Ahmed ibn Merwan

Last updated
Ahmed ibn Merwan
AllegianceKerbogha
RankLieutenant
Battles/warsFirst Crusade

Ahmed ibn Merwan was an Arab lieutenant in Kerbogha's army at the time of the First Crusade.

After the siege of Antioch by the Crusaders, Ahmed was entrusted with maintaining control of the still Muslim-held citadel within the city after Shams al-Dawlah, son of the governor Yağısıyan, fled. Following the 1098 Battle of Antioch, in which Kerbogha's forces were crushed, Ahmed offered to surrender the citadel to the Crusaders. However, as he refused to allow any prince's banner but Bohemond I of Antioch's to be flown over the citadel, it appears as though he had maintained a secret truce with Bohemond in the effect of a Crusader victory against Kerbogha. [1] Following the transfer of the citadel to the Christians, Ahmed joined the ranks of the Crusaders and even converted to Western Christianity with the majority of his men. He is said to have lived thereafter in a house in Antioch. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1098</span> Calendar year

Year 1098 (MXCVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antioch</span> Hellenistic city, modern Antakya, Turkey

Antioch on the Orontes was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. It was one of the greatest and most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period. The city served as the capital of the Seleucid Empire and later as regional capital to both the Roman and Byzantine Empire. During the Crusades, Antioch served as the capital of the Principality of Antioch, one of four Crusader states that were founded in the Levant. Its inhabitants were known as Antiochenes. The modern city of Antakya, in Hatay Province of Turkey, was named after the ancient city, which lies in ruins on the Orontes River and did not overlap in habitation with the modern city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Crusade</span> 1096–1099 Christian conquest of the Holy Land

The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic rule. While Jerusalem had been under Muslim rule for hundreds of years, by the 11th century the Seljuk takeover of the region threatened local Christian populations, pilgrimages from the West, and the Byzantine Empire itself. The earliest initiative for the First Crusade began in 1095 when Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos requested military support from the Council of Piacenza in the empire's conflict with the Seljuk-led Turks. This was followed later in the year by the Council of Clermont, during which Pope Urban II supported the Byzantine request for military assistance and also urged faithful Christians to undertake an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baldwin I of Jerusalem</span> First count of Edessa (r. 1098–1100) and first king of Jerusalem (r. 1100–1118)

Baldwin I was the first count of Edessa from 1098 to 1100 and king of Jerusalem from 1100 to his death in 1118. He was the youngest son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida of Lorraine and married a Norman noblewoman, Godehilde of Tosny. He received the County of Verdun in 1096, but he soon joined the crusader army of his brother Godfrey of Bouillon and became one of the most successful commanders of the First Crusade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse</span> French noble (c. 1041–1105)

Raymond of Saint-Gilles, also called Raymond IV of Toulouse or Raymond I of Tripoli, was the count of Toulouse, duke of Narbonne, and margrave of Provence from 1094, and one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 to 1099. He spent the last five years of his life establishing the County of Tripoli in the Near East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohemond I of Antioch</span> 11/12th-century prince of Taranto and Antioch; military leader in the First Crusade

Bohemond I of Antioch, also known as Bohemond of Taranto or Bohemond of Hauteville, was the prince of Taranto from 1089 to 1111 and the prince of Antioch from 1098 to 1111. He was a leader of the First Crusade, leading a contingent of Normans on the quest eastward. Knowledgeable about the Byzantine Empire through earlier campaigns with his father, he was the most experienced military leader of the crusade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerbogha</span> 11/12th-century ruler of Mosul

Qiwam al-Dawla Kerbogha, known as Kerbogha or Karbughā, was atabeg of Mosul during the First Crusade and was renowned as a soldier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Principality of Antioch</span> Crusader state in the Levant from 1098 to 1268

The Principality of Antioch was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, bordering the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County of Tripoli</span> Crusader state in the Levant from 1102 to 1289

The County of Tripoli (1102–1289) was one of the Crusader states. It was founded in the Levant in the modern-day region of Tripoli, northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria. When the Frankish Crusaders, mostly southern French forces – captured the region in 1109, Bertrand of Toulouse became the first count of Tripoli as a vassal of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. From that time on, the rule of the county was decided not strictly by inheritance but by factors such as military force, favour and negotiation. In 1289, the County of Tripoli fell to the Muslim Mamluks of Cairo under Sultan Qalawun, and the county was absorbed into Mamluk Sultanate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert II, Count of Flanders</span> Count of Flanders

Robert II, Count of Flanders was Count of Flanders from 1093 to 1111. He became known as Robert of Jerusalem or Robert the Crusader after his exploits in the First Crusade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohemond III of Antioch</span> Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201

Bohemond III of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the Child or the Stammerer, was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201. He was the elder son of Constance of Antioch and her first husband, Raymond of Poitiers. Bohemond ascended to the throne after the Antiochene noblemen dethroned his mother with the assistance of the lord of Armenian Cilicia, Thoros II. He fell into captivity in the Battle of Harim in 1164, but the victorious Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo released him to avoid coming into conflict with the Byzantine Empire. Bohemond went to Constantinople to pay homage to Manuel I Komnenos, who persuaded him to install a Greek Orthodox patriarch in Antioch. The Latin patriarch of Antioch, Aimery of Limoges, placed Antioch under interdict. Bohemond restored Aimery only after the Greek patriarch died during an earthquake in 1170.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohemond IV of Antioch</span> Count of Tripoli from 1187 to 1233, and Prince of Antioch from 1201 to 1216 and from 1219 to 1233

Bohemond IV of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the One-Eyed, was Count of Tripoli from 1187 to 1233, and Prince of Antioch from 1201 to 1216 and from 1219 to 1233. He was the younger son of Bohemond III of Antioch. The dying Raymond III of Tripoli offered his county to Bohemond's elder brother, Raymond, but their father sent Bohemond to Tripoli in late 1187. Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, conquered the county, save for the capital and two fortresses, in summer 1188.

Ridwan was a Seljuk emir of Aleppo from 1095 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Antioch</span> 1097–98 invasion of Seljuk-held Antioch during the First Crusade

The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, lasted from 20 October 1097 to 3 June 1098. The second siege, of the crusader-held city by a Seljuk relieving army, lasted three weeks in June 1098, leading to the Battle of Antioch in which the crusaders defeated the relieving army led by Kerbogha. The crusaders then established the Principality of Antioch, ruled by Bohemond of Taranto.

The siege of Antioch occurred in 1268 when the Mamluk Sultanate under Baibars finally succeeded in capturing the city of Antioch. Prior to the siege, the Crusader Principality was oblivious to the loss of the city, as demonstrated when Baibars sent negotiators to the leader of the former Crusader state and mocked his use of "Prince" in the title Prince of Antioch.

William the Carpenter, viscount of Melun, was a French nobleman who participated in the Reconquista in Spain and on the First Crusade. He was notorious for defecting from the army both in Spain and on the crusade, but he was also known for his strength in battle, whence he earned his nickname "the Carpenter." He returned to the Holy Land after the crusade, and nothing further is known of his life or death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War of the Antiochene Succession</span> War in Syria between 1201 and 1219

The War of the Antiochene Succession, also known as the Antiochene War of Succession, comprised a series of armed conflicts in northern Syria between 1201 and 1219, connected to the disputed succession of Bohemond III of Antioch. The Principality of Antioch was the leading Christian power in the region during the last decades of the 12th century, but Armenian Cilicia challenged its supremacy. The capture of an important fortress, Bagras, in Syria by Leo II of Cilicia gave rise to a prolonged conflict already in the early 1190s. Leo tried to capture Antioch, but the Greek and Latin burghers formed a commune and prevented the Armenian soldiers from occupying the town. Bohemond III's eldest son, Raymond, died in 1197, leaving an infant son, Raymond-Roupen. The boy's mother, Alice of Armenia, was Leo I's niece and heir presumptive. Bohemond III and the Antiochene noblemen confirmed Raymond-Roupen's right to succeed his grandfather in Antioch, but the commune preferred Bohemond III's younger son, Bohemond, Count of Tripoli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Antioch (1098)</span>

The Battle of Antioch (1098) was a military engagement fought between the Christian forces of the First Crusade and a Muslim coalition led by Kerbogha, atabeg of Mosul. Kerbogha's goal was to reclaim Antioch from the Crusaders and affirm his position as a regional power.

Jikirmish, also known as Jekermish, Chokurmish or Chökürmish, was the Turkoman atabeg of Mosul from 1102 to 1106. After the death of his predecessor Kerbogha, he became the adoptive father of Imad al-Din Zengi. Jikirmish and Sökmen of Mardin defeated the united armies of Bohemond I of Antioch and Baldwin II of Edessa in the Battle of Harran on 7 May 1104 in which Baldwin was captured. He held Baldwin II as a prisoner, having purloined him from the camp of Sökmen. Jikirmish, after an unsuccessful siege at Edessa, fled with Baldwin to Mosul. Tancred, defending Edessa, then captured a Seljuq princess of Jikirmish's household. Jikirmish offered to pay a ransom or to release Baldwin in return for her liberty. Bohemond and Tancred preferred the money and Baldwin remained imprisoned. He was murdered by his successor Jawali Saqawa in 1106 as he seized Mosul and his hostage Baldwin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the Principality of Antioch</span> Chronological list of events of the history of the Principality of Antioch

The timeline of the Principality of Antioch is a chronological list of events of the history of the Principality of Antioch.

References

  1. Runciman, Steven (1951–52). A History of the Crusades I: The First Crusade. Penguin Classics. p. 205. ISBN   978-0-141-98550-3.
  2. Köhler, Michael; Holt, Peter M. (2013). Alliances and Treaties between Frankish and Muslim Rulers in the Middle East. p. 35. Retrieved 2 June 2024.