Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi
Qasīm al-Dawla Sayf al-Dīn Abū Saʿīd Āqsunqur al-Bursuqī (قسیم الدوله سیف الدین ابو سعید آقسنقر البرسقی),[1] also known as Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, Aqsonqor il-Bursuqi, Aksunkur al-Bursuki, Aksungur or al-Borsoki, was the atabeg of Mosul from 1113–1114 and again from 1124–1126.
Accession
He was a mamluk of the Bursuqid dynasty founded by Bursuq.[1]
A Turkish officer in the Seljuk army, al-Bursuqi was appointed as the representative of Mawdud, the atabeg of Mosul, to the court of the Seljuk sultan Muhammad I Tapar. An unidentified Assassin murdered Mawdud at a mosque in Damascus on 2 October 1113 [2]and shortly thereafter the sultan appointed al-Bursuqi as Mawdud's successor at Mosul.[3][2] The sultan also ordered his emirs to continue jihad (or holy war) against the Crusader states.[4] Al-Bursuqi launched a devastating raid against the County of Edessa in April and May 1115.[2] As the Artuqid ruler of Mardin, Ilghazi, had declined to participate in the campaign, al-Bursuqi invaded his territory, but Ilghazi defeated his troops.[4] Because of the failure of his campaign, al-Bursuqi stayed in al-Rahba, and Juyûsh-beg was appointed atabeg of Mosul by the sultan.
Muslim leader
Al-Bursuqi was reappointed as atabeg of Mosul in 1124 due to insubordination of Juyûsh-beg. Baldwin II of Jerusalem, Joscelin I of Edessa and a Bedouin leader, Dubais ibn Sadaqa laid siege to Aleppo in October 1124.[4] The qadi of Aleppo, Ibn al-Khashshab, approached al-Bursuqi, seeking his assistance.[3] In 1125, he reclaimed Aleppo for the Seljuk sultan Mahmud II. Al-Bursuqi invaded the Principality of Antioch and forced the allied enemy forces to abandon the siege in January 1125.[3][5] He also supported Toghtekin in the battle of Azaz in 1125, but a Crusader force relieved it.[5][6] Using the spoils he gained his victory at Azaz, Baldwin II was able to ransom his daughter Ioveta and Joscelin II of Edessa, then held at Aleppo by al-Bursuqi, that had been used to secure Baldwin's own release.
On November 26, 1126, al-Bursuqi was assassinated by a team of 10 Nizaris attacking him with knives while he was at the Great Mosque of Mosul. The assassin's fate is unknown, but he wounded three.[7][8] The attack was presumably ordered by Mahmud II.
His son Mas’ûd ibn Bursuqî replaced him in Mosul, but his reign was short-lived because of the rise of the Zengid dynasty.
References
- رحمتی, محسن (March 2018). "خاندان برسقی و تحولات عصر سلجوقی" (PDF). پژوهش های تاریخی (in Persian). 10 (1). doi:10.22108/jhr.2017.83577.
- Barber 2012, p. 102.
- Maalouf 1984, p. 98.
- Barber 2012, p. 103.
- Murray 2000, p. 147.
- Asbridge 2000, p. 84.
- Cook, David (1 January 2012). "Were the Ismāʿīlī Assassins the First Suicide Attackers? An Examination of Their Recorded Assassinations". The Lineaments of Islam: 97–117. doi:10.1163/9789004231948_007.
- Burns, Ross (2016). Aleppo: A History. Taylor & Francis. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-134-84401-2.
Sources
- Asbridge, Thomas (2000). The Creation of the Principality of Antioch, 1098–1130. The Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0-85115-661-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Barber, Malcolm (2012). The Crusader States. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11312-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Maalouf, Amin (1984). The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. SAQI. ISBN 978-0-86356-023-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Murray, Alan V. (2000). The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History, 1099–1125. Prosopographica et Geneologica. ISBN 978-1-9009-3403-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)