Ahlat

Who holds it

Name

al-Malik al-Mansur Muhammad son of Begtimur (governed by his atabeg Shuja al-Din Qutlugh)

Title

Ruler of Ahlat

Since

594 AH (1198)

Family

Begtimurid

Confidence

medium

See Muhammad of Ahlat.

Lord in 1200

The boy ruler Muhammad son of Begtimur; government by the atabeg Shuja al-Din Qutlugh.

Allies and rivals

See Ahlat.

How things stand that morning

Capital of the boy Muhammad under his atabeg.

Wealth

Lake trade, fish, tolls.

Threats

• Palace feuds.
• The Ayyubids (1207-08).
• Georgian raids.

Charter

None: a lord's town, not a commune.

Council

No council recorded. The notables and people chose Begtimur in 1185 and will hand the city to al-Awhad in 1207-08; the young men's brotherhoods (fityan, called Ahi in TDV) were strong enough that the Ayyubids broke them in 1208.

Communities

Muslims (Turks, Persians, Kurds) and a large Armenian population; numbers not recorded.

Fairs and markets

None recorded for 1200.

Militia

The mamluk household and the fityan of the town.

Walls and castle

A walled city with a citadel; the chroniclers describe a massive turreted wall with three gates (undated). Nothing of the dynasty's buildings survives except tombstones.

Trade and crafts

The lake trade by boat to Ercis, Van and Vostan; the salted tirrikh fish of Lake Van, exported in the 13th century to Mesopotamia and as far as Khurasan (Yaqut); the Tabriz road; gardens and fruit.

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. 604 AH (1207-08), laterThe people of Ahlat hand the city to al-Awhad; it revolts and is retaken with heavy killing, and the fityan are broken.Depends on: The end of the Begtimurid line. Stopped by: A strong native ruler.

Places of note

• Old Ahlat and the great Muslim cemetery: Tombstones of the period survive.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The medieval city is mostly gone; known from Ibn al-Athir, Yaqut and later geographers.

On the map: Near land only.

Primary sources for Ahlat

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 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 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
• History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
• The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
• Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online