Chapter LVII: The Turks.—Part I

The Turks Of The House Of Seljuk.—Their Revolt Against Mahmud
Conqueror Of Hindostan.—Togrul Subdues Persia, And Protects The
Caliphs.—Defeat And Captivity Of The Emperor Romanus Diogenes By
Alp Arslan.—Power And Magnificence Of Malek Shah.—Conquest Of Asia
Minor And Syria.—State And Oppression Of Jerusalem.—Pilgrimages To
The Holy Sepulchre.

From the Isle of Sicily, the reader must transport himself beyond
the Caspian Sea, to the original seat of the Turks or Turkmans,
against whom the first crusade was principally directed. Their
Scythian empire of the sixth century was long since dissolved;
but the name was still famous among the Greeks and Orientals; and
the fragments of the nation, each a powerful and independent
people, were scattered over the desert from China to the Oxus and
the Danube: the colony of Hungarians was admitted into the
republic of Europe, and the thrones of Asia were occupied by
slaves and soldiers of Turkish extraction. While Apulia and
Sicily were subdued by the Norman lance, a swarm of these
northern shepherds overspread the kingdoms of Persia; their
princes of the race of Seljuk erected a splendid and solid empire
from Samarcand to the confines of Greece and Egypt; and the Turks
have maintained their dominion in Asia Minor, till the victorious
crescent has been planted on the dome of St. Sophia.

One of the greatest of the Turkish princes was Mahmood or Mahmud,
1 the Gaznevide, who reigned in the eastern provinces of Persia,
one thousand years after the birth of Christ. His father
Sebectagi was the slave of the slave of the slave of the
commander of the faithful. But in this descent of servitude, the
first degree was merely titular, since it was filled by the
sovereign of Transoxiana and Chorasan, who still paid a nominal
allegiance to the caliph of Bagdad. The second rank was that of a
minister of state, a lieutenant of the Samanides, 2 who broke, by
his revolt, the bonds of political slavery. But the third step
was a state of real and domestic servitude in the family of that
rebel; from which Sebectagi, by his courage and dexterity,
ascended to the supreme command of the city and provinces of
Gazna, 3 as the son-in-law and successor of his grateful master.

The falling dynasty of the Samanides was at first protected, and
at last overthrown, by their servants; and, in the public
disorders, the fortune of Mahmud continually increased. From him
the title of Sultan 4 was first invented; and his kingdom was
enlarged from Transoxiana to the neighborhood of Ispahan, from
the shores of the Caspian to the mouth of the Indus. But the
principal source of his fame and riches was the holy war which he
waged against the Gentoos of Hindostan. In this foreign narrative
I may not consume a page; and a volume would scarcely suffice to
recapitulate the battles and sieges of his twelve expeditions.
Never was the Mussulman hero dismayed by the inclemency of the
seasons, the height of the mountains, the breadth of the rivers,
the barrenness of the desert, the multitudes of the enemy, or the
formidable array of their elephants of war. 5 The sultan of Gazna
surpassed the limits of the conquests of Alexander: after a march
of three months, over the hills of Cashmir and Thibet, he reached
the famous city of Kinnoge, 6 on the Upper Ganges; and, in a
naval combat on one of the branches of the Indus, he fought and
vanquished four thousand boats of the natives. Delhi, Lahor, and
Multan, were compelled to open their gates: the fertile kingdom
of Guzarat attracted his ambition and tempted his stay; and his
avarice indulged the fruitless project of discovering the golden
and aromatic isles of the Southern Ocean. On the payment of a
tribute, the rajahs preserved their dominions; the people, their
lives and fortunes; but to the religion of Hindostan the zealous
Mussulman was cruel and inexorable: many hundred temples, or
pagodas, were levelled with the ground; many thousand idols were
demolished; and the servants of the prophet were stimulated and
rewarded by the precious materials of which they were composed.
The pagoda of Sumnat was situate on the promontory of Guzarat, in
the neighborhood of Diu, one of the last remaining possessions of
the Portuguese. 7 It was endowed with the revenue of two thousand
villages; two thousand Brahmins were consecrated to the service
of the Deity, whom they washed each morning and evening in water
from the distant Ganges: the subordinate ministers consisted of
three hundred musicians, three hundred barbers, and five hundred
dancing girls, conspicuous for their birth or beauty. Three sides
of the temple were protected by the ocean, the narrow isthmus was
fortified by a natural or artificial precipice; and the city and
adjacent country were peopled by a nation of fanatics. They
confessed the sins and the punishment of Kinnoge and Delhi; but
if the impious stranger should presume to approach their holy
precincts, he would surely be overwhelmed by a blast of the
divine vengeance. By this challenge, the faith of Mahmud was
animated to a personal trial of the strength of this Indian
deity. Fifty thousand of his worshippers were pierced by the
spear of the Moslems; the walls were scaled; the sanctuary was
profaned; and the conqueror aimed a blow of his iron mace at the
head of the idol. The trembling Brahmins are said to have offered
ten millions 711 sterling for his ransom; and it was urged by the
wisest counsellors, that the destruction of a stone image would
not change the hearts of the Gentoos; and that such a sum might
be dedicated to the relief of the true believers. “Your reasons,”
replied the sultan, “are specious and strong; but never in the
eyes of posterity shall Mahmud appear as a merchant of idols.”
712 He repeated his blows, and a treasure of pearls and rubies,
concealed in the belly of the statue, explained in some degree
the devout prodigality of the Brahmins. The fragments of the idol
were distributed to Gazna, Mecca, and Medina. Bagdad listened to
the edifying tale; and Mahmud was saluted by the caliph with the
title of guardian of the fortune and faith of Mahomet.

1 (return) [ I am indebted for his character and history to
D’Herbelot, (Bibliotheque Orientale, Mahmud, p. 533-537,) M. De
Guignes, (Histoire des Huns, tom. iii. p. 155-173,) and our
countryman Colonel Alexander Dow, (vol. i. p. 23-83.) In the two
first volumes of his History of Hindostan, he styles himself the
translator of the Persian Ferishta; but in his florid text, it is
not easy to distinguish the version and the original. * Note: The
European reader now possesses a more accurate version of
Ferishta, that of Col. Briggs. Of Col. Dow’s work, Col. Briggs
observes, “that the author’s name will be handed down to
posterity as one of the earliest and most indefatigable of our
Oriental scholars. Instead of confining himself, however, to mere
translation, he has filled his work with his own observations,
which have been so embodied in the text that Gibbon declares it
impossible to distinguish the translator from the original
author.” Preface p. vii.—M.]

2 (return) [ The dynasty of the Samanides continued 125 years,
A.D. 847-999, under ten princes. See their succession and ruin,
in the Tables of M. De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p.
404-406.) They were followed by the Gaznevides, A.D. 999-1183,
(see tom. i. p. 239, 240.) His divisions of nations often
disturbs the series of time and place.]

3 (return) [ Gaznah hortos non habet: est emporium et domicilium
mercaturae Indicae. Abulfedae Geograph. Reiske, tab. xxiii. p.
349. D’Herbelot, p. 364. It has not been visited by any modern
traveller.]

4 (return) [ By the ambassador of the caliph of Bagdad, who
employed an Arabian or Chaldaic word that signifies lord and
master, (D’Herbelot, p. 825.) It is interpreted by the Byzantine
writers of the eleventh century; and the name (Soldanus) is
familiarly employed in the Greek and Latin languages, after it
had passed from the Gaznevides to the Seljukides, and other emirs
of Asia and Egypt. Ducange (Dissertation xvi. sur Joinville, p.
238-240. Gloss. Graec. et Latin.) labors to find the title of
Sultan in the ancient kingdom of Persia: but his proofs are mere
shadows; a proper name in the Themes of Constantine, (ii. 11,) an
anticipation of Zonaras, &c., and a medal of Kai Khosrou, not (as
he believes) the Sassanide of the vith, but the Seljukide of
Iconium of the xiiith century, (De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom.
i. p. 246.)]

5 (return) [ Ferishta (apud Dow, Hist. of Hindostan, vol. i. p.
49) mentions the report of a gun in the Indian army. But as I am
slow in believing this premature (A.D. 1008) use of artillery, I
must desire to scrutinize first the text, and then the authority
of Ferishta, who lived in the Mogul court in the last century. *
Note: This passage is differently written in the various
manuscripts I have seen; and in some the word tope (gun) has been
written for nupth, (naphtha, and toofung) (musket) for khudung,
(arrow.) But no Persian or Arabic history speaks of gunpowder
before the time usually assigned for its invention, (A.D. 1317;)
long after which, it was first applied to the purposes of war.
Briggs’s Ferishta, vol. i. p. 47, note.—M.]

6 (return) [ Kinnouge, or Canouge, (the old Palimbothra) is
marked in latitude 27 Degrees 3 Minutes, longitude 80 Degrees 13
Minutes. See D’Anville, (Antiquite de l’Inde, p. 60-62,)
corrected by the local knowledge of Major Rennel (in his
excellent Memoir on his Map of Hindostan, p. 37-43: ) 300]
jewellers, 30,000 shops for the arreca nut, 60,000 bands of
musicians, &c. (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p. 274. Dow, vol. i.
p. 16,) will allow an ample deduction. * Note: Mr. Wilson (Hindu
Drama, vol. iii. p. 12) and Schlegel (Indische Bibliothek, vol.
ii. p. 394) concur in identifying Palimbothra with the Patalipara
of the Indians; the Patna of the moderns.—M.]

7 (return) [ The idolaters of Europe, says Ferishta, (Dow, vol.
i. p. 66.) Consult Abulfeda, (p. 272,) and Rennel’s Map of
Hindostan.]

711 (return) [ Ferishta says, some “crores of gold.” Dow says, in
a note at the bottom of the page, “ten millions,” which is the
explanation of the word “crore.” Mr. Gibbon says rashly that the
sum offered by the Brahmins was ten millions sterling. Note to
Mill’s India, vol. ii. p. 222. Col. Briggs’s translation is “a
quantity of gold.” The treasure found in the temple, “perhaps in
the image,” according to Major Price’s authorities, was twenty
millions of dinars of gold, above nine millions sterling; but
this was a hundred-fold the ransom offered by the Brahmins.
Price, vol. ii. p. 290.—M.]

712 (return) [ Rather than the idol broker, he chose to be called
Mahmud the idol breaker. Price, vol. ii. p. 289—M]

From the paths of blood (and such is the history of nations) I
cannot refuse to turn aside to gather some flowers of science or
virtue. The name of Mahmud the Gaznevide is still venerable in
the East: his subjects enjoyed the blessings of prosperity and
peace; his vices were concealed by the veil of religion; and two
familiar examples will testify his justice and magnanimity.

I. As he sat in the Divan, an unhappy subject bowed before the
throne to accuse the insolence of a Turkish soldier who had
driven him from his house and bed. “Suspend your clamors,” said
Mahmud; “inform me of his next visit, and ourself in person will
judge and punish the offender.” The sultan followed his guide,
invested the house with his guards, and extinguishing the
torches, pronounced the death of the criminal, who had been
seized in the act of rapine and adultery. After the execution of
his sentence, the lights were rekindled, Mahmud fell prostrate in
prayer, and rising from the ground, demanded some homely fare,
which he devoured with the voraciousness of hunger. The poor man,
whose injury he had avenged, was unable to suppress his
astonishment and curiosity; and the courteous monarch
condescended to explain the motives of this singular behavior. “I
had reason to suspect that none, except one of my sons, could
dare to perpetrate such an outrage; and I extinguished the
lights, that my justice might be blind and inexorable. My prayer
was a thanksgiving on the discovery of the offender; and so
painful was my anxiety, that I had passed three days without food
since the first moment of your complaint.”

II. The sultan of Gazna had declared war against the dynasty of
the Bowides, the sovereigns of the western Persia: he was
disarmed by an epistle of the sultana mother, and delayed his
invasion till the manhood of her son. 8 “During the life of my
husband,” said the artful regent, “I was ever apprehensive of
your ambition: he was a prince and a soldier worthy of your arms.
He is now no more; his sceptre has passed to a woman and a child,
and you dare not attack their infancy and weakness. How
inglorious would be your conquest, how shameful your defeat! and
yet the event of war is in the hand of the Almighty.” Avarice was
the only defect that tarnished the illustrious character of
Mahmud; and never has that passion been more richly satiated. 811
The Orientals exceed the measure of credibility in the account of
millions of gold and silver, such as the avidity of man has never
accumulated; in the magnitude of pearls, diamonds, and rubies,
such as have never been produced by the workmanship of nature. 9
Yet the soil of Hindostan is impregnated with precious minerals:
her trade, in every age, has attracted the gold and silver of the
world; and her virgin spoils were rifled by the first of the
Mahometan conquerors. His behavior, in the last days of his life,
evinces the vanity of these possessions, so laboriously won, so
dangerously held, and so inevitably lost. He surveyed the vast
and various chambers of the treasury of Gazna, burst into tears,
and again closed the doors, without bestowing any portion of the
wealth which he could no longer hope to preserve. The following
day he reviewed the state of his military force; one hundred
thousand foot, fifty-five thousand horse, and thirteen hundred
elephants of battle. 10 He again wept the instability of human
greatness; and his grief was imbittered by the hostile progress
of the Turkmans, whom he had introduced into the heart of his
Persian kingdom.

8 (return) [ D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 527. Yet
these letters apothegms, &c., are rarely the language of the
heart, or the motives of public action.]

811 (return) [ Compare Price, vol. ii. p. 295.—M]

9 (return) [ For instance, a ruby of four hundred and fifty
miskals, (Dow, vol. i. p. 53,) or six pounds three ounces: the
largest in the treasury of Delhi weighed seventeen miskals,
(Voyages de Tavernier, partie ii. p. 280.) It is true, that in
the East all colored stones are calied rubies, (p. 355,) and that
Tavernier saw three larger and more precious among the jewels de
notre grand roi, le plus puissant et plus magnifique de tous les
rois de la terre, (p. 376.)]

10 (return) [ Dow, vol. i. p. 65. The sovereign of Kinoge is said
to have possessed 2500 elephants, (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p.
274.) From these Indian stories, the reader may correct a note in
my first volume, (p. 245;) or from that note he may correct these
stories.]

In the modern depopulation of Asia, the regular operation of
government and agriculture is confined to the neighborhood of
cities; and the distant country is abandoned to the pastoral
tribes of Arabs, Curds, and Turkmans. 11 Of the last-mentioned
people, two considerable branches extend on either side of the
Caspian Sea: the western colony can muster forty thousand
soldiers; the eastern, less obvious to the traveller, but more
strong and populous, has increased to the number of one hundred
thousand families. In the midst of civilized nations, they
preserve the manners of the Scythian desert, remove their
encampments with a change of seasons, and feed their cattle among
the ruins of palaces and temples. Their flocks and herds are
their only riches; their tents, either black or white, according
to the color of the banner, are covered with felt, and of a
circular form; their winter apparel is a sheep-skin; a robe of
cloth or cotton their summer garment: the features of the men are
harsh and ferocious; the countenance of their women is soft and
pleasing. Their wandering life maintains the spirit and exercise
of arms; they fight on horseback; and their courage is displayed
in frequent contests with each other and with their neighbors.
For the license of pasture they pay a slight tribute to the
sovereign of the land; but the domestic jurisdiction is in the
hands of the chiefs and elders. The first emigration of the
Eastern Turkmans, the most ancient of the race, may be ascribed
to the tenth century of the Christian aera. 12 In the decline of
the caliphs, and the weakness of their lieutenants, the barrier
of the Jaxartes was often violated; in each invasion, after the
victory or retreat of their countrymen, some wandering tribe,
embracing the Mahometan faith, obtained a free encampment in the
spacious plains and pleasant climate of Transoxiana and Carizme.
The Turkish slaves who aspired to the throne encouraged these
emigrations which recruited their armies, awed their subjects and
rivals, and protected the frontier against the wilder natives of
Turkestan; and this policy was abused by Mahmud the Gaznevide
beyond the example of former times. He was admonished of his
error by the chief of the race of Seljuk, who dwelt in the
territory of Bochara. The sultan had inquired what supply of men
he could furnish for military service. “If you send,” replied
Ismael, “one of these arrows into our camp, fifty thousand of
your servants will mount on horseback.”—“And if that number,”
continued Mahmud, “should not be sufficient?”—“Send this second
arrow to the horde of Balik, and you will find fifty thousand
more.”—“But,” said the Gaznevide, dissembling his anxiety, “if I
should stand in need of the whole force of your kindred
tribes?”—“Despatch my bow,” was the last reply of Ismael, “and as
it is circulated around, the summons will be obeyed by two
hundred thousand horse.” The apprehension of such formidable
friendship induced Mahmud to transport the most obnoxious tribes
into the heart of Chorasan, where they would be separated from
their brethren of the River Oxus, and enclosed on all sides by
the walls of obedient cities. But the face of the country was an
object of temptation rather than terror; and the vigor of
government was relaxed by the absence and death of the sultan of
Gazna. The shepherds were converted into robbers; the bands of
robbers were collected into an army of conquerors: as far as
Ispahan and the Tigris, Persia was afflicted by their predatory
inroads; and the Turkmans were not ashamed or afraid to measure
their courage and numbers with the proudest sovereigns of Asia.
Massoud, the son and successor of Mahmud, had too long neglected
the advice of his wisest Omrahs. “Your enemies,” they repeatedly
urged, “were in their origin a swarm of ants; they are now little
snakes; and, unless they be instantly crushed, they will acquire
the venom and magnitude of serpents.” After some alternatives of
truce and hostility, after the repulse or partial success of his
lieutenants, the sultan marched in person against the Turkmans,
who attacked him on all sides with barbarous shouts and irregular
onset. “Massoud,” says the Persian historian, 13 “plunged singly
to oppose the torrent of gleaming arms, exhibiting such acts of
gigantic force and valor as never king had before displayed. A
few of his friends, roused by his words and actions, and that
innate honor which inspires the brave, seconded their lord so
well, that wheresoever he turned his fatal sword, the enemies
were mowed down, or retreated before him. But now, when victory
seemed to blow on his standard, misfortune was active behind it;
for when he looked round, be beheld almost his whole army,
excepting that body he commanded in person, devouring the paths
of flight.” The Gaznevide was abandoned by the cowardice or
treachery of some generals of Turkish race; and this memorable
day of Zendecan 14 founded in Persia the dynasty of the shepherd
kings. 15

11 (return) [ See a just and natural picture of these pastoral
manners, in the history of William archbishop of Tyre, (l. i. c.
vii. in the Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 633, 634,) and a valuable
note by the editor of the Histoire Genealogique des Tatars, p.
535-538.]

12 (return) [ The first emigration of the Turkmans, and doubtful
origin of the Seljukians, may be traced in the laborious History
of the Huns, by M. De Guignes, (tom. i. Tables Chronologiques, l.
v. tom. iii. l. vii. ix. x.) and the Bibliotheque Orientale, of
D’Herbelot, (p. 799-802, 897-901,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p.
321-333,) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 221, 222.)]

13 (return) [ Dow, Hist. of Hindostan, vol. i. p. 89, 95-98. I
have copied this passage as a specimen of the Persian manner; but
I suspect that, by some odd fatality, the style of Ferishta has
been improved by that of Ossian. * Note: Gibbon’s conjecture was
well founded. Compare the more sober and genuine version of Col.
Briggs, vol. i. p. 110.-M.]

14 (return) [ The Zendekan of D’Herbelot, (p. 1028,) the Dindaka
of Dow (vol. i. p. 97,) is probably the Dandanekan of Abulfeda,
(Geograph. p. 345, Reiske,) a small town of Chorasan, two days’
journey from Maru, and renowned through the East for the
production and manufacture of cotton.]

15 (return) [ The Byzantine historians (Cedrenus, tom. ii. p.
766, 766, Zonaras tom. ii. p. 255, Nicephorus Bryennius, p. 21)
have confounded, in this revolution, the truth of time and place,
of names and persons, of causes and events. The ignorance and
errors of these Greeks (which I shall not stop to unravel) may
inspire some distrust of the story of Cyaxares and Cyrus, as it
is told by their most eloquent predecessor.]

The victorious Turkmans immediately proceeded to the election of
a king; and, if the probable tale of a Latin historian 16
deserves any credit, they determined by lot the choice of their
new master. A number of arrows were successively inscribed with
the name of a tribe, a family, and a candidate; they were drawn
from the bundle by the hand of a child; and the important prize
was obtained by Togrul Beg, the son of Michael the son of Seljuk,
whose surname was immortalized in the greatness of his posterity.
The sultan Mahmud, who valued himself on his skill in national
genealogy, professed his ignorance of the family of Seljuk; yet
the father of that race appears to have been a chief of power and
renown. 17 For a daring intrusion into the harem of his prince,
Seljuk was banished from Turkestan: with a numerous tribe of his
friends and vassals, he passed the Jaxartes, encamped in the
neighborhood of Samarcand, embraced the religion of Mahomet, and
acquired the crown of martyrdom in a war against the infidels.
His age, of a hundred and seven years, surpassed the life of his
son, and Seljuk adopted the care of his two grandsons, Togrul and
Jaafar; the eldest of whom, at the age of forty-five, was
invested with the title of Sultan, in the royal city of Nishabur.
The blind determination of chance was justified by the virtues of
the successful candidate. It would be superfluous to praise the
valor of a Turk; and the ambition of Togrul 18 was equal to his
valor. By his arms, the Gasnevides were expelled from the eastern
kingdoms of Persia, and gradually driven to the banks of the
Indus, in search of a softer and more wealthy conquest. In the
West he annihilated the dynasty of the Bowides; and the sceptre
of Irak passed from the Persian to the Turkish nation. The
princes who had felt, or who feared, the Seljukian arrows, bowed
their heads in the dust; by the conquest of Aderbijan, or Media,
he approached the Roman confines; and the shepherd presumed to
despatch an ambassador, or herald, to demand the tribute and
obedience of the emperor of Constantinople. 19 In his own
dominions, Togrul was the father of his soldiers and people; by a
firm and equal administration, Persia was relieved from the evils
of anarchy; and the same hands which had been imbrued in blood
became the guardians of justice and the public peace. The more
rustic, perhaps the wisest, portion of the Turkmans 20 continued
to dwell in the tents of their ancestors; and, from the Oxus to
the Euphrates, these military colonies were protected and
propagated by their native princes. But the Turks of the court
and city were refined by business and softened by pleasure: they
imitated the dress, language, and manners of Persia; and the
royal palaces of Nishabur and Rei displayed the order and
magnificence of a great monarchy. The most deserving of the
Arabians and Persians were promoted to the honors of the state;
and the whole body of the Turkish nation embraced, with fervor
and sincerity, the religion of Mahomet. The northern swarms of
Barbarians, who overspread both Europe and Asia, have been
irreconcilably separated by the consequences of a similar
conduct. Among the Moslems, as among the Christians, their vague
and local traditions have yielded to the reason and authority of
the prevailing system, to the fame of antiquity, and the consent
of nations. But the triumph of the Koran is more pure and
meritorious, as it was not assisted by any visible splendor of
worship which might allure the Pagans by some resemblance of
idolatry. The first of the Seljukian sultans was conspicuous by
his zeal and faith: each day he repeated the five prayers which
are enjoined to the true believers; of each week, the two first
days were consecrated by an extraordinary fast; and in every city
a mosch was completed, before Togrul presumed to lay the
foundations of a palace. 21

16 (return) [ Willerm. Tyr. l. i. c. 7, p. 633. The divination by
arrows is ancient and famous in the East.]

17 (return) [ D’Herbelot, p. 801. Yet after the fortune of his
posterity, Seljuk became the thirty-fourth in lineal descent from
the great Afrasiab, emperor of Touran, (p. 800.) The Tartar
pedigree of the house of Zingis gave a different cast to flattery
and fable; and the historian Mirkhond derives the Seljukides from
Alankavah, the virgin mother, (p. 801, col. 2.) If they be the
same as the Zalzuts of Abulghazi Bahadur Kahn, (Hist.
Genealogique, p. 148,) we quote in their favor the most weighty
evidence of a Tartar prince himself, the descendant of Zingis,
Alankavah, or Alancu, and Oguz Khan.]

18 (return) [ By a slight corruption, Togrul Beg is the
Tangroli-pix of the Greeks. His reign and character are
faithfully exhibited by D’Herbelot (Bibliotheque Orientale, p.
1027, 1028) and De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. p.
189-201.)]

19 (return) [ Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 774, 775. Zonaras, tom. ii.
p. 257. With their usual knowledge of Oriental affairs, they
describe the ambassador as a sherif, who, like the syncellus of
the patriarch, was the vicar and successor of the caliph.]

20 (return) [ From William of Tyre I have borrowed this
distinction of Turks and Turkmans, which at least is popular and
convenient. The names are the same, and the addition of man is of
the same import in the Persic and Teutonic idioms. Few critics
will adopt the etymology of James de Vitry, (Hist. Hierosol. l.
i. c. 11 p. 1061,) of Turcomani, quesi Turci et Comani, a mixed
people.]

21 (return) [ Hist. Generale des Huns, tom. iii. p. 165, 166,
167. M. DeGognes Abulmahasen, an historian of Egypt.]

With the belief of the Koran, the son of Seljuk imbibed a lively
reverence for the successor of the prophet. But that sublime
character was still disputed by the caliphs of Bagdad and Egypt,
and each of the rivals was solicitous to prove his title in the
judgment of the strong, though illiterate Barbarians. Mahmud the
Gaznevide had declared himself in favor of the line of Abbas; and
had treated with indignity the robe of honor which was presented
by the Fatimite ambassador. Yet the ungrateful Hashemite had
changed with the change of fortune; he applauded the victory of
Zendecan, and named the Seljukian sultan his temporal vicegerent
over the Moslem world. As Togrul executed and enlarged this
important trust, he was called to the deliverance of the caliph
Cayem, and obeyed the holy summons, which gave a new kingdom to
his arms. 22 In the palace of Bagdad, the commander of the
faithful still slumbered, a venerable phantom. His servant or
master, the prince of the Bowides, could no longer protect him
from the insolence of meaner tyrants; and the Euphrates and
Tigris were oppressed by the revolt of the Turkish and Arabian
emirs. The presence of a conqueror was implored as a blessing;
and the transient mischiefs of fire and sword were excused as the
sharp but salutary remedies which alone could restore the health
of the republic. At the head of an irresistible force, the sultan
of Persia marched from Hamadan: the proud were crushed, the
prostrate were spared; the prince of the Bowides disappeared; the
heads of the most obstinate rebels were laid at the feet of
Togrul; and he inflicted a lesson of obedience on the people of
Mosul and Bagdad. After the chastisement of the guilty, and the
restoration of peace, the royal shepherd accepted the reward of
his labors; and a solemn comedy represented the triumph of
religious prejudice over Barbarian power. 23 The Turkish sultan
embarked on the Tigris, landed at the gate of Racca, and made his
public entry on horseback. At the palace-gate he respectfully
dismounted, and walked on foot, preceded by his emirs without
arms. The caliph was seated behind his black veil: the black
garment of the Abbassides was cast over his shoulders, and he
held in his hand the staff of the apostle of God. The conqueror
of the East kissed the ground, stood some time in a modest
posture, and was led towards the throne by the vizier and
interpreter. After Togrul had seated himself on another throne,
his commission was publicly read, which declared him the temporal
lieutenant of the vicar of the prophet. He was successively
invested with seven robes of honor, and presented with seven
slaves, the natives of the seven climates of the Arabian empire.
His mystic veil was perfumed with musk; two crowns 231 were
placed on his head; two cimeters were girded to his side, as the
symbols of a double reign over the East and West. After this
inauguration, the sultan was prevented from prostrating himself a
second time; but he twice kissed the hand of the commander of the
faithful, and his titles were proclaimed by the voice of heralds
and the applause of the Moslems. In a second visit to Bagdad, the
Seljukian prince again rescued the caliph from his enemies and
devoutly, on foot, led the bridle of his mule from the prison to
the palace. Their alliance was cemented by the marriage of
Togrul’s sister with the successor of the prophet. Without
reluctance he had introduced a Turkish virgin into his harem; but
Cayem proudly refused his daughter to the sultan, disdained to
mingle the blood of the Hashemites with the blood of a Scythian
shepherd; and protracted the negotiation many months, till the
gradual diminution of his revenue admonished him that he was
still in the hands of a master. The royal nuptials were followed
by the death of Togrul himself; 24 as he left no children, his
nephew Alp Arslan succeeded to the title and prerogatives of
sultan; and his name, after that of the caliph, was pronounced in
the public prayers of the Moslems. Yet in this revolution, the
Abbassides acquired a larger measure of liberty and power. On the
throne of Asia, the Turkish monarchs were less jealous of the
domestic administration of Bagdad; and the commanders of the
faithful were relieved from the ignominious vexations to which
they had been exposed by the presence and poverty of the Persian
dynasty.

22 (return) [ Consult the Bibliotheque Orientale, in the articles
of the Abbassides, Caher, and Caiem, and the Annals of Elmacin
and Abulpharagius.]

23 (return) [ For this curious ceremony, I am indebted to M. De
Guignes (tom. iii. p. 197, 198,) and that learned author is
obliged to Bondari, who composed in Arabic the history of the
Seljukides, tom. v. p. 365) I am ignorant of his age, country,
and character.]

231 (return) [ According to Von Hammer, “crowns” are incorrect.
They are unknown as a symbol of royalty in the East. V. Hammer,
Osmanische Geschischte, vol. i. p. 567.—M.]

24 (return) [ Eodem anno (A. H. 455) obiit princeps Togrulbecus
.... rex fuit clemens, prudens, et peritus regnandi, cujus terror
corda mortalium invaserat, ita ut obedirent ei reges atque ad
ipsum scriberent. Elma cin, Hist. Saracen. p. 342, vers. Erpenii.
* Note: He died, being 75 years old. V. Hammer.—M.]