The Seljuks were a nomadic tribe that emerged in the 10th Century conquering their way to prominence in Central Asia. By 1055 the Seljuks had taken Baghdad and much of the Middle East. Their defeat of the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071 and the capture of Byzantine Emeperor Romanus Diogenes led Pope Urban II to denounce the Seljuks, initiating the Crusades to rescue the Holy Lands from the Seljuk "Saracens" in 1095.