al-Adil

Who he is

Name

Sayf al-Din Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ayyub, al-Malik al-Adil (Saphadin to the Franks)

Title

al-Malik al-Adil Sayf al-Din, lord (malik) of Damascus, of Kerak and Shawbak, and of the Ayyubid lands beyond the Euphrates; not yet sultan

Since

Kerak, Shawbak, al-Salt and the Balqa since Saladin's reign (Abu'l-Fida: they were all he kept in Syria when Saladin gave him the lands beyond the Euphrates); Damascus since he and his nephew al-Aziz took it from al-Afdal in summer 1196 (Ibn al-Athir: 27 Rajab 592, 26 June 1196; Abu'l-Fida and French Wikipedia: al-Aziz entered on 3 July 1196 and handed the city to al-Adil).

Born

About 540 AH (1145-1146): Abu'l-Fida says he died on 7 Jumada II 615 (31 August 1218) aged 75 (lunar years). About 54 at first light.

Family

Ayyubid; younger brother of Saladin (d. 4 March 1193). Sons named in the sources for these years: al-Kamil Muhammad, al-Mu'azzam Sharaf al-Din Isa (born 1176 at Cairo), al-Ashraf Musa, al-Awhad Najm al-Din Ayyub, al-Fa'iz Ibrahim, al-Muzaffar Ghazi, al-Aziz Imad al-Din Uthman, al-Salih Imad al-Din Ismail; Wikipedia counts sixteen sons. Birth dates of most are not pinned.

Confidence

high

Abu'l-Fida's annals (RHC Or. I, pp. 152-161) give the whole sequence of 1193-1200 with Hijri dates converted by the editors; Ibn al-Athir (Richards, Part 3) dates the peace with the Franks to Sha'ban 594; English and French Wikipedia give the outline.

Overlord

None in practice. Since 1196 he had the khutba and coinage of Damascus made in the name of his nephew al-Aziz of Egypt (Abu'l-Fida); al-Aziz died on 29 November 1198, and whose name he used after that is not pinned. The caliph an-Nasir does not recognize him as sultan until 1207 (Ayyubid dynasty article).

What it holds

• Damascus with its citadel, the Ghouta, the Marj, Wadi Barada, the Qalamun (Saydnaya, Ma'lula, Yabrud, Nabk, Qara), the Jaydur and the Golan (Jawlan) (Damascus).
• Bosra and the Hauran plain, taken from Saladin's son al-Zafir Khidr in 1196 (Bosra); governor not named.
• Kerak (his treasury), Shawbak, al-Salt and the Balqa: the land beyond the Jordan from the Zarqa to the Hisma (Kerak, Shawbak); governors not named.
• Overlordship of the amirs who hold Galilee and Transjordan castles as iqta' from the Ayyubid house: Sa'd al-Din Mas'ud at Safed and Tiberias (Safed and Tiberias), Husam al-Din Bishara at Banyas (Banyas), Izz al-Din Usama at Kawkab and Ajlun (Usama); the garrisons of Toron, Hunin and Beaufort (Toron, Hunin, Beaufort).
• Not his in law: Palestine proper (Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus and the coastal plain), whose governor of Jerusalem was appointed by al-Aziz of Egypt in 1197; on 1 January 1200 it is claimed by the Cairo regency and dominated by al-Adil's army, and is drawn as contested (Lord of Jerusalem, Maymun al-Qasri, Coastal plain).
• The southern Bekaa and the Wadi al-Taym as part of the Damascene country (not pinned).
• The Ayyubid share of Sidon and its district under the truce of 1198 (the Franks hold the town: jer), with the Shuf and the Gharb in the hills behind Sidon and Beirut, whose Druze emirs hold of Damascus (not pinned).
• Beyond the Euphrates (written by jaz): the Ayyubid Jazira round Harran, Edessa and Mayyafariqin, run by his sons; in October 1200 al-Fa'iz Ibrahim governs east of the Euphrates and al-Awhad Ayyub holds Mayyafariqin (Abu'l-Fida).

How it was acquired

Kerak and Shawbak surrendered to Saladin in 1188 and 1189 and were given to al-Adil; in the share-out after Saladin's death (March 1193) he kept them with the lands beyond the Euphrates. In 1196 he and al-Aziz besieged Damascus and expelled al-Afdal, who was given Salkhad; al-Aziz handed Damascus to al-Adil. He held it through the siege of June-December 1199.

Allies and rivals

With him that winter: his sons al-Kamil (who brought the Jazira troops) and al-Mu'azzam; the amir Izz al-Din Ibrahim ibn al-Muqaddam, lord of Barin, Apamea and Kafartab, who was shut up in Damascus with him during the siege (Abu'l-Fida; ale writes him); the Salahi amir Fakhr al-Din Jaharkas, who refused al-Afdal's regency in January 1199 and left Egypt for Syria with many soldiers (Abu'l-Fida). Against him: al-Afdal, regent of Egypt for the boy sultan al-Mansur Muhammad (egy), and al-Zahir Ghazi of Aleppo (ale), with, in Burns's words, 'most of the other Ayyubid princes'. Al-Mansur of Hama used the siege to take Barin from Ibn al-Muqaddam's lieutenant (22 September 1199).

Which side Homs and Baalbek took in 1199 is not pinned in the sources read. The Franks of Acre are bound by the truce of 1198.

How things stand that morning

Holds Damascus, Bosra, Kerak and Shawbak firmly. The besiegers have gone: by 1 January they have left Marj al-Suffar and are at or leaving Ra's al-Ma', al-Afdal's men heading for Egypt and al-Zahir's for Aleppo. Al-Adil is about to follow al-Afdal; the date he left Damascus is not pinned, but he reached Egypt as al-Afdal's troops dispersed to graze their horses, beat him at a place Abu'l-Fida calls al-Sa'ili (other accounts: near Bilbeis), and besieged him in Cairo for eight days.

Wealth

The revenues of Damascus (its markets, crafts and customs, the orchards of the Ghouta, the pilgrim caravan), the grain of the Hauran, the sugar, grain and flocks of Transjordan and the toll of the caravan road from Damascus to Egypt and the Hijaz past Kerak; the treasury kept at Kerak (Wikipedia: it remained a royal treasury for the rest of the dynasty). No figures.

Military

His own mamluks and the Damascene regiments; the Jazira contingents under al-Kamil; the citadels of Damascus (the old Seljuk citadel: his great rebuilding begins only in 1203), Bosra (the fortified Roman theatre; the Ayyubid towers begin in 1202), Kerak and Shawbak. A veteran of Saladin's wars, the commander at Jaffa in 1197 (he took it from the Franks) and of the defence of Toron against the German crusaders in 1197-1198. No numbers.

Threats

• Al-Afdal and al-Zahir together, if they patch up their quarrel: they will try again in 1201.
• The Egyptian amirs: whether the Salahiyya and the Asadiyya regiments in Cairo stand by al-Afdal or come over.
• The Franks, if the truce breaks or the new crusade chosen at Écry (Theobald III of Champagne, 28 November 1199) sails for Syria.
• The Artuqids and Zengids of the Jazira after the failed siege of Mardin.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. Early January 1200 (not pinned)Al-Adil marches from Damascus after al-Afdal, through Palestine and Sinai into Egypt.Depends on: Al-Afdal retreating to Egypt and al-Zahir going home, as they did; the Damascene and Jazira troops staying with al-Adil. Stopped by: The allies keeping to their first plan of wintering at Ra's al-Ma', or a reconciliation between al-Afdal and al-Zahir.
2. Late January 1200Battle at a place Abu'l-Fida calls al-Sa'ili (other accounts: Bilbeis): al-Afdal routed, flees to Cairo.Depends on: Al-Afdal's troops having dispersed to pasture their horses. Stopped by: The Egyptian regiments mustering in time for al-Afdal.
3. 9 February 1200 (21 Rabi' II 596)After an eight-day siege al-Afdal surrenders Cairo on condition of receiving Mayyafariqin, Hani and Samosata; al-Adil enters Cairo as guardian of al-Mansur; al-Afdal goes back to Salkhad. Al-Adil does not keep the terms: his son al-Awhad refuses to give up Mayyafariqin.Depends on: The battle going as above. Stopped by: Defeat of al-Adil in Egypt.
4. 17 February 1200 (English Wikipedia) or later in 1200Al-Adil sets aside the boy al-Mansur and takes the title of sultan; al-Mansur is sent to Syria.Depends on: His hold on Cairo and the regiments. Stopped by: An amirs' revolt in Cairo.
5. 1200Al-Adil sends Fakhr al-Din Jaharkas to seize Subayba and the fortress above Banyas from Husam al-Din Bishara (Banias article).Depends on: Al-Adil's victory; Jaharkas's loyalty. Stopped by: Bishara holding out, or al-Adil needing him.
6. By the start of 597 AH (12 October 1200)Al-Adil rules from Cairo with al-Kamil as his lieutenant; al-Mu'azzam Isa commands in Damascus for his father (Abu'l-Fida).Depends on: Al-Adil staying in Egypt. Stopped by: War recalling him to Syria.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201 (597 AH)Al-Zahir and al-Afdal besiege al-Mu'azzam in Damascus, joined by Maymun al-Qasri of Nablus; al-Adil comes up only as far as Nablus; the brothers quarrel again and withdraw (Abu'l-Fida).Depends on: Al-Zahir's fear of his uncle and al-Afdal's grievance over the broken terms. Stopped by: A settlement in 1200.
2. Truce in forceThe truce with the Franks made in Sha'ban 594 (8 June to 6 July 1198) runs through 1200.Depends on: Neither side breaking it; the crusade not arriving. Stopped by: A Frankish raid, or a crusade landing.

Places of note

• Citadel of Damascus: The old citadel; al-Adil's rebuilding starts in 1203.
• Kerak castle: Al-Adil's treasury; garrison under a governor not named.
• Shawbak (Montreal): Castle held for al-Adil since May 1189.
• Marj al-Suffar: Plain south of al-Kiswa where the allies camped after lifting the siege, until about mid-December 1199 (point placed at the nearby village of Ghabaghib).

Where the sources disagree

• English Wikipedia (citing Runciman) has the siege of Damascus ending in December 1199; Abu'l-Fida says the year 595 (to 22 October 1199) ended with the siege still on and that the allies stayed at Marj al-Suffar until the last days of Safar 596 (about 15-20 December 1199). These agree: the siege broke up in November or December 1199.
• Date of the sultanate: English Wikipedia gives 17 February 1200; Abu'l-Fida says only that soon after entering Cairo he set al-Mansur aside and took the title. Not pinned beyond 1200.
• French Wikipedia dates the entry into Cairo to 5 February 1200; Abu'l-Fida gives 21 Rabi' II 596, which his editors convert to 9 February 1200 (the tabular calendar agrees).

Evidence: The chronology of 1196-1200 is given day by day by Abu'l-Fida (a later Ayyubid prince of Hama writing from Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Wasil and others) and by Ibn al-Athir. Governors of his towns are mostly unnamed.

On the map: Districts drawn round the towns named in the sources; the frontier between Damascus's district and Homs in the north and Baalbek in the west is not recorded and is placed at Qara and Zabadani.

Primary sources for Damascus

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Book of the Two Gardens, on the Reigns of Nur al-Din and Saladin, and its Sequel, Abu Shama (Shihab al-Din Abd al-Rahman al-Maqdisi) (about 1240 to 1267, at Damascus). The Rawdatayn ends with Saladin's death in 1193 and matters for 1200 as the store of Imad al-Din al-Isfahani's lost al-Barq al-Shami and of al-Qadi al-Fadil's letters, quoted at length, which describe the Ayyubid princes, the Jazira and the frontier a few years earlier. Read online
• The Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer, Ernoul, squire of Balian of Ibelin, and later compilers (the 1187 core soon after the event; the whole in its present form 1227 to 1232). The Ibelin household's version of events in Outremer. Read online
• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• The Cream of the History of Aleppo, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim (about 1240 to 1260). The annals of Aleppo. Read online
• The Dispeller of Anxieties, on the History of the Ayyubids, Jamal al-Din Ibn Wasil (about 1272 to 1285, at Hama). The fullest Ayyubid dynastic history, written at Hama with access to the family's own tradition and to Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Abi Tayy and Sibt ibn al-Jawzi. Read online
• The Mirror of Time, on the History of Notables, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (Shams al-Din Yusuf) (about 1240 to 1256, at Damascus). A Damascene preacher's year-by-year chronicle with obituaries, written by a grandson of the Baghdad scholar Ibn al-Jawzi, so it carries both the Baghdad view (the caliph al-Nasir and his court) and the Damascus view (al-Adil's court, the famine refugees of 1200, prices, the plague of 1201). Read online
• The Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (Eracles), Anonymous continuators, the earliest drawing on Ernoul (about 1220 to 1277; the first continuation (1184 to 1197, the Lyon Eracles) compiled about 1230 from material of the 1190s). For the Latin East at 1200 it narrates the aftermath of the Third Crusade: the truce of 1192, the succession to Jerusalem through Queen Isabella's marriages to Henry of Champagne (died September 1197) and Aimery of Lusignan, Aimery's rule as king of Jerusalem from 1198 while king of Cyprus, the German crusade of 1197 to 1198 and the recovery of Beirut and Sidon, the truce with al-Adil of 1198, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond IV and Leo of Armenia, and the Pisan plot against Aimery. Read online
• The Road to Knowledge of the Dynasties of Kings, Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (about 1400 to 1440, at Cairo). A late compilation, but for Ayyubid Egypt it keeps lost material: for 596 to 598 AH it records al-Adil's entry into Cairo, the removal of the boy al-Mansur Muhammad, the oath to al-Kamil as heir, the appointments at Cairo, the low Niles of 1199 and 1200 and the famine and plague of 1200 to 1202 with grain prices, the reports of cannibalism and the death tolls, together with Yemen, the Hijaz and the Mecca emirate. Read online

8 more in the sources library for The Latin East and the Ayyubids.