Alp Arslan

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Alp Arslan humiliates Romanos IV, manuscript 15th century

Alp Arslan , with full name Diya ad-Din Adud ad-Daula Abu Schudscha Muhammad Alp Arslan ( DMG Ḍiyāʾ ad-Dīn ʿAḍud ad-Daula Abū Šuǧāʿ Muḥammad Alp-Arslan; * approx. 1030 ; † December 15, 1072 ), was from 1063 to 1072 Sultan of the Great Seljuks . Its Turkish name Alp Arslan means brave or brave lion .

Life

Alp Arslan enthroned, illustration by Hafiz Abru, around 1425.

Alp Arslan was a son of Tschaghri Beg and led his armies at a young age. He succeeded his father in 1059 as ruler of the eastern Seljuk sub-empire. When his uncle Tughrul Beg died childless, a power struggle broke out. Tughrul Beg had chosen Alp Arslan's younger brother Suleyman as his successor. Alp Arslan intervened and marched to Rey to be appointed sultan on April 27, 1064. In the same year he had to deal with his relative Kutalmiş Beg. Alp Arslan won again and Kutalmiş Beg was killed. His children fled to Anatolia and later founded the Sultanate of Rum . Through his rule, Alp Arslan united the Seljuk Empire, which had recently been divided. As Tughrul's successor, he consolidated his rule over Persia and Turkestan . As a vizier Nizam al-Mulk stood by his side.

Shortly after taking the throne, he set about unifying the Muslim countries under his leadership. He also took action against the Shiite Fatimids, the enemies of the Abbasid caliphs. The Seljuk sultans had entered into an alliance with the caliphs under Tughrul Beg. In addition, he undertook raids against the neighboring Christian states such as Armenia , Georgia and the Byzantine Empire . In 1063 he conquered several fortresses, including the fortress of the Armenian city of Ani , the castle of Şavşat in today's Artvin , the castle of Kars and Oltu in Erzurum . In 1068 he invaded Byzantium again via Syria. In 1071 he conquered Aleppo .

Alp Arslan next prepared for war against the Fatimid heartland in Egypt. But shortly before the campaign began, a conflict with Byzantium broke out. The new Byzantine emperor Romanos IV wanted to defeat the Seljuks and drive them out. There were several skirmishes in Cilicia , until the battle of Manzikert finally brought the decision in favor of Alp Arslan. Emperor Romanos IV was captured. The following dialogue is said to have taken place between the two rulers:

Alp Arslan : "What would you do if I were brought to you as a prisoner?"
Romanos : "Maybe I would have killed you or exhibited you in the streets of Constantinople [...]"
Alp Arslan : “My punishment is harder. I'll set you free. "

Since the main goal of the sultan was the annihilation of the Fatimids, the emperor was released; the war against Byzantium was to take place later. But the released emperor was deposed because of his defeat in Byzantium, blinded and sent into exile in Proti . Due to a civil war, the Byzantine Empire was so weakened that it lost control of Eastern and Central Anatolia. These areas now fell to the Seljuks.

Characteristics of the politics of Alp Arslan

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The following factors were decisive for the success of Alp Arslan:

  • A large number of Turkomans who had immigrated to Persia in the course of the Seljuk conquests were used in forays outside of Dār al-Islam and outside of Fāṭimid territory.
  • The Sultan's forces could not be withstood. The troops were highly mobile. On the other hand, they were also characterized by a mildness that showed itself to all rebels who submitted to the Sultan.
  • The rulers in conquered territories, both Shiite and Sunni, continued to be in office as the sultan's vassals. In addition, members of the Seljuk family were installed as governors in the provinces.
  • Alp Arslan prevented a succession conflict by appointing his (not firstborn) son Malik Schāh (Malikšah) as heir.
  • Good relations with the 'Abbasid Caliph Qā'im .

death

After Alp Arslan had conquered large areas in the west, he turned against the Qarakhanids in Turkestan. He advanced as far as the Oxus River . In order to be able to cross this river safely, some fortresses had to be conquered in its vicinity. A castle was defended by Yussuf el-Harezmi for several days. But in the end he handed over the castle and was shown to Alp Arslan. This sentenced him to death. In desperation, Yussuf lunged at the Sultan with his sword. Alp Arslan, who was a proud fighter, forbade the guards to intervene. An arrow from Alp Arslan missed Yussuf, and the latter severely wounded him with his sword. Alp Arslan succumbed to this injury days later and died in 1072 at the age of 42. While still on his deathbed, he is said to have told his son that his vanity was to blame for his death. He was buried next to his father in Merw . His son Malik Shah succeeded him.

At that time, the rulership of Alp Arslans extended from Khoresmia (Iran) to the eastern border of the Byzantine Empire.

A Turkish expedition under Yusuf Halaçoğlu claims to have discovered the grave of Alp Arslans near Merw in Turkmenistan in 2009.

Trivia

In Turkmenistan , the month of August was renamed in honor of Alp Arslan in 2002 under President Saparmyrat Nyýazow . The renaming of the Turkmen month names was reversed in July 2008.

literature

  • Clifford Edmund Bosworth : History of the Seljuq Turks. Curzon, Richmond 2000, ISBN 0-7007-1342-5 , pp. 45-47.
  • H. Bowen: Niẓām al-Mulk, Abū 'Alī al-Ḥasan b. 'Alī b. Isḥāq al-Ṭūsī. In: Clifford Edmund Bosworth et al. (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Vol. VIII. EJ Brill, Leiden 1995, pp. 69-73.
  • Claude Cahen : Alp Arslan Aud al-Dawla Abū Shudjā Muḥammad b. Dā'ūd Čaghribeg. In: HAR Gibb et al. (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Vol. IEJ Brill, Leiden 1960, p. 420 f.
  • Claude Cahen : Islam I. From the origin to the beginnings of the Ottoman Empire (= Fischer Weltgeschichte . Volume 14). Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1968, p. 290 f.
  • Claude Cahen: Pre-Ottoman Turkey. A general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history c. 1071-1330. Sidgwick and Jackson Limited, London 1968.
  • Jürgen Paul: From 950 to 1200. In: Albrecht Noth, Jürgen Paul (Ed.): The Islamic Orient. Basics of its history (= communications on the social and cultural history of the Islamic world. Vol. 1). Ergon, Würzburg 1998, pp. 217-252.
  • Carole Hillenbrand (ed.), Kenneth Allin Luther (transl.), Clifford Edmund Bosworth (edit.): Raschīd ad-Dīn . The History of the Seljuq Turks. From The Jāmi 'al-Tawārīkh. An Ilkhanid Adaptation of the Saljūq-nāma of Ẓahīr al-Dīn Nīshāpūrī. Curzon Press, Richmond (Surrey) 2001.
  • René Grousset : The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick (NJ) 1989, ISBN 0-8135-1304-9 , p. 152.
  • Tamara Talbot Rice : The Seljuks. M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1963.
  • Stanford J. Shaw : History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Cambridge University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-521-29163-1 , pp. 6-7.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Habibo Brechna, The History of Afghanistan , Zurich 2012, p. 87.
  2. ↑ Alparslan'ın kayıp mezarı Türkmenistan'da bulundu , article from the Radikal , accessed on December 16, 2009
predecessor government office successor
Tughrul Beg Sultan of the Great Seljuks
1063-1072 		Malik Shah
personal data
SURNAME Alp Arslan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Muhammad bin Da'ud Tschaghri; Mehmed ibn Daud; Alp'arslan; Arp'arslan; Arp Arslan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sultan of the Seljuks
BIRTH DATE around 1030
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1072