Tekesh, Abul Muzaffar Tekesh Ibn Il-Arslan

Tekesh, Abul Muzaffar Tekesh Ibn Il-Arslan 

Date of birth unknown; died 1200.

Tekesh became shah of Khwarazm in 1172. In an effort to liberate Khwarazm from vassalage to the Karakitai, he led several marches on Mavera-un-Nahr in the 1170’s and 1180’s. He subsequently seized Nishapur (1187), Ray (1192), and Merv (1193). He defeated Tughrul Beg, sultan of the western Seljuks, in 1194 and the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir in 1196. During Tekesh’s rule, Khwarazm became a powerful state in Middle Asia and the Middle East.