Togrul Beg

(Tughrul Beg). Born circa 993; died September 1063. Founder of the Seljuk state.

Together with his brother Chaghrï Beg, Togrul Beg headed the Seljuk alliance of nomadic Oghuz tribes. In 1038 he seized part of Khorasan and was proclaimed sultan in Nishapur. Togrul Beg defeated the army of the Ghaznavid sultan Masud I at Dandanqan in 1040, and between 1040 and 1055 he conquered Khwarazm, Azerbaijan, Iraq, and most of Iran. In 1049 he began his conquest of Armenia. In 1055, Togrul Beg conquered Baghdad, and the Abbasid caliph al-Qa’im was forced to grant him first the title of “sultan” and then that of “king of the East and West.”