Thula

Who holds it

Name

al-Mansur Abd Allah ibn Hamza

Title

Imam

Since

1198

Confidence

medium

Lord in 1200

The imam al-Mansur Abd Allah, who withdrew here when an Ayyubid force retook Sana'a in 1198.

How things stand that morning

Zaydi.

Charter

None known: Yemeni towns had no charters; the ruler's governor (wali), the judge (qadi) and the market inspector (muhtasib) answered to the sultan or the imam.

Council

No sworn council; the notables, the qadi and the headman speak for the town. Names for 1199-1200 not pinned.

Communities

Hamdan tribesmen; Zaydis.

Fairs and markets

Daily or weekly markets; no fair dates recorded for 1200.

Militia

Not recorded for 1199-1200.

Walls and castle

Town walls and the fortress on the hill above.

Trade and crafts

Farm market.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: English Wikipedia's article on al-Mansur Abdallah.

Primary sources for Zaydi imamate

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.

• History of Yemen, Umara al-Yamani (Umara ibn Ali al-Hakami) (1168 to 1174, at Cairo). The history of Yemen's dynasties to the eve of the Ayyubid conquest: the Ziyadids and Najahids of Zabid, the Sulayhids and their queen Arwa, the Zuray'ids of Aden, the Hamdanid sultans of San'a and the Mahdids of Zabid, with Umara's own career as a Yemeni envoy to Fatimid Cairo. Read online
• History of the Observant Traveller (A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia), Ibn al-Mujawir (Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ya'qub) (about 1226 to 1232). A merchant-traveller's description of western and southern Arabia a generation after 1200: Mecca and the Hijaz ports, the Red Sea crossing, Zabid and the Tihama, Aden with its customs and tariffs, the Hadramawt coast, Dhofar and Oman, Socotra, and the opposite African shore at Zeila and the Dahlak islands. Read online