Alp Arslan: the Seljuk sultan who united the empire

In the middle of the 11th century, Seljuk Turkish rule had been established over much of Iran, but it was divided among different members of the family. Alp Arslan (Alp Arslan) brought this scattered dynastic state under a single sultan. He ruled from 1063 to 1072. According to Encyclopaedia Iranica, he can be called the first certain ruler of a united Seljuk empire.

Name and family

According to Iranica, his real name was Muhammad. Arab historians regard “Alp Arslan” as a Turkish title. Sources differ on the year of his birth: one account gives 1029 and another 1032-1033, while Britannica writes about 1030.

He was the son of Chaghri Beg Dawud, the first Seljuk ruler of Khorasan, and the nephew of Tughril Beg, the founder of the Seljuk empire. According to Iranica, part of his youth was spent around Balkh, where his father was engaged in defending the eastern frontier of the empire. In the last years of his father’s illness, military duties fell to Alp Arslan and his brothers, and his father appointed him governor of the regions of Balkh, Tukharistan and Termez.

Accession

Tughril Beg died at Rayy in September 1063. According to Britannica, Tughril had no children, so Alp Arslan, who had ruled Khorasan since his father’s death, became heir to all the family’s territories except Kirman. According to Iranica, there was initially a dispute over the succession and his cousin Qutlumush also laid claim, but Alp Arslan soon consolidated his position, and the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad recognised him in place of his uncle.

Nizam al-Mulk and administration

The most important figure of Alp Arslan’s reign was his vizier, Nizam al-Mulk (Nizam al-Mulk). According to Britannica, Alp Arslan left the administration of the empire to his vizier, and Nizam al-Mulk continued as administrator under his son Malik Shah as well. According to Iranica, Nizam al-Mulk enjoyed the sultan’s full confidence, although the sultan intervened personally in any branch of government when necessary. Other experienced administrators from Khorasan were also part of his government.

Iranica relates one interesting point: according to Nizam al-Mulk’s book “Siyasatnama”, Alp Arslan abolished the government’s secret intelligence system because he thought it would turn his friends against him. Nizam al-Mulk was not happy with the decision.

Iraq and Baghdad

According to Britannica, Alp Arslan maintained his authority over Iraq but avoided going there himself, so as not to bring a clash of powers with the caliphate. According to Iranica, he never entered Baghdad, although a military governor of his was posted there. Citing the historian Bosworth, Iranica writes that this policy kept his relations good with the caliph and the Arab rulers of Iraq.

Frontiers and family ties

A large part of Alp Arslan’s reign was spent on frontier campaigns. According to Britannica, in 1064 he brought Ani (Ani), the old Armenian capital, and Kars (Kars) under his control. In 1065 he went north to the region of Jand on the Syr Darya, where, according to Iranica, he visited the grave of his ancestor Seljuk and the Turkish tribes of the steppe accepted his authority. He also ordered the rebuilding of Gurganj (Khwarazm).

He formed marriage ties with neighbouring rulers. According to Iranica, his son Malik Shah married the daughter of the Qarakhanid ruler of Transoxiana, and his other son Arslan Shah married the daughter of the ruler of Ghazni.

Arrangements for succession

In 1066 at Radkan, Alp Arslan had his nobles swear an oath recognising Malik Shah as heir, and ordered that Malik Shah’s name also be mentioned in the Friday sermon throughout the empire. According to Iranica, on the same occasion he distributed various parts of the empire among his family and companions. In Iranica’s words, when he died suddenly, his successor had already been named and was trained both on the battlefield and in the council, and this arrangement became the basis of the two peaceful decades after him.

Manzikert

In August 1071 at Manzikert (Manzikert) in eastern Anatolia, the army of the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV was defeated and the emperor was captured. According to Britannica, Alp Arslan’s aim was not to destroy the Byzantine empire. He agreed to border adjustments, a promise of tribute and an alliance, and released the emperor. According to historians, the event opened the way for Turkish tribes to settle in Anatolia.

Learning and literature

According to Britannica, Alp Arslan had little personal interest in scholarly matters and had left this field too to his vizier. According to Iranica, Nizam al-Mulk had the opportunity in his reign to found colleges (madrasas), and the famous Nizamiyya madrasa of Baghdad was completed in his time. His court poet was Burhani, the father of the famous Persian poet Mu’izzi, but his work has not survived. According to Britannica, an anonymous author dedicated to him a book on the origins of the Seljuk dynasty, called “Malik-nama”.

Death

At the end of 1072, Alp Arslan set out on a major campaign towards the Qarakhanid frontier. According to Iranica, shortly after crossing the Amu Darya, a captive fortress commander was brought before him. He was seriously wounded in an attack by the man and died three or four days later. Iranica gives his death as November-December 1072, while according to the French historian Claude Cahen (Claude Cahen) the correct date is January 1073. He was succeeded as sultan by his young son Malik Shah, and Nizam al-Mulk remained his guardian.

Legacy

Alp Arslan held together the scattered territories, relatives and subordinate rulers of the Seljuk dynasty in one empire. According to Iranica, this order laid the foundation of the peace and stability of the two decades after his death, known as the era of Malik Shah, which saw such works as the buildings of Isfahan and the new solar calendar.