Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi

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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 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[]

  1. ^ a b رحمتی, محسن (March 2018). "خاندان برسقی و تحولات عصر سلجوقی" (PDF). پژوهش های تاریخی (in Persian). 10 (1). doi:10.22108/jhr.2017.83577.
  2. ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 102.
  3. ^ a b c Maalouf 1984, p. 98.
  4. ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 103.
  5. ^ a b Murray 2000, p. 147.
  6. ^ Asbridge 2000, p. 84.
  7. ^ 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. ISBN 9789004218857.
  8. ^ Burns, Ross (2016). Aleppo: A History. Taylor & Francis. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-134-84401-2.

Sources[]

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