ABSTRACT
Sultan Tapar and Great Sultan Sancar’s reigns oversaw the century-long dissolution of the Great Seljuq Empire. The end came after the crushing defeat at Katvan (1141), inflicted by the Turko-Mongol forces of the Kara-Khitay. It left the Great Seljuq Empire unable to deal with Great Sultan Sancar’s defeat and capture by none other than the Oguz (1153-7). The process can be said to have started in the previous decade, during the interregnum, but Sultan Tapar and his sons do not seem to have been able to regain control of their commanders as Great Sultan Sancar did leading them by example. It is possible Sultan Tapar was reluctant to lose face in the case of defeat by the Crusaders, but he never took charge against rebellious commanders either. Having conducted the siege of Shahdiz and defeated the rebellious Sadaqa, he appears to have been satisfied to assign various commanders to besiege Urfa or to campaign in Syria. Urfa gave access to Aleppo. Having suffered a crushing defeat at Harran immediately south of Urfa (1104), the Crusaders were forced to try and take Aleppo or Damascus from Antakya or Jerusalem, failing repeatedly. Their heavily armoured mounted knights and poorly equipped foot soldiers never properly overcame the desert conditions. Although Urfa did not fall until 1144, the various Seljuq commanders besieging it appear to have systematically decimated the countryside, forcing the Crusaders to vacate the eastern banks of the Tigris and thus making it almost impossible to mount an attack on Aleppo from Urfa. In the few months after Sultan Tapar’s death the heir apparent Mahmud and his brothers re-enacted the state of affairs that followed Sultan Malik-Shah’s death. Mahmud was thirteen and his eldest brothers Mascud and Tuğrul only nine and eight. Sancar put an end to the fighting started by the commanders, which involved Sadaqa’s son Dubays. Sancar defeated and captured Sultan Mahmud at Sawa (1119). However, given that a year elapsed between Sancar’s arrival in Rayy and the victory at Sawa, it would seem Sultan Mahmud did not give up without a struggle. Great Sultan Sancar then permanently weakened the Seljuqs of Iraq as they have come to be referred to by stripping Sultan Mahmud of various provinces and openly favouring his brother Tuğrul. Sultan Mahmud countered, involving Caliph al-Mustarshid against Great Sultan Sancar. This started a series of events during which the caliph and his successor al-Rashid took the field against the Seljuqs and lost their lives, ostensibly to Nizari assassins.
