Alp Arslan

Second sultan of the Seljuk dynasty (r.1063-73). He brought all Seljuk territory under his rule and was recognized by the Abbasid caliph. He campaigned against the Byzantines, the Armenians and the Georgians, subduing Georgia in 1064, and in 1071 he crushed the Byzantine army at Manzikert. This laid Anatolia open to the Seljuks, but in 1072 Alp Arslan was fatally wounded while invading the Karakhanid territories on his eastern frontier.