Alptakin

Last updated

Alptakin (also known as Aftakin) was a Turkish military officer of the Buyids, who participated, and eventually came to lead, an unsuccessful rebellion against them in Iraq from 973 to 975. Fleeing west with 300 followers, he exploited the power vacuum in Syria to capture several cities, including Damascus. For the next three years, Alptakin withstood attempts by the Fatimid Caliphate to capture Damascus, until he was defeated and captured by Caliph al-Aziz Billah. Taken to Egypt and incorporated into the Fatimid army, he was poisoned by the vizier Ibn Killis shortly after this.

Contents

Early life and rebellion against the Buyids

He was a freedman of the Buyid ruler of Iraq, Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar. [1] Nothing further is known about him until 973, when he joined the rebellion of the Turkish officer Sabuktakin, who managed to occupy Baghdad and many other parts of Iraq. The Turkish rebels under Sabuktakin then besieged Wasit, where Izz al-Dawla had fortified himself. Sabuktakin died during the siege, and Alptakin was shortly chosen as the new leader of the Turks. Meanwhile, a Buyid army under Izz al-Dawla's cousin Adud al-Dawla was marching towards Iraq, and by 975 managed to completely defeat the rebels at the Diyala River. [2]

Invasion of Syria and war with the Fatimids

Map of Early Islamic Syria and its provinces Syria in the 9th century.svg
Map of Early Islamic Syria and its provinces

After his defeat at the hands of the Buyids, along with c. 300 of his followers, [3] Alptakin fled to Syria, where they managed to capture Hims. [1] Alptakin then allied himself with the Qarmatians, and in the winter of 975 invaded the Mediterranean coast and laid siege to Fatimid city of Sidon. He shortly managed to capture the city, resulting in the massacre of 4,000 Fatimid troops. [1] He then captured Tiberias, and marched towards to Damascus, which he took without much resistance. In the meantime, the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes was undertaking campaigns in Syria, which made Alptakin surrender his lands to John, [4] but through diplomacy, he prevented the Byzantines from attempting to annex the city.

The Fatimid caliph al-Aziz Billah then sent an army under his general Jawhar, who managed to reconquer the Mediterranean coast and reach as far as Damascus, which laid siege to in July 976. [5]

The Qarmatians reacted by sending an army to aid Alptakin—according to some sources, Alptakin himself appealed to the Qarmatians for aid—forcing Jawhar to lift the siege in January 977. [6] The allies pursued Jawhar to Ramla, where they were joined by the Banu Tayy Bedouin; Jawhar was defeated in a pitched battle at the Yarqon River, and was forced to abandon Ramla and retreat to Ascalon. The Qarmatians entered Ramla on 12 March 977. [7] The combined army of Alptakin and the Qarmatians then besieged Ascalon, where the Fatimid army had fled to. After a long siege which lasted until April 978, the starving Fatimid army agreed to make a peace treaty: in addition to Damascus, Alptakin would receive Palestine, while the northern border of the Fatimid domain was set at Gaza. [7] [8] To make the treaty more palatable to the Fatimids, Alptakin agreed to recognize the Fatimid caliph as his suzerain, although this was a purely nominal gesture: Alptakin would retain all revenue collected from the territories under his control. [7] [8]

In 978, Izz al-Dawla, whose territories had been conquered by Adud al-Dawla, fled along with his two brothers and other Dailamite followers to Damascus, where they were warmly received by Alptakin, who incorporated the Dailamites into his army. [9] Meanwhile, a new Fatimid army under al-Aziz himself was marching towards Damascus, and a battle ensued between the Turks and the Fatimids near Ramla; Alptakin charged the left wing of the Fatimids, killing many. However, the Fatimids turned the tide of the battle by making a counter-attack on the centre and right wing of Alptakin's army, killing c. 20,000 of his men. [10] [11]

Alptakin managed to flee from the battlefield to the desert, where he almost died of thirst, but was found by the leader of the Tayy tribe and an old friend of his, Mufarrij ibn Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah. Alptakin was brought to the latter's home, where he was treated with honour. During his stay the latter's home, however, Mufarrij betrayed him and gave him to al-Aziz in exchange for 100,000 gold dinars. [10] [12]

Alptakin was then taken to the Fatimid capital of Cairo, where he was honourably treated by al-Aziz, who incorporated Alptakin along with his Turkish followers into the Fatimid army. However, Alptakin was later poisoned by al-Aziz's vizier, Yaqub ibn Killis. [13]

Related Research Articles

al-Muti Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad (r. 946–974)

Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Faḍl ibn al-Muqtadir, better known by his regnal name of al-Mutīʿ li-ʾllāh, was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 946 to 974, ruling under the tutelage of the Buyid emirs.

al-Aziz Billah Fatimid dynasty caliph from 975 to 996

Abu Mansur Nizar, known by his regnal name as al-Aziz Billah, was the fifth caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, from 975 to his death in 996. His reign saw the capture of Damascus and the Fatimid expansion into the Levant, which brought al-Aziz into conflict with the Byzantine emperor Basil II over control of Aleppo. During the course of this expansion, al-Aziz took into his service large numbers of Turkic and Daylamite slave-soldiers, thereby breaking the near-monopoly on Fatimid military power held until then by the Kutama Berbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Izz al-Dawla</span> Buyid Emir of Iraq and Amir al-umara (967–978)

Bakhtiyar, better known by his laqab of Izz al-Dawla, was the Buyid amir of Iraq (967–978).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">'Adud al-Dawla</span> Buyid Emir (949-983)

Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw, better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from 949 to 983, and at his height of power ruling an empire stretching from Makran to Yemen and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. He is widely regarded as the greatest monarch of the dynasty, and by the end of his reign he was the most powerful ruler in the Middle East.

Atsiz ibn Uwaq al-Khwarizmi, also known as al-Aqsis, Atsiz ibn Uvaq, Atsiz ibn Oq and Atsiz ibn Abaq, was a Turkoman mercenary commander who established a principality in Palestine and southern Syria after seizing these from the Fatimid Caliphate in 1071.

Uddat al-Dawla Abu Taghlib Fadl Allah al-Ghadanfar al-Hamdani, usually known simply by his kunya as Abu Taghlib, was the third Hamdanid ruler of the Emirate of Mosul, encompassing most of the Jazira.

Bakjur was a Circassian military slave who served the Hamdanids of Aleppo and later the Fatimids of Egypt. He seized control of Aleppo in 975 and governed it until 977, when the rightful Hamdanid ruler, Sa'd al-Dawla, regained it. Given the governorship of Homs, in 983 he went over to the Fatimids and launched an attack on Aleppo, which was defeated through the intervention of Byzantine troops. Bakjur then became governor of Damascus for the Fatimids until 988. He made a last attempt to capture Aleppo in 991, which again was defeated thanks to Byzantine assistance. Bakjur was captured by Sa'd al-Dawla and executed.

Mufarrij ibn Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah al-Tayyi, in some sources erroneously called Daghfal ibn Mufarrij, was an emir of the Jarrahid family and leader of the Tayy tribe. Mufarrij was engaged in repeated rebellions against the Fatimid Caliphate, which controlled southern Syria at the time. Although he was several times defeated and forced into exile, by the 990s Mufarrij managed to establish himself and his tribe as the de facto autonomous masters of much of Palestine around Ramlah with Fatimid acquiescence. In 1011, another rebellion against Fatimid authority was more successful, and a short-lived Jarrahid-led Bedouin state was established in Palestine centred at Ramlah. The Bedouin even proclaimed a rival Caliph to the Fatimid al-Hakim, in the person of the Alid Abu'l-Futuh al-Hasan ibn Ja'far. Bedouin independence survived until 1013, when the Fatimids launched their counterattack. Their will to resist weakened by Fatimid bribes, the Bedouin were quickly defeated. At the same time Mufarrij died, possibly poisoned, and his sons quickly came to terms with the Fatimids. Among them, Hassan ibn Mufarrij al-Jarrah managed to succeed to his father's position, and became a major player in the politics of the region over the next decades.

Abu Ishaq Ibrahim, also known by his honorific title of Umdat al-Dawla, was a Buyid prince, who was the youngest son of the Buyid ruler Mu'izz al-Dawla.

Marzuban ibn Bakhtiyar was a Buyid prince, and the son of the Buyid ruler of Iraq, 'Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar.

Ja'far ibn Fallah or ibn Falah was a Berber general of the Kutama tribe in the service of the Fatimid Caliphate. He led the first Fatimid attempt to conquer Syria in 970–971, but his attack on Byzantine-held Antioch was repulsed, and he lost his life in June 971 fighting against the Qarmatians.

The Jarrahids were an Arab dynasty that intermittently ruled Palestine and controlled Transjordan and northern Arabia in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. They were described by historian Marius Canard (1888–1982) as a significant player in the Byzantine–Fatimid wars in Syria who "created for themselves, in their own best interests, a rule of duplicity, treason and pillage". They were the ruling family of the Tayy tribe, one of the three powerful tribes of Syria at the time; the other two were Kalb and Kilab.

Sharaf al-Maʿālī Abu Manṣūr Anūshtakīn al-Dizbarī was a Fatimid statesman and general who became the most powerful Fatimid governor of Syria. Under his Damascus-based administration, all of Syria was united under a single Fatimid authority. Near-contemporary historians, including Ibn al-Qalanisi of Damascus and Ibn al-Adim of Aleppo, noted Anushtakin's wealth, just rule and fair treatment of the population, with whom he was popular.

Rāfiʿ ibn Abīʾl-Layl ibn ʿUlayyān al-Kalbī, also known by his laqabʿIzz al-Dawla, was the emir of the Kalb tribe of Syria in the mid-11th century.

Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Ḥusaynī, better known as Akhu Muslim, was a Husaynid sharif and governor of Palestine for the Ikhshidids. He opposed the takeover of the province by al-Hasan ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Tughj and joined the Qarmatians, fighting with them against the Fatimids until 974. After the defeat of the second Qarmatian invasion of Egypt in that year, Akhu Muslim fled to Arabia, pursued by Fatimid agents. He was betrayed in the end by his Qarmatian allies, who poisoned him near Basra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Hasan al-A'sam</span> Tenth century military leader

Abu Ali al-Hasan al-A'sam ibn Ahmad ibn Bahram al-Jannabi was a Qarmatian leader, chiefly known as the military commander of the Qarmatian invasions of Syria in 968–977. Already in 968, he led attacks on the Ikhshidids, capturing Damascus and Ramla and extracting pledges of tribute. Following the Fatimid conquest of Egypt and the overthrow of the Ikhshidids, in 971–974 al-A'sam led attacks against the Fatimid Caliphate, who began to expand into Syria. The Qarmatians repeatedly evicted the Fatimids from Syria and invaded Egypt itself twice, in 971 and 974, before being defeated at the gates of Cairo and driven back. Al-A'sam continued fighting against the Fatimids, now alongside the Turkish general Alptakin, until his death in March 977. In the next year, the Fatimids managed to overcome the allies, and concluded a treaty with the Qarmatians that signalled the end of their invasions of Syria.

Quṭb al-Dawla Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Jaʾfar ibn Fallāh was a Fatimid commander and governor in the service of Caliph al-Hakim.

Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Nasir al-Dawla was a Hamdanid prince, who along with his brother Ibrahim was the last Hamdanid ruler of Mosul in 989–990. After his defeat at the hand of the Marwanid Kurds and the takeover of Mosul by the Uqaylids, he entered the service of the Fatimid Caliphate.

Sabuktakin or Sübüktegin was a Turkic commander in the service of the Buyid dynasty. His power was such that he defied the Buyid ruler Bakhtiyar Izz al-Dawla, and even rose in revolt against him in 974, seizing control of Baghdad and threatening to overthrow Buyid rule in Iraq completely. His career was cut short by his own death in late 974. His successor, Alptakin, was defeated by the Buyids and fled to Damascus, where he eventually joined the Fatimids.

Sinān ibn ʿUlayyān or Sinān ibn al-Bannā, also known by his laqabṢamṣām al-Dawla, was a preeminent emir of the Banu Kalb tribe in Syria under early Fatimid rule. He was an ally of the Fatimids in several campaigns, until rebelling against them in alliance with the chiefs of the Arab tribes of Tayy and Kilab in 1025. Sinan attempted to take over Damascus from its Fatimid ruler, but died in 1028. His nephew Rafi ibn Abi'l-Layl reverted to allying with the Fatimids against the Tayy and Kilab.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gil 1997, p. 343.
  2. ↑ Kennedy 2004, p. 224.
  3. ↑ Kennedy 2004, p. 205.
  4. ↑ Romane 2015, p. 73.
  5. ↑ Gil 1997, p. 348.
  6. ↑ Gil 1997, pp. 348–349.
  7. 1 2 3 Gil 1997, p. 349.
  8. 1 2 Kennedy 2004, p. 321.
  9. ↑ Gil 1997, p. 350.
  10. 1 2 Gil 1997, p. 351.
  11. ↑ Kennedy 2004, p. 322.
  12. ↑ Canard 1965, pp. 482–483.
  13. ↑ Gil 1997, p. 352.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.