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Central Asia and the Steppe (11th–12th c.)Wars and battles

The Oghuz take Sultan Sanjar prisoner

In 1153 Oghuz tribesmen pasturing near Balkh, angered by the exactions of Seljuk tax collectors, defeated Sultan Ahmad Sanjar and took him prisoner. For three years they kept the last sultan of the undivided Great Seljuk empire captive while plundering Merv and other cities of Khurasan; Sanjar escaped in 1156 but died in Merv the next year, and Seljuk rule in the east collapsed.

Date
1153 – between October and November 1156start: year known; end: exact date unknown: an interval is given · duration: ≈ 3 years
Place
Near Balkh, where the Oghuz pasturedapproximate locationtoday: Balkh Province, Afghanistan · Central and Northern Asia
Participants
Ahmad Sanjar, Seljuk Empire, Oghuz Turks
Threads
Central Asia and the Steppe (11th–12th c.)
Also known as
Ghuzz revolt; Oghuz revolt of 1153; Captivity of Sanjar; Восстание гузов; Плен Санджара

The Oghuz, or Ghuzz — Turkic tribes of the same stock as the Seljuks themselves — pastured near Balkh as subjects of Sultan Sanjar and paid him a yearly tribute in sheep. In 1153 they killed a tax collector who had treated them with contempt. Qumach, the governor of Balkh, attacked them and was beaten, and Sanjar, urged on by his amirs and rejecting the Oghuz offers of a larger tribute, marched against them himself. In the spring of 1153 (Muharram 548) his army was routed and Qumach was killed; the sultan was taken prisoner, on the battlefield by most accounts or, according to Ibn al-Athir, in the summer, after the Oghuz had plundered Merv.

For three years the Oghuz kept Sanjar with them while they plundered Khurasan: they twice plundered Merv and sacked Tus and Nishapur, and the province was fought over by Seljuk amirs such as Mu’ayyid al-Din Ai-Aba. In the autumn of 1156 Sanjar escaped, but he could not restore his power. Before his death he confirmed the Karakhanid prince Mahmud Khan as his successor; he died in Merv in May 1157 and was buried there, in the domed mausoleum that still bears his name.

Historians see this defeat at the hands of the Seljuks’ own kinsmen as the end of the Great Seljuk empire: after Sanjar the Seljuks held only Iraq and Azerbaijan, while Khurasan was divided among local amirs.

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Connections

Related events

  • Battle of Dandanaqan23 May 1040 · Central and Northern Asiaat Dandanaqan in 1040 the Seljuks had won Khurasan at the head of Oghuz Turkmen; in 1153 Oghuz tribesmen captured the last sultan of the undivided Great Seljuk empire
  • Battle of Qatwan9 September 1141 · Central and Northern Asiatwelve years after Qatwan the weakened sultan was defeated again, this time by Oghuz tribesmen

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Western and Central Europe

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The same period

12th century

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): Ahmad Sanjar
  2. Wikipedia (English): Oghuz Turks
  3. Wikipedia (English): Mu'ayyid al-Din Ai-Aba
  4. Wikipedia (English): Tomb of Ahmad Sanjar
  5. Wikipedia (Russian): Ахмад Санджар
  6. Bosworth C. E. The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (A.D. 1000–1217) // The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods / Ed. J. A. Boyle. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
  7. Ибн ал-Асир. Ал-Камил фи-т-тарих. Полный свод истории / Пер. П. Г. Булгакова, Ш. С. Камолиддина. — Ташкент, 2006.