Hisn Kayfa and Amid (the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa)

Who rules

Name

Qutb al-Din Sukman II ibn Nur al-Din Muhammad

Title

lord (malik) of Hisn Kayfa and Amid

Since

1185, on his father's death

Born

not pinned (young in 1185)

Family

Artuqid (Hisn Kayfa line)

Confidence

high

TDV 'Artuklular'; Wikipedia 'Artuqids' (reign 1185-1201).

Overlord

None in practice. His father received Amid from Saladin in 1183 as a reward for serving at Mosul and Amid; after 1193 Sukman tried to win back lost ground (TDV).

The realm that morning

Sukman II holds Amid and Hisn Kayfa. Across the borders: the Ayyubid Mayyafariqin east; Mardin south over the Tur Abdin; Harput north-west (Anatolia sheet); Ahlat's lands north-east; the Ayyubid Jazira west toward Edessa.

Military

Turkish retinue and Turkmen; no numbers.

Threats

• Ayyubid Mayyafariqin
• a disputed succession (Sukman distrusts his brother Mahmud)

Family and heirs

Brother: Nasir al-Din Mahmud, who will take power after Sukman's death in 1201 by deposing the mamluk Ayaz, Sukman's brother-in-law, whom Sukman named as heir. Sukman's children: not pinned.

Officers

Ayaz, mamluk and brother-in-law of Sukman (prominent at his death in 1201; his post in 1200 not pinned). Others not named.

Castles and towns

• Amid (Diyarbakir), walled city and inner citadel
• Hisn Kayfa (Hasankeyf), citadel, town and bridge
• the Tigris valley villages between them
• castles toward Is'ird, Arzan and Hani: not pinned

Mints and trade

Artuqid figural copper struck at Amid and Hisn Kayfa. Control of the Diyarbakir-Mosul road along the Tigris and of the bridge at Hisn Kayfa; the farmland of the Amid plain.

Treaties and wars

• No war recorded on 1 January 1200.

Relations

Artuqid cousins at Mardin and Harput; the Ayyubid Mayyafariqin to the east; the lords of Ahlat north-east; Jazirat ibn Umar down the Tigris.

Churches

Amid is a great Christian city: Syriac Orthodox and Armenian bishops and communities, with Jews; Hisn Kayfa had a Syriac Orthodox bishop.

Coinage

Artuqid copper with figural types.

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. 597 AH (usually given as 1201: after 1200)Sukman II dies; Ayaz is set aside within days and the amirs install his brother Nasir al-Din Mahmud, who submits to al-Adil and al-Kamil. Later.Depends on: natural course Stopped by: -

Where the sources disagree

• The brief suggests Nasir al-Din Mahmud as ruler; on 1 January 1200 it is still Sukman II (1185-1201). Wikipedia says the line's capital moved to Amid in 1183 in one place and conquered Diyarbakir in 1198 in another; Amid was granted in 1183 (TDV).

Evidence: The rulers and their dates are firm; Sukman's stance in 1199 and his outlying castles are not pinned.

On the map: Outlying castles not pinned; drawn on the two cities and the river between.

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 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 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 Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abu'l-Faraj) (about 1275 to 1286). A later compilation that for 1200 relies on Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir, but adds the Jacobite church's own memory of the Jazira, Mosul, Melitene and the Artuqid and Zangid courts, and carries Michael's story past 1195: the Seljuk brothers' war in Rum, the Khwarazmian and Ghurid wars in the east, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah, and the caliph al-Nasir. Read online