Abu Taghlib

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  • Abu Taghlib
  • أبو تغلب
Emir of Mosul
Reign967–978
PredecessorNasir al-Dawla
Born940
Died29 August 979 (aged 38–39)
Ramla
Names
Uddat al-Dawla Abu Taghlib Fadl Allah al-Ghadanfar al-Hamdani
DynastyHamdanid
FatherNasir al-Dawla
MotherFatima bint Ahmad

Uddat al-Dawla Abu Taghlib Fadl Allah al-Ghadanfar al-Hamdani (

Emirate of Mosul, encompassing most of the Jazira
.

His reign was troubled, being marked by conflicts with some of his brothers, antagonism with the various branches of the

Fatimid-controlled parts of Syria. There he tried to secure the governorship of Damascus
, and became involved in local rivalries which resulted in his defeat in battle and execution on 29 August 979.

Life

Origin and background

Family tree of the Hamdanid dynasty

Abu Taghlib was born in 940 as the eldest son of the

laqab (honorific title) of Nasir al-Dawla[1][2] His mother was a Kurdish woman, Fatima bint Ahmad, who reportedly exercised considerable influence over Nasir al-Dawla's affairs.[2][3]

Nasir al-Dawla had established the Hamdanids as masters of a practically independent emirate encompassing the

Mayyafariqin, and through his clashes with the Byzantine Empire quickly overshadowed his brother. However, the last decade of Sayf al-Dawla's rule, until his death in February 967, was marked by heavy military defeats at the hands of the Byzantines, who occupied much of his domains, and internal turmoil.[6][7]

It was in this context that Abu Taghlib is first mentioned in 964, when his father had once again been embroiled in a conflict with the Buyids. The army of the Buyid Mu'izz al-Dawla occupied Mosul and Nasir al-Dawla was once again forced to flee to the hill country of the northern Jazira. Abu Taghlib led the resistance against the Buyids, who, unable to maintain themselves there, evacuated Mosul and reached a new agreement with the Hamdanids.[4][8] Abu Taghlib, with the tacit consent of almost all his brothers, deposed his elderly father in May 967 and imprisoned him in the fortress of Ardamusht, where he died in February 969.[2][8]

Reign

Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia
), the homeland and main power base of the Hamdanids

Rebellion of Abu'l-Muzzafar Hamdan

Abu Taghlib, surnamed al-Ghadanfar ('The Lion'), succeeded his father as emir and head of the Jaziran branch of the Hamdanid family, but almost immediately his authority was contested by his younger half-brother,

Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar, for assistance: unlike his father, Abu Taghlib had no prior claims on Iraq, and the Buyid ruler likewise was too preoccupied for the moment with securing his rule there to threaten Hamdanid rule over the Jazira.[11]

With Buyid aid, Abu Taghlib forced his half-brother to hand over Raqqa and Rahba, but Hamdan managed to persuade Bakhtiyar to switch sides. Rahba was lost to Hamdan, and Abu Taghlib's other brothers now began switching their allegiance. Nevertheless, Abu Taghlib prevailed, forcing Hamdan to flee to Baghdad.

Ibn Miskawayh, who was tasked with inventorying the family's mountain strongholds after the Buyid dissolution of the Hamdanid emirate in 979, writes of the immense cash reserves stored there.[13]

Conflict and settlement with Bakhtiyar

With his position secure, Abu Taghlib is said to have dreamed of reclaiming his father's place as

Qarmatian leader al-Hasan al-A'sam against the Fatimids. As part of this alliance, Abu Taghlib married a daughter of the Buyid ruler.[2]

In 973, Hamdan finally persuaded Bakhtiyar to march north. Abu Taghlib evacuated Mosul without a fight, but with his army outflanked the Buyid emir and briefly threatened Baghdad. Negotiations resulted in an agreement, but Bakhtiyar regarded it as too favourable to the Hamdanid emir, and once more marched against Mosul. Nevertheless, no clashes are recorded and the conflict ended in a negotiated settlement in 974 that included in its provisions the award of the laqab of Uddat al-Dawla ('Instrument of the Dynasty') to Abu Taghlib by the caliph, and the payment of tribute by Abu Taghlib to Bakhtiyar.[2]

Relations with the Byzantine Empire

During the same period, Abu Taghlib also faced the attacks of the Byzantines, who under Emperor

Amid in 973, but in 974 Tzimiskes himself raided the Jazira in retaliation.[14][15][16] Following the Byzantine attacks, Abu Taghlib paid tribute to the emperor for some time.[14]

In 976, following the death of Tzimiskes, Abu Taghlib agreed to support the bid for the Byzantine throne of the rebel general Bardas Skleros, with whom he concluded a treaty whereby the Hamdanid ruler supplied Skleros with light cavalry in exchange for an unspecified marriage agreement.[14][17]

Alliance with Bakhtiyar against Adud al-Dawla

Map of Iraq in the 9th–10th centuries

In 973–975, Abu Taghlib supported Bakhtiyar in his own struggles to safeguard his power. Thus he once again marched on Baghdad during the rebellion of the Turkish military commander,

Adud al-Dawla, that decided the conflict for Bakhtiyar. As a result of his assistance, in 975 Abu Taghlib secured a revision of the earlier treaty which freed him from the payment of tribute.[9][14][18]

In November 977, Bakhtiyar found himself driven from Baghdad by his ambitious cousin, Adud al-Dawla.[2] Once again, Hamdan persuaded him to march on Mosul, and Bakhtiyar led his forces to Tikrit. Abu Taghlib forestalled an attack by promising to support him against Adud al-Dawla, in exchange for the handing over of Hamdan, who was promptly executed.[2] Although this secured Abu Taghlib's position, it also brought him to the attention of Adud al-Dawla. In May 978, Bakhtiyar and Abu Taghlib were defeated in a battle near Samarra by Adud al-Dawla. Bakhtiyar himself was captured and executed at the orders of his cousin, who then advanced on Mosul.[14][19] Unlike earlier Buyid expeditions against the Hamdanids, that had failed chiefly because they were unable to sustain themselves in the Jazira, this was far better organized, as Adud al-Dawla brought along experienced administrators familiar with the area.[11]

Adud al-Dawla took Mosul in June 978.

Kharput/Hisn Ziyad in August, but Skleros too was hard-pressed by the loyalist general Bardas Phokas to assist him.[21][22] Following the fall of Mayyafariqin to the Buyids, Abu Taghlib sought refuge with his sister Jamila in Rahba.[21] His renewed offers for a negotiated settlement were rebuffed by Adud al-Dawla,[21] as the Buyid ruler completed his conquest of the Jazira. Abu Taghlib's brothers Abu Abdallah Husayn and Abu Tahir Ibrahim even took service with the Buyids.[8]

Exile and death

Only the Diyar Mudar remained under Abu Taghlib's control, but his situation was increasingly desperate.

Lake Tiberias. Abu Taghlib's ambitions and his contacts with the Fatimids now came to threaten the position of Mufarrij ibn Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah, a Tayy chief and ruler of Ramla. Hoping to sow dissension among the Arab tribes of the area and strengthen Fatimid authority, the Fatimid general Fadl now promised Ramla to Abu Taghlib, who openly allied himself with Mufarrij's rivals, the Banu Uqayl, and attacked Ramla in August 979. Fadl's troops, however, came to the aid of Mufarrij, and in the ensuing battle on 29 August Abu Taghlib was taken captive and executed.[14][24] This was likely done at the behest of Adud al-Dawla, whom Mufarrij had previously recognized as his overlord.[21]

The Jazira remained under Buyid control until 989, when Abu Taghlib's brothers Abu Abdallah Husayn and Abu Tahir Ibrahim, who had submitted to the Buyids, were installed as governors to oppose the marauding

Uqaylid Dynasty as the rulers of the Jazira.[25][26]

References

  1. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 269, 271.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Canard 2004, p. 36.
  3. ^ El-Azhari 2019, p. 86.
  4. ^ a b Canard 1971, p. 127.
  5. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 268–271.
  6. ^ Canard 1971, p. 129.
  7. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 273–280.
  8. ^ a b c Kennedy 2004, p. 271.
  9. ^ a b Kraemer 1992, p. 89.
  10. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 271–272.
  11. ^ a b c Kennedy 2004, p. 272.
  12. ^ Canard 1971, pp. 127–128, 129.
  13. ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 262–263 (esp. note 43).
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Canard 1971, p. 128.
  15. ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 308, 325–326.
  16. ^ Kraemer 1992, pp. 89–90.
  17. ^ Holmes 2005, p. 262.
  18. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 223–224.
  19. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 230, 272.
  20. ^ Canard 2004, pp. 36–37.
  21. ^ a b c d e f Canard 2004, p. 37.
  22. ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 265–266.
  23. ^ Holmes 2005, p. 266.
  24. ^ Gil 1997, pp. 354–356.
  25. ^ Canard 1971, pp. 128–129.
  26. ^ Kennedy 2004, pp. 272–273.

Sources

  • OCLC 495469525
    .
  • ISBN 978-90-04-13974-9
    .
  • El-Azhari, Taef (2019). Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661-1257. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
    ISBN 978-1-4744-2318-2
    .
  • ISBN 0-521-59984-9
    .
  • Holmes, Catherine (2005). Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976–1025). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    ISBN 978-0-19-927968-5
    .
  • ISBN 978-0-582-40525-7
    .
  • Kraemer, Joel L. (1992). Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam: The Cultural Revival During the Buyid Age (2nd Revised ed.). Leiden: BRILL.
    ISBN 90-04-09736-8
    .
Preceded by
Emir of Mosul

967–978 		Vacant
Buyid occupation
Title next held by
Abu Tahir Ibrahim and Abu Abdallah al-Husayn

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