Shaddadids
The Shaddadids ( Armenian շեդդադյանները ; Arabic شداديون Šaddādiyyūn ) were an Islamic dynasty of Kurdish origin thatruledover parts of Armenia and Azerbaijan from 951 to around 1174. In its heyday it controlled the entire area between the Kura and Aras rivers; its capitals were Dvin , Ganja (Gəncə) and Ani .
In 951 Muhammad ibn Schaddad conquered the city of Dvin, but was later driven from there again. He fled to Vaspurakan, Armenia . His eldest son Ali Laschkari conquered the important city of Ganja in 971 and ended the influence of the Musafirids in Arrān . He extended his territory in the north to Shamkur (Şəmkir) and in the east to Barda (Bərdə). After a brief reign of Marzuban ibn Muhammad, Lashkari's brother, Fadl I ibn Muhammad became the new emir. Fadl had several conflicts with the neighboring Armenian empires. He recaptured Dvin from them in 1022 and occupied the area west of Shamkur. His war against the Armenian Bagratids and Georgians lasted several years, but Fadl I was finally defeated in 1030. In 1027 he had a bridge built over the Macaws to conquer the Rawadid lands across the river. Fadl was the only Schaddadide to mint his own coins, the mint was first in Barda and was later moved to Ganja. The Shaddadids flourished under his long reign.
The political fabric of the region became unstable and chaotic at that time due to the pressure of the Byzantines and the raids of the Turkish Seljuks . The Seljuks attacked Gandscha around 1046; the city could only be saved with the help of Byzantines and Georgians. The Shaddadide Abu l-Asvar Shavur, who led the branch line of the dynasty in Dvin since 1022, also took over the rule in Ganja in 1050 and ruled until 1067. He was the last great, independent emir of the Shaddadids. Although he was married to the sister of the Armenian king, he achieved great reputation as a religious fighter against the infidels. But Abu l-Asvar had to bow to the Seljuk Sultan Toghril-Beg in 1054 and became his vassal. He participated in the Seljuq incursions into Anatolia and Armenia and fought against the Shirvan Shahs in the north of his empire and against the Alans . The Shaddadids had to cede their empire to the Seljuks at the end of the 11th century and in 1072 they were assigned the old Bagratid capital of Ani as a new area of rule. The history of the sidelines of Ani is only partially known. The Georgian King Dawit IV. The builder conquered Ani in 1124, but Fadl IV. Regained the city in 1125. In addition, he conquered Dvin and Ganja. Nevertheless, the Shaddadids in Ani remained under Georgian rule. After the Georgians drove Fadl V. out of Ani in 1161 and wrested the city from Shahanshah in 1174, the Shaddadids finally disappeared from historical sources towards the end of the 12th century. A last member of the dynasty is documented in a Persian inscription in Ani for 1199, the year in which Ani finally fell to Georgia.
Ruler list
in Dvin and Ganja:
- Muhammad ibn Schaddad (951-971)
- Ali I ibn Muhammad Laschkari (971–978)
- Marzuban ibn Muhammad (978-986)
- Fadl I ibn Muhammad (986-1031)
- Abu l-Fath Musa ibn Fadl I (1031-1034)
- Ali II. Lashkari ibn Musa (1034-1049)
- Anuschirvan ibn Ali II Lashkari (1049)
- Abu l-Asvar Shavur I ibn Fadl I (1049-1067)
- Fadl II. Ibn Schavur I (1067-1073)
- Ashot ibn Shavur I (1067)
- Fadl III. ibn Fadl II. (1073-1075)
in Ani:
- Manutschihr (1072–1118)
- Abu l-Asvar Shavur II (1118–1124)
- Fadl IV. Ibn Shavur II. (1125–?)
- Kushchihr (1131–?)
- Mahmud (?)
- Schaddad (around 1154)
- Fadl V. (1155–1161)
- Shahanshah ibn Mahmud (1164–1174)
literature
- Vladimir Minorsky : Studies in Caucasian History . London 1953
Web links
- Shaddadids . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica (English, including references)
- Arran . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica (English, including references)
- Diplomatic relations of the Byzantines from 1047–1057
- History of the city of Gəncə
- Kurds in Armenia
- Shaddadid coins
- King list of the Shaddadids