The marriages of the Seljuk sultans with non-Muslim women and the reflections of these marriages on the Seljuk religious policy

Seljuk sultans married non-Muslim women by forming kinship ties with the states with which they had political relations. The aim of those marriages was to maintain strong relationships with other countries, defeat any prospective harm to the country beforehand, broaden the borders, and recover and reconciliate relationships with the other party. As so, the main component in this kind of marriages has always been the women. The political marriages in Seljuks used to be done both inter-dynasties and external to the dynasties. It was very significant for the Sultans to get involved in building a line of descent with the khalifah in terms of enhancing their impact and getting approval of their reign in Islamic world. Later, these marriages went beyond Islamic borders and Sultans started getting married to non-Muslim women. Hence, this influenced the marriage policy of the dynasty. In this study, as a consequence of the marriages of Sultans and non-Muslim women, whether the Sultans tended to Christianity or not, their attitudes towards non-Muslim population of the country and the policy put by the emperor in this regard have been examined.