Il-Arslan

Il-Arslan (full name: Taj ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Abul-Fath Il-Arslan ibn Atsiz) (died March 1172) was the Shah of Khwarezm from 1156 until 1172. He was the son of Atsïz.

In 1152 Il-Arslan was made governor of Jand, an outpost on the Syr Darya which had recently been reconquered, by his father. In 1156 Atsïz died and Il-Arslan succeeded him as Khwarazm-Shah. Like his father, he decided to pay tribute to both the Seljuk sultan Sanjar and the Qara Khitai gurkhan.

Sanjar died only a few months after Il-Arslan's ascension, causing Seljuk Khurasan to descend into chaos. This allowed Il-Arslan to effectively break off Seljuk suzerainty, although he remained on friendly terms with Sanjar's successor, Mas'ud. They were alleged to have attempted to create a joint campaign against the Qara Khitai, but such an alliance never occurred. Like his father, Il-Arslan sought to expand his influence in Khurasan, and in the 1160s took an active interest in the area by supplying armies to local allies, but despite the collapse of central Seljuk authority in that area, he was unable to make any significant headway against the regional rulers.