While our previous videos on the nomadic peoples from Central Asia’s vast steppe might have
informed you on a new tribe or confederation, almost everyone, history buff or otherwise,
knows of the Seljuks.
After bursting into the high-medieval Middle East, these fearsome conquerors created a
vast empire.
The Turkic incursions into the traditionally Greek Anatolia would, centuries later, blossom
into the mighty Ottoman Empire.
However, to begin that story, we must travel hundreds of years into the past and, once
again, look at events transpiring on the vast grasslands of Eurasia.
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At some point in the late eighth-century, probably during the reign of Abbasid Caliph
al-Mahdi, a horde of Turks, known as the Oghuz, migrated west to the vast steppe region between
the Caspian and Aral seas.
This area became home to the so-called Oghuz yabghu state, in which nomads would migrate
vast distances in order to secure optimal seasonal pasturage for their herds.
Though there were some sedentary settlements in this area, the ‘imperial legacy’ left
by the Gokturks had been inherited by the Khazars, to whom the Oghuz appear to have
been at least loosely subordinated to.
It is in the late tenth-century Khazar realm that we find our first references to the Oghuz
Turkic warlords, known to history as Duqaq and his son, who we know as Seljuk.
According to records composed during the reigns of later Seljuk sultans, the ancestors of
their dynasty served Khazaria’s khagan as military commanders.
This seems to imply that Seljuk and his father were active near Itil and might, like most
other elite Khazars, have embraced Judaism.
During the Khazar disintegration during the 960s, Seljuk migrated east with a small band.
The true reasons for this are shrouded under the historical veil, but range from court
intrigues to rebellion by Seljuk himself.
Modern scholars even argue that changing climate might have forced Seljuk and his group to
migrate in order to escape pasture shortage.
Seljuk led his band of 100 horsemen, 1,500 camels and 50,000 sheep to the town of Jand,
located on the fringes of Islamic Khwarezm.
Jand was the first Muslim-ruled region through which Seljuk’s roving band passed, and it
is there that Seljuk embraced the Islamic faith.
This is a crucial moment in history, as it was a conversion which would have immense
consequences.
With that, Seljuk supposedly managed to gain more followers from ‘the Turks of that frontier
who incline towards holy war’ - men who seem to have been ghāzī - warriors of Islam.
This brings us to the reason for this increasing Islamisation of the Turks, outlined by Korean
historian Kim Hodong: “Islam provided nomadic tribal people with the consciousness of a
homogenous religious community and religious sanction for the expansion of the domain of
Islam, becoming an ideology of unification as well as an ideology of expansion.”
This is essentially all we know about Seljuk himself, who died in Jand in 1009, according
to some sources at the age of 107.
At that point, the region had been going through an upheaval for over a decade.
Two militant new realms - the Karakhanids in Transoxiana, and the former Turkic slaves
Ghaznavids in Khorasan and the Oxus - emerged, consuming vast tracts of the collapsing Samanid
Emirate.
Compounding this were events on the eastern steppe, where nomads known as the Khitans
were disrupting matters in the process of their expansion into what the Chinese would
call the ‘Great Liao’.
This pushed waves of refugees towards the Islamic world’s frontiers, right where Seljuk’s
tribes were located.
The Seljuks now began to gain strength rapidly, probably due to their ability to absorb many
of these rowdy, disaffected nomadic warriors, many of whom converted to Islam and became
ghāzī.
After the progenitor’s death, his elder son Arslan Isra’il became the tribe’s
chief, and we find him intervening in Transoxiana’s politics, supporting a Karakhanid prince known
as ‘Ali Tegin, who tried to establish himself as ruler of Bukhara in 1020.
Tegin was opposed by his own brother’s most powerful supporter Mahmud - Sultan of the
Ghaznavids.
It was in a military engagement on the steppe outside Bukhara that the Sultan of Ghazni
first saw the Seljuks, and was somewhat awestruck with their numbers.
No longer the small band of a hundred people, they were now an increasingly potent threat.
Mahmud’s response was to seize and imprison Isra’il - either in battle or by intrigue
- hoping that this would simply dissolve the burgeoning Seljuks, but he was wrong.
Mahmud of Ghazna’s actions did lead to some Seljuks joining his own Ghaznavid realm as
soldiers, while some chose to flee west into Iran.
However, most remained where they were, and a struggle for leadership began.
By its end, three figures had taken their place at the top of the Seljuk hierarchy - Chaghrı
and Tughrıl - who were the sons of Isra’il’s brother Mika’il - and Musa, another relative
of the inner clan.
While the Seljuks were sorting themselves out, Mahmud’s 32-year reign came to an end
and the sultanate was inherited by a son, Ma’sud, in 1030.
Despite resolving their own leadership contest, the growing Seljuks were defeated in battle
by the Karakhanids of ‘Ali Tegin.
No longer safe where they were, the Seljuk triad decided to flee towards Khurasan.
They were assisted in this by a treacherous Ghaznavid governor in Khwarezm known as Harun,
who helped the nomads pass through his lands in return for their help in conquering Khurasan
province from his sovereign.
Despite Harun’s assassination at the hands of Ma’sud’s agents in 1035, the Seljuks
continued south.
Eventually, they arrived in a town known as Nasa, located in the mountains of Khurasan.
Khurasan was an important province; it was one of the ‘jewels in the crown’ of Ghaznavid
power, and now seemed very vulnerable.
While nomadic life and reputation is often a very ruthless one, the Seljuks weren’t
just wandering mass-killers hungry for conquest, they were people seeking more prosperous lives
for themselves and their families.
So rather than invading, the Seljuk chiefs authored a diplomatic proposal to the Ghaznavid
governor, Suri, explaining their situation and exodus, and asking him to intercede with
Sultan Ma’sud on their behalf.
The Seljuks essentially pledged their service and homage to the sultan and his court, promising
to ‘rest in his great shadow’, if only they were granted a small province of their
own on Khurasan’s frontiers, where they could settle.
Moreover, they also pledged to defend Ghaznavid territories from other Turkic tribes.
Seljuk leadership stated that “If, god forbid, the sultan does not agree, we do not know
what will happen, for we have nowhere else to go.”.
However, Ma’sud, distrustful because of previous damage inflicted by Seljuks in his
territory, declined the offer and prepared to march for war.
This expedition was a total disaster that ended when the sultan’s army was hit by
a cavalry ambush on the plains near Nasa in June 1035.
While the sultan quickly acceded to the now seemingly quite modest Seljuk demands, the
Seljuks, feeling in control of the situation, began sending even steeper demands.
When these were declined, Seljuk hordes swept through Khurasan, capturing all of it, including
the great cities of Merv and Nishapur by 1038.
The sole exception was Balkh, which remained in Ma’sud’s grip.
War continued for the next two years, with ever more Ghaznavid forces being poured into
the defence of Khurasan against the Seljuks.
Though we don’t know much about the campaigns, we have an idea of why the nomads eventually
won.
Ma’sud’s armies were incredibly powerful, having inherited traditions of Indian elephant
use and possessing high quality, heavily armoured mamluk slave infantry.
However, these tactics were not suited for extended steppe warfare, while the swift,
lightly armoured Seljuk Turks, mounted on their fast horses, had little issue.
The potential for Seljuk cavalry armies to attack anywhere allowed them to stretch and
scatter Ma’sud’s armies thinly across the entire Khurasan area.
Although sometimes successful in restoring their authority in some areas, the Ghaznavids
failed to re-secure the province, and were eventually met for the final battle at the
small town of Dandanaqan near Merv in May 1040.
A massive Ghaznavid army, with many dozens of elephants in tow, marched from Nishapur
towards Merv in search of the Seljuks, but its legions of troops were exhausted from
the long desert road and a lack of supplies.
When a brawl broke out between the sultan’s elite guard and his regular soldiers over
use of a water source, Chaghrı, who had been quietly shadowing Ma’sud’s lumbering army
with his own units, pounced just as the Ghaznavid squabbling was reaching its peak.
Mounted Seljuk ghāzī, wielding their fearsome composite bows, swarmed the numerically superior
but disorganised force that was arrayed in front of them, completely destroying the enemy
army.
Ma’sud fled back towards India, but quickly met his death in a palace coup.
After the victory at Dandanaqan, the Seljuks seem to have been in a state of disbelief.
They at first refused to believe Ma’sud had been defeated, and it is said they kept
themselves close to their horses in fear of being caught by surprise when the Ghaznavids
returned.
When the leadership eventually did realise just how crushing their triumph had been,
they set about securing Khurasan for themselves.
Hostile sources emphasize devastation in the province caused by the Seljuks and their animals,
but it can’t have been entirely their doing.
After all, Ma’sud’s giant army had also been placing a severe burden on the region
during years of campaigning.
Pro-Seljuk texts especially emphasize the role that Tughrıl played in restoring order
and crushing the bandits which had arisen following the collapse of Ghaznavid authority.
Rather than acting as a steppe warlord with his boot on the necks of those whom he had
conquered, Tughrıl - who became the prominent Seljuk ‘triumvir’ at this point - began
to act in the manner of a legitimate Islamic ruler.
It is said that Tughrıl even went so far as to threaten suicide if his brother Chaghrı
sacked the city of Nishapur.
Upon taking his seat on Ma’sud’s throne in the city, Tughrıl claimed the title of
Sultan and asked for guidance from the Islamic judges installed by the previous regime, proclaiming
that: “We are new men and strangers, and we do not know the Persians’ customs.”.
The Turks had accepted Islam but had done so on their own terms, with nomadic traditions,
customs, and tribesmen still making up the majority of Seljuk strength.
From this point, a Turkic flavour was added to the Islamic world which it still maintains
to this day.
It also seems that the first elements of Seljuk statehood began to appear, with coins being
minted in the name of Tughrıl and the Caliph in Baghdad, who was still symbolically revered
as the leader of Islam.
Each Seljuk leader went on their own path at about this time.
Musa was given Herat to govern, while the two leading partners Chaghrı and Tughrıl
were given the eastern and western areas respectively.
The former repulsed a series of attempted Ghaznavid reconquests from India and began
Seljuk raids on Sistan, while his brother prepared to advance west, deeper into the
Islamic world.
The areas of Iraq and Iran not yet under Seljuk control were, for the most part, ruled by
a group of Shi'ite princes, known altogether as the Buyids.
These regional sovereigns often squabbled and jostled with one another for power.
Beginning in about 1050, through a mix of diplomacy, opportunistic backing of regional
allies, and outright conquest, the militarily supreme Seljuks asserted sovereignty over
the Iranian plateau.
As nomads, the Seljuks largely concentrated on the countryside pasture for their animals
and a few main cities - such as Ray and Hamadan - which served as bases.
Aside from these strategic settlements, Tughrıl made little effort to assert direct rule over
urban areas.
Therefore, many city-dwellers in the annexed lands experienced almost no change in the
short term, and local princes were even allowed to continue their own feuding, as long as
they did it under Seljuk auspices.
In this period, we also have clear evidence of Seljuk administrative practices.
In the key cities under direct rule, ‘agents’ were installed, essentially Turkic governors
who prioritised the raising of revenue from the cities they governed.
As the realm’s governance matured though, it became more than just wealth extraction.
After Isfahan was conquered in 1051, a system of tax exemptions was put into practice to
tempt peasants back onto lands that they had previously abandoned.
Forts were also constructed in order to ensure the security of nearby roads from bandits,
a measure intended to reassure merchants and boost trade activity.
Tughrıl’s actions so far had attracted the attention of Baghdad’s Abbasid government,
particularly Caliph al-Qa’im’s vizier - a man called Ibn Muslima.
The greatest of Tughrıl’s achievements, however, was yet to come.
Abbasid rulers had largely lost political control over the peripheral regions of their
formerly vast empire by the eleventh-century, but there was an understanding that the caliph
in Baghdad was the symbolic leader of Sunni Islam, and had to be respected as such.
However, the Shi'ite Buyids occupying Iran barely acknowledged his authority at all,
leading to a Sunni reaction in the Round City, a reaction led by al-Qa’im’s aforementioned
vizier, who was known for his fanatical hatred for the Shi’ites.
He saw the potential of these increasingly powerful Sunni Turks as allies and, despite
his caliph’s initial suspicion, convinced al-Qa’im to establish good relations with
Tughrıl.
In Muslima’s mind, the Seljuks would be a deadly sword for use against his rivals
in the city, most prominently the commander of Baghdad’s Turkic slave troops - a Shi’ite
general named al-Basasiri.
The vizier and Tughrıl planned extensively for Seljuk intervention in the ‘City of
Peace’.
Muslima had various religious titles granted to the Turk leader and, in 1053, proclaimed
persecution of heretics in both Baghdad and Tughrıl’s city of Nishapur simultaneously.
The intended symbolism was clear - Tughrıl and the Abbasid caliph were allies, and al-Qa’im’s
enemies were Tughrıl’s enemies, making the latter a legitimate sultan.
With the road paved specifically for his advance, a nomadic Seljuk army advanced into Khuzistan
on the borders of Iraq, its leader proclaiming that he intended to perform the Hajj - the
traditional pilgrimage to Mecca - and to lead an expedition against the Shi’ite Fatimid
Caliphate of Egypt afterwards.
Whether or not Tughrıl actually intended to do this is irrelevant, it was another piece
of deliberately engineered propaganda aimed at showing his credentials as a legitimate
Sunni ruler.
Seeing the writing on the wall, General al-Basasiri fled Baghdad.
Then, finally, Tughrıl and his Seljuks peacefully entered Baghdad in December of 1055, during
the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
They were welcomed by a procession of local notables and crowds which had gathered to
see what was happening.
It is at this moment of Sultan Tughrıl’s greatest achievement that we shall leave him
and conclude by examining just how far the Seljuks had come and where they would go.
In the later 900s, Seljuk and his tiny group of only a hundred Oghuz Turks had crossed
into the Muslim world as irrelevant pastoralists.
Less than a century later, his grandson was riding into Islam’s most glorious city at
the head of massive Turkic army, tens of thousands strong, having received the formal backing
of Islam’s most revered religious figure.
Though this was likely the proudest moment of Tughrıl’s life, the apogee of the Great
Seljuk Empire was yet to come, when it fought against the Fatimids and invaded Anatolia,
eventually defeating the Romans at Manzikert a few decades later.
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