Malik Shah (Rûm)

Malik Shah, Malek Shah, Melik Shah, or Melikşah (Old Anatolian Turkish: مَلِك شاه, Persian: ملک شاه‎), also called Şehinşah (شاهنشاه, king of kings) was the sultan of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm between the years 1110 and 1116.

Reign

Prior to Melikshah's accession, the throne had remained vacant for three years following the death of Kilij Arslan I in 1107. Melikshah was held prisoner in Isfahan until 1110 when he returned to Anatolia to assume the throne. Shortly before his death he was defeated at the Battle of Philomelion, Melikshah then signed a treaty with the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus agreeing to let the Byzantines take back all their land in Anatolia, but the treaty was nullified after Melikshah was deposed, blinded and eventually murdered by his brother Mesud, who succeeded him as sultan.

Melikshah was described by Anna Komnena as a fool who often ignored the strategies of his more experienced generals, to the point where he mocked and criticized his generals.

Melikshah, the Seljuk Sultan of Rûm must not to be confused with his better known namesake and distant cousin, Malik-Shah I of the Great Seljuq Empire.