ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the surviving material produced during the recruitment phase of the expedition to discuss how much was known about the Turks by the pilgrims who joined the First Crusade and, by extension, the routes by which knowledge of Seljuk advances could have reached Europe before their departure. As the century progressed, the migrations of the Oghuz Turks gathered momentum under the leadership of the Seljuk dynasty which began to assert its supremacy across Persia. Seljuk power continued to rise and in 1055 Toghril Beg took control in Baghdad, assuming the title of sultan. Only Fatimid Egypt managed to stem the Turkish advance, defeating an invading Turkish army in 1077. The Byzantines had long been aware of the Turks. In 1071 the Byzantines suffered their major defeat at Manzikert and, in the following years as the empire descended into civil war and Turcoman tribes invaded in the east, much of Anatolia was lost.
