Sadid al-Mulk Thu'ban ibn Muhammad ibn Thu'ban | |
---|---|
Fatimid Governor of Aleppo | |
In office 27 July 1024 –30 June 1025 | |
Appointed by | Az-Zahir |
Lieutenant | Mawsuf (governor of the citadel) |
Preceded by | Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Thu'ban |
Succeeded by | Salih ibn Mirdas |
Sadīd al-Mulk Thuʿbān ibn Muḥammad ibn Thuʿbān (Arabic :ثعبانبنمحمد) was the Fatimid governor of Aleppo between 27 July 1024 and 30 June 1025. Thu'ban was a Kutami Berber commander based in Cairo until he was assigned by Caliph az-Zahir (r. 1021–1036) to replace Thu'ban's brother,Sanad al-Dawla al-Hasan,as governor of Aleppo after al-Hasan died of illness. [1] Thu'ban was given the title sadid al-mulk (the right to kingship). [1] His rule over Aleppo was described as "unpopular" by historian Suhayl Zakkar. [1]
In 1024 Salih ibn Mirdas,leader of the Banu Kilab,began attempts to wrest control of Aleppo. His forces sporadically clashed with Thu'ban's troops beginning in October 1024, [2] and in 22 November,Salih himself besieged the city. [2] After weeks of heavy clashes,Thu'ban was betrayed by Salim ibn Mustafad,the head of Aleppo's ahdath (urban militia),who opened Aleppo's Bab Qinnasrin gate to Salih. [2] The latter entered Aleppo on 18 January 1025,prompting Thu'ban to barricade himself in the former palace of Aziz al-Dawla at the foot Aleppo's citadel. [3] By 30 June,Salih's forces captured the palace and the citadel,and arrested Thu'ban. [4] When Salih returned to Aleppo in September,he freed Thu'ban in return for a payment,but executed Mawsuf,the Fatimid commander of the citadel. [5]
Abu Ulwan Thimal ibn Salih ibn Mirdas,also known by his laqabMu'izz al-Dawla,was the Mirdasid emir of Aleppo jointly with his elder brother Shibl al-Dawla Nasr in 1029–1030 and then solely in 1042–1057 and 1061–1062.
Abu Ali Salih ibn Mirdas,also known by his laqabAsad al-Dawla,was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of Aleppo from 1025 until his death in May 1029. At its peak,his emirate (principality) encompassed much of the western Jazira,northern Syria and several central Syrian towns. With occasional interruption,Salih's descendants ruled Aleppo for the next five decades.
Abu Kamil Nasr ibn Salih ibn Mirdas,also known by his laqab of Shibl al-Dawla,was the second Mirdasid emir of Aleppo,ruling between May 1029 until his death. He was the eldest son of Salih ibn Mirdas,founder of the Mirdasid dynasty. Nasr fought alongside his father in the Battle of al-Uqhuwana near Tiberias in 1029,where Salih was killed by a Fatimid army led by Anushtakin al-Dizbari. Afterward,Nasr ruled the emirate jointly with his brother Thimal. The young emirs soon after faced a large-scale Byzantine offensive led by Emperor Romanos III. Commanding a much smaller force of Bedouin horsemen,Nasr routed the Byzantines at the Battle of Azaz in 1030.
The Mirdasid dynasty,also called the Banu Mirdas,was an Arab Shia Muslim dynasty which ruled an Aleppo-based emirate in northern Syria and the western Jazira more or less continuously from 1024 until 1080.
The Banu Kilab was an Arab tribe in the western Najd where they controlled the horse-breeding pastures of Dariyya from the mid-6th century until at least the mid-9th century. The tribe was divided into ten branches,the most prominent being the Ja'far,Abu Bakr,Amr,Dibab and Abd Allah. The Ja'far led the Kilab and its parent tribe of Banu Amir,and,at times,the larger Hawazin tribal confederation from the time of the Kilab's entry into the historical record,c. 550,until the advent of Islam,c. 630,except for two occasions when the larger Abu Bakr was at the helm. Under the Ja'far's leadership the Kilab defeated rival tribes and the Lakhmid kings and eventually became guards of the Lakhmid caravans to the annual fair in the Hejaz. The killing of a Ja'far chief as he escorted one such caravan led to the Fijar War between the Hawazin and the Quraysh of Mecca.
Sharaf al-MaʿālīAbu 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.
The Numayrids were an Arab dynasty based in Diyar Mudar. They were emirs (princes) of their namesake tribe,the Banu Numayr. The senior branch of the dynasty,founded by Waththab ibn Sabiq in 990,ruled the Euphrates cities of Harran,Saruj and Raqqa more or less continuously until the late 11th century. In the early part of Waththab's reign,the Numayrids also controlled Edessa until the Byzantines conquered it in the early 1030s. In 1062,the Numayrids lost Raqqa to their distant kinsmen and erstwhile allies,the Mirdasids,while by 1081,their capital Harran and nearby Saruj were conquered by the Turkish Seljuks and their Arab Uqaylid allies. Numayrid emirs continued to hold isolated fortresses in Upper Mesopotamia,such as Qal'at an-Najm and Sinn Ibn Utayr near Samosata until the early 12th century,but nothing is heard of them after 1120.
Aziz al-Dawla was the first Fatimid governor of Aleppo,serving from c. 1016 to his death. An ethnic Armenian,Aziz al-Dawla started his political career as a trusted ghulam of Manjutakin,the Fatimid governor of Damascus under Caliph al-Hakim. The latter appointed Aziz al-Dawla governor of Aleppo,which prospered during his rule.
Manṣūr ibn Luʾluʾ,also known by his laqab of Murtaḍāad-Dawla,was the ruler of the Emirate of Aleppo between 1008 and 1016. He succeeded his father Lu'lu' al-Kabir,with whom he had shared power. Unlike Lu'lu',however,Mansur's rule was opposed by Aleppo's notables,who chafed at his oppression and monopolization of power. Both Mansur and his father harassed the remaining members of the Hamdanid dynasty,in whose name they ostensibly ruled. On the diplomatic front,Mansur balanced ties with both the Byzantine Empire and the Fatimid Caliphate,and maintained the emirate's Shia Muslim orientation.
Abu Nasr Fath al-Qal'i,also known by his laqab of Mubarak al-Dawla wa-Sa'id-ha,was the governor of the Citadel of Aleppo during the reign of Emir Mansur ibn Lu'lu'. In 1016,he rebelled against Mansur,in likely collusion with Salih ibn Mirdas,forcing Mansur to flee. After a few months,Fath relinquished control of Aleppo to the Fatimid Caliphate,marking the beginning of direct Fatimid rule over the city. Afterward,he held posts in Tyre,then Jerusalem. As governor of Jerusalem,Fath helped the Fatimid general Anushtakin al-Dizbari suppress a rebellion by the Jarrahids in 1024–1025 and maintained order between the Rabbinate and Karaite Jewish sects during the Hoshana Rabbah festivals at the Mount of Olives in 1029 and 1030.
Ṣafiyy al-Dawla Muḥammad ibn ʿAli ibn Jaʾfar ibn Falāh was the Fatimid governor of Aleppo between October 1022 and April 1023. He was specifically assigned to govern the city,while the citadel of Aleppo was assigned to a separate governor,the eunuch Yumn al-Dawla Sa'adat. This marked the first time the Fatimids appointed separate rulers for the city and citadel of Aleppo since they gained direct control over the city in October 1016. Safiyy al-Dawla belonged to the Kutama,a militant Berber group that had been Arabized and played a major role in the Fatimid military. He was the son of Ali ibn Ja'far and grandson of Ja'far ibn Fallah,both of whom were Fatimid generals. He was bestowed with the title ṣafiyy al-dawla. Safiyy al-Dawla and Yumn al-Dawla were appointed to Aleppo to replace Abu'l-Najm Badr. Nothing is known about their reign and Safiyy al-Dawla was dismissed in April 1023,and succeeded by Sanad al-Dawla Hasan.
Abūʾl-MurajjāSālim ibn al-Mustafād al-Ḥamdānī was the commander of Aleppo's ahdath during the reigns of the Mirdasid emirs Salih ibn Mirdas and Nasr ibn Salih. He was executed by the latter in 1034 for stirring a local Muslim uprising against Aleppo's vassalage to the Christian Byzantine Empire.
Muqallid ibn Kamil ibn Mirdas was a member of the Mirdasid dynasty,a commander of the Banu Kilab and at times served as governor of the Aleppo Citadel and the Mirdasids' envoy to the Byzantines and Fatimids.
Abū'l-Faḍl Rifq al-Khādim was a black African eunuch in the court of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir and a commander of the Fatimid army. In 1024,during the reign of Caliph al-Zahir,Rifq led policing expeditions in the Egyptian countryside,earning him a reputation of loyalty. In 1049,he was appointed governor of Damascus in place of Nasir al-Dawla al-Hamdani,and headed a 30,000-strong expedition to assert Fatimid control over Aleppo,then held by the Mirdasid emir Thimal ibn Salih. His army consisted of Berbers,Turks,black Africans and,after it entered Syria,local Bedouin tribes. These diverse and often antagonistic factions quarreled frequently,weakening Rifq's army. After initial clashes with Thimal's troops outside Aleppo,many Bedouin defected and Rifq's officers ultimately deserted him for refusing their counsel. Rifq was captured,received a head injury and died in Mirdasid custody.
Wafiyy al-Dawla wa-AminahāAbūʾl-Najm Badr,also known as Badr al-Kabīr,was the ghulām who assassinated the Fatimid governor of Aleppo,Aziz al-Dawla,and replaced him as governor for three months in 1022. The assassination was apparently a conspiracy between Badr and the Fatimid court under Sitt al-Mulk. Badr was ultimately forced to relinquish his post and arrested shortly thereafter.
Asad al-Dawla AbūDhūʿaba ʿAṭiyya ibn Ṣāliḥ was the Mirdasid emir of Aleppo in 1062–1065. Prior to his assumption of the emirate in Aleppo,he had been the Mirdasid emir of al-Rahba from 1060. He continued as the emir of al-Rahba and the eastern portion of the Mirdasid realm after losing Aleppo to his nephew Mahmud ibn Nasr. He lost al-Rahba in 1070. He entered Byzantine protection afterward and launched a failed assault against Mahmud's territories before his death in Constantinople.
Nasr ibn Mahmud ibn Nasr ibn Salih ibn Mirdas was the Mirdasid emir of Aleppo in 1075–1076.
Quṭb al-Dawla Abūal-Ḥasan ʿAlīibn Jaʾfar ibn Fallāh was a Fatimid commander and governor in the service of Caliph al-Hakim.
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