Hama (al-Mansur Muhammad)

Who rules

Name

Muhammad ibn Umar (al-Mansur Muhammad), son of al-Muzaffar Taqi al-Din Umar

Title

Prince (malik) of Hama, al-Malik al-Mansur Nasir al-Din

Since

1191 (587 AH), on his father's death; confirmed by Saladin through al-Adil's intercession

Born

Not pinned here (he died in 617 AH, 1220-1221)

Family

Ayyubid. Grandson of Shahanshah, Saladin's elder brother; so first cousin once removed of al-Zahir and of al-Adil's sons. His line later produces the historian-prince Abu'l-Fida.

Confidence

high

Abu'l-Fida (RHC Or. I, pp. 145, 147, 152, 158-161). His sons al-Muzaffar Mahmud and al-Nasir Qilij Arslan were born after 1200 by Abu'l-Fida's ages for them (al-Muzaffar about 27 in 1229).

Overlord

He holds Hama as a grant (iqta') confirmed by Saladin in 1191 and has sworn an oath to al-Adil, which he cites in 1201 when refusing al-Zahir's offers (Abu'l-Fida).

What the realm holds

• Hama, its citadel and its district on the Orontes (direct)
• Salamiyah and the steppe edge to the east (direct)
• Ma'arrat al-Nu'man and its district, except the twenty-five villages there held by Ibn al-Muqaddam
• Barin (Montferrand), taken from Ibn al-Muqaddam's lieutenant on 22 September 1199
• Manbij and Qal'at Najm on the Euphrates road, detached from the rest (governors not pinned)

How it was acquired

Saladin gave Hama to Taqi al-Din Umar in the late 1170s (the year not checked here); Taqi al-Din later held Hama, al-Ma'arra, Salamiyah, Manbij, Qal'at Najm, Jabala, Latakia, Balatunus and Bikisrail in Syria with lands beyond the Euphrates. On his death in 1191 al-Mansur kept Hama, Salamiyah, al-Ma'arra, Manbij and Qal'at Najm and gave up the trans-Euphrates lands to the sultan (Abu'l-Fida).

Allies and rivals

Ally: al-Adil, to whom he is bound by oath. Rivals: al-Zahir of Aleppo, who will besiege Hama in 1201; Ibn al-Muqaddam, whose Barin he has seized; the Nizaris of Masyaf on his western hills; the Hospitallers of Krak des Chevaliers (Krak), who raid toward Hama and Barin (two fights near Barin in 1203, Abu'l-Fida).

The realm that morning

On 1 January 1200 al-Mansur is at peace at home, in possession of Barin since 22 September 1199. He has not yet asked al-Adil's pardon for Barin (that comes after al-Adil's entry into Cairo on 9 February 1200). Manbij and Qal'at Najm are still his.

Wealth

The irrigated gardens of the Orontes lifted by the great water-wheels (norias), the grain and cotton of the plain, the olive and fig country of the Ma'arra district, the steppe trade of Salamiyah, and the tolls of the Euphrates crossing at Qal'at Najm and of the road through Manbij.

Military

The prince's mamluks and amirs, the garrison of the citadel, and the castles of Barin, Salamiyah and Qal'at Najm. No figures.

Threats

• Al-Zahir of Aleppo, whose army is returning north that winter
• Al-Adil's insistence that Barin be returned to Ibn al-Muqaddam
• The Hospitallers of Krak des Chevaliers and the Nizaris of Masyaf

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. Spring or summer 1200, after 9 February (not pinned)Al-Mansur asks al-Adil's pardon for taking Barin; al-Adil orders it returned to Ibn al-Muqaddam; al-Mansur instead gives Ibn al-Muqaddam Manbij and Qal'at Najm and keeps Barin (Abu'l-Fida).Depends on: Al-Adil winning Egypt and taking the leadership of the family Stopped by: Al-Afdal and al-Zahir prevailing; or Ibn al-Muqaddam refusing the exchange
2. 597 AH (from October 1200 into 1201)Al-Zahir offers him Manbij and Qal'at Najm to join him against al-Adil; he refuses on his oath; al-Zahir ravages the Ma'arra district and besieges Hama from the north, is wounded and makes peace for a payment; when al-Adil comes north (598 AH, 1202) the separate estate (mufrada) of al-Ma'arra goes to al-Mansur.Depends on: Ibn al-Muqaddam's death and al-Zahir's breach with al-Adil Stopped by: Peace between al-Zahir and al-Adil holding

Where the sources disagree

• The assignment puts Barin with Hama and Manbij, Qal'at Najm and Ma'arrat al-Nu'man with Aleppo. Abu'l-Fida puts all of them with Hama on 1 January 1200 (Barin only since 22 September 1199).

Evidence: Abu'l-Fida, a descendant of al-Mansur and himself prince of Hama, gives a dated year-by-year account of the family's lands.

On the map: Hama's eastern edge toward Salamiyah and the steppe is a zone of Bedouin grazing, not a line. Barin is drawn with Hama although al-Mansur holds it by force and against al-Adil's wish.

Primary sources for this realm

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 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 Eloquent Exposition of the Conquest of Jerusalem, Imad al-Din al-Isfahani (al-Katib) (about 1192 to 1193). Saladin's secretary's ornate account of the conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade, ending with Saladin's death in 1193. Read online
• The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, Baha al-Din Ibn Shaddad (after 1193, probably between about 1198 and 1228, at Aleppo). Ends with Saladin's death in March 1193 and so gives no event of 1200, but it is the formative portrait of the Ayyubid house of 1200: al-Adil, al-Afdal, al-Aziz and al-Zahir Ghazi as Saladin's lieutenants, the Mosul and Jazira campaigns, the war of Acre and the treaty of Jaffa of 1192. Read online