A POSSIBLE FÂTIMID BACKGROUND TO THE BATTLE OF MANZIKERT

Year 1968, Issue: 10, 1 - 39, 01.05.1968

Abbas Hamdanı

https://doi.org/10.1501/Tarar_0000000379

Abstract

The Battle of Manzikert1
in 463 /1071 is an important land-mark in history in so far as it resulted in two important processes-the gradual settlement
of the Turks in Asia Minör (along with the Islamisation of the heart-lands
of Byzantium), and the beginning of a Byzantine desire to open its territories to western European powers for the launching of the Crusades. The causes
of the battle are equally important. First of ali, there was the constant conflict between Byzantium and the central Müslim power, aggravated by the
arrival of Turkish tribes and the rise of the Saljüqs in the eleventh century.
Second, the Armenian territories played a significant role in providing a setting for this conflict. But one aspect of Manzikert which has never been emphasized, though not altogether neglected, is the active Fâtimid foreign policy
connected with frustrating the rise of the Saljüqs in the East. It is this last
aspect which I wish to isolate for discussion in the following pages, not so
much to contribute new information as to furnish a re-interpretation indicating possible Fâtimid machinations behind the Battle of Manzikert.2  

Keywords

A POSSIBLE, FÂTIMID BACKGROUND, MANZIKERT