Sinjar (Qutb al-Din Muhammad)

Who rules

Name

Qutb al-Din Muhammad ibn Imad al-Din Zengi II

Title

lord (malik) of Sinjar

Since

his father's death, late 1197 (594 AH in Ibn al-Athir; 593 in some lists)

Born

not pinned (young: a regent ran his state in 1198)

Family

Zengid (line of Imad al-Din Zengi II, who had exchanged Aleppo for Sinjar in 1183)

Confidence

high

Ibn al-Athir 594 (succession, Yarunqush as director of the state, Nur al-Din's seizure of Nisibin); TDV 'Nureddin Zengi, Arslansah' and 'Zengiler'.

Overlord

None formally. Rescued by al-Adil against Mosul in 1198, in Nur al-Din's league against al-Adil in 1199; al-Adil later wins him back by having the khutba said in his name (date not pinned, before 1204).

The realm that morning

Qutb al-Din holds Sinjar, Tall Afar, Nisibin and the Khabur. Across the borders: Mosul east of Tall Afar; Mardin and Dunaysir north-west of Nisibin; the Ayyubid Ras al-Ayn west; Jazirat ibn Umar north-east; the Bedouin steppe south.

Military

A small host of mamluks and Turkmen and Kurdish auxiliaries; took part in the victory below Mardin (August 1199). No numbers.

Threats

• Nur al-Din's designs on Nisibin and Tall Afar
• al-Adil's pressure once he wins Egypt
• Bedouin on the Khabur

Family and heirs

First cousin of Nur al-Din of Mosul and of Sanjar Shah of Jazirat ibn Umar. Brothers, wives and children by 1200: not pinned.

Officers

Mujahid al-Din Yarunqush, mamluk, director of the state (mudabbir al-dawla) at Qutb al-Din's accession (Ibn al-Athir 594); still in charge on 1 January 1200: not pinned.

Castles and towns

• Sinjar (walls and citadel)
• Tall Afar (castle; Sinjar's until Nur al-Din took it in 1204)
• Nisibin (Nusaybin), recovered July 1198
• the Khabur valley (Arban, Majdal and the villages below the Khabur springs): Sinjar's in 1193 (Ibn al-Athir 589), assumed still in 1200
• al-Ba'aj and the plain south of Jabal Sinjar

Mints and trade

Coins struck at Nisibin (a Nisibin coin of 594 AH is catalogued for Nur al-Din's brief tenure). Wealth: Nisibin's gardens and the caravan road Mosul-Nisibin-Dunaysir, the Khabur grain and the steppe's flocks.

Treaties and wars

• In the Zengid league against al-Adil (1199).
• Feud with Nur al-Din of Mosul over Nisibin (1198), quiet for now.

Relations

Between Mosul and the Ayyubid Jazira; Mardin is a neighbour under Mosul's protection; the Bedouin of the steppe graze the Khabur and the Sinjar plain.

Churches

Nisibin has an old Christian community round the church of Mar Ya'qub (St Jacob of Nisibis) and a metropolitan of the Church of the East; Jews in Nisibin.

Coinage

Zengid copper; Nisibin mint.

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. between 1200 and 1204 (not pinned)al-Adil wins Qutb al-Din back by having the khutba said in his name in Sinjar's lands.Depends on: al-Adil's victory in Egypt Stopped by: a firm Zengid league

Later, on the likely course

1. Sha'ban 600 (April 1204)Nur al-Din retakes Nisibin and Tall Afar; the Ayyubid coalition restores them after Nur al-Din's rout. Later.Depends on: Qutb al-Din in al-Adil's camp Stopped by: peace between the cousins

Where the sources disagree

• Wikipedia's Zengid page lists Mu'izz al-Din Sanjar Shah as lord of Sinjar; he was lord of Jazirat ibn Umar. Sinjar was Qutb al-Din Muhammad's (1197-1219).

Evidence: Ibn al-Athir names the succession and the regent; the Khabur and Tall Afar are attested as Sinjar's in 1193 and 1204, assumed for 1200. 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: Sinjar's lands are islands of farmland in the steppe; the drawing shows the farmed cores only.

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