Military History of Ray, Iran - Seljuqs, Mid To Late 11th Century CE

Seljuqs, Mid To Late 11th Century CE

To the south-east of the Aral Sea was the homeland of the Oghuz, many of whom still lived there, as relatively well-behaved Sunni subjects of the Sultan. After the death in 425 H (1034 CE) of the local ruler 'Ali-Tegin, who had protected them, a surprising chain of events made some of them rulers of Khorasan and Khwarazm within a few years. Under the leadership of Arslan ibn Seljuq's nephew Tughril-beg (who had been crowned as Sultan) and his half-brother Ibrahim Yinal, many of them moved on westwards. In 433 H (1041-2 CE) Ibrahim arrived at Ray, and began driving away the Oghuz who were already there, by now known as the "Iraqi Turkmen". The following year, Tughril arrived, and decided to make Ray the capital of his territory, sending Ibrahim off to fight the Kurds. Fana-Khusrau ibn Majd al-Daula was allowed to remain in residence at Tabarak, where he had prudently retreated when Ibrahim's force arrived.

The city was a wreck, with perhaps as few as 3,000 inhabitants, so Sultan Tughril ordered a massive reconstruction programme, before moving on westward to expand his empire. For years, Ray remained peaceful, and regained its prosperity, but in 451 H (1059 CE), following the death of his brother Da'ud (Chaghri-beg) who had remained in the east as ruler of Khorasan, Tughril received reports of strange movements by Ibrahim Yinal's army, which appeared to be heading for Ray. Suspecting an attempted coup, Tughril allied himself with Da'ud's sons, and raced to intercept his half-brother. Ibrahim was captured near the city, and on 9 Jumada II 451 (23 July 1059 CE) was given an honourable death by strangulation. The childless Tughril later married one of Da'ud's wives, and installed her son Sulayman at Ray as his successor, but when he died shortly afterwards, in Ramadan 455 H (September 1063 CE), Da'ud's other son Abu Shuja Alp-Arslan Muhammad, who had succeeded his father in Khorasan, had his own ideas. To complicate matters, there was also a member of Tughril's generation still active, Qutlumush ibn Arslan Isra'il, who invoked the Turkic tradition that the most senior male member of the family should succeed to power. Aware of Qutlumush's intentions, Alp-Arslan moved his army from Khorasan towards Ray even before Tughril's death. Even so, Qutlumush arrived first, with Turkmen troops who had been based in the nearby Elburz Mountains, and besieged the city, plundering the surrounding area for supplies. Hearing of Alp-Arslan's approach, Sulayman's officers, including ultimately his vizier, decided to offer him the Sultanate if he defeated Qutlumush, and relegate Sulayman to heir-apparent. In Dhu'l Hijjah 456 H (December 1063 CE) Alp-Arslan's forces achieved their goal, despite the flooding of a salt-marsh to hinder their approach, and the fleeing Qutlumush was killed, allegedly in a fall from his horse. Alp-Arslan was acknowledged as Sultan, and for two generations, Ray continued in peace.

In 485 H (1092 CE) the prosperity of the Seljuq empire was severely disturbed by the assassination of the brilliant vizier Nizam al-Mulk, followed very soon afterwards by that of his master, Alp-Arslan's son, Sultan Malik Shah. Once again there was a scramble for power, led by Malik-Shah's widow, Turkan Khatun, who concealed his death until she had obtained agreement that he should be succeeded by their young son Mahmud. She had Malik-Shah's eldest son Berk-Yaruq imprisoned during this time, but when the Sultan's death was announced, supporters of Nizam al-Mulk freed him, and he was proclaimed Sultan at Ray, before following and defeating Turkan Khatun's forces (January 1093 CE), after which he allowed her and Mahmud to rule over southern Iran. For months Berk-Yaruq fought other contenders in different parts of his new empire, until his uncle Tutush, ruler of Damascus, raised a new army and invaded Iraq. Conveniently for Berk-Yaruq, Turkan Khatun died in Ramadan 487 (September–October 1094 CE) followed shortly afterwards by young Mahmud, and their troops agreed to support him. The armies of Tutush and Berk-Yaruq met outside Ray on 17 Safar 488 (26 February 1095 CE), but most of Tutush's allies deserted him before battle commenced, and he was killed by a ghulam (soldier-slave) of a former ally, Aq-Sonqur, whom he had executed a few months earlier for attempting to abandon the campaign of conquest.

In 491 H (1098 CE) the amir Öner, a former governor of Fars who had been demoted after failing to quell a Kurdish rebellion, was persuaded to rebel, by Berk-Yaruq's dismissed ex-vizier, Mu'ayyad al-Mulk 'Ubayd Allah- a major reason being the suspicion that Berk-Yaruq's closest advisor, Majd al-Mulk, a known Shi'ite sympathiser and outward opponent of violence, was behind a series of assassinations of amirs. The following year, Öner set out from Isfahan towards Ray with an army of 10,000 but he was assassinated near Saveh by one of his Turkman ghulams (who was allegedly a member of the Batini Isma'ili sect), and the rebellion fell apart. Now other amirs banded together and demanded that Majd be handed over to them. Initially, Berk-Yaruq resisted, but the armed forces were on the amirs' side. Mu'ayyad went to the Sultan's half-brother, prince Muhammad, and suggested that if he sought power this would be a good moment to take it. Muhammad took this advice, proclaimed himself sultan, and appointed Mu'ayyad as his vizier. Shortly afterwards, Majd was killed, either by the amirs or by disaffected soldiers, and Berk-Yaruq was abandoned. Muhammad met with his new allies at Khurraqan, and marched towards Ray. With the small forces that remained to him, Berk-Yaruq got there faster, and was joined by amir Yinal ibn Anushtakin al-Husami and 'Izz al-Mulk Mansur ibn Nizam al-Mulk, with their forces. Still not strong enough to confront Muhammad, Berk-Yaruq left Ray to gather more allies, but his mother Zubaida Khatun remained behind, and when Muhammad's army reached the city in late summer 493 H (1099 CE), they found her there. Mu'ayyad imprisoned her in the citadel, demanded money from her, and then, against the advice of his councillors, had her strangled. In the autumn of 494 H (1100 CE) Berk-Yaruq defeated Muhammad between Ray and Hamadan, and personally executed Mu'ayyad, but the war continued, including a curious, almost bloodless battle at Ray in Jumada I 495 H (February–March 1102 CE) which scattered Muhammad's 10,000 cavalry. However, when Berk-Yaruq died of tuberculosis in Rabi II 498 H (December 1104 CE), his son was only four years old, so Muhammad swiftly took over from the little Sultan Malik Shah II.