Break-up of the Caliphate, Turkish Sultanates and the Crusades

For centuries, an Abbasid caliph sat in Baghdad with almost no real power. Generals and sultans ran the show. Then armies from Europe marched east to take Jerusalem, and the Muslim world had to answer.

This lesson follows two linked stories. First, how the Caliphate broke into rival dynasties. Second, how the Crusades grew out of that world and what they left behind.

1How did the Caliphate weaken?

The Abbasid caliphs once ruled from Baghdad over a huge empire. But distant provinces slowly slipped away. Local governors became almost independent.

The caliphs also changed their army. They began to buy Turkish slaves as soldiers. In 836, al-Mu’tasim built a new capital at Samarra to house this army.

This was a risky step. The soldiers soon had more power than the men who paid them. The caliph’s seat returned to Baghdad in 892.

New dynasties grew in the provinces. The Tahirids, Samanids and Tulunids all ruled their own regions. By the tenth century, the caliphs were mere figureheads.

• Caliph al-Mu’tasim built Samarra in 836.
• New army: mostly Turkish slave soldiers.
• Local dynasties: Tahirids, Samanids, Tulunids.
• By the 900s, caliphs were figureheads.

2Who were the Buyids and the Fatimids?

The Buyids came from Daylam, in northern Iran. They were Shia Muslims. In 945, Ahmad ibn Buya conquered Iraq and made Baghdad his base.

He did not remove the Abbasid caliph. The caliph stayed on as a symbol. The Buyids simply held the real power in the city.

Meanwhile, a rival caliphate rose in the west. The Fatimids were a Shia dynasty. They traced their descent to Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter.

In 969, they conquered Egypt. Their general Jawhar founded a new capital that year. It was called al-Qahira, which became Cairo. By 973, the Fatimid caliph had moved there.

So the Muslim world now had two caliphs. One sat in Baghdad. The other sat in Cairo.

• Buyids took Baghdad in 945. The Abbasid caliph stayed as a symbol.
• Fatimids: Shia, descended from Fatima.
• Egypt conquered in 969. Cairo founded.
• Two rival caliphs: Baghdad and Cairo.

3How did the Turks rise to power?

Turks from Central Asia had been entering the Muslim world for years. Many served as soldiers and slave officers. Many also became Muslims.

Mahmud of Ghazni is a good example. He ruled the Ghaznavid state from 998 to 1030. He took the title sultan. The Abbasid caliph, al-Qadir, recognised him and gave him an honorary title.

Then came the Seljuks. Their state began in 1037 under Tughril and his brother Chaghri. Tughril marched on Baghdad. In 1055, he entered the city and ended Buyid influence there. He did this on the caliph’s own request.

From now on, the Seljuk sultan held the power. The caliph kept his religious prestige. This split between religious and political authority became the new normal.

The Seljuks also pushed west. In 1071, they beat the Byzantines at Manzikert. After that, Turks poured into Anatolia.

When Malik-Shah died in 1092, the Seljuk empire split. His brother and sons quarrelled over the lands. That left Syria and Palestine divided and weak.

• Mahmud of Ghazni: sultan, 998-1030.
• Seljuk state founded 1037 by Tughril.
• Tughril enters Baghdad in 1055.
• Manzikert, 1071: Seljuks beat the Byzantines.
• Malik-Shah dies 1092. The empire splits.

4Why did the Crusades begin?

Jerusalem had been under Muslim rule since the 600s. But it stayed holy to Christians as the place of Jesus’s crucifixion. Pilgrims still travelled there from Europe.

In 1095, the Byzantine emperor Alexios I asked for help against the Seljuk-led Turks. He sent envoys to a Church council at Piacenza.

Later that year, Pope Urban II held the Council of Clermont, in France. On its last day he gave a famous speech. He urged knights to march east.

The Church had already tried to tame knightly violence at home. The Peace of God movement began in 989. It sought to protect churches and unarmed people. The Truce of God, from 1027, banned fighting at set times.

Now the Pope pointed that fighting spirit toward a distant goal.

• Alexios I asked for help in 1095.
• Pope Urban II, Clermont, 1095.
• Peace of God: from 989. Truce of God: from 1027.

5What happened in the First Crusade?

The First Crusade ran from 1096 to 1099. The crusaders crossed Anatolia after a hard march. They fought Turkish horse archers on the way.

They took Antioch in June 1098. Then they reached Jerusalem, which the Fatimids then held. On 15 July 1099, the crusaders stormed the city. Many of its people were massacred.

The Fatimids tried to strike back at Ascalon. They failed. That battle ended the First Crusade.

Most crusaders went home. Those who stayed built four states in the region. They were the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli. Together they are called Outremer.

Edessa fell in 1144 to Zengi, a Seljuk-led ruler from Mosul. That shock led to the Second Crusade, from 1147 to 1149. The kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany led it. They attacked Damascus and failed.

• First Crusade: 1096-1099.
• Antioch falls June 1098. Jerusalem falls 15 July 1099.
• Four states: Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli.
• Edessa lost 1144. Second Crusade fails at Damascus.

6How did Saladin change the story?

Saladin, or Salah al-Din, rose in Egypt. He later built a strong state that joined Egypt and Syria. Under him, Muslim forces grew united and sharp.

On 4 July 1187, he met the crusader army at the Battle of Hattin. He crushed it. Soon after, he took Jerusalem.

The loss of the holy city shocked Europe. It led to the Third Crusade, from 1189 to 1192. Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa set out to win it back.

They did win back Acre and Jaffa, and much of the coast. But they did not retake Jerusalem. In September 1192, Richard and Saladin signed the Treaty of Jaffa. Jerusalem stayed Muslim, but unarmed Christian pilgrims could visit. Saladin died in Damascus in 1193.

The Fourth Crusade went off course. In 1204, it sacked Constantinople, a Christian city, with its Venetian allies.

The crusader hold on the coast slowly shrank. In 1291, the Mamluks of Egypt took Acre. That ended the last major crusader foothold.

• Hattin: 4 July 1187. Saladin takes Jerusalem.
• Third Crusade: 1189-1192. Led by Richard, Philip II, Barbarossa.
• Treaty of Jaffa, 1192: Muslims keep Jerusalem.
• Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople, 1204.
• Mamluks take Acre, 1291.

7What did the Crusades leave behind?

The Crusades did not end Muslim rule in the region. But they left deep marks. Mistrust between Christians and Muslims grew. Memories of the wars lasted for generations.

The Italian trading cities gained from the sea trade. Venice, in particular, was a key ally of the Fourth Crusade.

The great crusader castles still stand today. Krak des Chevaliers is one of them. The Knights Hospitaller held it from 1142. The Muslims took it back in 1271.

The Mamluks, once slave soldiers, now ruled Egypt. In 1261, they restored a surviving Abbasid line in Cairo. These later caliphs held no real power.

• Lasting mistrust between communities.
• Italian trading cities gained from the sea trade.
• Castle: Krak des Chevaliers, Hospitallers 1142-1271.
• Mamluks revive an Abbasid caliph in Cairo, 1261.

8What are the exam traps?

• Sultan = power. Caliph = prestige only.
• Fatimids: Shia, ruled from Cairo. Abbasids: ruled from Baghdad.
• Do not mix 1099 (crusaders take Jerusalem) with 1187 (Saladin takes it back).
• The Third Crusade did not retake Jerusalem.
• Mahmud of Ghazni got his title from caliph al-Qadir.