Balak ibn Bahram

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Balak ibn Bahram with full name Nur al-Dawla Balak ibn Bahram ibn Artuk (* around 1080; † May 6, 1124 in Manbij ) was an Ortoqid emir in the service of the Seljuks . In time he became the emir of Sarudsch , Khanzit and Aleppo .

In the sources, Balak appears as the Emir of Sarudsch in 1096. When the city stopped paying tributes in 1098 and rose against Balak, Baldwin of Boulogne , who was then Count of Edessa , called for help. But he saw this as an opportunity and took the city in 1098 for himself. So Balak lost Saruj. When his uncle Ilghazi was named Emir of Iraq, Balak went to Iraq with Ilghazi. In the next few years he fought there in various battles for the Seljuks. But when his uncle fell from grace, they returned to Diyarbakir, the hometown of the Ortoqids, in 1105. Balak got into an argument between his uncles Ilghazi and Sökmen and was imprisoned by Sökmen. After Sökken's death he was released and conquered Palu in 1113 , whose Turkmen ruler had died shortly before. Shortly thereafter, Balak married the widow of the Seljuk ruler Kılıç Arslan I and thus became the protector of the young Prince Toghrul Arslan. Strengthened by this wedding, Balak made himself the Emir of Khanzit with Harput as his headquarters. He expanded his territory to Mazgirt and Çemişgezek at the expense of Mengücek .

Balak, whose goal was to conquer the county of Edessa, besieged the fortress Zerdana in 1122 together with Ilghazi , but had to give way before the approaching army of Baldwin II of Jerusalem and could not achieve any success. On September 13, 1122, however, he succeeded in capturing Count Joscelin I of Edessa and Valeran of Biredschik. They had encountered Balak's army with only a small cavalry escort near Sarudsch, and because of a heavy downpour that had softened the ground, they failed to escape from Balak's light Turkmen cavalry. In return for their immediate release, Balak demanded the county of Edessa, but Joscelin I refused and was taken to the fortress of Harput (Armenian Khartpert ).

In November 1123 Ilghazi died, whereupon his sons and nephews divided his Ortoqid inheritance. Balak was able to enlarge his possessions in the north and Harran in the south as part of the inheritance division .

King Baldwin II, who had taken over the reign of Joscelin I in Edessa, used the turmoil of the inheritance dispute to recapture Athareb and Biredschik . When Baldwin II camped near Gerger on the Euphrates on April 18, 1123 and was just preparing to hunt with his falcon, he was surprised by Balak's army, which attacked his camp. Balduin's army suffered heavy losses, the king himself was captured and also imprisoned in Harput.

Balak moved to Aleppo, which he took on June 27, 1123. After Ilghazi's death, Aleppo fell to his son Badr ad-Daulah Suleiman, who was unable to survive in the city. There Balak married the daughter of the former Aleppo ruler Radwan . In August he conquered the city ​​of Albara, which had been part of the Principality of Antioch .

During Balak's absence, the captured Franks were able to take over the Harput fortress with the help of the local Armenians and Joscelin I escaped. Balak immediately returned to Harput and, after a brief siege, stormed the fortress and took possession of Harput again. All the defenders, Franks and Armenians, were killed. Only King Baldwin II, a nephew of Baldwin and Waleran von Biredschik were spared and taken to Harran as prisoners. A Frankish relief army that Joscelin had brought in from Jerusalem came too late to rescue Harput and was too weak to besiege Harran, so that it returned to Jerusalem after some looting in the surrounding area of ​​Aleppo.

Balak could not use the weakness of the Franks, as Aleppo threatened to be lost again. In 1124 his Turkmen governor of Manbij rose against him. Balak had Manbij taken, the governor arrested and the uprising put down. However, the governor's brother was able to hide in the citadel of Manbidsch, from where he called Joscelin I for help. Balak opposed Joscelin's army and repulsed it, but was killed a little later during the siege of the Manbidsch citadel on May 6, 1124 by an arrow shot. His body was brought to Aleppo.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Runciman, p. 199.
  2. ↑ See Runciman, p. 467 f.
  3. ↑ a b Cf. Runciman, p. 468.
  4. ↑ See Runciman, p. 469.
  5. ↑ See Runciman, p. 471.
  6. ↑ See Runciman, p. 471 f.

Literature and Sources

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personal data
SURNAME Balak ibn Bahram
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Only al-Dawla Balak ibn Bahram ibn Artuk
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Emir of Sarudsch, Emir of Khanzit and Emir of Aleppo
DATE OF BIRTH around 1080
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1124
Place of death Manbij