Shams al-Mulk Isma'il (1113 – February 1, 1135) was the

Burid The Burid dynasty was a dynasty of Turkish origin ''Burids'', R. LeTourneau, The Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. I, ed. H.A.R. Gibb, J.H. Kramers, É. Lévi-Provençal and J. Schacht, (Brill, 1986), 1332. which ruled over the Emirate of Damascus ...

atabeg Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was wit ...

(or

Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (di ...

ruler) of the Emirate of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

from 1132 to 1135.

Early life

Shams al-Mulk Isma'il, born in 1113, was the son of

Taj al-Muluk Buri Taj al-Muluk Buri ( ar, تاج الملوك بوري; died 6 June 1132) was an atabeg of Damascus from 1128 to 1132. He was initially an officer in the army of Duqaq, the Seljuk ruler of Damascus, together with his father Toghtekin. When the lat ...

, the atabeg of Damascus, and his wife

Zumurrud This is a list of characters in ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ''The Arabian Nights''), the classic, medieval collection of Middle-Eastern folk tales. Characters in the frame story Scheherazade Scheherazade or Shahrazad ( fa, شهرزاد} ...

. Two

Assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. Assassin may also refer to: Origin of term * Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins Animals and insects * Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...

wounded Buri in the stomach in May 1132 in revenge for the massacre of their fellows in Damascus. Buri suffered for 13 months before he died in June 1133. Ismail succeeded his father and decided to seize

Banias Banias or Banyas ( ar, بانياس الحولة; he, בניאס, label=Modern Hebrew; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: פמייס, etc.; grc, Πανεάς) is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek ...

, which had previously been taken by

Baldwin II of Jerusalem Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Bourcq or Bourg (; – 21August 1131), was Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and King of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. He accompanied his cousins Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin of Boulogne to the ...

with the Assassins' assistance. Ismail attacked Banias and captured it on 11 December 1132. Ailba, a female slave of Ismail's grandfather,

Toghtekin Toghtekin or Tughtekin (Modern tr, Tuğtekin; Arabicised epithet: ''Zahir ad-Din Tughtikin''; died February 12, 1128), also spelled Tughtegin, was a Turkic military leader, who was ''atabeg'' of Damascus from 1104 to 1128. He was the founder o ...

, made an attempt on Ismail's life in 1134. After being captured, she listed the names of many peoples who desired Ismail's death because of his tyrannical acts. He ordered the arrest of the alleged conspirators, including his half-brother, Sawinj, who starved to death in the prison. Fearing for his life, Ismail left Damascus and settled in the fortress of

Salkhad Salkhad ( ar, صَلْخَد, Ṣalḫad) is a Syrian city in the As-Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria. It is the capital of Salkhad District, one of the governorate's three districts. It has a population of 15,000 inhabitants. It is located a ...

. He also sent envoys to his father's old enemy,

Imad ad-Din Zengi Imad al-Din Zengi ( ar, عماد الدین زنكي; – 14 September 1146), also romanized as Zangi, Zengui, Zenki, and Zanki, was a Turkmen atabeg, who ruled Mosul, Aleppo, Hama, and, later, Edessa. He was the namesake of the Zengid dyna ...

, the atabeg of Aleppo and Mosul, seeking his protection in exchange for Damascus. Ismail was murdered on February 1, 1135. The author of the contemporaneous ''Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades'' accused Ismail's mother of ordering his servants to kill him, because Ismail also wanted to kill her lover. She appointed her younger son

Shihab al-Din Mahmud The Shihab dynasty (alternatively spelled Chehab; ar, الشهابيون, ALA-LC: ''al-Shihābiyūn'') was an Arab family whose members served as the paramount tax farmers and local chiefs of Mount Lebanon from the early 18th to mid-19th centu ...

to rule Damascus.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ismail, Shams al-Mulk Atabegs Rulers of Damascus Burid rulers 1113 births 1135 deaths