Imad al-Din Abu Bakr, a younger son of the Artuqid Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan of Hisn Kayfa, was serving Saladin when his brother Nur al-Din Muhammad died in 1185.
Saladin confirmed Hisn Kayfa to his nephew Sokmen II, so Abu Bakr took Harput instead and made it a principality of its own. The emirate is small: the hill fortress of Harput above its rich plain north of the Taurus, the Murat (Arsanias) valley at Palu, and probably Pertek and Cemisgezek across the river (not pinned). It lies between the Seljuk appanage of Malatya to the west, the Mengujekids to the north, Ahlat's lands to the east, and the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and Amid and the Ayyubid Jazira to the south, and it survives by leaning now one way and now the other.
Who rules
- Name
- Imad al-Din Abu Bakr son of Qara Arslan
- Title
- Emir of Harput
- Since
- 581 AH (1185)
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- Artuqid, of the Hisn Kayfa line
- Confidence
- high
Bosworth's lists (via Wikipedia) give 1185-1204 (581-600 AH); TDV gives 1185 and 1204. Firmly in place on 1 January 1200.
Overlord
None in practice. He owed his start to Saladin's leave in 1185 and the branch later swung between the Ayyubids and the Seljuks; his formal suzerain on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
Allies and rivals
Not pinned for that winter.
The realm that morning
Abu Bakr holds Harput and its plain; Palu is taken to be his.
Wealth
The Harput plain (grain, vines), the Murat crossings and the roads to Amid and Malatya.
Military
The strong hill citadel of Harput.
Threats
- Suleymanshah II's advance to Malatya (1201) puts the Seljuks on his border.
- Ayyubid ambitions in the Jazira.
Ruler
Imad al-Din Abu Bakr son of Qara Arslan (581-600 AH, 1185-1204).
Heirs and children
His son Nizam al-Din Ibrahim succeeds him in 600 AH (1203-04); Ibrahim's age in 1200 is not pinned. Ibrahim's son Izz al-Din Ahmad Khidr and grandson Nur al-Din Artuqshah rule later.
Kin with land
His nephew Sokmen II rules Hisn Kayfa and Amid (Latin East sheet); the Mardin line under Yuluk Arslan is a cousin branch (Latin East sheet). No kin of his own holds land pinned.
Great families
Not pinned. Armenian and Syriac Christians are numerous in the Harput plain (Syriac bishopric of Hisn Ziyad, not pinned for 1200).
Castles and towns
Harput (citadel and Great Mosque); Palu (castle on the Murat); Pertek and Cemisgezek (not pinned).
Mints tolls markets
No coin of Abu Bakr pinned. The plain lies on roads from Malatya to Amid and from Erzincan to the Jazira.
Treaties wars feuds
None pinned for that winter.
Relations
The Ayyubids: Abu Bakr owed his start to Saladin's favour; ties with al-Adil not pinned. Rum: Malatya, held by the sultan's brother Qaysarshah until 1201, is the western neighbour. Hisn Kayfa and Mardin: cousin branches. The Mengujekids: neighbours to the north.
Churches
Armenian and Syriac Orthodox communities; names not pinned.
Coinage
Not pinned for this emir.
The host
The emir's household troops. No numbers.
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.
- 600 AH (about September 1203 to August 1204), laterImad al-Din Abu Bakr dies and his son Nizam al-Din Ibrahim succeeds.Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: Nothing in play is known to change it.
Places of note
- Citadel of Harput: The emir's fortress on its rock above the plain.
Where the sources disagree
- TDV 'Harput' and 'Artuklular' give 1185 and 1204 only and do not name Nizam al-Din Ibrahim in the Harput article; Wikipedia's list gives Ibrahim from 1203. The succession year is uncertain within 1203-1204.
Evidence: The Harput line is known in outline only (Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Bibi, coin lists, Bosworth). Its lands beyond Harput itself are not pinned.
On the map: Drawn through Abu Bakr of Harput. Pertek and Cemisgezek are a guess from the earlier Cubukid lordship and the assignment.
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 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 Cream of the History of Aleppo, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim (about 1240 to 1260). The annals of Aleppo. Read online
Sources and studies
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Artuklular'
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Harput' (M. A. Unal), 1997
- Wikipedia, 'Artuqids' (ruler lists after Bosworth)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.