line reigned there till 1258. Meanwhile the Turks had already appeared. The Turks are a Turanian people who came from Central Asia beyond the Oxus. Already in 710 the Arabs had pushed their conquests into this country and had begun to make converts there. Throughout their history the Turks are Moslems, pupils of the Arabs in religion, custom, and everything.[1] There are many tribes of Turks. The civil-spoken gentlemen at Constantinople who wear French clothes and read French newspapers have wild and shaggy cousins who guard their flocks in Central Asia. The first on the scene are the Seljuk Turks. They begin to attack the Roman Empire in the 11th century. Their Sultan[2] Alp-Arslan invaded Asia Minor and took the Emperor Romanos prisoner in 1071. In 1092 Nicæa (Isnik) became the capital of a Seljuk kingdom covering Asia Minor and Palestine. Theoretically the Turks acknowledged the Khalif at Bagdad as their overlord; practically, the centre of gravity of Islam shifts from the weak titular ruler to the Turkish Sultan. It was against the Seljuk Turks that the Crusaders fought.[3] The Khalif had a Turkish bodyguard; already the way was open for them to seize whatever shadow of authority was left to him. Then in the 13th century a frightful storm burst over both. The Tatars under Jengiz Khān,[4] "the scourge of God," burst over Asia, carrying havoc into China, Persia, Europe and Syria. In 1258 they sacked Bagdad and killed the last Abbassid Khalif, Musta‘aṣim.[5] Just at the same time the Osmanli Turks make their appearance; when the Tatar storm had passed they remain in possession of Syria, invade Europe, and found the Empire of
- ↑ A good parallel is that of the Franks in Western Europe, who learned everything from Rome, and finally became the successors and representatives of the Roman Empire.
- ↑ Sulṭān, a king (Ar. salaṭ, to rule). This was at first an inferior title, granted to the Turkish chieftains by the Khalif at Bagdad (like Amīr).
- ↑ At first. Later the independent Amirs of Egypt enter the lists.
- ↑ Ḥān is a Persian word, again meaning Lord, Prince. It is one of the titles of the Sultan now.
- ↑ Abū Aḥmad ‘Abdullāh, al-Musta‘aṣim billāh ("protected by God," 1242–1258). An alleged son of the house of Abbās fled to Egypt and continued the line of titular Khalifs there. Sultan Selim II (the Drunkard, 1566–1574), who lost the battle of Lepanto (1571), forced the last of this line to cede his rights to him. On this totally illegal bargain is based the Turkish Sultan's claim to be Khalif.
