Kerman Seljuks

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The Kerman-Seljuks were a branch line of the Turkish Seljuks who (also) conquered southern Iran after 1040 and which finally split off from the entire empire after the death of Sultan Malik-Shah (1092). The center of their empire was the south-east Iranian province of Kerman .

Origin and founding of the state

The founder of the empire Qawurd († 1073/4) was a grandson of the ancestor Seljuk and a nephew of the sultan Tughrul Beg (ruled 1037 / 40–63). His brother Alp-Arslan (ruled 1063–72) ruled the empire of the Great Seljuks from Persia to Syria, his great cousin Sulaiman founded the empire of the Rum Seljuks in Anatolia.

Qawurd overthrew the Buyid sidelines of Kerman in 1048 and also intervened in Sistan . In addition, his empire extended across the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea to Oman on the opposite Arabian Peninsula (around 1064–1153).

Domestic politics

Today's Kerman , then Bardasir, was the capital of the empire. The rulers were close to urban life, but also changed residence depending on the season in order to be able to take better care of their herds (summer residence Bardasir, winter residence Dschiroft ). Qawurd, Turan-Shah I , Arslan-Shah and Muhammad I are also known as builders.

The financial situation of their state was favorable (until shortly before the end of their rule) and the currency was stable for a long time, which is attributed to the transit trade over land and sea to Central Asia , Asia Minor and India . Trade was encouraged by the rulers in the interests of trade taxes (securing roads, building caravanserais , etc.) and supported with loans.

The troops of the dynasty consisted mainly of Turks , but to a lesser extent also of Dailamites . Their number was not large, however: Qawurd came to Kerman in 1041 with only 5,000–6,000 men and the Oghuz when the dynasty fell in 1186/7 with only 20,000 men.

End of the dynasty

Especially after 1170, the princes were under the control of their Atabegs , whose power struggles (on behalf of their princes) shook the country and drove taxes up. In addition, since the capture of Sultan penetrated Ahmad Sandjar in (1153) Khorasan operating Oghuzen gangs increasingly in Kerman and torn by Malik Dinar power for themselves, and then the last Kerman Seljuk to 1188 to the Ghurids fled.

Ruler

literature

  • CE Bosworth , E. van Donzel et al. a .: The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume V, Leiden 1980

See also