Seljuk Empire

Seljuk Empire
Persian: سلجوقيان ‎‎ Salcūqiyān Turkish: Büyük Selçuklu Devleti
Empire
↓ 1037–1194 ↓
Imperial Symbol
Great Seljuq Empire in its zenith in 1092, upon the death of Malik Shah I
Capital		Nishapur (1037–1043) Rey (1043–1051) Isfahan (1051–1118) Hamadan, Western capital (1118–1194) Merv, Eastern capital (1118–1153)
Languages		Persian (official & court language; lingua franca)[1][2][3] Oghuz Turkish[3][4] (dynastic and military language) Arabic (language of learning and religion[1][3])
Government		Monarchy
Sultan
•	1037–1063	Toghrul I (first)
•	1174–1194	Toghrul III (last)[5][6]
History
•	Tughril formed the state system	1037
•	Replaced by the Khwarezmian Empire[7]	1194
Area
•	1080 est.	3,900,000 km² (1,505,798 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Oghuz Yabgu State Ghaznavid Empire Buyid dynasty Byzantine Empire Kakuyids Sultanate of Rûm Anatolian beyliks Ghurid Dynasty Khwarezmian Empire Ayyubid dynasty Atabegs of Azerbaijan Burid dynasty Zengid dynasty Danishmends Artuqid dynasty Saltukids
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The Seljuk Empire (also spelled Seljuq) was a medieval Turko-Persian^[11] empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks.^[12] The Seljuk Empire 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 Seljuks advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia.

The Seljuk empire was founded by Tughril Beg (1016–63) in 1037. Tughril was raised by his grandfather, Seljuk-Beg, who was in a high position in the Oghuz Yabgu State. Seljuk gave his name to both the Seljuk empire and the Seljuk dynasty. The Seljuks united the fractured political scene of the eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized^[13] in culture^[14] and language,^[15] the Seljuks also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition,^[16] even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia.^[17][18] The settlement of Turkic tribes in the northwestern peripheral parts of the empire, for the strategic military purpose of fending off invasions from neighboring states, led to the progressive Turkicization of those areas.^[19]

Founder of the Dynasty

The apical ancestor of the Seljuqs was their beg, Seljuk, who was reputed to have served in the Khazar army, under whom, circa 950, they migrated to Khwarezm, near the city of Jend, where they converted to Islam.^[20]

Expansion of the Empire

The Seljuqs were allied with the Persian Samanid shahs against the Qarakhanids. The Samanid fell to the Qarakhanids in Transoxania (992–999), however, whereafter the Ghaznavids arose. The Seljuqs became involved in this power struggle in the region before establishing their own independent base.

Tughril and Chaghri

Tughril was the grandson of Seljuq and brother of Chaghri, under whom the Seljuks wrested an empire from the Ghaznavids. Initially the Seljuqs were repulsed by Mahmud and retired to Khwarezm, but Tughril and Chaghri led them to capture Merv and Nishapur (1037).^[21] Later they repeatedly raided and traded territory with his successors across Khorasan and Balkh and even sacked Ghazni in 1037.^[22] In 1040 at the Battle of Dandanaqan, they decisively defeated Mas'ud I of the Ghaznavids, forcing him to abandon most of his western territories to the Seljuqs. In 1055, Tughril captured Baghdad from the Shi'a Buyids under a commission from the Abbasids.

Alp Arslan

Alp Arslan, the son of Chaghri Beg, expanded significantly upon Tughril'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 resistance to the Turkish invasion of Anatolia.^[23] He authorized his Turkmen generals to carve their own principalities out of formerly Byzantine Anatolia, as atabegs loyal to him. Within two years the Turkmens had established control as far as the Aegean Sea under numerous beghliks (modern Turkish beyliks): the Saltukids in Northeastern Anatolia, Mengujekids in Eastern Anatolia, Artuqids in Southeastern Anatolia, Danishmendis in Central Anatolia, Rum Seljuqs (Beghlik of Suleyman, which later moved to Central Anatolia) in Western Anatolia, and the Beylik of Tzachas of Smyrna in İzmir (Smyrna).

Malik Shah I

Under Alp Arslan's successor, Malik Shah, and his two Persian viziers,^[24] Nizām al-Mulk and Tāj al-Mulk, the Seljuq state expanded in various directions, to the former Iranian border of the days before the Arab invasion, so that it soon bordered China in the east and the Byzantines in the west. Malikshāh moved the capital from Rey 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 Seljuq". The Abbasid Caliph titled him "The Sultan of the East and West" in 1087. The Assassins (Hashshashin) of Hassan-i Sabāh started to become a force during his era, however, and they assassinated many leading figures in his administration; according to many sources these victims included Nizām al-Mulk.

Governance

The Seljuq power was at its zenith under Malikshāh I, and both the Qarakhanids and Ghaznavids had to acknowledge the overlordship of the Seljuqs.^[25] The Seljuq dominion was established over the ancient Sasanian domains, in Iran and Iraq, and included Anatolia as well as parts of Central Asia and modern Afghanistan.^[25] The Seljuk rule was modelled after the tribal organization common in Turkic and Mongol nomads and resembled a 'family federation' or 'appanage state'.^[25] Under this organization, the leading member of the paramount family assigned family members portions of his domains as autonomous appanages.^[25]

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. Malikshāh I was succeeded in Anatolia 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 Seljuq territory were the Artuqids in northeastern Syria and northern Mesopotamia; they controlled Jerusalem until 1098. The Dānišmand dynasty founded a state in eastern Anatolia and northern Syria and contested land with the Sultanate of Rum, and Kerbogha exercised independence as the atabeg of Mosul.

First Crusade

During the First Crusade, the fractured states of the Seljuqs were generally more concerned with consolidating their own territories and gaining control of their neighbours than with cooperating against the crusaders. The Seljuqs easily defeated the untrained People's Crusade arriving in 1096, but they could not stop the progress of the army of the subsequent Princes' Crusade, which took important cities such as Nicaea (İznik), Iconium (Konya), Caesarea Mazaca (Kayseri), and Antioch (Antakya) on its march to Jerusalem (Al-Quds). In 1099 the crusaders finally captured the Holy Land and set up the first Crusader states. The Seljuqs had already lost Palestine to the Fatimids, who had recaptured it just before its capture by the crusaders.

Second Crusade

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 Artuqids 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.

Decline

Ahmad Sanjar had to contend with the revolts of Qarakhanids in Transoxiana, Ghorids in Afghanistan and Qarluks in modern Kyrghyzstan, as well as the nomadic Kara-Khitais who invaded the East and captured the Eastern Qarakhanid state. The Kara-Khitais then defeated the Western Qarakhanids, a vassal of the Seljuqs at Khujand. The Qarakhanids turned to their overlord the Seljuqs for help, but at the Battle of Qatwan in 1141, Sanjar was decisively defeated. The Seljuq army suffered great losses and Sanjar barely escaped with his life. The prestige of the Seljuqs became greatly diminished, and they lost all his eastern provinces up to the Syr Darya, with the vassalage of Western Kara-Khanid taken by the Kara-Khitan.^[26]

Conquest by Khwarezm and the Ayyubids

In 1153, the Ghuzz (Oghuz Turks) rebelled and captured Sanjar. He managed to escape after three years but died a year later. The atabegs, such as 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 and rendered the atabegs effectively independent.

1. Khorasani Seljuqs in Khorasan and Transoxiana. Capital: Merv
2. Kermani Seljuqs
3. Sultanate of Rum (or Seljuqs of Turkey). Capital: Iznik (Nicaea), later Konya (Iconium)
4. Atabeghlik of the Salghurids in Iran
5. Atabeghlik of Eldiguzids in Iraq and Azerbaijan. Capital Hamadan
6. Atabeghlik of Bori in Syria. Capital: Damascus
7. Atabeghlik of Zangi in Al Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia). Capital: Mosul
8. Turcoman Beghliks: Danishmendis, Artuqids, Saltuqids and Mengujekids in Asia Minor
9. 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. In time, Saladin rebelled against Nur ad-Din, and, upon his death, Saladin married his widow and captured most of Syria and created the Ayyubid dynasty.

On other fronts, the Kingdom of Georgia began to become a regional power and extended its borders at the expense of Great Seljuk. The same was true during 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 Takash.

For a brief period, Togrul III was the Sultan of all Seljuq except for Anatolia. In 1194, however, Togrul was defeated by Takash, the Shah of Khwarezmid Empire, and the Seljuq Empire finally collapsed. Of the former Seljuq Empire, only the Sultanate of Rûm in Anatolia remained. As the dynasty declined in the middle of the thirteenth century, the Mongols invaded Anatolia in the 1260s and divided it into small emirates called the Anatolian beyliks. Eventually one of these, the Ottoman, would rise to power and conquer the rest.

Legacy

The Seljuqs 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.

The Seljuqs founded universities and were also patrons of art and literature. Their reign is characterized by Persian astronomers such as Omar Khayyám, and the Persian philosopher al-Ghazali. Under the Seljuqs, New Persian became the language for historical recording, while the center of Arabic language culture shifted from Baghdad to Cairo.^[27]

List of sultans of the Great Seljuq Empire

#	Laqab	Throne name	Reign	Marriages	Succession right
1	Rukn ad-Dunya wa ad-Din رکن الدنیا والدین,	Toghrul-Beg	1037-1063	1) Altun Jan Khatun (2) Aka Khatun (3) Fulana Khatun (daughter of Abu Kalijar) (4) Seyyidah Khatun (daughter of Al-Qa'im, Abbasid caliph) (5) Fulana Khatun (widow of Chaghri Beg)	son of Mikail (grandson of Seljuq)
2	Diya ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Adud ad-Dawlah ضياء الدنيا و الدين عضد الدولة	Alp Arslan	1063–1072	1) Aka Khatun (widow of Toghrul I) (2) Safariyya Khatun (daughter of Yusuf Qadir Khan, Khagan of Kara-Khanid) (3) Fulana Khatun (daughter of Smbat Lorhi) (4) Fulana Khatun (daughter of Kurtchu bin Yunus bin Seljuk) (5) Saljan Khatun	son of Chaghri
3	Muizz ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Jalal ad-Dawlah معز الدین جلال الدولہ	Malik-Shah I	1072–1092	1) Turkan Khatun (daughter of Ibrahim Tamghach Khan, Khagan of Western Kara-Khanid) (2) Zubeida Khatun (daughter of Yaquti ibn Chaghri) (3) Safariyya Khatun (daughter of Isa Khan, Sultan of Samarkand) (4) Fulana Khatun (daughter of Romanos IV Diogenes) (5) Fulana Khatun (daughter of Emir Argun)	son of Alp Arslan
4	Nasir ad-Dunya wa ad-Din ناصر الدنیا والدین	Mahmud I	1092–1094		son of Malik-Shah I
5	Rukn ad-Dunya wa ad-Din رکن الدنیا والدین	Barkiyaruq	1094-1105		son of Malik-Shah I
6	Rukn ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Jalal ad-Dawlah رکن الدنیا والدین جلال الدولہ	Malik-Shah II	1105		son of Barkiyaruq
7	Ghiyath ad-Dunya wa ad-Din غیاث الدنیا والدین	Tapar	1105–1118	1) Nisandar Jihan Khatun (2) Gouhar Khatun (daughter of Isma'il bin Yaquti) (3) Fulana Khatun (daughter of Aksungur Beg)	son of Malik-Shah I
8	Mughith ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Jalal ad-Dawlah مُغيث الدنيا و الدين جلال الدولة	Mahmud II	1118–1131	1) Mah-i Mulk Khatun (died 1130) (daughter of Sanjar) (2) Amir Siti Khatun (daughter of Sanjar) (3) Ata Khatun (daughter of Ali bin Faramarz)	son of Muhammad I
9	Muizz ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Adud ad-Dawlah مُعز الدنيا و الدين جلال الدولة	Sanjar	1118–1153	1) Turkan Khatun (daughter of Muhammad Arslan Khan, Khagan of Western Kara-Khanid) (2) Rusudan Khatun (daughter of Demetrius I of Georgia) (3) Gouhar Khatun (daughter of Isma'il bin Yaquti, widow of Tapar) (4) Fulana Khatun (daughter of Arslan Khan, a Qara Khitai prisoner)	son of Malik-Shah I
10	Ghiyath ad-Dunya wa ad-Din غیاث الدنیا والدین	Dawud	1131–1132	Gouhar Khatun (daughter of Masud)	son of Mahmud II
11	Rukn ad-Dunya wa ad-Din رکن الدنیا والدین	Toghrul II	1132–1135	1) Mumine Khatun (mother of Arslan-Shah) (2) Zubeida Khatun (daughter of Barkiyaruq)	son of Muhammad I
12	Ghiyath ad-Dunya wa ad-Din غیاث الدنیا والدین	Masud	1135–1152	1) Gouhar Khatun (daughter of Sanjar) (2) Zubeida Khatun (daughter of Barkiyaruq, widow of Toghrul II) (3) Mustazhiriyya Khatun (daughter of Qawurd) (4) Sufra Khatun (daughter of Dubais) (5) Arab Khatun (daughter of Al-Muqtafi) (6) Ummiha Khatun (daughter of Amid ud-Deula bin Juhair) (7) Abkhaziyya Khatun (daughter of David IV of Georgia) (8) Sultan Khatun (mother of Malik-Shah III)	son of Muhammad I
13	Muin ad-Dunya wa ad-Din مُعين الدنيا و الدين	Malik-Shah III	1152–1153		son of Mahmud II
14	Rukn ad-Dunya wa ad-Din رکن الدنیا والدین	Muhammad	1153–1159	1) Mahd Rafi Khatun (daughter of Kirman-Shah) (2) Gouhar Khatun (daughter of Masud, widow of Dawud) (3) Kerman Khatun (daughter of Al-Muqtafi) (4) Kirmaniyya Khatun (daughter of Tughrul Shah, ruler of Kerman)	son of Mahmud II
15	Ghiyath ad-Dunya wa ad-Din غیاث الدنیا والدین	Suleiman-Shah	1159–1160	1) Khwarazmi Khatun (daughter of Muhammad Khwarazm Shah) (2) Abkhaziyya Khatun (daughter of David IV of Georgia, widow of Masud)	son of Muhammad I
16	Muizz ad-Dunya wa ad-Din معز الدنیا والدین	Arslan-Shah	1160–1176	1) Kerman Khatun (daughter of Al-Muqtafi, widow of Muhammad) (2) Sitti Fatima Khatun (daughter of Ala ad-Daulah) (3) Kirmaniyya Khatun (daughter of Tughrul Shah, ruler of Kerman, widow of Muhammad) (4) Fulana Khatun (sister of Izz al-Din Hasan Qipchaq)	son of Toghrul II
17	Rukn ad-Dunya wa ad-Din رکن الدنیا والدین	Toghrul III	1176–1191 1st reign	Inanj Khatun (daughter of Sunqur-Inanj, ruler of Rey, widow of Toghrul III)	son of Arslan-Shah
18	Muzaffar ad-Dunya wa ad-Din مظفر الدنیا والدین	Qizil Arslan	1191	Inanj Khatun (daughter of Sunqur-Inanj, ruler of Rey, widow of Muhammad ibn Ildeniz)	son of Ildeniz (stepbrother of Arslan-Shah)
—	Rukn ad-Dunya wa ad-Din رکن الدنیا والدین	Toghrul III	1192–1194 2nd reign		son of Arslan-Shah

Great Seljuq sultans family tree
Duqaq Timuryaligh (b. ? -d. ?) Commander-in-chief of Oghuz army                                                                                                         Seljuq-Beg (b. ? -d. ?) Commander-in-chief of Oghuz army                                                                                                                         Yunus   Arslan Yabgu (b. ? -d. 1032) Chief of Seljuq Dynasty   Mikail (b. ? -d. ?)   Musa Yabgu                                                                                                                           1.Toghrul I (r. 1037-1063) Sultan of Great Seljuq   Chaghri-Beg (r. 1040-1060) Governor of Khorasan   Ibrahim Inal   Er-Dash                                                                                                                                                             Qawurd-Beg (r. 1048-1073) Governor of Kirman   Suleiman Prince   Bahram-Shah Prince   Alp Sungur Prince Governor of Azerbaijan   2.Alp Arslan (r. 1063-1072) Sultan of Great Seljuq   Ilyas Prince   Khadija Princess married Abbasid caliph Al-Qa'im.   Uthman Prince   Jawhar Khatun Princess                                                                                                                                                               Tutush (r. 1078-1095) Governor of Damascus   Toghrul Prince   Böri-Bars Prince   Arslan-Shah (r. 1066-1083) Governor of Khorasan   3.Malik-Shah I (r. 1072-1092) Sultan of Great Seljuq   Toghan-Shah (r. 1083-1092) Governor of Khorasan   Aisha Princess married Kara-Khanid khan Nasr Shams al-Mulk.   Arslan-Argun (r. 1092-1097) Governor of Khorasan   Mah-i Mulk Princess married Abbasid caliph Al-Muqtadi.                                                                                                                                               5.Barkiyaruq (r. 1094-1105) Sultan of Great Seljuq   Dawud Prince   Ahmad Prince   4.Mahmud I (r. 1092-1094) Sultan of Great Seljuq   7.Tapar (r. 1105-1118) Sultan of Great Seljuq   9.Sanjar (r. 1118-1153) Sultan of Great Seljuq   Gawhar Khatun Princess married Ghaznavid sultan Mas'ud III.   Sitara Princess married Kakuyid atabeg Garshasp II.                                                                                                         6.Malik-Shah II (r. 1105) Sultan of Great Seljuq           8.Mahmud II (r. 1118-1131) Sultan of Great Seljuq   15.Suleiman-Shah (r. 1159-1160) Sultan of Great Seljuq   12.Masud (r. 1135-1152) Sultan of Great Seljuq   11.Toghrul II (r. 1132-1135) Sultan of Great Seljuq   Mu'mine Khatun wife of Toghrul II until 1135 wife of Ildeniz from 1136   Ildeniz (r. 1160-1175) de facto ruler Atabeg of Arslan-Shah                                                                                                                                 14.Muhammad II (r. 1153-1159) Sultan of Great Seljuq   10.Dawud (r. 1131-1132) Sultan of Great Seljuq   13.Malik-Shah III (r. 1152-1153) Sultan of Great Seljuq               16.Arslan-Shah (r. 1160-1176) Sultan of Great Seljuq   Muhammad (r. 1175-1186) de facto ruler Atabeg of Toghrul III   18.Qizil Arslan (r. 1191) Sultan of Great Seljuq                                                                                                     17.Toghrul III (r. 1176-1191, 1192-1194) Sultan of Great Seljuq
Notes: "Liste der Seldschuken-Fürsten" (in German).  "Family tree of Seljuqs" (PDF).

Gallery

• 

  Seljuq-era art: Ewer from Herat, Afghanistan, dated 1180–1210CE. Brass worked in repousse and inlaid with silver and bitumen. British Museum.

• 

  Head of male royal figure, 12–13th century, found in Iran.

• 

  Toghrol Tower, a 12th-century monument south of Tehran in Iran commemorating Tughril Beg.

• 

  The Kharāghān twin towers, built in 1053 in Iran, is the burial of Seljuq princes.

See also

• Artuqid
• Assassins
• Atabeg
• Anatolian Seljuks family tree
• Danishmend
• Ghaznavid Empire
• Rahat al-sudur
• Seljuq architecture
• Seljuq dynasty
• Sultanate of Rûm
• History of the Turks
• List of Turkic dynasties and countries
• Timeline of the Sultanate of Rûm
• Timeline of the Turks (500–1300)
• Seldschuken-Fürsten, list of Seljuq rulers in the German Wikipedia
• Turkic migrations

References

Further reading

• Previté-Orton, C. W. (1971). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
• Tetley, G. E. (2008). The Ghaznavid and Seljuk Turks: Poetry as a Source for Iranian History. Abingdon. ISBN 9780415431194. 

External links

Wikisource has the text of The New Student's Reference Work article Seljuks.

• http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/533602/Seljuq
•  Houtsma, Martin Theodoor (1911). "Seljūks". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 

House of Seljuq Early Seljuqids Seljuk Mikail Arslan Yabghu Musa Yabghu Sultans of the Seljuq Empire (1037–1194) Toghrul-Beg Alp Arslan Malik-Shah I Mahmud I Barkiyaruq Malik-Shah II Muhammad I Mahmud II and Sanjar Dawud Toghrul II Masud Malik-Shah III Muhammad II Suleiman-Shah Arslan-Shah Toghrul III Governors of Khorasan (1040–1118) Chaghri-Beg Alp Arslan Arslan-Shah Toghan-Shah Arslan-Argun Sanjar Governors of Kerman (1048–1188) Qawurd-Beg Kerman-Shah Husein Sultan-Shah Turan-Shah I Iran-Shah Arslan-Shah I Muhammad-Shah I Toghrul-Shah Bahram-Shah Arslan-Shah II Turan-Shah II Muhammad-Shah II Governors of Damascus (1078–1105) Tutush I Duqaq Tutush II Begtash Governors of Aleppo (1094–1117) Tutush I Radwan Alp Arslan Sultan-Shah Sultans of Rum (1092–1307) Qutalmish Suleyman I Kilij Arslan I Malik-Shah Mesud I Kilij Arslan II Kaykhusraw I Suleiman II Kilij Arslan III Kaykaus I Kayqubad I Kaykhusraw II Kaykaus II Kilij Arslan IV Kayqubad II Kaykhusraw III Mesud II Kayqubad III

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