Encyclopedia
The
Seljuqs were a Muslim dynasty of
Oghuz Turkic descent that ruled parts of
Central Asia and the
Middle East from the
11th to
14th centuries. Today, they are regarded as the cultural ancestors of the Western Turks, the present-day inhabitants of
Turkey,
Azerbaijan and
Turkmenistan.
Early History
Origins
Originally, the House of Seljuq was a branch of the
Kınık Oghuz Turks who in the
9th century lived north of the
Aral sea in their Yabghu Khaganate. In the
10th century the Seljuqs migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland
Persia, where they adopted the
Persian culture and language in the following decades.
Seljuk
- Main article: Seljuk
The apical ancestor of the Seljuqs was their bey Seljuq who was reputed to have served in the
Khazar army, under whom, circa 961 they migrated to
Khwarezm, near the city of Jend also called
Khujand.
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.
Togrül and Çagri Bey
Togrül Bey was the grandson of Seljuk and Çagri 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 Çagri led them to capture Merv and
Nishapur . 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 Çagri Bey and expanded significantly upon Togrül's holdings by adding
Armenia and
Georgia in 1064 and invading the
Byzantine Empire in 1068 from whom he annexxed
Anatolia after defeating them at the
Battle of Manzikert. He ordered his Turcoman generals to conquer the Byzantine lands and allowed them to carve principalities of their own as atabegs that were loyal to him. Within two years the Turcomans captured Asia Minor and went as far as the Aegean Sea establishing numerous "beghliks" such as the: Saltuqis in Northeastern Anatolia, Mengujeqs in Eastern Anatolia,
Artuqids in Southeastern Anatolia, Danishmendis in Central Anatolia, Rum Seljuks in Western Anatolia and the Beghlik of Çaka Bey in
Izmir .
Malik Shah I
Under
Alp Arslan's successor Malik Shah and his two Persian viziers Nizam al-Mulk and Taj 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 mililtary system and the Nizamiyyah University at Baghdad were established by Nizam al-Mulk, and the reign of Malik Shah was reckoned the golden age of "Great Seljuk". The Abassid Caliph titled him "The Sultan of the East and West" in 1087. The
Assassins of
Hassan-e Sabah however started to become a force during his era and assassinated many leading figures in his administration.
Division of Empire
- See also: Sultanate of Rum, Atabegs
When Malik Shah I died in 1092 the empire split, as his brother and four sons quarrelled over the apportioning of the empire among themselves. In Anatolia, Malik Shah 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, Mehmed I in
Baghdad and Ahmed 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 Ahmed Sanjar took over the empire. His nephew, the son of Mehmed 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 Ahmed 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 Danishmend, and contested land with the Sultanate of Rum and Kerbogha excercised greeted independence as the atabeg of
Mosul.
The First Crusade
- Main article: 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 Fatimid before their capture by the crusaders.
The Second Crusade
- See also: Second Crusade, Zengi, Nur ad-Din
Ahmed Sanjar had to contend 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 Sanjar 1141 and 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 and 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 and created an alliance in the region to oppose the second crusade which landed in 1147.
Conquest by Khwarezm and the Ayyubids
- See also:Saladin, Ayyubid, Khwarezmid Empire
In 1153 the Oghuz Turks rebelled and captured Sanjar. He managed to escaped three years later but died a year later. Despite several attempts to reunite the Seljuks by his successors, the
Crusades prevented them from regaining their former empire. While the Atabegs such as the Zengids and
Artuqids were only nominally under the Seljuk Sultan, and generally controlled Syria independently. When Ahmed Sanjar died in 1156 it fractured the empire even further rendering the atabegs effectively independent.
- Khorasani Seljuks in Khorasan and Transoxiana. Capital: Merv
- Kermani Seljuks
- Sultanate of Rum. Capital: Iznik , later Konya
- Atabeghlik of Salgur in Iran
Throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic [i] importance because of its centr ...
- Atabeghlik of Ildeniz in Iraq and Azerbaijan. Capital Hamadan
- Atabeghlik of Bori in Syria. Capital: Damascus
- Atabeghlik of Zangi in Al Jazira . Capital: Mosul
- Turcoman Beghliks: Danishmendis, Artuqids, Saltuqis and Mengujegs in Asia Minor
- Khwarezmshahs in Transoxiana, Khwarezm. Capital: Urganch
After the Second Crusade Nur ad-Din's general Shirkuh, who had established himself in
Egypt on Fatimid land, was succeeded by
Saladin who rebelled against Nur ad-Din. Upon Nur ad-Dins death, Saladin married his widow and captured most of Syria creating the
Ayyubid dynasty.
On other fronts the the
Kingdom of Georgia began to become a regional power and extended its borders at the expense of Great Seljuk as did the revival of the
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia under Leo II of Armenia in Anatolia. The
Abbassid caliph An-Nasir also began to reassert the authority of the caliph and allied himself with the Khwarezmshah Ala ad-Din Tekish.
For a brief period Togrül III was the Sultan of all Seljuk except for Anatolia. In 1194 Togrül was defeated by Ala ad-Din Tekish, the Shah of
Khwarezmid Empire, and the Seljuk finally collapsed. Of the former Seljuk Empire, only the Sultanate of Rüm in
Anatolia remained. As the dynasty declined in the middle of the
13th century, the
Mongols invaded
Anatolia in the 1260s and divided it into small emirates called the Anatolian beyliks, one of which, the
Ottoman, would rise to power and conquer the rest.
Rulers of Seljuk Dynasty 1037-1157
- Tugrul I 1037-1063
- Alp Arslan bin Chaghri 1063-1072
- Jalal ad-Dawlah Malik Shah I 1072-1092
- Nasir ad-Din Mahmud I 1092-1093
- Rukn ad-Din Barkiyaruq 1093-1104
- Mu'izz ad-Din Malik Shah II 1105
- Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad/Mehmed I Tapar 1105-1118
- Mahmud II 1118-1131
- Mu'izz ad-Din Ahmed Sanjar 1131-1157
Seljuk Rulers of Kerman 1041-1187
Kerman was a nation in southern Persia. It fell in 1187, probably conquered by Togrül III of Great Seljuk.
- Qawurd 1041-1073
- Kerman Shah 1073-1074
- Sultan Shah 1074-1075
- Hussain Omar 1075-1084
- Turan Shah I 1084-1096
- Iran Shah 1096-1101
- Arslan Shah I 1101-1142
- Mehmed I 1142-1156
- Togrül Shah 1156-1169
- Bahram Shah 1169-1174
- Arslan Shah II 1174-1176
- Turan Shah II 1176-1183
- Mehmed II 1183-1187
Seljuk Rulers in Syria 1076-1117
- Abu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush I 1085-1086
- Jalal ad-Dawlah Malik Shah I of Great Seljuk 1086-1087
- Qasim ad-Dawla Abu Said Aq Sunqur al-Hajib 1087-1094
- Abu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush I ' 1094-1095
- Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan 1095-1113
- Tadj ad-Dawla Alp Arslan al-Akhras 1113-1114
- Sultan Shah 1114-1123
Sultans/
Emirs of
Damascus:
- Aziz ibn Abaaq al-Khwarazmi 1076-1079
- Abu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush I 1079-1095
- Abu Nasr Shams al-Muluk Duqaq 1095-1104
- Tutush II 1104
- Muhi ad-Din Baqtash 1104
Atabegs of
Aleppo:
- Lulu 1114-1117
- Shams al-Havas Yariqtash 1117
- Imad ad-Din Zengi 1128-1146
- Nur ad-Din 1146-1174
Seljuk Sultans of Rüm 1077-1307
- Kutalmish 1060-1077
- Süleyman Ibn Kutalmish 1077-1086
- Dawud Kilij Arslan I 1092-1107
- Malik Shah 1107-1116
- Rukn ad-Din Mas'ud 1116-1156
- Izz ad-Din Kilij Arslan II 1156-1192
- Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau I 1192-1196
- Süleyman II 1196-1204
- Kilij Arslan III 1204-1205
- Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau I ' 1205-1211
- Izz ad-Din Kay Ka'us I 1211-1220
- Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh I 1220-1237
- Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau II 1237-1246
- Izz ad-Din Kay Ka'us II 1246-1260
- Rukn ad-Din Kilij Arslan IV 1248-1265
- Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh II 1249-1257
- Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau II ' 1257-1259
- Ghiyath ad-Din Kay Khusrau III 1265-1282
- Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II 1282-1284
- Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh III 1284
- Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II ' 1284-1293
- Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh III ' 1293-1294
- Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II ' 1294-1301
- Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh III ' 1301-1303
- Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud II ' 1303-1307
- Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud III 1307
See also
, list of Seljuk rulers in the German Wikipedia
References
External links
