TOGHRL BEG

born c. 990 died Sept. 4, 1063, Rayy, Iran Toghrl also spelled Tughril founder of the Seljuq dynasty, which ruled in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Anatolia during the 11th 14th centuries. Under his rule the Seljuqs assumed the leadership of the Islamic world by establishing political mastery over the 'Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad. The grandson of Seljuq, chief of the Oguz tribes in the Jand region, Toghrl, with his brother Chaghr, entered Muslim Transoxania shortly before 1016, and in 1025 they and their uncle Arslan entered the service of the Turkish Qarakhanid prince of Bukhara. Defeated by Mahmud of Ghazna in the same year, Toghrl and Chaghr took refuge in Khwarezm (around the estuary of the Amu Darya , southeast of the Aral Sea), while Arslan settled in Khorasan. Later, however, after their kinsmen in Khorasan had been driven by Mahmud to western Iran, the two brothers themselves entered Khorasan, where, having established close ties with the orthodox Muslim groups in the large towns, they subdued Merv and Nishapur (102829). Finally, in 1040 at Dandanqan, the Seljuqs inflicted a decisive defeat on Mahmud's son Mas'ud. Khorasan was then formed into a principality for Chaghr, while Toghrl was left free to conquer the Iranian plateau. A methodical ruler, Toghrl succeeded in building an empire by careful planning. The first conquests were generally made by the Turkmen raiders led by his foster brother Ibrahim Inal. He himself then followed to administer the conquered territories. In this way, between 1040 and 1044, he occupied the Caspian areas of Khorasan, Rayy, and Hamadan and established his suzerainty over Isfahan. In 1049 and 1054 he sent expeditions of Turkmens into the Byzantine lands of Anatolia, attempting to prevent Turkmen raids into the surrounding Muslim territories while at the same time increasing Seljuq power against the Byzantine Empire. In 1055 Toghrl, after conquering the principalities to the east and north of Iraq, entered Baghdad, where he was commissioned to overthrow the Shi'i Fatimid caliphs of Cairo in Egypt and to restore, under the 'Abbasid caliph, the religious and political unity of the Islamic world. A mounting threat from the Shi'i and discontent among his supporters over administration and reward for services, however, resulted in a general uprising against Toghrl. Prince Inal with his Turkmens revolted in Mesopotamia and Iran, while a coalition of Arab and Shi'i Buyid forces, financed and controlled by the Fatimids of Cairo and led by Basasiri, entered Baghdad (1058). The 'Abbasid caliph was imprisoned, and prayers were recited in the name of the Fatimid caliph of Cairo. Toghrl then crushed the rebellion (1060), regained Baghdad, and pacified the Arabs of Mesopotamia. During his last years he fought the petty princes in northwest Iran and forced the Caliph to give him a daughter in marriage.