Seljuk Sultanate

  General Description   The Seljuks were a Turkic dynasty from east of the Aral Sea ^[1] who ruled a relatively decentralized empire across Central Asia, Persia and Mesopotamia - with perhaps the exception of the powerful viziership of Nizam al-Mulk. ^[2] .
The Seljuk Empire (1037-1157 CE) did not have a single political center as it was divided into western and eastern halves ^[3] ; the east had "connotations of seniority in Turkic culture" ^[4] and Nizam al-Mulk himself started his career in the Seljuk bureaucracy in Balkh. ^[5] The western territories were known as the Sultanate of Iraq ^[6] and altogether there may have been 12 million under Seljuk rule in 1100 CE.
Nizam al-Mulk "strove to suppress abuses, to introduce reforms, to initiate his still uncultured Saljuk masters into the arts of Perso-Islamic statecraft, and to provide competent and reliable theologians, judges, and secretaries for the state religion and administration." ^[7] "Nizam al-Mulk was particularly concerned with the construction and maintenance of trade routes, caravanserais, and bridges; the appointment of trustworthy market inspectors and tax collectors; and the appointment of spies throughout the realm - policies crucial to rooting out corruption and fostering confidence in local and long-distance trade." ^[8]
Within the Seljuk system of rule the caliph was the ultimate religious authority ^{[9] [9]} and the sultan was the head of secular power ^[10] supported by a vizier of the diwan-i a’la. ^[11] Seljuk maliks (princes) ruled provinces with an atabeg (supervisor) and a small court bureaucracy overseen by a vizier. ^[12]
As an independent state the Seljuk Empire came to an end when it was defeated by the Mongols and the Sultan had to pay them tribute.

[1]: (Bosworth 2001) C. E. Bosworth, ’Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’ in The Oxford Companion to Military History eds. Richard Holmes, Charles Singleton, and Dr Spencer Jones (2001) (al-Rahim 2010) Ahmed H. al-Rahim, ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 48) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) A C S Peacock. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Peacock 2015, 41) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[5]: (Peacock 2015, 48) A C S Peacock. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[6]: (Peacock 2015, 7) A C S Peacock. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[7]: (Bagley 1964, xxviii-xxix) F R C Bagley. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.

[8]: (Lindsay 2005, 20) James E Lindsay. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.

[9]: (al-Rahim 2012) Ahmed H. al-Rahim, ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)

[10]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), P.69.

[11]: (Peacock 2015, 333) A C S Peacock. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[12]: (Peacock 2015, 194-195) A C S Peacock. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.