ABSTRACT
THE EARLY SELJUQ PERIOD, FROM THE RISE OF TUGHRIL BEG
TILL THE DEATH OF MALIKSHAH, INCLUDING THE ORIGIN
OF THE ORDER OF THE ASSASSINS
" T H E advent of the Seljuqian Turks/' says Stanley Lane-Poole, in his excellent Mohammadan Dynasties (p. 149), " f o r m s a notable epoch in Mohammadan history. At the time of their appearance the Empire of the Caliphate had vanished. W h a t had once been a realm united under a sole Mohammadan ruler was now a collection of scattered dynasties, not one of which, save perhaps the Fatimids of E g y p t (and they were schismatics) was capable of imperial sway. Spain and Africa, including the important province of Egypt , had long been lost to the Caliphs of Baghdad ; Northern Syria and Mesopotamia were in the hands of turbulent Arab chiefs, some of whom had founded dynasties ; Persia was split up into the numerous governments of the Buwayhid princes (whose Shi'ite opinions left little respect for the puppet Caliphs of their time), or was held by sundry insignificant dynasts, each ready to attack the other, and thus contribute to the general weakness. T h e prevalence of schism increased the disunion of the various provinces of the vanished Empire. A drastic remedy was needed, and it was found in the invasion of the Turks. These rude nomads, unspoilt by town life and civilised indifference to religion, embraced Islam with all the fervour of their uncouth souls. T h e y came to the rescue of a d y i n g State, and revived it. T h e y swarmed over Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor, devastating the country, and exterminating every dynasty that existed there ; and, as the result, they once more united Mohammadan Asia, from the western frontier of Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, under one sovereign ; they put a n e w life into the expiring zeal of the Muslims, drove back the re-encroaching
Byzantines, and bred up a generation of fanatical Mohammadan warriors, to whom, more than to anything else, the Crusaders owed their repeated failure. T h i s it is that gives the Seljuqs so important a place in Mohammadan history."
