92 ISLAM AT WAR
sultan, he assumed the caliph’s authority to legislate and rule on all mat-
ters, including military questions that were not directly regulated by Mus-
lim law.
The movement of Seljuqs into the Middle East continued and soon had
all of northern Iran and Iraq professing submission, which presented them
with the problem of restoring order to the region while simultaneously
providing their nomadic vassals with booty and grazing lands. This forced
them to press ever farther westward until they began pushing into Ar-
menia. The harsh policies of Sultan Alp Arslan (1063–72) forced more
Turkomans to flee Seljuq rule in Iran, and these flowed into Anatolia.
These refugee Turkomans accepted service as mercenaries under the Ar-
menian and Byzantine feudal nobles in their internecine struggles.
In 1065, as Alp Arslan consolidated his position in Iraq, he launched a
campaign into eastern Anatolia to consolidate his control over the frontier
Turkomans as well as the Christian princes in the region. Byzantine raids
into Syria designed to stop these penetrations were driven back. Alp Ar-
slan then sought a truce with the Byzantines so that he could concentrate
on the Fatimids. Upon learning that the Emperor Romanus Diogenus was
sending a new army against him, however, he moved north to confront
the Byzantines in open battle. The two armies met at Manzikert, north of
Lake Van, on August 19, 1071. The Byzantines were overwhelmed and
destroyed by the Turks’ bow-wielding light cavalry. The Byzantine em-
peror was captured and killed.
Fortunately for the Byzantines, Alp Arslan was still focusing on the
Fatimids and did not avail himself of his victory to push farther into
Anatolia. Unfortunately for the Byzantines, their old system of border
defenses had been destroyed and the path into Anatolia was open for a
constant stream of raids that devastated agriculture and trade. The Byz-
antines sought to deal with the Turks by recognizing their rule of south
central Anatolia, an area that would eventually form the basis of the Seljuq
empire of Rum.
As Anatolia was slowly converted into a Turkish domain, the Great
Seljuq Empire, now centered at Isfahan, reached its peak. Alp Arslan was
killed in battle fighting the Karahanids, another Turkish clan not subser-
vient to the Seljuqs. Maliksah, his son, succeeded him and with active
cooperation of the Byzantines he extended his power into Anatolia, build-
ing a force to counter the Rum Empire.
All did not go well for the Seljuqs, as the Fatimids, who remained active
in Egypt and southern Syria, sent disruptive Shia missionaries throughout
the Seljuq territories. The Ismaili Assassins^1 were founded during this
period, and their campaign of assassination and terror against political and