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Toğrül (Tuğril, Tuğrul or Toghrïl Beg; c. 990–September 4, 1063) was the second ruler of the Seljuk dynasty. Tuğril united the Turkomen warriors of the Great Eurasian Steppes into a confederacy of tribes, who traced their ancestry to a single ancestor named Seljuk, and led them in conquest of eastern Iran.
He would later establish the Seljuk Sultanate after conquering Persia
and retaking the Abbasid Capital of Baghdad from the Buyid Dynasty in
1055. Tuğril relegated the Abbassid Caliphs to state figureheads and
took command of the caliphate's armies in military offensives against
the Byzantine Empire and the Fatimid Caliphate in an effort to expand
his empire's borders and unite the Islamic world.
Career
He ascended to power c. 1016. In 1025 he, his nephew Arslan, and his
brother Chaghri (Çağrı) served under the Kara-Khanids of Bukhara who
was defeated by the Ghaznavid Empire under Mahmud of Ghaznavid, and
Toğrül was forced to flee to Khwarezm while Arslan settled in Khorasan.
When their uncle was later driven out of Khorasan by Mahmud, Toğrül and
his brother moved onto Khorasan and conquered the cities of Merv and
Nishapur in 1028–1029. They then extended their raids to Bokhara and
Balkh and in 1037 sacked Ghazni and in 1038 he was crowned Sultan at
Nishapur. In 1040 they decisively won the Battle of Dandanaqan against
Mahmud's son, Mas'ud I forcing Mas'ud I to abandon his western
provinces and flee towards Lahore. Toğrül then installed Chagri to
govern Khorasan and prevent a Ghaznavid reconquest, then moved on to
the conquest of the Iranian plateau in 1040-1044. By 1054 his forces
were contending in Anatolia with the Byzantines and in 1055 he was
commissioned by the Abbassid Caliph Al-Qa'im (caliph) to recapture
Baghdad from the Fatimids. A revolt by Turken forces under his foster
brother Ibrahim Yinal, Buyid forces and an uprising against the Seljuks
led to the loss of the city to the Fatimids Caliph in 1058. Two years
later Toğrül crushed the rebellion, personally strangling Ibrahmin with
his bowstring and entered Baghdad. He then married the daughter of the
Abbasid Caliph.
Succession
He died childless in the city of Rayy in modern Iran and was succeeded
by his nephew Suleiman which was contested by Alp Arslan, both of them
sons of his brother Chagri Begh. His cousin Kutalmish who had both been
a vital part of his campaigns and later a supporter of Yinal's
rebellion also put forth a claim. Alp Arsalan defeated Kutalmish for
the throne and succeed on April 27th, 1064.
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