum]]
*[[Capture of Konya]]
{{tree list/end}}
}}
}}

'''Rukn al-Dīn Mesud Klada ibn Kilij Arslan''' or '''Mesud I''' (Modern {{langx|tr|I. Rükneddin Mesud}} or ''Masud'' ({{Langx|fa|ركن الدین مسعود}}) was the sultan of the [[Sultanate of Rum|Sultanate of Rûm]] from 1116 until his death in 1156.

==Reign==
Following the defeat and death of his father [[Kilij Arslan I|Kilij Arslan]] fighting against [[Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan|Ridwan]] of [[Emirate of Aleppo|Aleppo]] at the [[Battle of Khabur River]] in 1107,<ref>''Anatolia in the Period of the Seljuks and the Beyliks'', Osman Turan, '''The Cambridge History of Islam''', Ed. Peter Malcolm Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton and Bernard Lewis, (Cambridge University Press, 1970), 239.</ref> Mesud lost the throne in favor of his brother [[Malik Shah (Rûm)|Malik Shah]]. With the help of the [[Danishmends]], Mesud captured [[Konya]] and defeated Malik Shah in 1116, later blinding and eventually murdering him. Mesud would later turn on the Danishmends and conquer some of their lands. In 1130, he started construction of the [[Alâeddin Mosque]] in Konya, which was later completed in 1221.<ref>''Konya'', Julie A. Miller, '''International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe''', Ed. Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon La Boda, (Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1995), 381.</ref>

In 1146, Mesud successfully [[Expedition to Iconium (1146)|fended off]] a Byzantine attack on his capital and toward the end of his reign, fought against the armies of the [[Second Crusade]], one led by Emperor [[Conrad III of Germany]] and the other led by King [[Louis VII of France]]. Mesud defeated both of them; the first at the [[Battle of Dorylaeum (1147)|battle of Dorylaeum]] near modern [[Eskişehir]] in 1147<ref>Martin Sicker, ''The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab conquests to the siege of Vienna'', (Praeger Publishers, 2000), 77.</ref> and the second army in [[Battle of Mount Cadmus|Laodicea]] near modern [[Denizli]] in 1148.

Emperor [[Manuel I Komnenos]] persuaded Mesud I to attack [[Thoros II]] and demand his submission to the Sultan's suzerainty.<ref name='Ghazarian'>{{cite book | last = Ghazarian | first = Jacob G.| title = The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia during the Crusades: The Integration of Cilician Armenians with the Latins (1080–1393)}}</ref> However, the ensuing Seljuk attack, which in fact was provoked by an Armenian raid into Seljuk lands in [[Cappadocia]] in the winter of 1154, was routed successfully by Thoros in collaboration with a contingent of the [[Knights Templar]].<ref name='Ghazarian'/>

[[File:Alaedin Camii.JPG|thumb|The [[Alâeddin Mosque]] in [[Konya]] was built during the reign of Mesud I. The building served as the “Mosque of the Throne” for the Seljuq Sultans of Rum and contains the dynastic mausoleum.]]
[[File:Türbe Kilij Arslan II - tombs.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Mesud I (third from front)]]
{{Quote|''In the year 603 AE (1154) once again the Byzantine emperor Manuel sought to stoke Masud and he sent him twice the amount of treasure as previously, saying:'' «Quench the burning of my heart toward the Armenian people, destroy their fortresses, and exterminate them.» ''So the sultan came to Anazarbus with many troops, but he was unable to accomplish anything. He sent one of his grandees, named Yaqub, to ravage the territory of Antioch. When they had crossed the gate, the Brothers'' (the Knights Templar)'', as though sent by God, swooped upon them at that place and slaughtered all of them, including their chief. When those in the sultan’s army heard about this, they were horrified. This was not all, for the wrath of God was visited upon them. Their horses perished from tapax'' (diarrhea) ''and they themselves turned to flight, brother not waiting to help brother, nor comrade, comrade. They hamstrung many of the horses and fled on foot through difficult, marshy places, as though they were persecuting themselves. For at that time Thoros was not in his country. Rather, he had gone to Tsets. When he returned and saw what had unfolded everyone thanked God, for they had been defeated without the use of weapons and without a physical battle.''|Smbat Sparapet}}

When he died, Mesud was succeeded by his son [[Kilij Arslan II]].

Kamero, one of Mesud's daughters married [[John Tzelepes Komnenos]], a member of the royal [[Komnenos|house of Komnenos]] who had converted to [[Islam]].<ref>''The Turkish Element in Byzantium, Eleventh-Twelfth Centuries'', Charles M. Brand, '''Dumbarton Oaks Papers''', Vol. 43, (1989), 20.</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Battle of Mount Cadmus]]
==References==
{{reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box|title=[[Sultan of Rûm]]|before=[[Malik Shah (Rûm)|Malik Shah]]|after=[[Kilij Arslan II]]|years=1116–1156}}
{{S-end}}
{{Sultans of Rum}}

[[Category:12th-century sultans of Rum]]
[[Category:1156 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Muslims of the Second Crusade]]

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