Crossword-Solution: ATABEGS 7 letters, 1 clue 🏆 scrabble score: 10

The feudal system adopted by the Seljuks caused endless dissension among their petty sovereigns, called "Atabegs", all of whom were nominally vassals of the Caliph at Bagdad.

When mounting the throne of the Atabegs, Saladin obeyed rather his destiny than his inclinations; but, when once firmly seated, he was governed by only two passions,--that of reigning and that of securing the triumph of the Koran.

During nearly two centuries the governors (atabegs) of Yezd, like those of Lauristan, maintained their independence; but in the thirteenth century Ghazan Khan supplanted them.

The atabegs formed a number of dynasties, which displaced the descendants of the Seljukian amirs in their various principalities.

One of the great mistakes made by the Franks was the breach of the alliance in 1147--a breach which was widened by the attack directed against Damascus during the Second Crusade; and the conquest of Damascus by Nureddin in 1154 was ultimately fatal to the Latin kingdom, removing as it did the one possible ally of the Franks, and opening the way to Egypt for the atabegs of Mosul.