ABSTRACT
The unity o f the Great Saljuq empire had always been, at least poten tially, a precarious thing, for submission to the sultan was not easy to hold in tension with Turkish notions o f the collective family nature of political sovereignty. Stability had endured for a full half century during the reigns o f three formidable sultans: Toghril Beg, Alp Arslan and Malikshah. But it had not been an unchallenged stability, and both Alp Arslan and Malikshah had had to fight for the throne against other members o f the Saljuq family.
