8 - Sacred Yet Supple

Summary

This chapter deals with empires created by Turkic-speaking peoples in Western Eurasia between c.500 and 1200. It focuses on the empire of the Seljuk Turks and the Mongol Empire. Although vast in size, most Turkic polities were very short-lived. All empires were torn between the desire to centralize rule and the need to manage their multitude of different peoples. Generally, rulers that tried to impose a centralized, top-down order and break the power of local aristocratic orders soon saw their empires fail. Similarly to medieval Europe, successful rulers managed the multitude of sub-rulers and peoples by accepting a looser form of empire. Eventually, the steppe polities disintegrated because of their lack of embedding institutions. These findings support my argument that successful polity formation seems to hinge on developing political forms based on negotiation and shared rule – a pattern visible in Europe but not in the Middle East.