Homs (Shirkuh II)

Who rules

Name

Asad al-Din Shirkuh II ibn Muhammad ibn Shirkuh

Title

al-Malik al-Mujahid, lord of Homs

Since

1186

Born

not pinned

Family

Ayyubid, of Shirkuh's line

Confidence

high

Abu'l-Fida p. 152

Overlord

None formally; follows the senior Ayyubid (al-Adil by 1203).

The realm that morning

Shirkuh holds all three pieces.

Threats

• The Hospitallers of Krak.
• Al-Adil's displeasure if Homs leaned to Saladin's sons.

Ruler

Al-Mujahid Shirkuh II (birth not pinned; a boy in 1186).

Consort and heirs

Not pinned for 1200; his son al-Mansur Ibrahim succeeds in 1240.

Castles and towns

Homs citadel; Palmyra; al-Rahba castle.

Economy

Orontes agriculture; the Iraq caravan road through Palmyra and al-Rahba; Bedouin trade and subsidies. No figures.

Treaties and wars

Old enmity with the Hospitallers of Krak; no war recorded that winter.

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. 1201Shelters al-Afdal's family during the second siege of Damascus.Depends on: War renewed. Stopped by: Peace in 1200.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Possession clear; politics of 1199 not recorded in the sources read.

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 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 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