Banyas

Who he is

Name

Husam al-Din Bishara

Title

Holder (muqta') of Banyas

Since

Held Banyas as iqta' at the end of Saladin's life, under al-Afdal of Damascus (Banias article); in 1200 al-Adil sent Fakhr al-Din Jaharkas to seize Subayba and the fortress above Banyas from him.

Born

not pinned

Family

not pinned

Confidence

medium

Banias article (its note 59, from the Arabic chronicles).

Overlord

The lord of Damascus (al-Afdal until 1196, al-Adil since).

What it holds

• Banyas town (Banyas).
• The fortress of Subayba on the ridge above (Subayba): a fortress there is named in 1200; the great castle now standing (Nimrod's fortress) is mostly of 1227-1230.
• The slopes of Hermon and the north of the Golan.

How it was acquired

Iqta' from Saladin or al-Afdal (date not pinned).

Allies and rivals

Likely tied to al-Afdal (his old lord); Jaharkas is the rival who will take his place.

How things stand that morning

Holds Banyas and Subayba that morning; his removal follows al-Adil's victory.

Wealth

Tolls on the Damascus to Tyre road, the Hula marshes and their reeds and fish, Hermon pastures.

Military

Town walls and the hill fortress; no numbers.

Threats

• Al-Adil and Jaharkas (1200).

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. 1200Al-Adil sends Fakhr al-Din Jaharkas to seize Subayba and the fortress above Banyas from Bishara (Banias article); Jaharkas is confirmed in 1202 and rebuilds the tower after the earthquake of that year.Depends on: Al-Adil's victory over al-Afdal. Stopped by: Al-Adil keeping Bishara for his own service.

Where the sources disagree

• Subayba: the Banias article names a fortress above Banyas in 1200; the standing castle is Ayyubid work of 1227-1230 under al-Aziz Uthman son of al-Adil. The brief's 'Subayba (Nimrod's fortress)' should not be read as the later castle.

Evidence: One modern article citing the chronicles; Bishara's allegiance in 1199 is inferred, not stated.

On the map: Small block round Banyas; the iqta' bounds are not recorded.

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.