The Ayyubid Jazira (al-Adil's, under al-Kamil)

Who rules

Name

al-Malik al-Adil Sayf al-Din Abu Bakr ibn Ayyub, Saladin's brother; the lands run for him by his eldest son al-Malik al-Kamil Nasir al-Din Muhammad

Title

lord (malik) of the Jazira lands, with his son as viceroy

Since

the Jazira lands were given to al-Adil by Saladin after Taqi al-Din Umar's death (October 1191), in 587-588 AH (1191-1192: TDV gives 587 in its al-Kamil article and 588 in its al-Adil article); al-Kamil was put in charge of them

Born

al-Kamil born in Cairo, 25 Rabi' I 576 (19 August 1180), so 19 years old

Family

Ayyubid

Confidence

high

TDV 'el-Melikul-Kamil' (birth, 587/1191 appointment); Wikipedia 'Al-Kamil' citing Humphreys pp. 112-115; Ibn al-Athir 589 (the Jazira towns as al-Adil's in 1193).

Overlord

al-Adil himself, who holds Damascus and is on 1 January 1200 at war with his nephews al-Afdal (regent of Egypt) and al-Zahir (Aleppo). He is not yet sultan.

The realm that morning

All the Diyar Mudar towns and Mayyafariqin hold for al-Adil; their field army went to Damascus with al-Kamil in late 1199 and its whereabouts on 1 January are not pinned. Mardin, besieged by them for a year, has been relieved and restored to its Artuqid prince under Zengid protection. Across the borders: Aleppo (al-Zahir) west of the Euphrates; Mardin, Sinjar's Nisibin and the Khabur east of Ras al-Ayn; Hisn Kayfa-Amid between Mardin and Mayyafariqin; Ahlat's lords north of Mayyafariqin; Harput and Malatya north of Samosata.

Military

The 'troops of the East' (askar al-sharq): al-Adil's mamluks, Kurdish and Turkish amirs holding iqta's in Diyar Mudar, and Turkmen auxiliaries. Defeated below Mardin on 2 August 1199; in December 1199 the field army was at Damascus with al-Kamil; where it stands on 1 January (Syria, or on the road back east) is not pinned. No numbers in the sources read.

Threats

• A Zengid or Artuqid strike on Ras al-Ayn, Harran or Edessa while the field army is away in the south
• al-Zahir of Aleppo across the Euphrates crossings (Qal'at Najm; al-Bira, held in Saladin's time by an Artuqid kinsman, holder in 1200 not pinned)
• The lords of Ahlat and the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa against Mayyafariqin

Family and heirs

al-Adil's sons who matter here: al-Kamil Muhammad (19), viceroy of the Jazira since 1191; al-Awhad Najm al-Din Ayyub, who holds Mayyafariqin by 1200 (whether he was already installed on 1 January is not pinned); al-Ashraf Musa (born 1180 or 1182), who is not yet in the Jazira: Ibn Khallikan has him given Edessa in 598 (1201-1202) and Harran later; al-Mu'azzam Isa, in Syria (Damascus sheet). al-Hafiz Arslan, later lord of Qal'at Ja'bar, is not known to hold it yet.

Officers

The governors of the Jazira towns under al-Kamil are not named in the sources read: not pinned. Each citadel had a castellan (wali or dizdar) and a garrison of al-Adil's mamluks and Kurdish and Turkish amirs holding iqta's in the Diyar Mudar villages.

Castles and towns

• Harran (citadel; the seat of the Jazira government)
• Edessa (al-Ruha), citadel and walls
• Saruj
• Raqqa
• Qal'at Ja'bar (castle on the Euphrates)
• Samosata (Sumaysat), castle on the Euphrates
• Ras al-Ayn (the Khabur springs)
• Mayyafariqin (Silvan) with its district (Hani and Jabal Jur probably with it: not pinned)
• Tall Mawzan (Viransehir), on the road between Ras al-Ayn and Edessa: holder not pinned

Mints and trade

Ayyubid coins were struck at Mayyafariqin (dated 591/1194-1195, in al-Adil's time), probably also at Harran and Edessa (not checked). The wealth is the grain and cotton of the Harran plain and the Balikh valley, the Euphrates crossings (Qal'at Ja'bar, Raqqa, Samosata) and the caravan road from Mosul and Nisibin through Dunaysir, Ras al-Ayn and Harran to Aleppo, with its tolls; Raqqa's glazed pottery and glass.

Treaties and wars

• War with the Zengid league (Mosul, Sinjar, Jazirat ibn Umar) and with Artuqid Mardin since the relief of Mardin, 2 August 1199: no fighting is recorded after the Zengid retreat from Ras al-Ayn in autumn 1199, and no treaty until Ras al-Ayn, Sha'ban 597 (May 1201).
• War of al-Adil with his nephews al-Afdal and al-Zahir (the Jazira army went to Damascus for it in late 1199).
• The truce of 1198 between al-Adil and the Franks (does not touch this ground).

Relations

Hostile neighbours on three sides: the Zengids of Mosul and their league, Mardin (now under Mosul's protection), and al-Zahir's Aleppo across the Euphrates. The Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and Amid lie between Mardin and Mayyafariqin; their stance in 1199 is not pinned. To the north the lords of Ahlat and the Artuqids of Harput (Anatolia sheet); to the north-west the Seljuk prince of Malatya. The caliph an-Nasir is acknowledged in the khutba as everywhere in Sunni Islam.

Churches

Large Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) and Armenian communities in Edessa, Samosata, Saruj and Mayyafariqin, with their bishops; the Syriac Orthodox patriarch Michael the Great had died on 7 November 1199 and his succession was disputed (detail not pinned here). The anonymous Syriac Chronicle of 1234 was written by an Edessan churchman and is a near-contemporary witness for these years.

Coinage

Ayyubid silver and copper in al-Adil's name with the caliph's; Mayyafariqin figural copper (591 AH).

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.

In 1200

1. January-February 1200al-Adil beats al-Afdal at Bilbeis and takes Cairo (whether al-Kamil and the Jazira troops march with him is not pinned) (26 January 1200 in TDV 'Eyyubiler'; al-Adil proclaims himself sultan 17 February 1200 per Humphreys via Wikipedia; TDV 'el-Melikul-Kamil' gives his entry and sultanate as 22 Ramadan 596 / 6 July 1200: conflicting dates, Egypt sheet to rule).Depends on: al-Adil's victory over al-Afdal and the Salahiyya amirs' desertion to him Stopped by: a defeat in Egypt, which would leave the Jazira army stranded and the towns open to the Zengids
2. 1200 (month not pinned)al-Kamil is made al-Adil's viceroy in Egypt and leaves the Jazira for good; the Jazira passes to his brothers: al-Awhad at Mayyafariqin, al-Ashraf Musa at Edessa (598/1201-1202, Ibn Khallikan) and then Harran.Depends on: al-Adil holding Egypt Stopped by: failure in Egypt; or al-Kamil kept in the East by a new Zengid war
3. 1200 (after al-Afdal surrenders Egypt)al-Afdal is promised Mayyafariqin (and Samosata) for giving up Egypt; al-Awhad refuses to hand over Mayyafariqin and al-Adil does not force him; al-Afdal ends with Samosata and, by the settlement of 1201-1202, Saruj, Ras al-Ayn and Qal'at Najm, most of which al-Adil takes back soon after.Depends on: al-Adil's victory in Egypt and his bargain with al-Afdal Stopped by: al-Afdal winning in Egypt; al-Adil choosing to honour the Mayyafariqin promise
4. 1200-1201Alarmed by al-Adil's sultanate, the princes of the region draw together round Nur al-Din of Mosul; in Sha'ban 597 (May 1201) Nur al-Din invades the Jazira, is stopped by heat and sickness, and makes the treaty of Ras al-Ayn (each side keeps what it holds). Later than 1200.Depends on: al-Adil's success in Egypt Stopped by: an earlier peace with Mosul

Later, on the likely course

1. 599 AH (1202-1203)al-Ashraf besieges Mardin again; through al-Zahir's mediation Mardin buys peace and becomes an Ayyubid vassal (al-Adil's name on its coins, troops on demand). Later.Depends on: al-Ashraf installed in the Jazira Stopped by: a renewed Zengid league

Where the sources disagree

• The brief and some lists put al-Ashraf Musa in Harran and Edessa from 1200; TDV, citing Ibn Khallikan, gives Edessa in 598 (1201-1202) and Harran later. On 1 January 1200 the Jazira is still al-Kamil's charge.
• The date of al-Adil's entry into Cairo and of his sultanate differs between sources (26 January 1200; 17 February 1200; 22 Ramadan 596 / 6 July 1200). It does not change the Jazira on 1 January.
• TDV 'Nureddin Zengi, Arslansah' has the Mardin campaign in both 594 and 595 and calls al-Kamil's army a 'relief force': the battle date 7 Shawwal 595 (2 August 1199) is the firm point.

Evidence: The outline (towns, al-Kamil's charge, the Mardin defeat, his march to Damascus) is well attested in Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Wasil and Humphreys. The town governors are not named in what could be read, and the archive.org copies of Ibn al-Athir 595-596 and of Humphreys could not be searched in this run, so the autumn 1199 details come through TDV and Wikipedia summaries. Hijri dates converted with the tabular calendar (596 AH runs from about 22 October 1199 to 10 October 1200; 1 January 1200 falls about 12 Rabi' I 596); conversions may be a day or two out.

On the map: Lordship here is towns and citadels with their villages; the outer steppe belongs to whoever can protect it. The polygons follow rivers and the plain's edge, not recorded boundaries.

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 Mirror of Time, on the History of Notables, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (Shams al-Din Yusuf) (about 1240 to 1256, at Damascus). A Damascene preacher's year-by-year chronicle with obituaries, written by a grandson of the Baghdad scholar Ibn al-Jawzi, so it carries both the Baghdad view (the caliph al-Nasir and his court) and the Damascus view (al-Adil's court, the famine refugees of 1200, prices, the plague of 1201). 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
• 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
• Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online