Hello and welcome to today's history lesson.

My name is Mr. Merrett and I'll be guiding you through today's lesson, so let's get started.

Today's lesson is looking at the backgrounds to the crusades, and we are focusing on the Seljuk Empire.

And by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to describe the position at the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms, and our key terms for today are Islam, caliphates, nomad, and pastoral.

Islam is the religion of Muslims. A caliphate is an Islamic state ruled by a single religious and political leader.

A nomad is a person who has no permanent home but moved from one place to another.

And pastoral refers to the raising of cattle and other grazing animals.

Today's lesson will comprise of three separate learning cycles, and our first learning cycle is the rise of the Islamic caliphates, so let's get going.

So in 610 CAE, the prophet Muhammad, peace upon him, found a new religion, Islam, which quickly dominated and unified most of the Arabian Peninsula.

Just to clarify something here, you sometimes might see the name Muhammad with those initials afterwards, so PBUH, which stands for "Peace be upon him," and the reason being is that Muslims like to say this, have to say in the word Muhammad, as a mark of respect.

So that's the reason why you'll see that there.

So the early converts Islam were mostly pastoral nomads living in the Arabian desert, which you can see on the screen there.

And they relied upon their camels and their horses for survival.

They were also a highly effective fighting force, which overcame all opposition, the Islamic Empire spread incredibly quickly.

Muhammad died in 632 CE, and so began what was called the Rashidan, which the rightly guided caliphate, so under the next four rulers of the Islamic world, the Rashidun, the Islamic Empire, spread into the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia in less than 30 years.

So it's a really, really quick advance into a variety of different territories, it wasn't a single advance in one direction, the Islamic Empire spreading out in a variety of directions incredibly quickly.

Okay, let's have a quick check for understanding now then, so in which part of the world was Islam founded? Was it the Arabian Peninsula, the Eurasian steppe, or the Sahara Desert? So make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose A, the Arabian Peninsula, then very well done, that is the correct answer.

Okay, so there's a map on the screen now, just showing you what the Islamic world looks like in 985 CE.

And what you can see here is that the single empire has fragmented into a variety of different empires, or a variety of different caliphates.

Some of these caliphates lasted very long time, others were relatively short affairs.

In any case, further caliphates such as the Umayyads, who were centred into Damascus, which is in one day Syria, they were then defeated from that area and they moved the centre of their caliphate into Spain.

And you can see that on the map on the screen there actually, the Umayyads Caliphates is in yellow in what is known day, Spain and Portugal.

There are also other ones like the Abbasids, in the newly founded city of Baghdad, which is in currently Iraq.

And the Fatimids were based in Cairo, which is in modern day Egypt as well.

And they expanded the borders of the Islamic world even further.

And by the beginning of the 11th century, the Islamic world had splintered into rival caliphates as well, so just because they shared a religion didn't necessarily mean they were always gonna get along.

It's very similar to Christianity in that respect, in that Europe was a Christian place at this point in time, but that didn't stop rival kingdoms from waging war or acting against each other.

Now the Islamic Caliphates, although they splintered, although they were rivals, they did of course share a lot of common features.

People were not forced to convert to Islam in these newly conquered territories.

However, attacks was placed upon any person who was not a Muslim.

Many caliphs were also keen to expand their knowledge as well, and as the reason being is that one of the teachings of Muhammad was to seek knowledge even in China.

And as a result, books were translated into Arabic and spread around the empire using paper making technology, which is acquired from the Chinese in 793 CE.

And this led to Muslim advances in a wide variety of different areas such as mathematics, medicine, and engineering.

This period in time was often referred to as the Islamic golden age, and a big reason for that is because of the incredible advances, you have a wide variety of different areas as well.

Right, let's have a quick check for understanding, so which two were Islamic caliphates based in the Middle East? They're the Bourbons, the Fatimids, the Plantagenets, or the Umayyads? Choose two now.

Okay, if you chose B and D, then very well done, those two are Islamic caliphates.

Right, let's do our first test today then, so the first test today is a crosswords, and there are clues on one side of the screen there.

You need to answer those clues in order to fill in the correct answers on the crossword itself.

So pause the video now whilst you do that, and I'll see you once you've finished.

Okay, welcome back, hope you got okay with that.

Let's have a little look at some of these answers then.

So one across the clue was refer the raising of cattle, that is pastoral.

Two across, is the something empire borders the caliphates, and that was the Byzantine.

And three across, is paper making technology was acquired from the something people, and the answer there is Chinese.

Now we go for the down questions, so the clue for four down was religion that Muhammad founded.

And the answer to that is of course Islam.

Five down, the centre of the Fatimid Caliphates was Cairo, and six down, the language using the caliphates was Arabic.

So hopefully you got an okay with that task there.

Let's move on then to our second learning cycle for today, which is, "Who were the Seljuks?" So the Seljuks were part of an extensive group of people known as a steppe nomads.

And the Eurasian steppe that they originated from is just an absolutely enormous grassland stretching from Eastern Europe to China.

Steppe nomads are pastoral nomads who travel with their herds of horses and cattle from rich mountain pastures in the summer down to warmer grazing land in the winter.

And much like the Arabian desert nomads who fought in the name of Islam, the steppe nomads were amazing horse arches who delivered fast range attacks with their bows and arrows.

Steppe nomads had rated agricultural societies for hundreds of years.

So for instance, in the sixth century, BCE, the Scythians had inflicted defeat upon the mighty Persians.

The Xiongnu had forced the Chinese to pay the tribute in the third century, BCE.

And the Huns had contributed to the downfall of the Western Roman empire in the fifth century, CE.

In later times as well, the largest contiguous empire in the world has ever known, the Mongol Empire, also what they were steppe nomads as well.

So it just got to show just how effective this group of people really are when it comes to empire building.

Now let's do a quick check for understanding then, so true or false? Desert nomads and steppe nomads both used fast range attacks to win battles.

Is that true or is that false? Okay, if you chose true, then congratulations, that is a true statement, but let's justify it now, why is it true? Is it true because chariot javelineers were the main component of nomadic armies? Or is it true because horse archers were the main component of nomadic armies? So choose your justification now.

Okay, if you chose B, then very well done, that is the correct answer.

So the group that was become known as the Seljuk were a branch of the Oghuz Turks who lived northeast of the Caspian sea, and they were led by a man called Seljuk in the eighth century CE.

Now he migrated with his small bands, historians estimate has roughly met a hundred or so people, is what it started off with, to the edge of the Islamic world near the Aral Sea, and there they converted Islam in 985 CE.

As a small fighting force initially, the Seljuks acted as mercenaries for larger kingdoms before eventually taking over lands of their own in 1037.

And at that point, Seljuk numbers grew, they continued to expand their territory, and then by 1068 they controlled an enormous empire which stretched from their borders of the Byzantine Empire in Anatolia to Central Asia.

And on the screen in front of you, you can see just how big the the Seljuk Empire was in 1090s, it was referred to as the Great Seljuk Empire at this point in time.

Now, quick check for understanding, which religion did the Seljuk Turks convert to in 985 CE? Was it Christianity, Islam, or Judaism? Okay, if you chose B Islam, then we're done, that is correct.

Right, let's go for our next task now then, so what I've got for you here is what's called a revision wheel.

And there's five segments to this wheel, and what I'd like you to do is write down five key features of the Seljuk within this wheel, so one key feature in each segment of the wheel.

What I'd like to do though is I'd like to actually use as few words as possible for this task.

So one, there'd be two words in each segment, that's all I'm looking for, and instead, what I'd like to focus on is trying to convey your message through the use of pictures or symbols to support your points.

If you're struggling with ideas, what you could include, you could include something like how they lived, where they were from, how they fought, what they believed, or what they accomplished.

If you've got different ideas instead of those five, that's absolutely fine, you can include those as well, but have a go at trying to convey your message through the use of pictures and images and just as minimal words as possible in each segment.

Pause the video, watch, have a go at that, and I'll see you once you're finished.

Okay, welcome back, hopefully you've got an okay with that.

So on the screen in front of you now, I've got one that I've done myself and maybe yours looks somewhat similar to mine, I mean it looks completely different, but lemme just talk you through what I've got here.

So in that upper right segment, I've said that they were nomadic and pastoral, and to go along with that, I've got some, they're supposed to be mountains and with some horses down below just to show, and then the sun just to represent the different seasons, and the fact that they were migrating to and from the mountains.

I've then gone for the next segment underneath that horse arches, and again, I've got a bow and I've got a horse, so hopefully that comes across quite well there.

I then set the Eurasian steppe and I've covered that segment in, that's supposed to be grass, so it is a huge grassland is what I'm going for there, that one.

They were Muslims, so for my next segment, I've just written Islam and I've used the symbol of Islam, which is the crescent moon and the star.

And then for the final segments, I wanted to explain that they had a massive empire, so I've just written huge, very big, and then empire underneath that as well.

So hopefully you can get an idea of what I'm looking for here, so you're predominantly getting your points across with symbols in an imagery rather than just words.

Right, let's go for our final learning cycle for today, which is the Seljuks advances into the Byzantine Empire.

So the Seljuk raided Byzantine territory repeatedly as their empire expanded, but in 1071, the Byzantine Empire, a man called Romanus IV Diogenes, Diogenes was his family name, they decided to strike back, and he personally led a force against the Seljuk ruler, a man called Alp Arslan, on the borders of the two empires at a place called Manzikert, which is in modern day Turkey.

Unfortunately for the Byzantines, the battle just turned into a slaughter, as the Seljuks led the Byzantines into a carefully laid trap.

Part of the beauty of the Seljuk way of fighting was that their horses were very, very lightly armoured that the riders also very lightly armoured as well, which meant therefore that they could move extremely fast, especially in comparison to the Byzantine cavalry, for instance, which was generally very heavily armoured.

In a one-on-one fight, the Byzantine army would absolutely dominate, but the Seljuks didn't let it get to that stage, so the whole idea is that they would attack and they would fade away before the Byzantine Cavalry or the Byzantine infantry had a chance to get close.

And that would be repeated over and over and over again, and the only way for the Byzantines to actually try and win the battle is to get up close and engage with the Seljuks.

So they move forward every time trying to do that, and the Seljuks are just continually moving back and baiting them, attacking them, baiting them, moving back and has led them into a trap.

And as a result, the Byzantine emperor was captured, he was humiliated, and then he was sold back to the Byzantines as well.

And just to kind of give you an idea here, the image on the screen shows you what's happening, this is the ritual humiliation of the Emperor Romanus Diogenes by Alp Arslan, and we can see that he has his hands bound as well.

So he has his hand ties together, and Alp Arslan has his foot upon his neck there as well.

Now we've got conflicting reports about how exactly Alp Arslan treats his Romanus after this point in time.

Some say that this purely was ritual, and after that he actually treated him very well.

Another sources tell us that he just continued to humiliate the emperor as well.

Unfortunately, once the emperor was sold back to his empire, things didn't get any better for him, he had been deposed in the meantime and then he actually had his eyes burnt out as well, and he died shortly afterwards of his wounds as well.

So really sad end, I mean, it was quite a brave action to try and take on these Seljuks.

They were basically estoppel at this point in time, so a very sad end for the Emperor Romanus Diogenes.

Now let's have a quick check for understanding now, so which battle in 1071 opened the way for the Seljuks to advance into Byzantine lands? Was it the Battle of Civetot? Was it the Battle of Hattin, or was it the battle of Manzikert? So make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose C, the Battle of Manzikert, then very well done, that is the correct answer.

Now, AlP Arslan ordered his generals to carve-out their own kingdoms, their Emirates as they were known.

So an Emirate is a kingdom where the leader has political power but not religious power.

If they have political and religious power, then it's a caliphate, so that's the difference there between the Emirates and the Caliphates.

In any case, Alp Arslan said that he wanted his generals to carve-out their own kingdoms, their Emirates in Anatolia.

And on the screen in front of you there where it says Byzantine Emperor, you can see where I'm talking about where it says Anatolia, so it is a good portion of modern day Turkey.

And probably the most powerful of these was the powerful Sultanate of Rum.

Rum is spelled R-U-M, like rum, it's pronounced room, and effectively it's the Seljuk version of Rome.

And the Byzantine Empire at the time was still known as the Roman Empire, so it is the Sultanate of Rome effectively, what it was talking about there.

And again, if you see on this screen here, 'cause see the variety of different Islamic caliphates, but in the box there we can see the Byzantine Empire just there to kind of give it an idea about what they're fighting against, where it says empire, all of that section there is Anatolia, and all of that was taken by the Seljuk Empire.

Now this period is recognised as the beginning of Anatolia becoming Turkish.

So the reason why we have Turkey today, it all started with these soldiers migrating into Anatolia and dominating the region.

And again, here is Anatolia just is a kind of an idea there.

But this is the better map, figuring an idea about just how dominant the Seljuks were in Anatolia.

So all of the red dots there, they were cities or towns that were sacked, or destroyed by the Seljuks at this point in time.

And again, just to give you context, that's Manzikert just over there as well.

Now for the Byzantine and other Christians of Europe, this was a devastating turn of events.

The Byzantine were long seen as the defenders of Christianity, but they were now on the brink of collapse and instead powerful Muslim forces were readying themselves for further attacks.

So it seemed as though the unstoppable forces of Islam would soon put an end to Christian control of the region.

Let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So true or false, Sultan Alp Arslan took control of most of Anatolia immediately after the Battle of Mans occurred in 1071.

Is that true or is that false? Okay, if you chose false, then congratulations, well done.

But let's justify the answer now then.

Is it false because Alp Arslan ordered his generals to create their own kingdoms in Anatolia under his overall control? Or is it false because Alp Arslan already had control of most of Anatolia before the battle of Manzikert? So justify your answer now.

Okay, if you chose A, then very well done, that is indeed correct.

So Sultan Alp Arslan didn't have direct control over Anatolia, but instead he controlled the people who did, so it was an indirect form of control.

Right, let's go for our next task today then, so what I'd like to do is to write a letter from someone in Constantinople to a Christian friend in England describing the Seljuk Turks.

So I started the letter off for you and I've got some sentence starters as well, just to help you out with it.

So can you start off with dear, your friend's name, if you wanna write to, "I'm writing to tell you that of a terrible event that happened to our Emperor Romanus IV Diogenes in this year of our Lord, 1071." "First I must tell you about our frightening enemy, the Seljuk Turks." And again, sentence starters there they come from, they're difficult to fight because their religion is different to ours, because they want to advance into our region of, and then finally, "Now let me tell you what happened to our emperor." So pause the video whilst you complete this letter and I'll see you once you've finished.

Okay, welcome back, hopefully you've got an okay with that task.

So let's think about what you could have written then, so you could have said they come from the step, which is a region near the Caspian Sea.

They're difficult to fight because they are amazing horse arches.

Their religion is different from ours because they follow Islam as Muslims, and we are Christians, and they want to advance into our region of Anatolia.

You could then go on to say, "Now let me tell you about what happened to our emperor, he led an attack on the Seljuk ruler, Alp Arslan at Manzikert on the border between the Seljuk lands and our territory, but he fell into a trap." "Our emperor, Romanus IV Diogenes, was captured and Sultan Arslan put his foot on his neck." "It was very humiliating for the emperor and our empire, and now Anatolia is open to the Seljuk to attack." "I am so frightened for what will happen to our empire." So, hopefully you've got something along those lines as well in your letter.

Right, let's summarise today's lesson.

So although the Islamic Empire began as a single state by the 11th century, it had fragmented into a number of different states that shared common features.

The Seljuk Empire was formed by steppe nomads who were converted to Islam.

The style of warfare used by desert nomads and steppe nomads was similar and highly effective.

And the Seljuk Empire began successfully invading Byzantine territory in the 11th century.

Thank you very much for joining me today, hopefully you've enjoyed yourself, hopefully you learned something, and hopefully I'll see you again next time.

Bye-Bye.