MALIK-SHAH

born Aug. 6/16, 1055 died , November 1092, Baghdad third and most famous of the Seljuq sultans. Malik-Shah succeeded his father, Alp-Arslan, in 1072 under the tutelage of the great vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who was the real manager of the empire until his death. Malik-Shah had first to overcome a revolt of his uncle Qawurd (Kavurd) and an attack of the Qarakhanids of Bukhara on Khorasan; thereafter he consolidated and extended his empire more through diplomacy and the quarrels of his enemies than by actual warfare. He suppressed the former vassal principalities of upper Mesopotamia and Azerbaijan, acquired Syria and Palestine, and established a strong protectorate over the Qarakhanids and a measure of control over Mecca and Medina, Yemen, and the Persian Gulf territories. His control of the Turkmens of Asia Minor was contested by a rival Seljuq dynasty. Malik-Shah displayed a great interest in literature, science, and art. His reign is memorable for the splendid mosques of his capital, Esfahan, for the poetry of Omar Khayyam, and for the reform of the calendar. His people enjoyed internal peace and religious tolerance. However, there were shadows amidst this glory. His brother Takash, governor of Khorasan, revolted and was imprisoned and blinded. Under the leadership of Hasan-e Sabbah there arose the antiorthodox terrorist movement of the Assassins who murdered Nizam al-Mulk in 1092. Before this he was partly estranged from his vizier who favoured the claims to succession of Malik-Shah's eldest son by his first wife against those of a son by his second wife. Further, his relations deteriorated with the Caliph of Baghdad who had married Malik-Shah's daughter and neglected her. He had ordered the Caliph to leave Baghdad when he himself died there suddenly, leaving his empire to disintegrate through internal quarrels.