Sukman II

Who he is

Name

Qutb al-Din Sukman II ibn Nur al-Din Muhammad

Title

lord (malik) of Hisn Kayfa and Amid

Since

1185

Born

not pinned

Family

Artuqid

Confidence

high

TDV 'Artuklular'; Wikipedia 'Artuqids'.

Overlord

None in practice.

What it holds

• Amid (Diyarbakir)
• Hisn Kayfa (Hasankeyf)
• the Tigris valley between
• outlying castles not pinned

How it was acquired

Inherited 1185.

Allies and rivals

Artuqid cousins; neighbour of Ayyubid Mayyafariqin; stance in 1199 not pinned.

How things stand that morning

Holds both cities.

Wealth

The Diyarbakir-Mosul road and the Tigris bridge; Amid's plain.

Threats

• succession quarrel
• Ayyubid pressure

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. 597 AH (1201)Dies; Ayaz set aside; brother Nasir al-Din Mahmud succeeds. Later.Depends on: - Stopped by: -

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Dates firm; deeds in 1199-1200 not recorded in what was read.

On the map: Outlying castles not pinned.

Primary sources for Hisn Kayfa and Amid

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 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 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 Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abu'l-Faraj) (about 1275 to 1286). A later compilation that for 1200 relies on Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir, but adds the Jacobite church's own memory of the Jazira, Mosul, Melitene and the Artuqid and Zangid courts, and carries Michael's story past 1195: the Seljuk brothers' war in Rum, the Khwarazmian and Ghurid wars in the east, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah, and the caliph al-Nasir. Read online