Qarghuyah or Qarquya was an important

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

administrator in the

Hamdanid Dynasty The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern A ...

under

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī ( ar, علي بن أبو الهيجاء عبد الله بن حمدان بن الحارث التغلبي, 22 June 916 – 9 February 967), more commonly known ...

, who would go on to control

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

himself and even sign the Treaty of Safar with the Byzantine Empire as the ruling

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ce ...

of Aleppo. On January 7, 965, Qarghuyah was appointed governor of Aleppo by Sayf al-Dawla, who had by that point retreated to Martyropolis, moving against an advancing

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantino ...

army led by

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless included brilliant military exploits whi ...

. On October 29, 965, a rebel force led by the former secretary of Tarsus, Rashiq al-Nasimi, approached Aleppo while Sayf al-dawla was away from the city. After three months, he managed to capture a lower part of the town, but was killed in an attack on the citadel on January 8, 966. Sayf al-Dawla died on 8 February of 967 in Aleppo. He was succeeded by his son, Sa'd al-Dawla, who reached Aleppo on June/July 967. Around April 968, the same month the rebellion of Abu Firas failed, Qarghuyah convinced Sa'd al-Dawla to leave Aleppo. Following this, Qarghuyah seized power for himself but was immediately besieged by an unknown rival. Qarghuyah appealed to the nearby Byzantine general, Petros, for aid, who was then besieging

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

with

Michael Bourtzes Michael Bourtzes ( el, Μιχαήλ Βούρτζης, Arabic: ''Miḥā’īl al-Burdjī''; ca. 930/35 – after 996) was a leading Byzantine general of the latter 10th century. He became notable for his capture of Antioch from the Arabs in 969, ...

. Following the capture of Antioch on October 28, 969, Petros and Bourtzes made their way to Aleppo, defeating Qarghuyah's rival quickly. They then in turn besieged Aleppo from 14 December to 11 January, successfully defeating Qarghuyah and his defenders. Following the siege, Petros and Bourtzes forced Qarghuyah and his deputy,

Bakjur Bakjur was a Circassian military slave (''mamluk'' or '' ghulam'') who served the Hamdanids of Aleppo and later the Fatimids of Egypt. He seized control of Aleppo in 975 and governed it until 977, when the rightful Hamdanid ruler, Sa'd al-Dawla, ...

, to sign the Treaty of Safar, which stipulated that Aleppo,

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

, and the whole "province" would pay tribute to Byzantium, while Qarghuyah would be guaranteed rule over Aleppo, and Bakjur would be designated as his successor. In 975, Bakjur deposed and imprisoned Qarghuyah and seized control of the emirate himself. Two years later, Sa'd al-Dawla returned to Aleppo after defeating Bakjur, whom he exiled to Homs, and restored Qarghuyah to his previous post as deputy. He died around April in 990 in Aleppo.

References

Sources

* * * * {{cite book, last=Kaldellis, first=Anthony, title=Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade, year=2017, publisher=Oxford University Press, isbn=978-0190253226 990 deaths People of the Hamdanid emirate of Aleppo 10th-century Arabs Arab people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Year of birth unknown Sayf al-Dawla