Person1029 – 1072

Alp Arslan

Seljuk sultan (r. 1063–1072), nephew of Tughril Beg, who captured the Byzantine emperor at Manzikert in 1071

A nephew of Tughril Beg, founder of the Seljuk dynasty, he succeeded his uncle as sultan in 1063. Leaving administration to his vizier Nizam al-Mulk, he campaigned against Armenia and Georgia. At Manzikert in 1071 he captured the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV but released him generously for a ransom. The following year, on a campaign in Central Asia, he was stabbed to death by a captured enemy commander.

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1 related event

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1071Battle of Manzikertcommander
The Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan routed the Byzantine army at Manzikert in eastern Anatolia and took Emperor Romanos IV prisoner.

People who appear alongside

Romanos IV Diogenes1072
Byzantine emperor (r. 1068–1071) who was captured by the Seljuks at Manzikert and, after his release, was overthrown in a coup

Themes this person appears in

Turkic-Islamic Empires and Other Civilizations1000 – 1533
From the Ghaznavid raids on India to the Mughal Empire and Suleiman I — five centuries in which Turkic-led Islamic empires took western Asia and India, while Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas raised civilisations of their own