Atsiz, Khwarazmshah

Ala al-Din Atsiz, son of Muhammad Anushtegin, was born about 1098 and succeeded his father as Khwarazmshah, first as a vassal of the Saljuq sultan Sanjar from 521 or 522 AH (1127-8). All his life he wanted to make himself independent of Sanjar, to hold his position against the new power of the Kara Khitay, and to bring the northern districts that had earlier been connected with Khwarazm under his rule. He subjected the lands between the Caspian and the Aral Sea, with the peninsula of Mangyshlak, and the country up to the Jaxartes, with Jand as its centre; from 536 AH (1141) he secured Jand against the Kara Khitay by the yearly tribute of 30,000 gold dirhams. ¹

After a first rebellion, Sanjar defeated Atsiz at Hazarasp on 15 November 1138 (10 Rabi' I 533 AH); Atsiz's son was taken and executed. Sanjar set his nephew Sulayman ibn Muhammad on the Khwarazmian throne, but in the next year Atsiz drove him out with the help of the townspeople and took Bukhara. He submitted to Sanjar again in 1141, but after Sanjar's defeat by the Kara Khitay at Qatwan (9 September 1141) Atsiz rebelled, took Marw (19 November 1141) and Nishapur (May 1142). By 1143-4 Sanjar forced him to recognise his authority once more, and after a third defection, which included the murder of Sanjar's envoy, the sultan let him keep his position following the capture of Hazarasp in January 1148 and the siege of Gurgenj. ²

Atsiz remained loyal to Sanjar after the sultan was captured by the Oghuz in 548 AH (1153), and was promised the fortress of Amul (Chardjuy) and others. When Sanjar escaped from captivity, Atsiz sent him a congratulation and appeared before him at Nasa in 551 AH (1156), but died shortly afterwards at Khabushan on the Atrek on 9 Jumada II 551 AH (30 July 1156). Despite his reverses, he secured the power of the Khwarazmian state against the Saljuqs and the Kara Khitay, and laid the foundation of its position as a great power that lasted until the Mongol invasion. ³