al-Zahir Ghazi

Who he is

Name

Ghazi ibn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (al-Zahir Ghazi)

Title

Prince (malik) of Aleppo, al-Malik al-Zahir Ghiyath al-Din

Since

1186 (582 AH); independent since March 1193

Born

1172 or 1173 (568 AH), in Cairo

Family

Son of Saladin. Brother of al-Afdal Ali (regent of Egypt that winter, his ally) and of the late al-Aziz Uthman (d. 29 November 1198). Nephew of al-Adil. Wives and children on 1 January 1200 not pinned (see the realm record).

Confidence

high

Abu'l-Fida, RHC Or. I, pp. 141, 152, 158-162; Wikipedia summary of the modern accounts.

Overlord

None in practice (see Aleppo).

What it holds

• Aleppo, the citadel and the city district (direct)
• Harim, rebuilt by al-Zahir, overlooking the Iron Bridge and the Antioch road (direct; governor not pinned)
• Azaz and the Afrin valley (direct)
• Ain Tab (direct)
• Ra'ban (Aleppan in 1218 when Kaykaus took it; 1200 not pinned)
• Darbsak in the Amanus (Aleppan in 1205 when Leo failed to take it; governor not pinned)
• Latakia, with the castle he rebuilt after 1197, and Jabala (direct since 1194; governors not pinned)
• Balatunus and Bikisrail in the Jabal Bahra (held with Latakia and Jabala by Taqi al-Din until 1191; holder in 1200 not pinned)
• Sarmin, Idlib and the Jabal al-Summaq villages (direct)
• Shughr-Bakas on the Orontes (taken by Saladin in August 1188; holder in 1200 not pinned)
• The overlordship of the Saladin-grant emirs in his sphere: Dildirim (Tell Bashir), Mankurus (Sahyun, Bourzey), the Banu al-Daya (Shayzar), Ibn al-Muqaddam (Afamiya, Kafartab): see their records

How it was acquired

Grant of Saladin (1186), confirmed by the division of 1193; Latakia and Jabala by treaty with al-Afdal in 1194.

Allies and rivals

See Aleppo. That winter: allied with al-Afdal against al-Adil, but newly estranged from him over the mamluk affair.

How things stand that morning

Away from Aleppo with the field army, at or coming from the winter camp at Ras al-Ma' south of Damascus (see Aleppo). His castles and towns are held by his deputies; nothing is lost.

Wealth

Aleppo's suqs, tolls and mint, and the land tax of the plain and the Amuq.

Military

His mamluks and amirs; the citadel garrison; the frontier castles of Harim, Azaz, Darbsak and Latakia. No figures.

Threats

• Al-Adil once Egypt falls
• Leo of Armenia on the Amanus
• Frankish raids on Latakia and Jabala

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.

1. Early 1200 (not pinned)Returns to Aleppo by al-Qaryatayn; after al-Adil's entry into Cairo (9 February) writes to his uncle (terms not recorded in the passage read here).Depends on: Al-Adil's victory in Egypt Stopped by: Al-Afdal holding Egypt
2. From October 1200Strengthens Aleppo's fortifications against an expected attack by al-Adil (Abu'l-Fida).Depends on: Distrust of al-Adil Stopped by: A settled peace

Places of note

• The citadel of Aleppo: Seat of the prince, his treasury, arsenal and palace; al-Zahir's works on the moat, glacis and bridge.
• Darbsak castle: Amanus castle taken by Saladin in September 1188; faces Leo's Baghras.
• Shughr-Bakas: Twin castles over the Orontes crossing, taken by Saladin in August 1188.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The prince is thick in the chronicles; his governors and household officers that winter are thin.

On the map: The prince's direct domain and his emirs' castles interlock; the blocks follow the main towns and castles, not surveyed bounds.

Primary sources for Aleppo

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 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 Anonymous Syriac Chronicle to 1234, Anonymous (a Syrian Orthodox writer, probably of Edessa) (about 1234 to 1240). An Edessene chronicle independent of Michael the Syrian in its later part, with a secular section reaching 1234 that gives the Jazira, Edessa, Harran, Mardin and Melitene about 1200 under al-Adil's sons and the Artuqids, the Seljuks of Rum, the Armenians of Cilicia and the Franks of Antioch, and a church section to 1207 on the Jacobite succession after Michael's death in 1199. Read online
• The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
• The Chronicle of Smbat Sparapet (Sempad the Constable), Smbat Sparapet, brother of King Hetum I of Cilicia (about 1270 to 1276). The Cilician court chronicle, drawing on Matthew of Edessa for its early part and on family memory later. Read online

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