vii 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. 3; kJ b z 4:it t e 4::; th gh 6 f V t . Li q t1 t kh cii k -% d J 1 ....dh r m -.) Is (n j z Les _, w (S sh , (3 Y - (Ps (..;" d -a (-at in construct state) Vowels: Long: 4..s I 5 Short J. a _3 5 y u L.5 1 i " / Doubled: 1.., IVY (final form, 1) --.-f. 421.19 UWW Diphthongs: Y aw • - 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).'