Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/269

 OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 247 proposal was decently eluded ; and the daughter of Alexius, who might herself have been the victim, expresses her abhorrence of this unnatural conjunction.^- The daughter of the sultan was bestowed on the caliph Moctadi, with the imperious condi- tion that, renouncing the society of his wives and concubines, he should for ever confine himself to this honourable alliance. The greatness and unity of the Turkish empire expired in the Division of person of Malek Shah. His vacant throne was disputed by his empire'' brother and his foui- sons ; and, after a series of civil wars, the treaty which reconciled the surviving candidates confirmed a lasting separation in the Persian dynasty, the eldest and principal branch of the house of Seljuk. The three younger dynasties were those of Kerman, of Syria, and of Roum : the first of these commanded an extensive, though obscure,''^ dominion on the shores of the Indian Ocean ; ^^ the second expelled the Arabian princes of Aleppo and Damascus ; and the third, our peculiar care, invaded the Roman provinces of Asia Minor. The genei'ous policy of Malek contributed to their elevation ; he allowed the princes of his blood, even those wliom he had vanquished in the field, to seek new kingdoms worthy of their ambition ; nor was he displeased that they should draw away the more ardent spirits who might have disturbed the tranquillity of his reign. As the supreme head of his family and nation, the great sultan of Persia commanded the obedience and tribute of his royal bi-ethren ; the throne of Kerman and Nice, of Aleppo and Damascus ; the Atabeks, and emirs of Syria and Mesopotamia, erected their standards under the shadow of his sceptre ; ^^ and the hordes of Turkmans overspread the plains of the western ^ She speaks of this Persian royalty as in-acn)? KaKoSoi^ioi-eo-j-epof Tvevia.-;. Anna Comnena was only nine years old at the end of the reign of Malek Shah (a.D. 1092), and, when she speaks of his assassination, she confounds the sultan with the vizir (Alexias, 1. vi. p. 177, 178 [c. 12]). ^ So obscure that the industry of M. de Guignes could only copy (torn. i. p. 244, torn. iii. part i. p. 269, &c.) the history, or rather list, of the Seljukides of Kerman,^ in Bibliotheque Orientale. They were extinguished before the end of the xiith century, [por the succession of the Seljuks of Kirman, A.D. 1041-1187, see S. Lane-Poole, Mohammadan Dynasties, p. 153. The main line of the Seljuks, with a nominal overlordship over the younger branches, continued to rule in Irak Ajam and Khurasan and expired with Sinjar in A.D. 1157.] ^^Tavernier, perhaps the only traveller who has visited Kerman, describes the capital as a great ruinous village, twenty-five days' journey from Ispahan, and twenty-seven from Ormus, in the midst of a fertile country (Voyages en Turquie et en Perse, p. 107, no). ^' It appears from Anna Comnena that the Turks of Asia Minor obeyed the signet and chiauss of the great sultan (Alexias, 1. vi. p. 170 [c. 9]) and that the two sons of SoUman were detained in his court (p. 180 [c. 12]).