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The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire established by the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks that once controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to Eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf.
From their homelands near the Aral sea, the Seljuqs advanced first into
Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering
eastern Anatolia. Their advance marked the beginning of Turkic power in
the Middle East.
The Seljuq empire was founded by Tugrul Beg in 1037 after the efforts
by the founder of the Seljuq dynasty, Seljuq Beg, back in the first
quarter of the 11th century. Seljuq Beg's father was in a higher
position in the Oghuz Yabgu State, and gave his name both to the state
and the dynasty. The Seljuqs united the fractured political scene of
the Eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second
crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language , the Seljuqs also
played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian
tradition which "features Persian culture patronized by Turkic rulers".
Founder of the Dynasty
The apical ancestor of the Seljuqs was their Beg, Seljuq, who was
reputed to have served in the Khazar army, under whom, circa 950 CE
they migrated to Khwarezm, near the city of Jend also called Khujand,
where they converted to Islam.
Great Seljuk
The Seljuqs were allied with the Persian Samanid Shahs against the
Qarakhanids. The Samanids however fell to the Qarakhanids and the
emergence of the Ghaznavids and were involved in the power struggle in
the region before establishing their own independent base.
Tugrul and Chagri Beg
Togrul Beg was the grandson of Seljuk and Çagrı (Chagri) was his
brother, under whom the Seljuks wrested an empire from the Ghaznavids.
Initially the Seljuks were repulsed by Mahmud and retired to Khwarezm
but Togrül and Çagrı led them to capture Merv and Nishapur (1028-1029).
Later they repeatedly raided and traded territory with his successors
across Khorasan and Balkh and even sacked Ghazni in 1037. In 1039 at
the Battle of Dandanaqan, they decisively defeated Mas'ud I of the
Ghaznavids resulting in him abandoning most of his western territories
to the Seljuks. In 1055, Togrül captured Baghdad from the Shi'a Buyids
under a commission from the Abbassids.
Alp Arslan
Alp Arslan was the son of Chagri Beg and expanded significantly upon
Togrül's holdings by adding Armenia and Georgia in 1064 and invading
the Byzantine Empire in 1068, from which he annexed almost all of
Anatolia; Arslan's decisive victory at the Battle of Manzikert (in
1071) effectively neutralized the Byzantine threat.He authorized his
Turcoman generals to carve their own principalities out of formerly
Byzantine Anatolia, as atabegs loyal to him. Within two years the
Turcomans had established control as far as the Aegean Sea under
numerous "beghliks" (modern Turkish beyliks): the Saltuqis in
Northeastern Anatolia, Mengujeqs in Eastern Anatolia, Artuqids in
Southeastern Anatolia, Danishmendis in Central Anatolia, Rum Seljuks
(Beghlik of Suleyman, which later moved to Central Anatolia) in Western
Anatolia and the Beghlik of Çaka Beg in İzmir (Smyrna).
Malik Shah I
Under Alp Arslan's successor Malik Shah and his two Persian viziers
Nizām al-Mulk and Tāj al-Mulk, the Seljuk state expanded in various
directions, to former Iranian border before Arab invasion, so that it
bordered China in the East and the Byzantines in the West. He moved the
capital from Rayy to Isfahan. The Iqta military system and the
Nizāmīyyah University at Baghdad were established by Nizām al-Mulk, and
the reign of Malikshāh was reckoned the golden age of "Great Seljuk".
The Abbasid Caliph titled him "The Sultan of the East and West" in
1087. The Assassins of Hassan-e Sabāh however started to become a force
during his era and assassinated many leading figures in his
administration.
Governance
The Seljuk power was at its zenith under Malikshāh I, and both the
Qarakhanids and Ghaznavids had to acknowledge the overlordship of the
Seljuks.The Seljuk dominion was established over the ancient Sassanid
domains, in Iran and Iraq, and included Anatolia as well as parts of
Central Asia and modern Afghanistan.The Seljuk rule was modelled after
the tribal organization brought in by the nomadic conquerors and
resembled a 'family federation' or 'appanage state'.Under this
organization the leading member of the paramount family assigned family
members portions of his domains as autonomous appanages.
The First Crusade
The fractured states of the Seljuks were on the whole more concerned
with consolidating their own territories and gaining control of their
neighbours, than with cooperating against the crusaders when the First
Crusade arrived in 1095 and successfully captured the Holy land to set
up the Crusader States. The Seljuks had already lost Palestine to the
Fatimids before their capture by the crusaders.
The Second Crusade
Ahmed Sanjar had to contend with the revolts of Qarakhanids in
Transoxiana, Ghorids in Afghanistan and Qarluks in modern Kyrghyzstan,
even as the nomadic Kara-Khitais invaded the East destroying the Seljuk
vassal state of the Eastern Qarakhanids. At the Battle of Qatwan in
1141, Sanjar lost all his eastern provinces up to the Syr Darya.
During this time conflict with the Crusader States was also
intermittent, and after the First Crusade, increasingly independent
atabegs would frequently ally with the crusader states against other
atabegs as they vied with each other for territory. At Mosul Zengi
succeeded Kerbogha as atabeg and successfully began the process of
consolidating the atabegs of Syria. In 1144 Zengi captured Edessa, as
the County of Edessa had allied itself with the Ortoqids against him.
This event triggered the launch of the Second Crusade. Nur ad-Din, one
of Zengi's sons who succeeded him as atabeg of Aleppo, created an
alliance in the region to oppose the Second Crusade, which landed in
1147.
Division of empire
When Malikshāh I died in 1092, the empire split as his brother and four
sons quarrelled over the apportioning of the empire among themselves.
In Anatolia, Malikshāh I was succeeded by Kilij Arslan I who founded
the Sultanate of Rum and in Syria by his brother Tutush I. In Persia he
was succeeded by his son Mahmud I whose reign was contested by his
other three brothers Barkiyaruq in Iraq, Muhammad I in Baghdad and
Ahmad Sanjar in Khorasan.
When Tutush I died his sons Radwan and Duqaq inherited Aleppo and
Damascus respectively and contested with each other as well further
dividing Syria amongst emirs antagonistic towards each other.
In 1118, the third son Ahmad Sanjar took over the empire. His nephew,
the son of Muhammad I did not recognize his claim to the throne and
Mahmud II proclaimed himself Sultan and established a capital in
Baghdad, until 1131 when he was finally officially deposed by Ahmad
Sanjar.
Elsewhere in nominal Seljuk territory were the Artuqids in northeastern
Syria and northern Mesopotamia. They controlled Jerusalem until 1098.
In eastern Anatolia and northern Syria a state was founded by the
Dānišmand dynasty, and contested land with the Sultanate of Rum and
Kerbogha exercised greeted independence as the atabeg of Mosul.
Legacy
The Seljuks were educated in the service of Muslim courts as slaves or
mercenaries. The dynasty brought revival, energy, and reunion to the
Islamic civilization hitherto dominated by Arabs and Persians.
According to the Seljuks, they brought to the Muslims "fighting spirit
and fanatical aggression".
The Seljuks were also patrons of art and literature. Under the Seljuks
universities were founded.Their reign is characterized by astronomers
such as Omar Khayyám, and the philosipher al-Ghazali.
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