1157-1231 Persia and eastward. The origins of the Imperial
Khwarzemshah family goes back to Anushtegin, who was a palace
officer of Turkish origin, in the Seljuk court. Anushtegin’s son
Qudbaddin Mohammed was appointed as the governor of the Khwarzem
province by the Seljuk Sultan Berqyaruq in the year 1098. During
his governorship, he assured his family’s place in the region
and after his death in 1128, his son Atsiz was appointed as the
new governor by the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar. Atsiz was a ruthless
ruler; he laid heavy taxes on the people and began capturing
strategic positions of the region. Sanjar organized three
campaigns on Atsiz, and even tough Atsiz’s forces were defeated,
Sanjar let him to govern the region, because a new danger was
coming from the Steppes: the Kara-Khitai. After Sanjar’s army
was crushed by these nomadic people at the Battle of Qatwan in
1141, Atsiz declared his independece but he submitted the Seljuk
protectorate after Sanjar escaped from the rebel Oghuz. After
Atsiz died in 1156, h