Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/67

 PROGRESS OF TUE SELJUKS. 49 the inhabitants of the country throngh wliieh they were pass- ing. Troubles soon arose which broke up the unnatural alli- ance. In 1188 Kilidji Arslan had divided his empire among liis . ten sons.' The division sliows how entirelv the Uivisioti of ^_ 1 1 J seijnkian iurlvS had come to recognize Asia Minor as their own. There can be little doubt that tliis division diminished their strength. Before a year had passed there were wars between them, with which, however, we are not concerned, except in so far as they facilitated the task of the Crusaders in pushing their way to the Holy Land. In the spring of 1190 Koutbeddin, to whose share Siwas had fallen, attacked the army of Frederic. During a month's hard fight- ing, in which, according to some accounts, 300,000 Turks were beaten,' Frederic was entirely successful. In one battle 5000 Turks were slain. After Iconium had been captured, amid a slaughter in which 27,000 of the enemy perished, Frederic continued his march. When he neared Alexandretta he re- ceived offers of assistance from Leo of Armenia, who was en- gaged in attacking the Turks. The incident is interesting as showing the vitality which remained in the Armenian king- dom, and suggests that under a very slight change of circum- stances a strong Christian kingdom might have been re-estab- lished from Alexandretta to the Caspian, which might have been maintained as the first line for the defence of Christen- dom. Leo continued to give aid to the Crusaders, and at length, in 1200, during the internal divisions among the sons of Kilidji Arslan, he received Kai Khosroe, the Sultan of Ico- nium, as a fugitive seeking his protection. In truth, the Seijn- kian Turks had become so completely weakened by the con- tinual attacks of the empire, and by the partial damming of the stream of emigrants by the re-establishment of Armenia and Georgia, that after the severe losses suffered at the hands of the German Crusaders, they are scarcely lieard of until after the fall of Constantinople. ' Vou HaruDier, i. 29, and note xix. ' TageDO of Passau. 4