Masʿūd III

Ghiyāṣ al-Dīn Masʿūd II was the last Seljuq sultan of Anatolia to exercise sovereignty. He reigned from 1285–98 and again from 1303–08. During his rule, real power increasingly shifted to administrators and powerful Turkmen chieftains, particularly the Qaramanids.1

The Seljuq realm had been divided after the death of Kay-Khusraw II in 1246, with sultans often serving as figureheads under Mongol tutelage. Mongol troops were stationed throughout Anatolia, and the region became a battleground for external forces, including the Mamluks of Syria and Egypt. Masʿūd II himself had to seek Mongol military assistance to regain control at one point. The definitive rise of Turkmen frontier chieftains marked the decline of Seljuq authority. After Masʿūd II, Mongol power collapsed in 1335, leading to the fragmentation of Anatolia and the eventual rise of the Ottoman Empire.1