Hasankeyf Emirate (1232–1524, ) was a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

emirate An emirate is a territory ruled by an emir, a title used by monarchs or high officeholders in the Muslim world. From a historical point of view, an emirate is a political-religious unit smaller than a caliphate. It can be considered equivalent ...

centered around

Hasankeyf Hasankeyf is a town located along the Tigris, in the Hasankeyf District, Batman Province, Turkey. It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981. Despite local and international objections, the city and its archaeological sites ...

and ruled by descendants of the

Ayyubid dynasty 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 ...

until its dissolution in 1524. They considered their emirate as the last remnant of the Ayyubid state. The rulers were called ‘amlak’ (kings) and continued to lead the emirate from 1232 to 1524 despite invasions and different sovereigns. The period from the 13th century to the 16th century witnessed the construction of various architectural structures, mostly pertaining to

Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both Secularity, secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Muslim world, Islamic world encompasse ...

Topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...

Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad al-Halabi (1217–1285) () was an Arab scholar and official for the Ayyubids from Aleppo. 'Izz al-Din Muhammad b. 'Ali ibn Shaddad al-Halabi, often quoted simply as Ibn Shaddad, is best known for his ''Al-a'laq al-khatira ...

noted, arguably before 1259, that the emirate had three

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

s, four

hammams A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

mausolea A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of ...

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s and

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

s. Around the citadel, there was a town square and fields for wheat, barley and grain growth. However, the living standard took a turn for the worse with the Timurid invasion with most of the local inhabitants fleeing towards the rock caves for safety. Even the Tigris bridge was unusable in this period. Only after a peace agreement was signed between

Al-Nasir Muhammad Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun (), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad (), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qalawun (1285–1341) was the ninth Mamluk sultan of the Bahri dynasty who ruled Egypt between 129 ...

and

Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan (June 2, 1305 – December 1, 1335; ), also spelled Abusaid Bahador Khan, Abu Sa'id Behauder (Modern , ''Abu sayid Baghatur Khan'', in modern Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, Mongolian), was the ninth ruler (c. 1316 – 1335) ...

in the first part of the 14th century did the emirate prosper again and construction resumed. The emirate had established several charities which supported educational matters and scholars from the fields of music, poetry and literacy settled in the emirate. Several

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 ...

s also collected scholarly works and established libraries for research.

History

When

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

reached Hasankeyf, the melik of the emirate was Ashraf who submitted himself fully to the

Timurid Empire The Timurid Empire was a late medieval, culturally Persianate, Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and parts of co ...

. The rule of Melik Ashraf is described as ''long and quiet''. He was succeeded by his son Khalil who had the unanimous support from all tribes of Hasankeyf and he also pleaded his loyalty to the Timurid Empire who was now led by

Shah Rukh Shah Rukh or Shahrukh Mirza (, ''Šāhrokh''; 20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447. He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynasty in 1370 ...

, the son of Timur. When Shah Rukh was fighting the

Qara Qoyunlu The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu (, ; ), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate, Muslim Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, English Black Sheep, Turkmen tribal federation tha ...

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

, Melik Khalil also went to pay homage to the Timurid ruler. The rule of Melik Khalil is described as a period of happiness and peace. When Melik Khalil died, he was succeeded by his nephew Khalaf who went to war against the Kurdish tribes of

Cizre Cizre () is a city in the Cizre District of Şırnak Province in Turkey. It is located on the river Tigris by the Syria–Turkey border and close to the Iraq–Turkey border. Cizre is in the historical region of Upper Mesopotamia and the cultura ...

. The rule of Melik Khalaf would come to an end when

Uzun Hasan Uzun Hasan or Uzun Hassan (; February or March 1425 – January 6, 1478) was a ruler of the Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu state and is generally considered to be its strongest ruler. Hasan ruled between 1452 and 1478 and presided ove ...

of the

Aq Qoyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu or the White Sheep Turkomans (, ; ) was a culturally Persianate society, Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two trib ...

besieged Hasankeyf. During this besiege, Melik Khalaf was assassinated by a nephew who afterwards opened the gates to the invaders. The nephew did not get to rule the emirate which was handed over to a Turkish

chieftain A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of weste ...

. The brother of Melik Khalaf, Khalil, who had fled to

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 ...

during the events, returned to Hasankeyf with the assistance of the Shirwi tribe whose chiefs worked as

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

s for the emirate. Various tribes joined Khalil and they triumphed in taking over not only Hasankeyf but also

Siirt Siirt (; ; ; ) is a city in the Siirt District of Siirt Province in Turkey. It had a population of 160,340 in 2021. The city is predominantly inhabited by Kurds. Neighborhoods The city is divided into the neighborhoods of Afetevlerı, Alan, ...

from the Aq Qoyunlu. The new Melik Khalil now maintained full independence and he was incomparable with other rulers in

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

. Nonetheless, he was taking prisoner during a visit to the Safavid Shah

Ismail I Ismail I (; 17 July 1487 – 23 May 1524) was the founder and first shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is one of the most vital in the history of Iran, and the Safavid period is often considered the beginn ...

. The

Qizilbash Qizilbash or Kizilbash (Latin script: ) ; ; (modern Iranian reading: ); were a diverse array of mainly Turkoman "The Qizilbash, composed mainly of Turkman tribesmen, were the military force introduced by the conquering Safavis to the Irani ...

then took control over the emirate and handed over the area to Bejnewi tribe. However, Melik Khalil managed to escape during the

Battle of Chaldiran The Battle of Chaldiran (; ) took place on 23 August 1514 and ended with a decisive victory for the Ottoman Empire over the Safavid Empire. As a result, the Ottomans annexed Eastern Anatolia and Upper Mesopotamia from Safavid Iran. It marked ...

in 1514 and united the people of Hasankeyf as he retook Siirt with Hasankeyf. The Bejnewi tribe was not persecuted but received a village in compensation for the killing of the father of their chieftain. The hereditary rule of the Emirate of Hasankeyf would come to an end with the death of Melik Khalil. The rivalry among his four sons dovetailed with tribal anger resulted in the hand-over of the emirate to

Deli Husrev Pasha Deli Husrev Pasha (, , ) ( 1495 – 1544) was an Ottoman Bosnian statesman from the Sanjak of Bosnia. His epithet "deli" means "crazy" in Ottoman Turkish, which was ascribed to him because of his quick temper. Biography He was born in 1495 as ...

, the Ottoman governor of Diyarbakir. The

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

ultimately dissolved the emirate.

List of rulers

The following is a list of Ayyubid emirs of Hasankeyf: * al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub I (1236–1239) * al-Malik al-Muazzam Turanshah (1239–1249) *al-Malik al-Muwahhid Abd Allah (1249–?) *al-Kamil Abu Bakr Sayf al-Din Shadi *al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub II (?–1324/1325) *Ghazi Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr (1324/1325–1364) *al-Malik al-Adil Abu al-Mafakhir Fakhr al-Din Sulayman (1364–1424) *al-Ashraf Ahmad (1424–1432) *al-Kamil Abu al-Mahamid Khalil (1432–1452) *al-Malik Ahmad (1452–1455) *Khalaf ibn Muhammad (1455–1461) *al-Malik Ayyub III ibn Ali ibn Muhammad (1461–1462) :''Aq Qoyunlu occupation'' (1462–?) *al-Malik Khalil *al-Malik al-Hasan (?–1525)

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{div col end Ayyubid dynasty Former emirates Former Kurdish states in Turkey History of Batman Province History of Siirt Province History of the Kurdish people States and territories disestablished in 1524 States and territories established in 1232 Vassal states of the Ottoman Empire

History

List of rulers

See also

Notes

Bibliography