Seljuq Empire

(noun)

A medieval Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire that controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. The Seljuq Turk attack on Byzantium helped spur the crusades.

Related Terms

Examples of Seljuq Empire in the following topics:

  • The Crusades

    • The Holy Land had been part of the Roman Empire, and thus the Byzantine Empire, until the Islamic conquests.
    • It became acceptable for the pope to utilize knights in the name of Christendom, not only against political enemies of the papacy, but also against Al-Andalus, or, theoretically, against the Seljuq dynasty in the east.
    • The Seljuq Empire had taken over almost all of Anatolia after the Byzantine defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071; however, their conquests were piecemeal and led by semi-independent warlords, rather than by the sultan.
    • A dramatic collapse of the empire's position on the eve of the Council of Clermont brought Byzantium to the brink of disaster.
    • Alexios was worried about the advances of the Seljuqs, who had reached as far west as Nicaea, not far from Constantinople.

  • The Second Crusade

    • After crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuq Turks.
    • In Asia Minor, Conrad decided not to wait for the French, and marched towards Iconium, capital of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm.
    • The authority of the Byzantine Empire in the western provinces of Asia Minor was more nominal than real, with much of the provinces being a no-man's land controlled by Turkish nomads.
    • The king's contingent was almost totally destroyed by the Seljuqs on October 25, 1147, at the second Battle of Dorylaeum.
    • Relations between the Eastern Roman Empire and the French were badly damaged by the Second Crusade.

  • The Double Disasters

    • A Byzantine defeat in 1071 proved decisive for the disintegration and collapse of the Empire.
    • Guiscard was incredibly successful and he turned his eye to conquering the entire Byzantine Empire.
    • Anatolia had been the heartland of the Byzantine Empire, the home of most of its soldiers and farmers.
    • The Byzantine Empire was now vulnerable to conquest.
    • Historian Thomas Asbridge says: "In 1071, the Seljuqs crushed an imperial army at the Battle of Manzikert (in eastern Asia Minor), and though historians no longer consider this to have been an utterly cataclysmic reversal for the Greeks, it still was a stinging setback."

  • The First Crusade

    • After crossing into Asia Minor, the crusaders split up and began to plunder the countryside, wandering into Seljuq territory around Nicaea, where they were massacred by an overwhelming group of Turks.
    • In return for food and supplies, Alexios requested that the leaders to swear fealty to him and promise to return to the Byzantine Empire any land recovered from the Turks.
    • Before ensuring that the various armies were shuttled across the Bosporus, Alexios advised the leaders on how best to deal with the Seljuq armies they would soon encounter.
    • The first object of their campaign was Nicaea, previously a city under Byzantine rule, but which had become the capital of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rum under Kilij Arslan I.
    • On June 7, the Crusaders reached Jerusalem, which had been recaptured from the Seljuqs by the Fatimids only the year before.

  • The Abbasid Empire

    • The Abbasids moved the empire's capital from Damascus, in modern-day Syria, to Baghdad, in modern-day Iraq, in 762 CE.
    • While the Byzantine Empire was fighting Abbasid rule in Syria and Anatolia, the caliphate's military operations were focused on internal unrest.
    • By 900 CE, the Abbasids controlled only central Mesopotamia, and the Byzantine Empire began to reconquer western Anatolia.
    • Mahmud of Ghazni took the title of "sultan," instead of "emir," signifying the Ghaznavid Empire's independence from caliphal authority, despite Mahmud's ostentatious displays of Sunni orthodoxy and ritual submission to the caliph.
    • The political power of the Abbasids largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks in 1258 CE.

  • The German Empire

  • The Brazilian Empire

  • Naming of the Byzantine Empire

    • While the Western Roman Empire fell, the Eastern Roman Empire, now known as the Byzantine Empire, thrived.
    • The Byzantine Empire, sometimes referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the East during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, originally founded as Byzantium).
    • Both "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" are historiographical terms created after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire and thought of themselves as Romans.
    • Over time, the culture of the Eastern Roman Empire transformed.
    • Just as the Byzantine Empire represented the political continuation of the Roman Empire, Byzantine art and culture developed directly out of the art of the Roman Empire, which was itself profoundly influenced by ancient Greek art.

  • Break from the Seleucid Empire and Rise of the Parthian Empire

    • The Parthian Empire began as a minor revolt against the Seleucid Empire, but became powerful and wealthy because they controlled major trade routes.
    • The Seleucid Empire soon overextended itself.
    • He founded the Parthian Empire in 247 BCE when he conquered the region of Parthia, then a satrapy (province) in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire.
    • The Parthian Empire was also called the Arsacid Empire, after the Arscaid dynasty.
    • The Parthians controlled the major trade routes between the Roman Empire and the Han Empire of China, which became the foundation of Parthia's wealth and power.

  • The Holy Roman Empire and the Church