393 



SELIM II. 



SELJUKIUES. 



804 



of liia nephews. Selim next invaded the dominions of Shah Ismail, 

 king of Persia, who had espoused the cause of his brother Ahmed ; he 

 defeated him in a pitched battle, and took Tabriz, the capital of Persia 

 (September 1514). After annexing Diyar-bekr to his empire, and 

 recovering Bosnia, which had been occupied by the Hungarians, Selim, 

 in 1517, turned his arms against Kansu-al-Ghauri, sultan of Egypt, 

 whom ho defeated and slew at Merj-Dabik, close to Aleppo (August 24, 

 1516). Taking the route of Hamah, Hemts (the ancient Emesa), and 

 Damascus, which cities made no resistance, and submitted to him, 

 Selim marched his army into Egypt. Close to Cairo he was opposed 

 by Tuniiin Bey, whom the Mamluks had chosen for commander after 

 the death of Kansu ; but in the battle that ensued that prince was 

 defeated and slain, and the dynasty to which he belonged completely 

 overthrown. Master of Syria and Egypt, Selim returned to Constan- 

 tinople, where he made a vow not to lay down his arms until he had 

 subdued the whole of Persia. Death however prevented the execution 

 of his project. As he was journeying from Constantinople to Adrian- 

 ople, he was attacked by a disease which terminated in his death at 

 Ogrash-Koi, a village of Thrace, on the 22nd of September 1620. 

 Selim wus one of the most able and vigorous of the Othoman sove- 

 reigns. He made greater additions than any of his predecessors to 

 the Turkish empire. His eminent qualities were however stained 

 by his excessive cruelty, of which he gave remarkable instances 

 during his reign. He was succeeded by his son Suleyman, surnamed 

 ' the Great.' 



SELIM II., Emperor of the Turks, succeeded his father Suleyman 

 in 1566. The principal events of his reign were the suppression of a 

 formidable rebellion in Yemen (1568-70), the taking of Tunis and La 

 Goleta from the Spaniards, and the conquest of Cyprus, which after a 

 vigorous resistance was taken from the Venetians in 1571. In the 

 same year was fought the celebrated naval battle of Lepanto, by which 

 the Turkish navy was almost annihilated. Notwithstanding this 

 splendid success, the Venetians, in 1574, were obliged to make peace 

 with the Turks upon very disadvantageous terms. During the 

 remainder of Selim's reign, the affairs of the Othoman empire were 

 very prosperous. Selim died on September 12, 1574, and was succeeded 

 by his eldest son Murdd. 



SELIM III., son of Sultan Mustapha III., was born December 24, 

 1761. Mustapha III. was succeeded by his only brother Abdu-1- 

 Hamid, and Selim was shut up in the seraglio among the women and 

 eunuchs. Abdu-1-Hamid died April 7, 1789, and Selim then became 

 Bullan. Selim was one of the most enlightened men of his nation and 

 of the East. Before his accession, while confined to the seraglio, he 

 studied Turkish and European history, and conceived the plan of 

 becoming the regenerator of Turkey. He had a regular correspondence 

 with distinguished Turkish statesmen, with Count de Choiseul, the 

 French ambassador, and it is said that he exchanged letters with the 

 king himself, Louis XVI. of France. 



_ He resolved to put himself at the head of his armies, but he was 

 dissuaded from it by the diwan, who were afraid of troubles in Con- 

 stantinople. The war meanwhile was carried on with great loss. 

 The Turks were beaten at Martinestie by the united Austrians and 

 Russians ; the Austrians took Belgrade ; the Russians, Bender and 

 Isma'il ; and Turkey would have been overrun, but for the interven- 

 tion of England, Prussia, and Sweden. Thus peace was concluded 

 in A.H. 1205 (A.D. 1791) at Szistowa with the Emperor Leopold II., 

 the successor of Joseph II., who restored his conquests to Turkey ; 

 and with Russia in A.H. 1206 (A.D. 1792) at Jassy. By the peace of 

 Jassy the Porte consented to the incorporation of the Crimea with 

 Russia, and the Dniester became the frontier between the two empires. 

 Sultan Selim now began his work of reformation, but during a long 

 period his efforts were checked by troubles in Syria and Egypt : by 

 the rebellion of Paswfin Oghlu, pasha of Widdin ; and by the increasing 

 power of AH Pasha of Janina. [ALi PASHA.] The conquest of 

 Egypt by Bonaparte led to a war with France. The grand-vizir, 

 Yusuf Pasha, was routed in the battle of Abukir, and his army was 

 completely destroyed by the French, but Egypt was taken by the 

 English, who restored it to the Porte in A.H. 1218 (A.D. 1803). Pre- 

 viously to this, Selim had concluded an alliance with Russia, Naples, 

 and England, in consequence of which a united Turkish and Russian 

 fleet took possession of the Ionian Islands, which, conformably to a 

 treaty concluded between Selim and the Emperor Paul, were con- 

 stituted into a republic, A.H. 1215 (A.D. 1800). Selim acquired the 

 protectorship of this new republic on condition of consenting to the 

 incorporation of the kingdom of Georgia with Russia. Peace with 

 France was concluded in A.H. 1217 (A.D. 1802), no change taking place, 

 except that France acquired the free navigation on the Black Sea, a 

 privilege which was soon afterwards granted to England and to several 

 other European powers. Having thus secured his political position, 

 Selim at last began his reforms. His administrative division of the 

 empire has been mentioned above. In order to regenerate his army, 

 the discipline of which was entirely slackened, he appointed a com- 

 mission, from which the troops received a new organisation, the 

 ' Nizam Jedid,' by which they were put on a footing similar to that 

 of European armies. He also introduced several changes into the 

 system of taxation : he gave a new organisation to the diwan ; but in 

 order to fill the treasury he debased the money. These reforms were 

 the pretext for many rebellions. In the meantime the jealousy of 



England and Russia was excited by the increasing influence of the 

 French ambassador, Count Sebastiani ; and Selim, as well as the 

 Emperor Alexander, having both violated the treaty of Kuchuk 

 Kainarji by arbitrarily interfering in the domestic affairs of Moldavia 

 and Wallachia, a war broke out between Turkey and Russia, assisted 

 by England (December 1806). Admiral Duckworth forced the 

 passage of the Dardanelles, and threatened to bombard Constanti- 

 nople. Sultan Selim displayed the greatest activity in preparing for 

 resistance, and Admiral Duckworth, fearing that his retreat would be 

 cut off, sailed back to the Mediterranean. Constantinople was saved 

 but the Russians made continual progress on the Danube. The defeats 

 of the army were considered by the people as a consequence of the 

 ' Nizam Jedid ;' they manifested their dissatisfaction, and the 

 Janissaries, who saw their ruin in the new organisation, broke out in 

 rebellion. To the number of 15,000 men, they occupied Pera, and 

 directed their ordnance against the Seraglio. The Mufti joined their 

 party, and by a fetwa" declared " that Sultan Selim III. had forfeited 

 the throne because he had procreated no heir, and introduced the 

 Nizam Jedid and several other innovations." He was deposed May 29, 

 1807, and Mustapha IV., son of Abdu-1-Hamid, was elected in his 

 place. Selim was put in confinement, and strangled by order of 

 Mustapha, July 28, 1808. Mustapha was deposed, and was succeeded 

 by Mahmud II. [MAHMUD II. ; MUSTAPHA IV.] 



SELJUKIDES, or SELJUCIANS, a dynasty originally Tartar, and 

 descended from a captain named Seljuk ; they settled first in Trans- 

 oxiana, whence they made their way into Khorassan ; and afterwards 

 under the name of the Iranian, Kermanian, and liumi dynasties, 

 governed great part of the south of Asia. 



The oriental account of the origin of this family, as far as can be 

 gathered from somewhat conflicting statements, is as follows : Seljuk 

 was the son of Dekak, one of the bravest and most trusted officers of 

 Bigu, chief or khan of the Kipchak Tartars, who inhabited the plain 

 north of the Caspian. This prince, expecting from Seljuk the valour 

 and fidelity of his father, brought him up from his boyhood, and 

 found all his expectations fulfilled in him ; but the growing influence 

 of the favourite, and some insolence towards his master, provoked the 

 latter to banish him from his territories ; and Seljuk in consequence 

 settled in the neighbourhood of Samarkhand and Bokhara, where he 

 laid the foundation of a small state. He also embraced Moham- 

 medanism, and is said to have been killed at the age of 107, in a 

 skirmish with the pagan Tartars on the frontiers of the Mohammedan 

 empire. Seljuk left three, or according to others, four sons; but the 

 most influential members of his family were his two grandsons, 

 Mohammed or Togrul Beg, and Daoud or Giafar Beg, who sent their 

 uncle Israel to make terms of alliance with Mahmoud of Ghizni, the 

 then ruler of Khorassan. Mahmoud is said to have questioned Israel 

 on the resources of his family, and to have received for answer, in 

 the quaint style of the East, that if Israel were to send to his camp 

 one of two arrows which he carried in his hand, fifty thousand horse- 

 men would be despatched to his orders ; on sending the other arrow, 

 fifty thousand more : and that if he despatched the bow, it would 

 be answered by sending to him two hundred thousand horsemen ; in- 

 formation which so startled Mahmoud that he confined the ambas- 

 sador till his death in one of the castles of Khorassan. Oriental his- 

 torians differ as to the passage of the Seljuk family into 

 Khorassan, some of them placing this event under the reign of 

 Mahmoud, and others under that of his son Massoud. It appears 

 certain however that Abu Taleb Mohammed Rocneddin (the pillar of 

 the true religion), named also Togrul Beg, or, as the Greeks have 

 corrupted it, Tangralopex, was crowned at Nishapour, A.H. 429 

 (A.D. 1038), being the first of the Iranian dynasty of the Seljukides. 

 The conquest of Nishapour was followed by that of Herat and Meru, 

 and shortly after of nearly the whole of Khorassan. The whole of 

 his reign of twenty-six years was occupied in wars with the sultans of 

 the Gaznevide dynasty, and in successive conquests of the provinces 

 of Persia ; and on his death, and that of his brother Jafar Beg, the 

 whole conquests of the two devolved upon the son of the latter, Alp 

 Arslan, who during the life of his father and uncle had distinguished 

 himself for his bravery and generalship. 



Alp Arslan, signifying the ' courageous lion,' is the Turkish surname 

 of this prince, whose original surname was Israel, and who received, 

 on his embracing Mohammedanism, the name of Azzoddin, or 'strength 

 of religion,' from the kalif Kaim Bimrillah. The beginning of his 

 reign .was chiefly occupied in the suppression of revolts which were 

 raised in various parts of the empire ; and many singular stories are 

 told of the uniform and almost miraculous good fortune which 

 attended him. In A.D. 1070 he signally defeated the Greeks at 

 Akhlat, a city near Lake Van; and in 1071 again encountered a 

 larger army of this nation, commanded by the emperor Romanus 

 Diogenes in person, completely routed his army, and took the 

 emperor himself prisoner. The generosity with which Alp Arslan 

 restored to liberty his illustrious captive, is a frequent theme of 

 praise with the oriental writers, who are fond of adducing this con- 

 queror as an example of bravery, generosity, and the instability of 

 greatness. Alp Arslan, after many important conquests in Georgia, 

 set out on his long-projected expedition for the conquest of Turkestan, 

 and in this he ended his life. Incensed at the obstinate defence of a 

 fortress which he had taken, he bitterly reproached the governor of 



