ABSTRACT
The events covered in this chapter relate the Seljuqs’ emergence in Transoxania and the problems they faced before being forced to migrate to Khurasan, where they struggled with the Ghaznavids. After their crushing victory at Dandankan, the Seljuqs divided up Khurasan, assigning their chosen leader, Tuğrul Beg, to conquer Iraq with his step-brother Ibrahim Yınal and his cousin Kutalmış, while his uncle Musa and elder brother Çağrı Beg and their sons secured Khurasan and Sistan to the south. Tuğrul Beg was highly successful, but this led to contention with Ibrahim Yınal and Kutalmış. When Tuğrul Beg died, having been declared sultan, Kutalmış and his brother Resul Tekin were still in rebellion with the support of the Türkmen who had backed Ibrahim Yınal. After defeating him for the second time, Sultan Tuğrul had had Ibrahim Yınal and his brothers strangled with their bowstrings. The chapter follows Köymen’s Büyük Selçuklu I˙mparatorluğu – Kuruluş Devri (1979) for the Seljuqs’ early years in Transoxania and Khurasan in conjunction with Sümer’s Oğuzlar (first published in 1965) and Pritsak’s article in the IA on the Karakhanids. Köymen’s Tuğrul Bey ve Zamanı (1976) is the main source for the years between Dandankan and Sultan Tuğrul’s death. Köymen’s Selçuklu Devri Türk Tarihi (1963) has been referred to alongside other works for supplementary material pertinent to the events being reviewed, such as Kafesoğlu’s article in the IA. The regions and cities mentioned in the remainder of the text are identified on Maps A1.2 and A1.3 in Appendix 1.
