Class 02: Arslan, fearless crescent (part 01)
Good afternoon, class! I hope your trip here was nice. Last time, during our short intermission, I supplied you all with the letters between Suleyman and the Caliph. I hope you've studied them, because these letters might or might not become more important for this portion of the class. Now, Suleyman, the founder of house Suleyman, now known as Suleyman the Magnificent. The conquerer of Constantinople and the master of Armenia, had one last wish before his death. He wished for Constantinople to be renamed. Some sources dictate his wish had been for them to name the city after Jerusalem. Some cite the idea of Konstantinyee, yet in the end, the modern term Istanbul won over.
The coronation of Arslan was an interesting thing. The crown jewels of Byzantium (whose capital had relocated to coastal Greece) were taken from the body of the Emperor, used as smelting material for Arslan's own armor. This was used as an effective scare tactic during his commander years. Another important event of the coronation was the "fifth" wife of Arslan, Vahide. While officially only took four wifes, Vahide was treated like a wife would.
So much so that when they had his first son, Berkan, about a year later, he was acknowledged as his own son. The Sultanate would live in fear for the next few years on if Berkan, the bastard, would inherit the sultanate if something happened to Arslan.
The home of the Seljuks was doing much worse than their cadet house, however. The Sultan had died in combat against the enemy, presumably one of the crusaders that had invaded Jerusalem. His boy now sat on the throne, a lazy boy. While the Seljuk sultanate did not shatter upon this revelation, they would fall upon hard times in the political sense. Some say Allah himself had whispered to Suleyman that this curse would befell upon his kin, urging him onto declaring the house of Suleyman.
The first year or so of Arslans reign was a peaceful one. He took the time to partake in Hajj, the holy trip similar to a pilgrimmage taken by the Christians. During this trip he saw much of the Islamic world, reading trough the texts of the prophets with great interest. While his father had never claimed one specific school of theology upon himself, Arslan took all by surprise when he returned home and claimed to belong to the Ash'ari school of theology, focusing at the time on traditional, conservative views.
Arslan himself was a strange figure. Just as shy as his father had been, Arslan still showed a strange sense of pride and ambition. His father left him with Istanbul, the city of world's desire. Yet he wished for more. He wanted to bring a thousand events like Istanbul upon his country, perhaps not for his people, but for his own ambition. He had the patience to wait a thousand years for this chance. And it'd come soon enough. A masterful fighter and commander, he was a bloody swathe upon his enemies.
His first official act as king and not as himself was to declare for a sweeping change in the government structure of Rum. While they worked upon the Iqta system, and while there were no large changes in the bureocracy or the rulers of the area, these changes brought upon a dozen new laws which mostly profited the Greek population by solidifying matters of succession for both the smallfolk and the few rulers that had not been removed from their seats when the Turks came. The rule of Arslan had started with a glimmer of promise.
[Note: these pictures are a bit out of order chronology wise, but they make for better storywriting.]