Oltu

Who holds it

Title

Commander for the lord of Ahlat

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

Ibn al-Athir (Recueil, Historiens orientaux II, p. 111) calls Olti a fortress belonging to Khilat near Erzurum when the Georgians marched on it in about 601 AH (1204-05). TDV says Oltu came under the Saltukids under Saltuk II (1132-1168). The assignment lists Oltu with Georgia. Who held it on 1 January 1200 is not pinned; Ahlat is followed.

Lord in 1200

A commander for the lord of Ahlat (not pinned).

How things stand that morning

Taken to be Ahlat's (low confidence).

Charter

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

Council

No council recorded; the lord's governor (shihna or subashi) and the judge (qadi).

Communities

Georgians, Armenians and Muslims; not recorded.

Fairs and markets

None recorded for 1200.

Militia

The lord's garrison in the citadel.

Walls and castle

The medieval fortress on the rock above the river.

Trade and crafts

The road from Erzurum to Georgian Tao and Ardahan.

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. About 601 AH (1204-05), laterThe Georgians march on Oltu and are beaten by the lord of Ahlat with Tughrilshah of Erzurum; their commander Zakaria the Younger is killed.Depends on: Georgian raids south after Basian. Stopped by: A truce.

Where the sources disagree

• Ahlat's fortress in Ibn al-Athir (about 1204-05); Saltukid under Saltuk II (TDV); listed with Georgia in the assignment.

Evidence: One passage of Ibn al-Athir.

On the map: Point only; drawn as an Ahlat part under Muhammad of Ahlat.

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