Sa'd al-Din Köpek

Sa’d al-Din Köpek ( _ar. سعد الدين كوبك بن محمد, Sa’d al-Dīn Kobek bin Muhammad; _tr. Sadettin Köpek) was a court administrator under two 13th century Seljuq Sultans of Rum.

He served as Master of the Hunt and Minister of Works under Kayqubad I and, in the latter capacity, supervised the construction of Kubadabad Palace on the shore of Lake Beyşehir. [H. Crane "Notes on Saldjūq Architectural Patronage in Thirteenth Century Anatolia," "Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient", v. 36, n. 1 (1993), p. 43.]

As advisor to Kayqubad’s successor Kaykhusraw II, Köpek’s influence grew considerably. His first aim was to secure the reign of the new sultan. He had Kaykhusraw’s two half-brothers strangled along with their mother, an Ayyubid princess. He suspected the loyalty of the Khwarezmians, the remnant followers of Jalal al-Din Manguberti whom Kayqubad had installed in various Anatolian fortresses, and had their leader, a certain Kirkhan, imprisoned. The Kharwizmians abandoned their posts and fled to Diyar Mudar, where they applied to the Ayyubids for work as mercenaries. Köpek’s suspicion deprived the sultanate of seasoned soldiers at a time of external threat and internal instability.

Köpek’s also sought to insure his own position at the Seljuq court with political murder.

A caravanserai built by Sa’d al-Din Köpek survives 27 km from Konya on the road to Aksaray. Know as Zazadin Han, the caravanserai bears two inscriptions: one naming Köpek as founder and dated 1235-36, the other indicating the patronage of both Kayqubad and Kaykhusraw.

References

ources

*Claude Cahen, "Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history c. 1071-1330" (Taplinger: New York 1968), 133-34.
*Carole Hillenbrand , “Sa’d al-Dīn Köpek b. Muhammad” "Encyclopaedia of Islam", ed. by P. Bearman, et al. (Brill 2007).

External links

* [http://www.turkishhan.org/zazadin.htm Turkish Hans: Zazadin Han near Konya.]