The emirates of those Seldjouks, who had survived absorption by the Ottomans, had, at the close of the fourteenth century, formed a defensive alliance against Bajesid, but they were not successful. The Sultan seized their best provinces, and, when they resorted to arms, defeated the Seldjoukian emirs on the battlefield. Gradually the Ottoman dominions were approaching the Euphrates, by which they were brought near the frontier of the newly-organized Mongol empire, the creation of the great conqueror Timur. The growth of bad feeling between the two rival powers was accentuated, when each sovereign began to receive with favor the rebellious vassals of the other. Timur sent to the Sultan a threatening letter, which was answered in the temper in which it was couched. Timur’s reply was to cross the frontier, and this step was followed up by the capture of the important town of Sivas. All the inhabitants were massacred, the Christians in it being burned alive, and the governor of the place, a son of the Sultan, was strangled. Timur turned from his invasion of the south to attack Angora with the purpose of drawing the Turks into a trap. He succeeded, for he had between two and three hundred thousand men, while Bajesid, to oppose him, had only 120,000. A great battle took place on July 20, 1402, which ended most disastrously for the Turks, because the Seldjoukians went over to the enemy. Bajesid was captured, and two of his sons were killed. Much of the land to the west was overrun by the Mongols, but a permanent organization of the Mongol Empire was made impossible because of the death of Timur on February 19, 1405. Bajesid had also died of a broken heart, after his terrible defeat. IV MURAD II This change of fortune meant much for the Greek Empire. Manuel took courage, deprived the Turks of their privileges at Constantinople, and making use of the divisions among the successors of Bajesid, succeeded in regaining a part of the territories that had been lost. For some years the Ottomans, under Mohammed, were engaged in regaining their position in Asia; in Europe the tables were reversed. The empire of the Ottomans seemed to be on the point of going through a process of disintegration similar to that experienced by their predecessors of the same race, the Seldjouks. When it was defunct its residuary legatee might well be the Greek Empire.