Battle of Köse Dağ

The Battle of Köse Dağ was fought between the Sultanate of Rum ruled by the Seljuq dynasty and the Mongol Empire on June 26, 1243, at the defile of Kösedağ, a location between Erzincan and Gümüşhane in modern northeastern Turkey.^[3][4] The Mongols achieved a decisive victory.

Battle of Köse Dağ
Part of the Mongol invasions of Anatolia
The Mongols chasing the Seljuqs. Hayton of Corycus, Fleur des histoires d'orient.
Date June 26, 1243 Location Kösedağ (about 60 km east of Sivas)[1] Result Mongol victory, see aftermath
Belligerents
Mongol Empire Principality of Khachen Georgian mercenaries[2]	Seljuq Sultanate of Rum Georgian auxiliaries Trapezuntine auxiliaries Latin mercenaries
Commanders and leaders
Baiju Noyan Hasan-Jalal I	Kaykhusraw II Pharadavla Akhaltsikheli Dardin Shervashidze †
Strength
30,000–40,000	60,000–80,000 (20,000–25,000 participated, the rest deserted)
Casualties and losses
750 approx.	3,000

Background

In 1071, the Seljuk Turks decisively defeated the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert and quickly overran Anatolia. The Seljuk general Suleiman ibn Qutalmish soon established an independent state in the region; known as the Sultanate of Rum, it unified the native tribes and gained control of the entire region over the next 150 years. By the 1230s, aided by the collapse of Byzantine power, Rum had also attained significant maritime and commercial capabilities through their control of the key ports of Antalya and Sinope.^[5]

During the reign of Ögedei Khan, the Sultanate of Rum offered friendship and a modest tribute to Chormaqan, a kheshig and one of the Mongols' greatest generals.^[6] Under Kaykhusraw II, however, the Mongols began to pressure the sultan to go to Mongolia in person, give hostages, and accept a Mongol darughachi.

Location

The 13th-century Armenian historian Gregory of Akner writes that the battle took place in a field between Erzurum and Erzincan. At the same time Kirakos of Gandzak states that it took place close to a village called Chʻmankatuk, which may refer to modern-day Üzümlü (formerly Cimin) in the Erzincan Province of Turkey.^[7] Rashid al-Din Hamadani. Other sources call the site of the battle Köse Dağ, which means "bald/beardless mountain" in Turkish.^[7]

Battle

Under the leadership of Baiju, the Mongol commander, the Mongols attacked Rum in the winter of 1242–1243 and seized the city of Erzurum. Sultan Kaykhusraw II immediately called on his neighbours to contribute troops to resist the invasion. The Empire of Trebizond sent a detachment, and the Sultan engaged a group of "Frankish" (Western European) mercenaries.^[8] Due to internal disagreements about the war, King Hethum I of Armenian Cilicia delayed joining Kaykhusraw's army, which left without him.^[7] A few Georgian nobles such as Pharadavla of Akhaltsikhe and Dardin Shervashidze also joined him, but most Georgians were compelled to fight alongside their Mongol overlords. The Georgian-Armenian contingent within the Mongol army included Hasan-Jalal I, the ruler of Khachen.^[7]

Horseman with Anatolian Seljuk equipment, in Varka and Golshah, mid-13th century miniature (detail), Konya, Sultanate of Rum. These knights were equipped with long swords and bows, and for protection used large shields ("kite-shields"), lamellar amour and hauberk mail.^[9][10]

The decisive battle was fought at Kösedağ on June 26, 1243. Various figures are given in the primary sources for the size of the opposing armies, all with the Seljuqs outnumbering the Mongols:^[11] 160,000 or 200,000 for the sultan's army (which are certainly exaggerations^{[citation needed]}) and 30,000 or 10,000 for the Mongol force.^[7] 80,000 and 30,000 for the sizes of the Seljuq and Mongol armies, respectively, are the more likely numbers.^[7] Baiju brushed aside an apprehensive notice from his Georgian officer regarding the size of the Seljuq army, stating that they counted as nothing the numbers of their enemies: "the more they are, the more glorious it is to win, and the more plunder we shall secure".^[12]

Kaykhusraw II rejected the proposal of his experienced commanders to wait for the Mongol attack. Instead, he sent 20,000 men, led by inexperienced commanders, against the Mongol army.^[13] The Mongol army, feigning retreat, turned back, encircled the Seljuq army, and defeated it.^[14]

When the rest of the Seljuq army witnessed their defeat, many Seljuq commanders and their soldiers, including Kaykhusraw II, started to abandon the battlefield.^[13] Eventually, the Seljuq army was left without leaders, and most of their soldiers deserted without seeing any combat.^[13][14]

Aftermath

After their victory, the Mongols took control of the cities of Sivas and Kayseri. The sultan fled to Ankara but was subsequently forced to make peace with Baiju and pay a substantial tribute to the Mongol Empire.^[7]

The defeat resulted in a period of turmoil in Anatolia and led directly to the decline and disintegration of the Seljuq state. The Empire of Trebizond became a vassal state of the Mongol Empire. Furthermore, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia became a vassal state of the Mongols.^[15] Real power over Anatolia was exercised by the Mongols.^[16]

References

Citations

1. Enver Behnan Şapolyo: Selçuklu İmparatorluğu tarihi, Güven Matbaasi, 1972, p. 191 (in Turkish)
2. John Freely, Children of Achilles: The Greeks in Asia Minor since the Days of Troy, (I.B. Tauris, 2010), p. 143.
3. Anthony Bryer and David Winfield, The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos, vol. 1, (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1985) 172, 353.
4. Köy Köy Türkiye Yol Atlası (Istanbul: Mapmedya, 2006), map p. 61.
5. Atwood 2004, p. 555; Chrysostomides 2009, pp. 11–13, 25–27.
6. C. P. Atwood, Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, p. 555
7. Dashdondog, Bayarsaikhan (2011). The Mongols and the Armenians (1220–1335). Leiden & Boston: Brill. pp. 61–63, 76. ISBN 978-90-04-18635-4.
8. Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey: a general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history, trans. J. Jones-Williams, (New York: Taplinger, 1968) p. 137. ^{[ISBN missing]}
9. Gorelik, Michael (1979). Oriental Armour of the Near and Middle East from the Eighth to the Fifteenth Centuries as Shown in Works of Art (in Islamic Arms and Armour). London: Robert Elgood. p. Fig.38. ISBN 978-0859674706.
10. Sabuhi, Ahmadov Ahmad oglu (July–August 2015). "The miniatures of the manuscript "Varka and Gulshah" as a source for the study of weapons of XII–XIII centuries in Azerbaijan". Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (7–8): 14–16.
11. Claude Cahen, "Köse Dagh" Encyclopaedia of Islam, ed. by P. Bearman, et al. (Brill 2007)
12. Henry Desmond Martin, "The Mongol army", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1943/1–2, pp. 46–85
13. Ali Sevim, Erdoğan Merçil: Selçuklu devletleri tarihi: siyaset, teşkilât ve kültür, Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1995, ISBN 978-9751606907, p. 472 (in Turkish)
14. Nuri Ünlü: İslâm tarihi 1, Marmara Üniversitesi, İlâhiyat Fakültesi Vakfı, 1992, ISBN 9755480072, p. 492. (in Turkish)
15. İdris Bal, Mustafa Çufalı: Dünden bugüne Türk Ermeni ilişkileri, Nobel, 2003, ISBN 9755914889, p. 61.
16. Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach. Medieval Islamic Civilization: A–K, index, p. 442 ^{[ISBN missing]}

Sources

• Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-4671-3.
• Biran, Michal; Kim, Hodong, eds. (2023). The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-3163-3742-4.
  • Dunnell, Ruth W. "The Rise of Chinggis Khan and the United Empire". In Biran & Kim (2023), pp. 19–106.
  • Pubblici, Lorenzo. "Georgia and the Causacus". In Biran & Kim (2023), pp. 707–733.
• Dashdondog, Bayarsaikhan (2011). The Mongols and the Armenians (1220-1335). Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9-0041-8635-4.
• Fleet, Kate, ed. (2009). The Cambridge History of Turkey. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Chrysostomides, Julian. "The Byzantine Empire from the eleventh to the fifteenth century". In Fleet (2009), pp. 6–50.
  • Melville, Charles. "Anatolia under the Mongols". In Fleet (2009), pp. 51–101.
• Jackson, Peter (2017). The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-3001-2533-7.
• Kolbas, Judith (2006). The Mongols in Iran. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-4155-9932-0.
• Lane, George (2003). Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth-Century Iran: A Persian Renaissance. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-4152-9750-9.
• May, Timothy (2016). "Mongol Conquest Strategy in the Middle East". In De Nicola, Bruno; Melville, Charles (eds.). The Mongols' Middle East: Continuity and Transformation in Ilkhanid Iran. Leiden: Brill. pp. 13–37. ISBN 978-9-0043-1472-6.

External links

• Kirakos of Gandzak: History of Armenia (part 35) 13th century
• History of Anatolian Seljuks

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