LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Seljuk Turk
built 628 days ago
Nicaea, once one of the glories of the Byzantine Empire, was, at the time of the First Crusade, the capital of the Seljuk Turk sultanate of Rhüm ruled by Kilij Arslan. It first fell to the Turks in 1078, but was recaptured shortly afterwards. It was taken again in 1081, then recaptured once more before falling for the third time in 1086 - a sequence of events which underlines its strategic and psychological importance. In 1097, its population was still mostly Christian, although it had a large Turkish garrison.
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During the course of the war, the Seljuk Turks and their allies attacked the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, capturing Jerusalem and catalyzing the call for the First Crusade. Crusader assistance to Byzantium was mixed with treachery and looting, although substantial gains were made in the First Crusade. Within a hundred years of Manzikert the Byzantines had (with Crusader assistance) successfully driven back the Turks from the coasts of Asia Minor and extended their influence right down to Palestine and even Egypt. Later the Byzantines were unable to extract any more assistance and the Fourth Crusade even led to the sack of Constantinople. Before the conflict petered out, the Seljuks managed to take more territory from the weakened Nicaean Empire until the Sultanate itself was taken over by the Mongols, leading to the rise of the ghazis and the conclusive Byzantine-Ottoman wars.
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In 1040, the Seljuk Turk vassals of the Ghaznavids in Sogdia rebelled and established the Seljuk Dynasty. Soon, they wrested Bactria and most of Iran from the Ghaznavids, who withdrew to the Kabul Valley. Eventually, the Seljuk Empire extended to Baghdad, Turkey, and Palestine. The Seljuks were the infamous “infidels” against whom Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade in 1096.
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Seljuk Turk