Mas'ud I makes Konya the Rum Seljuk capital

السلطان مسعود يتخذ قونية عاصمة سلاجقة الروم

c. 1118 CE · 512 AH

Konya

Konya's real development dates from the reign of Sultan Mas'ud I (512-550/1118-1155), who resolved to make it his capital and built a mosque and other monuments that his successors completed. The well-irrigated site commanded the southern route at a time when the Danishmendids denied the Seljuks the northern route to the Dardanelles, and the Seljuk period marked the zenith of the city's history 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Anatolia

In time

1100111011201130 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks

In space

Konya

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

CitiesArchitecture

Summary

Konya's real development dates from the reign of Sultan Mas'ud I (512-550/1118-1155), who resolved to make it his capital and built a mosque and other monuments that his successors completed. 1

Why Konya?

The well-irrigated site, in contrast to the neighbouring desert, commanded the southern route at a time when the Danishmendids denied the Seljuks the northern route to the Dardanelles; the new masters found in it a secure political and military base for their still semi-nomadic peoples. The Seljuk period marked the zenith of the city's history. 1

Connections

Explore the connections

Occurred at
Konya
Had participant
Mas'ud I ibn Qilij Arslan

People and things also explored

The Ince Minareli Medrese is built at Konya, c. 663/1264· The Karatay madrasa is built at Konya, 649/1251· The German King's Campaign and His Drowning· Battle of Konya (1832)· The First Crusade passes Konya, 490/1097· Baha al-Din Walad dies; Rumi succeeds him· Death of Rukn al-Din Sulayman II of Rum· Kaykhusraw I's restoration to the Rum Sultanate (600 AH)

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 5.1 p. 287
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Mas'ud I makes Konya the Rum Seljuk capital”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/konya-masud-capital-512/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

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Related

The Ince Minareli Medrese is built at Konya, c. 663/1264

The Ince Minareli Medrese ('slender-minaret madrasa') at Konya was built about 663/1264-65 by the master Kaluk (Koluk) ibn Abd Allah. Heavily restored, it lost two-thirds of its brick minaret in 1317/1899; the minaret had served as a foil to the portal's giant inscriptive bands.