al-Afdal (Salkhad)

Who he is

Name

Nur al-Din Ali ibn Salah al-Din Yusuf, al-Malik al-Afdal

Title

al-Malik al-Afdal Nur al-Din, lord of Salkhad; atabeg (guardian and regent) of the boy sultan al-Mansur Muhammad of Egypt since January 1199

Since

Salkhad since July 1196, given to him when he lost Damascus (Abu'l-Fida); regent of Egypt from his arrival in January 1199 (he left Salkhad on 27 Safar 595, 29 December 1198, with nineteen men, and reached Bilbeis on 5 Rabi' I, 5 January 1199).

Born

Not pinned in the sources read (1169 or 1170 in the usual accounts).

Family

Ayyubid; eldest son of Saladin; brother of al-Zahir Ghazi of Aleppo (ale), of the late al-Aziz Uthman of Egypt and of al-Zafir Khidr, once lord of Bosra; uncle and guardian of al-Mansur Muhammad. His mother and family are with him or at Salkhad (in 1201 he sends them to Homs).

Confidence

high

Abu'l-Fida pp. 155-161; Al-Afdal article.

Overlord

None that he acknowledges; nominally he governs Egypt in his nephew al-Mansur's name.

What it holds

• Salkhad castle and its villages in the southern Jabal Hauran (Salkhad).
• Egypt as regent (written by egy).

How it was acquired

Granted by al-Adil and al-Aziz in compensation for Damascus, July 1196.

Allies and rivals

Allied with his brother al-Zahir (ale), but they have just fallen out over Damascus (al-Zahir wanted it at once). Enemy of his uncle al-Adil. The Salahiyya amir Jaharkas refused his regency and left Egypt in January 1199.

How things stand that morning

Salkhad is his and is not under attack. He himself is with what is left of his army between the Hauran and Egypt (the allies had planned to winter at Ra's al-Ma' and then parted). He loses the battle in late January and Cairo on 9 February 1200.

Wealth

The villages, flocks and vineyards of the southern Jabal Hauran; the revenues of Egypt while he holds the regency (egy). No figures.

Military

The castle of Salkhad on its volcanic cone (much of what stands was rebuilt after it passed to al-Mu'azzam's mamluk Aybak in 1211-1212; building dates not re-checked here); the Egyptian army that followed him to Damascus, now dispersing.

Threats

• Al-Adil's pursuit into Egypt.
• Desertion of the Egyptian amirs.

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. 9 February 1200Surrenders Cairo to al-Adil after defeat in battle and an eight-day siege; promised Mayyafariqin, Hani and Samosata; returns to Salkhad.Depends on: Defeat in the field. Stopped by: Victory over al-Adil.
2. 1200-1201Al-Awhad refuses him Mayyafariqin; al-Adil later confirms him in Samosata, Saruj and other towns, then takes Ras al-Ayn, Saruj and Qal'at Najm back, leaving him only Samosata (Abu'l-Fida, Al-Afdal article).Depends on: Al-Adil's victory. Stopped by: A new coalition.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201 (597 AH)Joins al-Zahir's second siege of Damascus and hands Salkhad to the Salahi amir Zayn al-Din Qaraja to win him over (Abu'l-Fida).Depends on: The alliance with al-Zahir renewed. Stopped by: A settlement with al-Adil.

Where the sources disagree

• Realm: Salkhad lies in the Hauran, but on 1 January 1200 it belongs to al-Adil's enemy, the regent of Egypt; it is given the realm id egypt (his allegiance), not damascus. The compiler may prefer 'contested' if it wants the enclave flagged.

Evidence: Abu'l-Fida dates his movements to the day; who commanded Salkhad for him is not recorded.

On the map: The extent of Salkhad's district is not recorded; drawn round the villages of the modern Salkhad district.

Primary sources for Egypt

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

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