Chronicles of Qalāwūn and his son al-Ashraf Khalīl

Translated by David Cook

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781138368323
• eBook ISBN: 9780429769696
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Historia social

This volume provides translations of texts on the Mamluk Sultan Qal?w?n (1279-90) and his son al-Malik al-Ashraf (1290-93), which cover the end of the Crusader interlude in the Syrian Levant.

Translated from the original Arabic, these chronicles detail the Mamluk perception of the Crusaders, the Mongol menace, how this menace was confronted, and a wealth of materials about the Mediterranean basin in the late thirteenth century. Treaties, battles, sieges and embassies are all revealed in these chronicles, most of which have not been translated previously.

The translated texts provide a range of historical records concerning Qal?w?n and al-Ashraf,

and include the court perspective of Ibn `Abd al-??hir, the later biography by his nephew Shaf?`, and the writings of the Mamluk historian Baybars al-Mans?r?.

Text 1 (a)

Tashrīf al-ayyām wa-l-`uṣūr fi sīrat al-malik al-Manṣūr

Enobling the days and epochs with regard to the life of al-Malik al-Manṣūr

Ibn `Abd al-Ẓāhir

Presumably the section that was lost at the beginning would have started with a description of Qalāwūn’s accession, and might have included some evidence for his political legitimacy. Probably there would have been a detailed description of the Battle of Ḥimṣ on October 29, 1281, which was an overwhelming victory for Qalāwūn personally, and led to the negotiations with the Mongols that are the theme of the first part of the text as it now stands. One can assume, therefore, based upon the relative proportions of the text and its treatment of events, that approximately 15–25 pages have been lost from the beginning.

Text […]

During this year [680/1281], reports came from protected Aleppo that the raiders (ghayyāra)¹ had turned towards the [Seljuq] Rūm, being 600–700 riders. They encountered a caravan of approximately 200 camels leaving the land of Sīs to Rūm, and robbed it. It was loaded with sugar, soap, pistachios, lead, and cotton. Then the most senior Rūm [Seljuq] commander, known as Ibn al-Qatnā/Qutnā,² rode at them, but they killed him and most of his soldiers—approximately 200 horsemen—and most were wounded. They arrived at Arkalnā, whereupon the deputy in it fled. [2]

¹ These seem to be outriders or some type of Mamluk soldiers, see Baybars, Tuḥfa, p. 66, where they come from al-Bīra.

² Vocalization uncertain.

Shujā` al-Dīn Ḥūkhandī and Mubāriz al-Dīn arrived, happening upon Ibn Qurmān’s³ soldiers, so they massed themselves and drove towards Mt. Bulghar, above Mandas.⁴ They returned safely between the mountains between the Sīs Road and the lands of the [Seljuq] Rūm.

On Thursday, 17 Rabī` al-Awwal [July 6, 1281] Alfonso [X’]s (fanash) envoy arrived, who was the learned knight major (maître?) Felipe (yaystr q/f-l-b) the Spaniard (isbaniyūlī),⁵ with his companion the priest pere/Pedro Estebán (bir-i-s-t-b-t/n).⁶ With them were gifts (taqādim) for our master the Sultan, the sum total of which were horses, mules and other gifts. The Sultan met with them and honored them.

Mention of Abagha’s perishing, and the dominion’s passing to Tegűder, called Aḥmad [3]

During this year the reports of Abagha⁷ son of Hűlegű’s death were confirmed,⁸ and this was because of the fright and fear that had overtaken him in the wake of Mengű Teműr’s defeat,⁹ and because of fright at his armies and the Mongol senior commanders being killed. While he was in this situation, it reached him that his and his father’s treasuries, which were in a tower in a fortress beside the sea, when God had caused this tower to be swallowed up. The earth had sunk into the sea with it and all that was in it. Nothing but a small part of the tower was saved.

It was said: Abagha entered into the bath, then upon exiting from it, heard the sounds of a great many ravens cawing.¹⁰ He said: They were saying, “Abagha has died, Abagha has died!” (Abāghā māta) He rode from the bath, and suddenly there were hunting dogs, all of them howling in his face, so he took this as a bad omen. Abagha died 15 Dhū al-Ḥijja 680 [March 27, 1282] in one of the villages of Hamadan named Nayil—and some say in a land whose name was Karmashahan,¹¹ close to the land of Hamadan.

³ In Baybars’ account named as Fakhr al-Dīn Kunārī Ibn Qurmān (= Gűneri, the Kahraman ruler).

⁴ Perhaps Castrum Nigrinum, Mandjilike Kale, above Payas, to the north of Darbsāk.

⁵ First element of the name is highly conjectural; but name of Felipe is attested from this period (Alfonso’s brother).

⁶ Estebán attested from the truce with Aragon (year 686/1287); perhaps identical with Estebán Nogera mentioned below

⁷ Mongol ruler of the Il-Khan Empire (Iraq, Iran and parts of Central Asia).

⁸ Who died on April 1, 1282.

⁹ At the Battle of Ḥimṣ.

¹⁰ Note that Rashid al-Din, trans. Thackston, p. 545 gives a story about birds foreshadowing Abagha’s death; and Riccoldo da Montecroce (traveling in the Il-Khan Empire in 1291), A Christian Pilgrim in Medieval Iraq (trans. Rita George-Tvrtcović, Tourhout: Brepols, 2012), p. 188 affirms the role of communication from birds for the Mongols.

¹¹ Probably Kirmanshah.

The reason for his death is that when he returned from the direction of al-Raḥba, he was hunting, and followed closely behind a gazelle, but went head over heels from the horse, so stayed in a tent (kharkāh). Magicians came in to him, whereupon he said, “What are these people wearing black?” so he was carried and died, as mentioned, and was buried in the citadel of Talā with his father.¹² His brother Ejei died two days after him. [4]

Mengű Teműr son of Hűlegű died while he was going from the land of al-Jazīra to the [royal] encampment (urdū) in a place called Tell Būkhanrīz, a bit below al-Ḥaṣkūna¹³ and Kafar Zamār.¹⁴ His coffin (tābūt) was carried to al-Jazīra.

It was mentioned that the cause of Mengű Teműr’s death was the extra heavy number of wounds he had incurred [from the Battle of Ḥimṣ], and continual frights. While he was dying, he chewed his tongue, and managed to consume half of it. He was wrapped in four garments of fabric, placed in a coffin, taken to Talā and buried there.

When Abagha son of Hűlegű died, there was a dispute concerning who would sit upon the throne. One group was strongly supportive of Aḥmad son of Hűlegű, whose real name was Tegűder. His mother’s name was Qutūkhātūn, and she was a Christian. They agreed to seat him on the throne of the realm.

But it was not easy for some of the Mongols (mughal) that Aḥmad would sit [on the throne] because he claimed that he was Muslim, so his brother Qongquratai was present, and said to Arghun son of Hűlegű,

Abagha made a condition in the Great Yāsā ¹⁵ that when a king dies, only the eldest of his children should sit in his place. We have designated Aḥmad; whoever opposes [him] dies, so obey him.

The ambassadors (ilchiyya) went to bring the kings into the presence, in order to write in favor of king Aḥmad in their own handwriting.

When this happened, they discussed among themselves that their power had weakened, their men had been killed, and that the Muslims had grown in influence. There was no trick during that time better than to outwardly manifest Islam, and to be close to the favor of our master the Sultan, thereby equaling his strength. This matter became well known, and he sent a letter to Baghdad, which contained: [5]

¹² Appears to have been the traditional burial site for the Il-Khans, see Ibn al-Fuwaṭī, Ḥawādith, p. 384 (said to be close to Maragha); also Ibn Sipāhzāda, Awḍaḥ al-masālik ilā ma`rifat al-buldān wa-l-mamālik (Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 2006), p. 67.

¹³ Reading uncertain.

¹⁴ According to Yāqūt, Mu`jam, iv, p. 469 up from Mosul.

¹⁵ The testament of Genghis Khan to his descendants.

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. There is no god but Allah, Muḥammad is the Messenger of God.

We have sat on the chair of kingship, and we are Muslims, so let the people of Baghdad receive these glad tidings, and have confidence in their schools (madrasas), their charitable endowments (wuqūf), and all the charitable incomes in which they had confidence during the days of the `Abbāsid caliphs.

Everyone having a right to the charitable endowments, the mosques and the schools should return to them, and not depart from the fundamentals of Islam. You, O people of Baghdad, are Muslims, and we have heard on the authority of the Prophet that he said, “This Islamic band will continue being victorious until the Day of Resurrection.”¹⁶ We have known this tradition (khabar) to be authentic, and [the] Messenger is truthful. The Lord is One, One, unique and eternal.¹⁷ So let your hearts be at ease and write to all the lands.

King Aḥmad mandated the dispatch of envoys to the gates of our master the Sultan, so he sent the Chief Judge Quṭb al-Dīn Maḥmūd al-Shīrāzī,¹⁸ the judge of Sivas,¹⁹ the emir Bahā’ al-Dīn, atābak to Sultan Mas`ūd,²⁰ the lord of [Seljuq] Rum, the emir Shams al-Dīn b. al-Ṣāḥib,²¹ one of the close companions of the ruler of Mārdīn.²² They traveled together with a large number of followers, hangers-on, male slaves (ghilmān), mamluks (mamālīk), and close companions, in great fanfare.

¹⁶ The general content of this tradition has many variants, but this one does not appear to be attested in the standard collections.

¹⁷ Paraphrase of Q112:1–2.

¹⁸ On him, see al-Ḥanafī, al-Jawāhir al-muḍī’a fī ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanafiyya (Cairo: Ḥajar li-l-Țibā`a, 1993), iii, p. 344, iv, p. 405.

¹⁹ In Anatolia.

²⁰ Ghiyāth al-Dīn Mas`ūd II (1284–96).

²¹ Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad b. al-Ṣāḥib al-Tītī, who was the minister to the ruler of Mārdīn.

²² Who is never given a name throughout these texts—at this time al-Muẓaffar Qarā Arslān b. Ilghāzī—probably because of his close collaboration with the Mongols. Mārdīn was later the target of a fatwa (solicited religious opinion) by Ibn Taymiyya because of the same issue, see Alan Verskin, Oppressed in the Land? Fatwās on Muslims living under non-Muslim Rule from the Middle Ages to the Present (Princeton: Markus Wiener, 2013), pp. 38–9.

They arrived [6] at al-Bīra,²³ and when this reached our master the Sultan, he wrote to his deputies to watch over them, and that none of God’s creation should see them, meet with them, or say so much as a word to them. They should only travel by night.

They were brought into Aleppo during the night of Saturday 21 Jumādā...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of maps
• Acknowledgments
• Maps
• Introduction
• Text 1 (A) Tashrīf Al-ayyām Wa-l-`uṣūr Fi Sīrat Al-malik Al-manṣūr
• Text 1 (B) Al-alṭāf Al-khafiyya Min Al-sīra Al-sharīfa Al-sulṭāniyya Al-malikiyya Al-ashrafiyya (Selections)
• Text 2 Text of A Treaty Between Al-Ashraf and Jaime II of Aragon
• Text 3 Al-faḍl Al-ma’thūr Fi Sīrat Al-malik Al-manṣūr (Selections)
• Text 4 (A) Zubdat Al-fikra Fī Tā’rīkh Al-hijra
• Text 4 (B) Al-tuḥfa Al-mulūkiyya Fi Al-dawla Al-Turkiyya
• Text 4 (C) Mukhtārāt Al-akhbār: Tā’rīkh Al-dawla Al-ayyūbiyya Wa-dawlat Al-mamālīk
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index