Peace Restored in 1102: Robert II of…

The Kara-Khanids of Kashgar had also declared their submission following a Seljuq campaign into Talas and Semirechye, but the Eastern Khanate had been a Seljuq vassal for only a short time.

At the beginning of the twelfth century, they invade Transoxiana and even occupy the Seljuq town of Termez for a time, but in 1102, Ahmad Sanjar, the Seljuq ruler of Khorasan, repulses an invasion from Kashgaria, killing Jibrail Arslan Khan near Termez.

Poland is divided into two provinces at the death of Prince Wladyslaw I Herman on June 14, 1102, each administered by one of the late prince’s sons.

The extent of each province closely resembles the provinces that the princes had been granted by their father three years earlier, the only difference being that Zbigniew also controls Mazovia with its capital at lock, effectively ruling the northern part of the kingdom, while his younger half-brother Boleslaw rules its southern portion.

In this way, two virtually separate Polish states are created.

They conduct separate policies internally as well as externally.

They each seek alliances, and sometimes they are enemies of one another.

Such is the case with Pomerania, towards which Boleslaw directs his ambitions.

Zbigniew, whose country borders Pomerania, wishes to maintain good relations with his northern neighbor.

Boleslaw, eager to expand his dominion, organizes several raids into Pomerania and Prussia.

Boleslaw organizes a war party into Pomerania in autumn 1102, during which his forces sack Bialogard.

In reprisal, the Pomeranians send retaliatory war parties into Polish territory, but as Pomerania borders Zbigniew’s territory these raids ravage the lands of the prince who is not at fault.

Therefore, in order to put pressure on Boleslaw, Zbigniew allies himself with Borivoj II of Bohemia, to whom he promises to pay tribute in return for his help.

The Siege of Jerusalem had been a success and led to the foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Most crusaders had returned home afterwards; when a second movement set out from Europe, encouraged by the success of the First Crusade, it had been mostly annihilated by the Seljuq Turks in Anatolia.

Raymond had participated in this crusade as well, and had returned to Syria after escaping from his defeat at the hands of Kilij Arslan I in Anatolia.

In 1102, Raymond travels by sea from Constantinople to Antioch, where he is imprisoned by Tancred, and is only dismissed after promising not to attempt any conquests in the country between Antioch and Acre.

Raymond immediately breaks his promise, attacking and capturing Tartus with help from a Genoese fleet.

He has with him only three hundred men.

Fakhr al-Mulk, qadi of Tripoli, is not as accommodating to Raymond as his predecessor had been, and calls for assistance from Duqaq of Damascus and the governor of Homs.

However, the troops from Damascus and Homs defect once they reach Tripoli, and the qadi is defeated at the beginning of April, losing seven thousand men.

Raymond cannot take Tripoli itself, but captures the Tortosa becomes the base of all future operations against Tripoli.

Malik Danishmend (Danismend) had first appeared in Anatolia as a ghazi (warrior for the faith of Islam) during the period of confusion that followed the death of the Seljuq sultan Suleiman ibn Qutalmïsh in 1086.

In 1102, he takes Malatya (Melitene) in east-central Anatolia.

Ahmad Sanjar, a son of Malik Shah I, had participated in wars of succession against his three brothers and an uncle, namely Mahmud I, Barkiyaruq, Malik Shah II and Muhammad I.

In 1096, he had been given the province of Khorasan to govern under his brother Muhammad I.

Over the next several years, Ahmed Sanjar has become the ruler of most of Persia with his capital at Nishapur.

A number of rulers have revolted against him and continued the split of the Great Seljuq Empire that the dynastic wars had started.

Coloman of Hungary controls the greater part of Dalmatia by 1102, though this latter acquisition brings him into conflict with other major powers interested in the fate of this province.

The Croatian hinterland, having succumbed in 1097 to Hungary, is  by a dynastic union in 1102 joined formally to Hungary.

The Croats retain their autonomy under King Coloman (and, under his successors, will begin to become Latinized and thereby separate from their Slavic kin to the east and south).

Coloman is crowned king of Croatia in Biograd na Moru in 1102.

The thirteenth-century Thomas the Archdeacon writes that the union of Croatia and Hungary was the consequence of conquest.

On the other hand, the late fourteenth-century manuscript known as the Pacta conventa narrates that Coloman was only crowned after he had reached an agreement with twelve leading Croatian noblemen, because the Croats were preparing to defend their kingdom against him by force.

Whether this document is a forgery or an authentic source is subject to scholarly debate.

In any event, the alleged crowning of Coloman forges a link between the Croatian and Hungarian crowns that will last until the end of the First World War.

Croats will maintain for centuries that Croatia remains a sovereign state despite the voluntary union of the two crowns, but Hungarians will claim that Hungary annexed Croatia outright in 1102.

In either case, Hungarian culture will permeate Croatia, the Croatian-Hungarian border will shift often, and at times Hungary will treat Croatia as a vassal state.

Croatia, however, will maintain its own local governor, or ban; a privileged landowning nobility; and an assembly of nobles, the Sabor.

…Peter has bestowed fueros on Barbastro (1100), …

…Caparroso (1102), and …