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Gökböri, or Muzaffar ad-Din Gökböri, was a leading
emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...
and general of Sultan
Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...
(Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb), and ruler of
Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...
. He served both the
Zengid The Zengid or Zangid dynasty, also referred to as the Atabegate of Mosul, Aleppo and Damascus (Arabic: أتابكة الموصل وحلب ودمشق), or the Zengid State (Old Anatolian Turkish: , Modern Turkish: ; ) was initially an '' Atabegat ...
and
Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...
rulers of
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
and
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. He played a pivotal role in Saladin's conquest of Northern Syria and the Jazira (
Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia constitutes the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the regio ...
) and later held major commands in a number of battles against the
Crusader states The Crusader states, or Outremer, were four Catholic polities established in the Levant region and southeastern Anatolia from 1098 to 1291. Following the principles of feudalism, the foundation for these polities was laid by the First Crusade ...
and the forces of the
Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...
. He was known as Manafaradin, a corruption of his principal praise name, to the Franks of the Crusader states. Gökböri was the first Muslim ruler to publicly celebrate the birth of
Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
in an impressive ceremony in Erbil during which al-Mawlid al-Nabawi (Mawlid or Mavlid, poetry celebrating the Prophet's Birthday) was recited.


Origins and early life

Gökböri, whose name means "Blue-wolf" in
Old Turkic Old Siberian Turkic, generally known as East Old Turkic and often shortened to Old Turkic, was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia. It was first discovered in inscriptions originating from the Second Turkic Kh ...
, was the son of Zain ad-Din Ali Kutchek, the Emir of Erbil (known as Arbela in contemporary Arab usage). Gökböri's ancestry was Turcoman and his family, known as the Begtegīnids, were associated with the
Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...
. On the death of his father in August 1168, the fourteen-year-old Gökböri succeeded to the lordship of Erbil. However, the
atabeg Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic language, 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 ti ...
of Erbil, Kaimaz, deposed Gökböri in favour of his younger brother, Zain ad-Din Yusuf. Gökböri, exiled from his city, eventually took service with the
Zengid The Zengid or Zangid dynasty, also referred to as the Atabegate of Mosul, Aleppo and Damascus (Arabic: أتابكة الموصل وحلب ودمشق), or the Zengid State (Old Anatolian Turkish: , Modern Turkish: ; ) was initially an '' Atabegat ...
prince Saif ad-Din Ghazi ibn Maudud of
Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...
. The lord of Mosul granted Gökböri the city of
Harran Harran is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Its area is 904 km2, and its population is 96,072 (2022). It is approximately southeast of Urfa and from the Syrian border crossing at Akçakale. ...
as a fief.


Prominent Zengid military commander

During the decade from 1164,
Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...
, originally a subject of Nur ad-Din the Zengid ruler of Syria, had made himself master of Egypt. Saladin was ambitious to unite Egypt and Syria under his own rule, and was asserting a level of independence that his titular master, Nur ad-Din, could not accept. In 1174 Nur ad-Din prepared his army to march on Egypt, but he died before he could move against Saladin. Following the death of Nur ad-Din, Saladin invaded Syria. Gökböri commanded the right wing of the Zengid army defeated by Saladin on 13 April 1175 at the Horns of Hama. During the battle the right wing of the Zengid army broke Saladin's left flank, before being routed in turn by a charge of Saladin's guard.


Aids Saladin's conquest of Northern Syria and the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia)

Following the Zengid defeat at Hama, and the continuing lack any unifying figure in the mould of Nur ad-Din, Gökböri realised that Zengid power was on the wane in Syria and the Jazira and he made the momentous decision to defect to Saladin in 1182. Saladin had been repulsed from
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
and was marching on Aleppo when Gökböri visited him with an invitation to cross the
Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
into the Jazira, where he was assured he would be welcomed. His support for Saladin was instrumental in the defeat of Zengid power in the region; soon little more than the cities of Mosul and Aleppo remained under Zengid control.Nicholson and Nicolle, p. 17 In 1185 Saladin was campaigning against Izz ad-Din Mas'ud, the Zengid ruler of Mosul. At this time Gökböri came under suspicion of collusion with Izz ad-DIn. Gökböri had promised the sultan a large sum of money towards the cost of the campaign, but was unable to produce it. Saladin had Gökböri arrested, but quickly released him. Saladin became gravely ill during this campaign, but was nursed back to health in Gökböri's castle at Harran. In 1186 the war ended, when Izz ad-Din Mas'ud agreed to become Saladin's vassal. Following the conquest of Northern Syria and the Jazira, Saladin added
Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...
(
Urfa Urfa, officially called Şanlıurfa (), is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. The city was known as Edessa from Hellenistic period, Hellenistic times and into Christian times. Urfa is situated on a plain abo ...
) and Samsat to Gökböri's lands. He was then given Saladin's sister, al-Sitt Rabia
Khatun Khatun ( ) is a title of the female counterpart to a Khan (title), khan or a khagan of the Göktürks, Turkic Khaganates and in the subsequent Mongol Empire. Etymology and history Before the advent of Islam in Central Asia, Khatun was the title of ...
, in marriage.


War against the Crusader states

Gökböri became known as a reliable and skilled military leader. Saladin's secretary, the historian Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, described him as: "... the audacious, the hero of well thought out projects, the lion who heads straight for the target, the most reliable and firmest chief." In Saladin's campaigns against the
Crusader states The Crusader states, or Outremer, were four Catholic polities established in the Levant region and southeastern Anatolia from 1098 to 1291. Following the principles of feudalism, the foundation for these polities was laid by the First Crusade ...
Gökböri was given important commands. At the
Battle of Cresson The Battle of Cresson was a small battle between Frankish and Ayyubid forces on 1 May 1187 at the "Spring of the Cresson." While the exact location of the spring is unknown, it is located in the environs of Nazareth. The conflict was a prelude ...
(1187) he led an army of 700–7,000 which defeated a Christian army containing a large contingent from the military orders. The Christian army was destroyed and the master of the
Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...
,
Roger de Moulins Roger de Moulins was the eighth Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1177 until his death in 1187. He succeeded Jobert of Syria.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). " St John of Jerusalem, Knights of the Order of the Hospital of". ''Encyclopædia ...
, was killed. The military exploits of Gökböri were recorded in the contemporary accounts of his Christian enemies, to whom he was known as Manafaradin. Gökböri's finest military achievement was at the
Battle of Hattin The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of ...
in 1187, where he commanded the left of the Ayyubid army. Saladin commanded the centre and his nephew, Taqi ad-Din, the right. This battle saw the destruction of the army of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...
, leading to the fall of the greater part of the kingdom, including the holy city of
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, to Saladin.
Ibn Khallikan Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān (; 22 September 1211 – 30 October 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a renowned Islamic historian of Kurdish origin who compiled the celebrated biographical encyclopedi ...
describes how Gökböri and Saladin's nephew stood firm when the rest of the army was fleeing. They rallied the Ayyubid forces and led them in a counter-attack which decided the battle. In 1190, during the Siege of Acre by the forces of the
Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...
, Gökböri's brother Zain ad-Din Yusuf died. Gökböri then petitioned Saladin for the return of his paternal inheritance of the city of Erbil. He received Erbil and Shahrozur, but surrendered Edessa, Harran and Samsat, which were granted to Taqi ad-Din. Though the siege was ongoing, Saladin allowed Gökböri to go to Erbil to establish his authority in the city. Taqi ad-Din was summoned to take over the troops previously commanded by Gökböri. Gökböri entered Erbil in January 1191.


Ruler of Erbil

Gökböri remained the ruler of
Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...
until his death. After the death of his patron Saladin, in 1193, he was effectively an independent ruler, acknowledging no superior other than the
Caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
. He was a great patron of writers, poets, artists and scholars, whom he invited to Erbil. His administration of Erbil was assisted by the scholar Ibn al-Mustawfi, one of his viziers, who wrote the history of Erbil in four volumes. Gökböri was also a patron of the biographer and historian Ibn Khallikan. He was a devout
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
Muslim and built extensively in his domains for both the spiritual and corporeal needs of his subjects, creating a religious college, the Dar al-Hadith al-Muzaffariya (founded in 1198),
sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
convents (
khanqah A Sufi lodge is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood or ''tariqa'' and is a place for spiritual practice and religious education. They include structures also known as ''khānaqāh'', ''zāwiya'', ''ribāṭ'' ...
), a travellers' inn and a number of establishments for the blind, orphans and widows.''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', 'Begteginids' He was particularly noted as a fervent celebrator of Mawlid, a ceremonial recitation of praise poems celebrating Muhammad on the anniversary of his birth. Previous to Gökböri, such celebrations consisted of private observances or court processions. Those of Gökböri were held in public, preceded by hunting parties and accompanied by lavish sacrifices. This has been seen by later commentators as representing a level of
syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...
with pre-Islamic, traditional, Turkish practices called ''Siğir'' and ''Shölen''. The long reign of Gökböri in Erbil, which became a thriving centre of Sunni learning, was largely due to his highly developed political acumen and judicious choice of alliances. He always made himself more useful as an ally of major powers than attractive as a potential target for their aggression. Though he married into the Ayyubid dynasty, two of his daughters married Zengids. Later in his reign he used alliance with al-Muazzam of Damascus as a counterbalance to the threats of al-Malik al-Ashraf and Badr al-Din Lu'lu'. Badr al-Din Lu'lu' was appointed as atabeg for the successive child-rulers of Mosul, Nur al-Din Arslan Shah II and his younger brother, Nasir al-Din Mahmud. Both rulers were grandsons of Gökböri, and this probably accounts for the animosity between him and Lu'lu'. In 1226 Gökböri, in alliance with al-Muazzam, attacked Mosul, while his ally attacked Homs. As a result of this military pressure, al-Ashraf and Lu'lu' made their submission to al-Muazzam, though al-Muazzam died the following year. Nasir al-Din Mahmud was the last Zengid ruler of Mosul, he disappears from the records soon after Gökböri's death. He was killed by Lu'lu', by strangulation or starvation, and his killer then formally began to rule in Mosul.


Death

Being without a male heir, Gökböri willed Erbil to the
Abbasid Caliph The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came ...
al-Mustansir. In old age he campaigned against the
Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...
, during their first approaches to
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
, which they were soon to overrun and devastate. Falling ill, he returned to his lands where he died on 28 June 1233. Three years later, in 1236, the Mongols sacked Erbil, but were unable to take the citadel; in 1258, during the
Siege of Baghdad The siege of Baghdad took place in early 1258. A large army commanded by Hulegu, a prince of the Mongol Empire, attacked the historic capital of the Abbasid Caliphate after a series of provocations from its ruler, caliph al-Musta'sim. Within ...
, Erbil fell to the Mongol general Oroktu Noyan.Howorth, pp. 132, 203


Notes


References


Bibliography

*Album, S. (1977) ''Marsden's Numismata Orientalia Illustrata'', Attic Books Limited, London, Ontario . Reprint of a private printing dating from 1823–1825, in London, England, by William Marsden. *Baha' Ad-Din Yusuf Ibn Shaddad (Beha Ed-Din), trans. C.W. Wilson (1897) ''Saladin Or What Befell Sultan Yusuf'', Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, London. Reprinted, 2002, Elibron Classics, Adamant Media, Boston

*Çaǧatay, N. (1968) "The Tradition of Mavlid Recitations in Islam Particularly in Turkey", ''Studia Islamica'', No. 28, Maisonneuve & Larose (Brill, Leiden). *Ehrenkreutz, A.S. (1972) ''Saladin'', State University of New York Press, Albany NY. *''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Second Edition First published online: 2012, P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Brill, Leiden, Online version: section on the Begteginid

First published online: 2012. First print edition (1960–2007): *Gibb, H.A.R. (1962) "The Aiyubids", in ''History of the Crusades, Volume 2: The Later Crusades, 1189-1311'', Wolff, R.L. and Hazzard, H.W. (eds.), Ch. XX, pp. 693–714, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA

*Hazard, H.W (1958) "The Rise of Saladin 1169–1189", in ''A History of the Crusades, Volume 1'' (M.W. Baldwin ed.), University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA, pp. 563–589.

*Howorth, Sir Henry H. (1876) ''History of the Mongols: From the 9th to the 19th Century'', Volume 1, reprinted (2008) Cosimo Inc., New York *Ibn Khallikan (1843) ''Kitab wafayat ala'yan - Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary'', transl. by Guillaume, Baron Mac-Guckin de Slane, Volume 2, Pari

*Morray D.W. (1994) ''An Ayyubid Notable and His World: Ibn Al-ʻAdīm and Aleppo as Portrayed in His Biographical Dictionary of People Associated with the City'', Brill. Leiden. *Nicholson, H (trans.) (1997) ''Chronicle of the Third Crusade: A Translation of the Itinerarium Peregrinorum Et Gesta Regis Ricardi'', Ashgate, Farnham. *Nicholson, H and Nicolle, D (2006) ''God's Warriors: Knights Templar, Saracens and the Battle for Jerusalem'', Osprey Publishing, Oxford. *Nicolle, D. (2001) ''The Crusades'', Osprey Publishing, Oxford. * Nováček, K., Amin, N.A.M. and Melčák, M. (2013) ''A Medieval City Within Assyrian Walls: The Continuity of the Town of Arbil in Northern Mesopotamia'', Iraq, Vol 75, pp. 1–42, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, London. *Patton, D. (1988) ''Ibn al-Sāʿi's Account of the Last of the Zangids'', ''Zeitschrift der Deutschen, Morgenländischen Gesellschaft'', Vol. 138, No. 1, pp. 148–158, Harrassowitz Verlag * (Reprint 1990, Penguin, London ) *Stubbs, W. (ed.) (1864) ''Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi'' (original text in Latin), Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, London. Available a
Gallica
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gokbori 1154 births 1233 deaths Generals of the medieval Islamic world People from Erbil Muslims of the Crusades Muslims of the Third Crusade Medieval history of Syria Medieval Upper Mesopotamia Sunni Sufis Saladin