Title: PaleStIne In the laSt thIrd of the XI C.: Between the fatImIdS and the CruSaderS The present paper is dealing with the history of Palestine in the period immediately prece‑ ding the coming of the Crusaders to the Middle East. In scholarly literature this period is usu
Abstract: The present paper is dealing with the history of Palestine in the period immediately prece‑ding the coming of the Crusaders to the Middle East. In scholarly literature this period is usu‑ally described in passim, as a peripheral aspect of Fatimid or Seljuq history, or a sort of introduc‑tion to the Crusades, often with a set of standard cliche about the Turks devastating the area and persecuting Oriental Christians. This period, however, is important on its own, as well as for understanding the Crusading epoch. Controversial character of the time that witnessed gradual decline of Shī‘ī powers and rising of the Sunnī Seljuqs, and insufficiency of scholarly research resulted in confusing chronology and certain slips in interpreting the course of events.By the 1070 AD most of the Middle East was conquered by the Seljuqs. In its Western fringe only two regions remained not controlled by them: Asia Minor under the Byzantines, and Greater Syria under the influence (Halab) or direct control (Damascus and Jerusalem) of the Fatimid Isma‘īlī caliphate of Egypt. First groups of Turks had already started infiltrating into Eastern parts of Asia Minor and Syria from the middle of XI C., but the proper conquest of Syria and Palestine did not start until 1070s, when the Turkish chief Atsiz b. Uwaq (Awq)
Publication Year: 2010
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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