The Danishmend dynasty was a Turkish beylik which ruled over north-central and eastern Anatolia from 1071 to 1178, with Sivas serving as its capital. The dynasty was established by Danishmend Ghazi, a Seljuk Turkish general who conquered much of Anatolia from the Byzantine Empire in the aftermath of the Battle of Manzikert. The Danishmends were vassals of the Sultanate of Rum, and they fought against the First Crusade in the 1190s. In 155, however, the Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan II attacked the Danishmends, who allied with the Zengids of Mosul. The Seljuks conquered Sivas in 1174 and Malatya in 1178, ending the Danishmend dynasty.
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Anatolia in 1097