Alp-Arslan
(1030 - 1072?)
Turkish ALPARSLAN ("COURAGEOUS LION"), original name 'ADUD AL-DAWLA ABU
SHUJA' MUHAMMAD IBN DA'UD CHAGHRIBEG, second sultan of the Seljuq Turks (1063-72), who
inherited the Seljuq territories of Khorasan and western Iran and went on to conquer
Georgia, Armenia, and much of Asia Minor (won from the Byzantines).
Alp-Arslan was the son of Chaghri Beg, the ruler of Khorasan in Iran,
and the nephew of Toghrïl, the governor of western Iran, the base of
Seljuq expansion. In 1061 his father died. When, in 1063, his uncle died without issue,
Alp-Arslan became sole heir to all the possessions of the dynasty except Kerman, in
southern Iran, which was held by one of his brothers, whom he promptly reduced to
vassalage. He likewise easily eliminated the son of one of Toghrïl's widows, as well as
Qutlumush, a cousin and rival.
Born outside the traditional Muslim countries that he was later to govern, Alp-Arslan
left their administration to his vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, who later continued as
administrator under the sultan's son and successor, Malik-Shah. While maintaining control
of Iraq, Alp-Arslan nevertheless shunned that country in order to avoid such clashes of
interests with the caliphate, the seat of which was there, as had complicated Toghrïl's
last days.
Alp-Arslan's political activity was based on the ideas that inspired all the three
great Seljuq sovereigns. In Central Asia, peace was maintained with the Ghaznavid rulers
who were hard to track down in their mountain strongholds in India, whereas against the
Qarakhanids of Transoxania, force was used. In the west, where Alp-Arslan was to gain all
his glory, he was faced with a more complicated situation. On the one hand, he decided to
go to Egypt to crush the Isma'ili Fatimid heresy, which the 'Abbasid Sunnite caliphate at
Baghdad, whose protector he was, would not accept. On the other hand, he was aware of the
necessity of keeping his influence over the Turkmens, which was essential to his military
strength. The Turkmens were interested above all in the success of the holy war against
the infidels and in raids on Christian territory. Against the Byzantines and their
Armenian and Georgian neighbours, Alp-Arslan conducted a series of campaigns, which were
extended by attacks from autonomous Turkmen bands. In 1064 he seized Ani, the former
Armenian capital, and Kars. These operations resulted only in some consolidation of
boundaries, which assured the Turkmens control over pastureland on the Aras River.
Nevertheless, although the Turkmens returned to Muslim territory to store away their
booty, these expeditions upset the Byzantine defense system and paved the way for the
subsequent Turkish conquest of Asia Minor. They resulted in Byzantine reactions in Syria
and Armenia, after which the two empires began to negotiate.
Alp-Arslan then judged himself sufficiently protected on the Byzantine side to
undertake, at the request of Egyptian rebels, the great anti-Fatimid expedition that had
been asked for by the orthodox 'Abbasid caliphate. As he was about to attack Aleppo, whose
prince was too late in siding with the 'Abbasids, and was preparing to occupy Syria,
Alp-Arslan learned that the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV Diogenes, with a formidable army,
was assaulting his rear army in Armenia. Quickly retracing his steps, he faced his
adversary near Manzikert in August 1071. The Byzantine army, powerful in numbers but weak
in morale, fell before the outnumbered but dedicated Turks. By evening the Byzantine army
was defeated, and, for the first time in history, a Byzantine emperor had become the
prisoner of a Muslim sovereign. Alp-Arslan's goal was not to destroy the Byzantine Empire:
he was content with the rectification of boundaries, the promise of tribute, and an
alliance. But the Battle of Manzikert opened Asia Minor to Turkmen conquest. Later, every
princely family in Asia Minor was to claim an ancestor who had fought on that prestigious
day.
Alp-Arslan's triumph was followed by a commonplace death, permitting moralists to
recall that power rests only in God: at the end of 1072, he had returned to the Qarakhanid
frontier and, during a quarrel, was mortally wounded by a prisoner. He had designated as
his heir his son Malik-Shah, 13 years old, under the guardianship of Nizam al-Mulk.
Alp-Arslan's personality, in spite of the glory surrounding his name, is not easy to
evaluate. Muslims see in him a great captain, a trainer of men, an honest man, an enemy of
all treachery. Christians, contrasting his reputation with that of his son Malik-Shah,
paint him in harsher colours. There is no doubt that conquest seems to have been his
favourite pastime. Although an anonymous writer dedicated to him the Malek-nameh, an
attempt to trace the origins of his family and the empire, Alp-Arslan appears to have
shown little interest in intellectual matters, leaving them, like the administration of
his empire, to his vizier.
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