Head Reseacher for Turkish Faction Needed

 

Of course, the game is not out yet, but we're in the stage of research.

 

As this place is teeming with Turk-enthusiasts, I thought this would be the best place to ask.

 

 

We're looking for a team of researchers to research for a Turkish faction for MTR with a nominated head researcher.

 

As head researcher:

1) You will supervise and lead research activities concerning the Turks in the period 1054-1500's

2) Co-ordinate with skinners to produce Turkish military units

3) Co-ordinate with me to present information on Turks - culture, religion, miscellaneous...

4) Make sure Turks are represented correctly and accurately

 

PM me if ur interested.

 

Personally, I'm looking forward to information about famous Turkish architecture, as it is one of my favourite forms of architecture.

 

Regards, Nestorian.

 

 

 

the turks start in the 6 century with the gokturks 11 century seljuks so your skipping 5 centuries of medievel Turk history.

 

the word sultanate is only used by the seljuks and ottomans. there are more then 16 khanats so you disclude 14 empires.

 

btw its not that i'm not interrested but I think I'm not.... lets just say I would be way over my head and i think the most people feel like this or not

 

During the same period the same was happening around Iran, Afganistan and the Gaznivid Empire was founded by another Turk.

 

After all this came the Selcuk Turks, they aswell promised to protect the Caliph but would become rulers of the middle-east while Caliph would be a spiritual ruler.

 

Soon the huge influx of Turks meant they needed more land where they could have a more dominant influence and where there wasn't such a large population. In addition to this the idea of "Ghazi" was important to them and they embarked upon fighting the Byzantiums.

 

The critical battle was the battle of Malazkrit was an epic battle against the powerfull Byzantines and opened up Anatolia to Turkish settlement and rule.

 

 

 

Anyone interested in becoming a head researcher then?

Shagrat al-Durr

Sultan of Eqypt (died, 1259) �1996-2006

womeninworldhistory.com



Women who were "powers behind the throne" are always fascinating. But those who move out of the shadows to sit on the throne itself can be even more so. Shagrat al-Durr took upon herself the title of Sultan and regrouped the Egyptian army to take Damietta back from the Frankish Crusaders.

Why She Is An Historic Hero?

Her life links the last victories of the Crusaders to the transition to a new period and dynasty, the Mamluks (the powerful army made up of Turkish slaves and who eventually supplanted their masters). Want to find out why slaves could become so powerful?
During this new period, that of the Mamluks, Cairo was to become the center of power. The Mamluks kept their power for more than two centuries in Egypt and Syria.
It was the Egyptian Mamluk army who were the only institution that eventually stopped the Mongol drive, in their ambitions to conquer the entire Middle East.
Shagrat al-Durr is one of the very few women in Islamic history to ascend to the throne. Her melodramatic life illustrates the fact that an ambitious woman had to depend on the good will of men to be able to lead.
Shagrat's dismissal as Sultan by the Caliph of Baghdad reaffirmed the Islamic concept that the spiritual head and political head of a country must be one, and that such a position cannot properly belong to a woman.

Her Story

The time is 1250 A.D. The sultan of Egypt, Salih Ayyub has just died at the moment when the crusading armies of France are threatening Egypt. Salih Ayyub's wife is Shagrat al-Durr, who had been a slave of Turkoman origin.

In 1249, the French army under Louis IX, King of France landed at Damietta, at the mouth of the Nile River. Shagrat, acting as Salih's regent while he was away in Damascus, organized the defense of the realm.

Soon after Salih Ayyub returns, he dies. Shagrat, conceals the fact of his death by saying he is "sick" and having a servant be seen taking food to his tent. She thus is able to continue to lead in his name.

Turan, his son and her stepson, appears and Shagrat hands the reins of power over to him, finally announcing her husband's death. Still, Shagrat retains control, and a crushing defeat is rendered on the Crusaders at Damietta. The leaders of the army don't respect Turan; they want Shagrat, seeing her as a Turk, like themselves. They plot against Turan and have him murdered. On May 2, 1250, they put Shagrat al-Durr on the throne, thus beginning the Mamluk dynasty.

As sultan, Shagrat al-Durr has coins struck in name, and she is mentioned in weekly prayers in mosques. These two acts only can be done for the person who carries the title of sultan.

Peace is made with the Franks. Louis IX is ransomed and allowed to return home.

Egypt at this time is under the authority of the Caliphate at Baghdad. Baghdad does not approve of Shagrat. She is a woman, and women must not hold the title of ruler. The Caliph of Baghdad sends a message to the Egyptian amirs: "Since no man among you is worthy of being Sultan, I will bring you one." Shagrat is deeply humiliated, but she steps down after being Egypt's sultan for only two months.

A successful Mamluk soldier, Aibak, is appointed in her place. Shagrat al-Durr's moment of power, however, is not over. Either for love or political ambition, she manages to seduce Aibak. He marries her to legitimize Mamluk rule. Reports tell of their great love for one another.

With her experience at administration and leadership, for seven years Shagrat rather than Aibak really rules. An historian who lived at the time comments: "She dominated him, and he had nothing to say." Shagrat continues to sign the sultan's decrees, has coins struck in both their names, and dares to be addressed as Sultana.

Shagrat al-Durr is a jealous woman, and one who does not want to share power. When she married Aibak, she had him divorce his wife, with whom he had a son. In 1257, Aibak proposes to take another wife. In Shagrat's eyes this act is unthinkable. In a fit of jealousy, she plots his murder and carries it out when he is having a bath after a game of polo.

In desperation, Shagrat al-Durr tries to conceal the crime. But her past deeds come back to haunt her in the person of Aibak's former wife and his son, who now seek revenge. The army divides over those continuing to support Shagrat and those opposing her. Rioting breaks out, and Shagrat is cornered. Spurred on by Aibak's former wife, Shagrat is beaten to death by the slaves of the harem with their wooden clogs. Her half-naked body is thrown into the moat of the citadel.

Eventually, Shagrat al-Durr's bones are taken and placed in the mosque known today as the mosque of Shagrat al-Durr.






Coins minted in Shagrat al-Durr's name
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References:
Fatima Mernissi, The Forgotten Queens of Islam, University of Minnesota Press, 1993
Charis Waddy, Women in Muslim History, Longman, 1980
Wiebke Walther, Woman in Islam, Abner Schram, Montclair, NJ, 1981

http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine1.html




The Great Queen who defeated the Crusaders, well all I can say is WHAT A WOMAN

 

Sultana Razia of Delhi (1236-1240)

The only woman ever to sit on the throne of Delhi, India, Razia's ancestors were from Moslems of Turkish descent who invaded India in 11th century. "Like other Moselm princesses, she was trained to lead armies and administer kingdoms if necessary." (p. 34) Contrary to custom, her father selected her, over her brothers, to be his successor. After her father's death, she was persuaded to step down from the throne in favor of her stepbrother Ruknuddin, who, like her brothers, continued to neglect the kingdom and live a pleasure filled life. Disgusted with Ruknuddin's rule, the people demanded that she become Sultana in 1236.

She established peace and order, encouraged trade, built roads, planted trees, dug wells, supported poets, painters, and musicians, constructed schools and libraries appeared in public without the veil, wore tunic and headdress of a man. State meetings were often open to the populace at-large. Yet, she made enemies when she tried to eliminate some of the discriminations against her Hindu subjects.

Jealous of her attention to one of her advisors, Jamal Uddin Yaqut (not of Turkish blood), her governor, Altunia, rebelled. Razia's troops were defeated, Jamal was killed in battle, Razia was captured and married to her conqueror in 1240. One of her brothers claimed the throne for himself, Razia and her new husband were defeated in battle where both died.

"Sultana Razia" by Lyn Reese in Herstory: Women Who Changed the World, Ruth Ashby and Deborah Gore Ohrn (eds.), Viking, 1995, p. 34-36



http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/15women.html#delhi

 

We're hoping to do more Turkish concepts, but we just don't want to copy from Osprey 100% We'd like real Turkish historians to inform us from primary sources eg. writings, contemporary pictures.

 

Plus because the MTW2 engine allows variances, we can come up with variable designs for Turkish warriors.

 

As I said before, the game engine doesn't allow us to incoude every single Turkish Khaganate, Sultanate or Emirate, we therefore, have to be generalised unforunately. But the Seljuks and the Ottomans are the main Turkish Sultanates represented.

 

Turks should have the following units 

 

Heavy cavalry- Cataphracts armed with bow,sword, mace/axe and long lance

 

Light cavalry- Armed with Bow and sword -no or little armour but the best missle attack and mobility of any medieval unit.

 

Turkic Long range bows standing archers- A bow which uses sitting down the legs to push the bow and the arms to pull the string stunned the Crusaders with their long range.