Zengi and the Muslim Response to the Crusades

The politics of Jihad

Taef El-Azhari

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781138821019
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317589389
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

Zengi gained his legacy as the precursor to Saladin. While Zengi captured Edessa, Saladin would capture Jerusalem, and both leaders fought to establish their own realms. However, Zengi cannot be fully understood without an examination of his other policies and warfare and an appreciation of his Turkmen background, all of which influenced his fight against the Crusades.

Zengi and the Muslim Response to the Crusades: The politics of Jihad, provides a full and rich picture of Zengi's career: his personality and motives; his power and ambition; his background and his foundation of a dynasty and its contribution, along with other dynasties, to a wider, deeper Turkification of the Middle East; his tools and methods; his vision, calamities and achievements; and how he was perceived by his contemporaries and modern scholars. Examining primary Muslim and non-Muslim sources, this book's extensive translations of original source material provides new insight into the complexities of Zengi's rule, and the politics of jihad that he led and orchestrated during the Crusades.

Providing deeper understanding of Islamic history through a close examination of one of its key figures, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in Muslim history and the Crusades in general.

1 The early career of Zengi, 1084 to 1127

The Turkmen influence

Al-Bursuqi contacted Zengi, who was then at Basra, to inform him of the situation, and to summon him to march together to Mosul. My father told me some of his companions reported Zengi as saying: ‘We are discontented with the conditions and military situation in Basra. Another time, we are fighting and making pacts with Mosul. A third time we regroup at the Jazira. A fourth time we are dispatched to Sham. What is your opinion?’ Ibn Begtegin, his closest companion and friend, said: ‘Oh our lord, the Turkmen had an old saying: if someone wished to put a stone on his head, it is better to have it from a huge mountain.’¹

These lines were written by the pro-Zengid Arab historian Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233), who is an essential source for the study of the Zengid dynasty, despite his loyalty towards his Mosuli lords. Most modern studies written on Zengid history focus on their leading role in countering the Crusading movement or on the Zengid dynasty after the death of ‘Imad al-Din. These include Zayyan’s ‘Halab fi ‘asr al-Zanki’, al-Jumaili’s The Atabeg state of Mosul, Khalil’s Imad al-Din Zanki and Alptekin’s The Reign of Zangi, 1127–1146. These studies view Zengi as a true mujahid and a just dictator who served the Muslim umma. There is scope for further studies to be undertaken on this subject.²

This chapter is concerned with Zengi’s early career and upbringing, and his Turkmen background, which had a significant influence on him. Furthermore, it discusses his diverse relations with the ‘Abbasid Caliphate and the Seljuqs of Iraq, as well as several Arab, Turkmen, Kurdish and Artuqid lords of Iraq and the Jazira. A re-examination of the medieval sources will hopefully shed light on how and why certain events took place. This will provide historians with a deeper understanding of Islamic history and will challenge certain convictions.

According to Heidemann, Zengi was born in Aleppo in 1087/8, although Christie gives the date as 1084.³ This difference of opinion calls for some discussion here. Ibn al-Athir mentions that, ‘When Aq Sunqur was killed, he left one son, Zengi, who was a young boy of about ten years old’. This took place in 1094,⁴ which means that Zengi was born around 1084, some four years earlier than widely believed. Yet, most modern studies have consistently supported Heidemann’s view.

Zengi was the only son of Aq Sunqur (‘White Falcon’), who ruled Aleppo from 1086 until his murder by Tutush in 1094, during a struggle for the Seljuq sultanate. Zengi’s father had enjoyed unusual trust from the sultan Malik Shah (d. 1092), who gave him the unique title, Qasim al-Dawla (‘partner of the state’). Aq Sunqur was from the Turkmen tribe of Sabyo.⁵ Zengi’s grandmother had been a tutor to Malik Shah.

When Malik Shah died in 1092, his brother and lord of Sham, Tutush (‘Who held fast’), had the ambition of replacing him as sultan. He swiftly marched to Aleppo and forced Aq Sunqur to march with him, despite the latter’s loyalty to Mahmud b. Malik Shah,⁶ who was considered the legitimate candidate to the throne. In 1094, Tutush marched against Barkyaruk for the sultanate. Aq Sunqur sided with Turkmen lords and their support for Barkyaruk led to Tutush’s defeat. In May 1094, Tutush confronted Aq Sunqur near Aleppo; Aq Sunqur received military help from several Turkmen lords, including Kerbogha (‘Frog’), who were probably sent by Barkyaruk.⁷

Zengi became orphaned when Aq Sunqur was killed in the battle against Tutush. Kerbogha was taken captive and imprisoned in central Syria for several months. Zengi’s mother had died earlier in a hunting trip outside Aleppo with his father.⁸

In 1095 Kerbogha was released from prison in Hims and managed to return to Iraq, taking with him the young son of his murdered friend. In the same year Kerbogha managed to seize Mosul and establish a Turkmen principality for himself, with Zengi under his supervision. Kerbogha said to his commanders, ‘Zengi is like my nephew, and I am the closest to him to undertake the responsibility of raising him’.

From the evidence implicit in the sources, Kerbogha created a total Turkmen principality based around Zengi. He called upon Aq Sunqur’s commanders in his service in Mosul, and asked them to obey Zengi,⁹ in a rare act of sincerity not often evident in Turkmen tribal behaviour. According to Ibn al-Athir, Zengi was not separated from Kerbogha, and he probably undertook his early military training with him during Sultan Barkyaruk’s civil war against Sultan Muhammad in 1100 near Rayy in Iran. In addition, Zengi was part of the Mosul army siege against the Artuqids of Amid.

In 1101 Kerbogha died, and the rule of Mosul transferred to Jekirmish, the Turkmen Mamluk, lord of Jazirat b. Umar in northern Iraq. For nearly six years, until his death in 1107, Jekirmish took care of the young Zengi in Mosul, due to the status of his late father in the principality.¹⁰ Arguably, under the care and authority of Jekirmish, Zengi came to understand the jihad against the Crusaders, who had just arrived in the East. In 1104, Jekirmish, together with Artuqids of Mardin, defeated Bohemond, Joscelin, Tancred and Baldwin of Edessa near Harran in the Jazira, inflicting a heavy and humiliating defeat on the Crusaders.¹¹ Zengi, who was twenty years of age, was probably in the service of Jekirmish and fought for the first time against the Crusaders in Harran. This battle had devastating effects on the Crusaders. Joscelin and Baldwin were taken captive and forces in Aleppo had a free hand to attack the principality of Antioch. At this time, Zengi learned first-hand about the Franks and how to confront them.

According to Alptekin, Zengi did not forget the care he received from Jekirmish, and after he became lord of Mosul in 1127 he granted an iqta‘ (Islamic land grant) to Jekirmish’s son in return.¹²

The Turkmen influence remained in Mosul, despite the change of its lords, as all of them came from diverse Turkmen tribes and all continued to support Zengi, namely Qilij Arslan and Jawali Saqao, who together ruled Mosul for a short period (1106–8). During this time Zengi was favoured by Jawali, who was drawn to Seljuq Aleppo and wanted to dominate it. However, when Jawali rebelled against Sultan Muhammad (d. 1108), Zengi wisely distanced himself from Mosul for the first time, and deserted his lord for the sake of the Seljuq sultan.¹³

According to Abu Shama, Zengi matured politically and militarily during this time – he was twenty-four years of age by then. Only when the Seljuq sultan Muhammad had allocated the famous Turkmen commander, Mawdud b. al-Tuntakin, the iqta‘ of Mosul, did Zengi return to his city and ask Mawdud to join his service, which the latter welcomed.¹⁴

Why was Zengi so attached to Mosul that he did not join other Turkmen lords in Iran or Asia Minor, or at least in the Jazira, not to mention Aleppo, his home town? One cannot give a clear answer, as the habit of the Turkmen warlords was to join forces with other powers in the area.

It was under Mawdud (d. 1113) that Zengi earned an envious reputation. In 1110, Mawdud of Mosul, together with Zengi and other Turkmen lords of Iran, marched to fight the Crusaders. Zengi took part in the siege of Edessa for forty-five days; then, with his lord, he confronted and defeated Tancred of Antioch and King Baldwin I of Jerusalem (d. 1118) at the Euphrates.¹⁵ Arguably, this campaign aided Zengi later on in his fight against the Franks, by making him familiar with the geography of the area and, in particular, the position of Edessa, the place that marked the beginning and the end of his career.

Edessa appeared again on Zengi’s agenda when he marched with his lord, Mawdud, in 1111, upon the Sultan’s order for jihad. In July 1111, Mawdud besieged Edessa twice, then Tell Bashir, all without success.¹⁶ According to Gibb and Afaf Sabra, the withdrawal of all Turkmen commanders from the 1111 campaign to Syria, with the exception of Mawdud and his troops, must have added to Zengi’s understanding of the nature of the Muslim powers in Sham, as well as the topography of that huge province, which helped him from 1129 onward.¹⁷

In 1113 Zengi participated ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Series editor note
• Introduction
• 1 The early career of Zengi, 1084 to 1127: the Turkmen influence
• 2 Zengi and his hostile policy towards the Seljuq sultanate and the ‘Abbasid caliphate in Iran and Iraq: the art of pragmatism, 1127 to 1146
• 3 Fragmented pacts: wars in the Jazira and Anatolia to dominate the Turkmen, the Kurds and the Arab tribes
• 4 Confronting the Crusaders and the Seljuqs in Syria: holy and unholy war, 1127 to 1140
• 5 The fall of Edessa: jihad at the end of a career
• 6 Zengid administration and institutions: ‘Turkification’ continued
• Appendix 1: selected medieval Muslim texts in translation
• Appendix 2: list of contemporary Muslim rulers of the age
• Bibliography
• Index