Kernabes

Kernabes (also Kudanbes or Kerenbes ) was a Nubian king who ruled the kingdom of Makuria from 1311 to 1316 and from 1323 to 1324 as the last Christian king . The events surrounding this and the following Nubian rulers are primarily attested by the Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi .

Life

Kernabes lived at a time when the Nubian Empire of Makuria was in a phase of disintegration. The earliest evidence mentions this ruler around 1315, when Kernabes was forced by the Mamluks in Egypt to go to Cairo to pay a fine for killing his brother.

In 1315, a Muslim army invaded his empire after falling from grace again. The Mamluks then wanted to put Barschanbu , who belonged to the Sultan's court, on the throne of Makuria. To forestall this further invasion, Kernabes sent his sister's son, Kanz ed-Dawla , to the Sultan Al-Malik an-Nasir Muhammad . Kanz ed-Dawla was a Muslim and was supposed to occupy the throne of Makuria. However, the sultan did not accept this offer and the army moved to Nubia. When the army stood before Old Dunqula , King Kernabes fled to al-Abwab with his brother Abram . There they were delivered to the Mamluks in chains.

In the period that followed, Barschanbu and Kanz ed-Dawla ruled Makuria. On December 1, 1323 (according to other sources April 7, 1322) Kernabes returned to Nubia with a troop of horsemen. He reached Old Dunqula, was able to depose Kanz ed-Dawla, and thereupon became king of Makuria again. However, his reign did not last long and he was again driven out by Kanz ed-Dawla. Kernabes then seems to have gone to Aswan , where he is attested in 1326. His further fate is unknown. Kanz ed-Dawla remained ruler of Makuria until 1333.

See also

• List of the Nubian kings

literature

• Derek A. Welsby : The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia . London 2002, pp. 243, 246-248, ISBN 0-7141-1947-4 .