The founder of the dynasty was
Hüsamettin Çoban, a prominent
Kayı statesman and a commander of the
Sultans of Rum during the reigns of
Kaykaus I and his successor
Kayqubad I. In the early decades of the 13th century, Hüsamettin Çoban was one of the commanders of the raids that extended Seljuk territory in northern
Anatolia at the expense of the
Byzantine Empire of Trebizond. As a result, he had acquired Kastamonu as a
fiefdom. Between 1224 and 1227, he also led the Seljuq army and fleet that set sail from
Sinop and captured and fortified the city of
Sudak in
Crimea. After Hüsamettin Çoban's death, his hereditary possessions centered in Kastamonu were ruled respectively by his son and grandson, Alp Yürek and
Yavlak Arslan. Until the last years of Yavlak Arslan's reign, the Chobanid Beys pursued a prudent policy of allegiance to the
Mongols who had established their hegemony over Anatolia following the
Battle of Köse Dag. A rebellion in the end by Yavlak Arslan resulted in his death in battle before Kastamonu against combined Seljuq–Mongol forces, and the region was awarded to Seljuk commander
Şemseddin Yaman Candar, whose descendants went on to found the
Beylik of Candar centred in the same region and surrounding areas. Although Yaman Candar was momentarily pushed out of the region by Yavlak Arslan's son
Çobanoğlu Mahmud Bey, who also organized further raids into Byzantine territory to extend his domain, in 1309, this last
bey of the Chobanids was attacked by
Şemseddin Yaman Candar's son
Candaroğlu Süleyman Pasha and the region of
Kastamonu was once again annexed into the
Beylik of Candar. Contemporary or near-contemporary sources for the history of the Chobanid dynasty include Byzantine historians
George Pachymeres and
Nicephorus Gregoras and the Seljuk historian
Ibn Bibi. The Chobanid dynasty left important works of architecture in and around Kastamonu. The
Ottomans were vassals between 1281 and 1299 but declared independence after Yavlak Arslan stopped raiding the Byzantines in 1299. ==List of rulers==