Page 144

 144 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES I 
other hand, the Turkomans could give asylum and assistance beyond Tughrul's
reach to ambitious rebels or, even without any preconceived plan, might end
by founding a separate state. For all these reasons it was essential that
Tughrul participate in the activities of the Turkomans in order to direct
and channel them. And since, as Saif-ad-Daulah had just shown, the ideal
of holy war still inspired the Moslems, he could derive increased prestige,
redounding to the benefit of his other undertakings, from engaging in it
beside his Turkomans. 
 Thus can be discerned, amidst the jumble of episodes monotonously narrated
in the chronicles, the permanent balancing of two great trends: the expansion
northwestward and the consolidation of power within Iran. The former began
with intervention in northwestern Iran to enforce recognition of Selchükid
authority, and in addition, following the traditional invasion routes, isolated
Turkoman raids against the Georgians, the Armenians, and the Byzantines.
In 1048 came the campaign of IbrãhIm tnal (or Ylnal), half-brother
of Tughrul, into Armenia and the sack of Erzerum, and in 1054 that of Tughrul
himself further south, capturing Arjish and besieging Manzikert. There he
was also motivated by the desire to reconquer and strengthen the old Moslem
frontier against the expansionism of Byzantium, whose response to the first
Turkoman pressure from Azerbaijan had been the direct annexation of the hitherto
autonomous Armenian kingdoms. The Byzantine government, renouncing a militarist
policy, negotiated and purchased a peace which it expected the Selchflkid
to guarantee, and, by initiating closer ties with the ~Abbãsid caliphate
for this purpose, succeeded only in cooling the friendship of the Fã~imids,
whose support would prove to be lacking at the decisive moment. 
 Meanwhile a ten--year period was devoted to establishing solid Selchtikid
dominance over the entire region between Khurasan and Baghdad through the
direct annexation of vassal principalities, through the penetration of the
Kurdish hill province (Arabic, alJibal), where Ibrãhim Inal combined
military operations with diplomatic play on the rivalries of the indigenous
tribal chieftains, and through utilization of similar rivalries and fear
of the Turkomans to set up in Mesopotamia itself a faithful circle of petty
princelings. In the province of Baghdad itself all pillaging was forbidden;
Tughrul knew what he wanted. 
 At Baghdad, with the decline in the authority of the last Buwaihid of Iraq,
the rule had fallen to his Turkish general and fellow-