Table Of Contentvii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Great thanks are due to Dr. David Jackson, who gave
me advice and instruction in the preparation of this
work.
My thanks are also due to the staff of the Library
of the University of St. Andrews who have done their
best to provide me with most of the references which I
needed.
I would like to thank my parents and family who were
always of invaluable help, continuous encouragement and
sympathy. It is to them that I dedicate this work.
VI i i
ABSTRACT
This study "The Emirate of Damascus During the Early
Crusading Period 488-549/1095-1154 deals with this
Emirate which was established in 488/1095, after the
defeat and the murder of Taj al-Dawla Tutush near Rayy
in 488/1095 by his nephew Sultan Berkiyar5q Ibn Sult-an
Malik-Sh5h. The dominions of Ti al-Dawla, mainly in
Syria and the Jazira divided between his elder sons King
Fakhr al-Mullik Ridwan in Aleppo and King Shams al-Muliik
Ducfaq in Damascus. The Kingdom of Damascus comprized
south Syria and some parts of the Jazira such as al-
Rahba and Mayyafäriqin.
Zahir al-Din Tughtekln, who was Atabek of King
. .
Duclaq, became the de facto ruler of Damascus during the
reign of King Duqaq 488-497/1095-1104. After the death
of Duqaq, Tughtekin was to be the real Amir of Damascus,
and his dynasty was to gain control of the Emirate until
its fall at the hands of Niir al-Din Mahmild of Aleppo in
549/1154.
In this thesis, the following matters are discussed:
1. The conditions which led to the foundation of this
Emirate.
2. The role of Tughtekin in establishing his authority
in the Emirate.
ix
3. The foreign policy of the Emirate, and the factors
which shaped this policy.
4. The effects (on the Emirate) of the coming of the
Crusaders particularly those of Jerusalem.
S. Internal rivalries in the Emirate, and their
influence on the stability of the Emirate and its
external relations.
6. The policy of alliances adopted by the Emirate and
the factors which affected this.
7. The influence of the growing power of Zangi of
Aleppo and Mosul (521-541/1127-1146) on Damascus and
why he did not succeed in annexing Damascus to his
united front in Syria and the Jazira aimed at
challenging the power of the Crusaders.
8. The reasons which helped Mir al-Din Mahmüd Ibn Zangi
of Aleppo to annex Damascus to his state in
549/1154.
9. The importance of the military power of Damascus and
Its role in protecting the Emirate.
Finally a concluding section sums up the achievement
of the Emirate of Damascus in maintaining its
Independence during the period and the role of the
Emirate in the Counter-Crusade.
INTRODUCTION
The historical "jund" of Damascus during the early
Crusading period (late 5th till mid 6th century after
Hijra/late 11th century till mid 12th century A.D.) has
not been the subject of close study. Unfortunately, most
modern studies of Syria during this period concentrate
only on north Syria (the historical "jund" of Aleppo;
examples are C. Alptexin The reign of Zang', 1972, 'I.
Khalil 'Im5d al-Din Zang!, 1972, N. Elisseef 1,115r al-Din,
1967, C. Hillenbrand, "The Career of Najm al-Din 11-
Ghazi a , Der Islam, Vol. 58, 1981. It is hoped that this
study "The Emirate of Damascus During the Early
Crusading period 488-549/1095-1154" will fill a gap in
the specialist treatment of this area and epoch.
Researchers in this topic are faced by a paucity of
Information, and a scarcity of original historical
sources. Syria as a whole, especially Damascus, suffered
during the period under discussion, not only
politically, and as regards economic and social
problems, but from a decline in intellectual life as
well. Only two contemporary Muslim historians in Syria
appeared during this era. Abt-I'1-05sim 'Ali Ibn 'AsLkir,
the writer of Th-rilch Madinat Dimashq and Namza Ibn al-
Oalklisi, writer of Dhayl TgrIlch Dimashq. Unfortunately,
the great study of Ibn 'As5kir, comprising over forty
xi
volumes, does not help us very much with political
history during the period in question. Ibn 'Asäkir
devoted this vast work to the study of scholars, (the
911,mi' and the Rumit of Hadith), he rarely mentions
political leaders in detail especially during the period
under discussion. Ibn al-Gala-nisi is still the main
historian not only for Damascus, but all Syria, and to
7
some extent for the Jazira and Iraq during our period.
Most later Muslim historians, derive the bulk of their
information about Damascus from Ibn al-Gala-nisi,
including e Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir, Kamal al-Din Ibn
'Adim, 'Izz al-Din Ibn Shaddad, Ibn Kathir, Shiha. b al-
Din Abli ShAma and Ibn Khaldt-in.
The main Crusader historian of this epoch is William
of Tyre. His book A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea
is one of the main sources for the relationship of
Damascus with the Crusaders. Many modern general studies
of the Crusades have been consulted in the course of
this study particularly K. M. Setton A History of the
Crusades. (The first hundred years), London, 1969, S.
Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Vol. II,
Cambridge, 1952, J. Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and
the Idea of Crusading, 1986, R. Small, Crusading
Warfare (1097-1193), Cambridge, 1956 and many others.
The study is divided into eight chapters. The first
one concerns the situation in Syria before the
xii
establishment of the Emirate of Damascus. Each chapter
from chapter two to seven concentrates on the reign of
- -
one amir of Damasucs, from Zahir al-Din Tughtekin 488-
_
522/1095-1128 to the last ruler of the emirate Mujir al-
7
Din Abaq 534-549/1140-1154. Chapter Eight is devoted to
the army of Damascus. In this study, I deal with the
major points of interest with regard to this emirate
during this problematic period. Furthermore, I shall
examine how the emirate managed to survive during the
period, and account for its eventual fall.
SYSTEM OF TRANSLITERATION
CONSONANTS:
(medial and final) 41,1.
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4:it t e
4::; th gh
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Les _, w
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Vowels:
Long: 4..s I 5 Short J. a
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Doubled: 1.., IVY (final form, 1)
--.-f.
421.19 UWW
Diphthongs: Y aw
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c5 ay
CHAPTER I
SYRIA ON THE EVE OF THE CRUSADES
The Emirate of Damascus in the early Crusading
period 488-549/1095-1154 which is the theme of this
dissertation requires introduction by way of a brief
historical background survey of the situation in Syria
in general and the conditions which helped to establish
the emirate during the period in particular.
Fatimid authority in Syria from the time of their
first occupation in 359/969 had wavering fortunes. I The
honeymoon of Fatimid rule in Syria did not last long.
The people of Syria including the Twelver Shl'Is did not
recognize the Fatimid authority willingly. One of the
main opposition movements in the fifth century after
Hijra/the eleventh Christian century, against the
Fatimid supremacy originated among the Twelver Shi'is of
Aleppo. Tyre and Tripoli, and the Sunni's especially of
Damascus.
In 455/began 4 January 1063, the Q5(41 of Tyre, gAYn
al-Dawla Muhammad Ibn 'Aq11, the twelver Shi'i,
announced his independence from the Fatimids. Tyre's
independence would endure until 482/1089 when the
Fatimid forces headed by Munir al-Dawla al-Juyashi
managed to restore the Fatimid suzerainty over Tyre. 2 In
2
457/began 13 December 1064, the Twelver Shi'l cbidi Amin
al-Dawla Ibn 'Ammar announced his independence in
Tripoli .° In 462/1070, (after seven years of
independence in Tyre), the Amir Mahmal Ibn Salih Ibn
Mird5s of Aleppo, (Twelver Shi q ), promulgated his
allegiance to the growing power of the Saljaqs at a time
when Saijilq power in Baghdad was established, following
their wresting of the Abbasid Caliphate from the sway of
the Bayids who were Twelver Shl'is in 447/began 2 April
1055. 4 The emirate of Tripoli, which had been founded in
457/began 13 December 1164 as mentioned above contained
Tripoli, Antartiis, 'Arqa and Jubayl, and in 473/began 22
June 1080, Jabala, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea
twenty miles south of Lattakia, would be annexed to this
emirate. This emirate would lose its independence to the
Fatimids in 501/1108, within only a few months of its
being captured by the Crusaders in 502/1109.'
In 463/1071 a Turkoman commander called Atsiz Ibn
Uq, who was one of the followers of the Saljt5q Sultan
Malik- Shah, succeeded in restoring Ramla, Tiberias, and
Jerusalem to the Saijiiqs. 6 After five years, in Dh511-
0Deda 468/1076, Atsiz managed to take the city of
Damascus from the Fatimids after a long siege.'
Although Atsiz did not recover all Syria for the
Abbasid Caliphate, he carried out an ambitious plan to
overthrow the authority of the Fatimids in Egypt itself,
after he had established his authority in Damascus. In
3
469/1077, only one year after his recovering Damascus
for the SalJaqs, Atsiz advanced with twenty thousand men
towards Cairo with the object of capturing the city and
dominating the whole of Egypt. But the aspirations of
Atsiz dissolved in Rajab 469/1077 in east Cairo, when
his great army was annihilated by the Fatimid forces
headed by al-Afdal the wazir of Egypt. Atsiz escaped
death with only fifteen horsemen and fled to Gaza, then
to Damascus. The rest of the army were killed or
imprisoned. Although the Damascenes had been suffering
under the tyranny of Atsiz, before his defeat by the
Fatimids in that battle, they willingly agreed to be
under his rule. It seems that the Damascenes still
remembered the oppressive rule of the Fatimids. In any
event, when Atsiz returned to Damascus, they asked him
to improve conditions in their city which had suffered
from his confiscation of their properties and his
Imposition of high taxes." It seems that Atsiz had
milked the Damascenes to provide for his campaign
against the Fatimids.
After the disaster of Atsiz's forces in east Cairo,
the governors of Jerusalem, Ramla and Gaza, then under
Atsiz's authority, revolted against their Lord Atsiz and
reverted to pronouncing the khutba in the name of the
Fatimid Caliph. But Atsiz recaptured these cities and
reestablished the Saljiicis' rule there in this year
(969/1076).'
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