2RHPZ
06-06-2004, 02:56 AM
It hapenned a long, long time ago but thought it may be interesting even now:
The Mongol's besiege and capture Baghdad in 1258
Prior to his invasion of the Middle East, Hulagu asked the Abbasid caliph, al-Muta'sim,
the thirty-seventh of his dynasty, to recognize Mongol sovereignty as his
predecessors had once accepted the rule of the Seljuk Turks. The prince of the
faithful, overconfident of his own prestige, sent word to the conqueror that any
attack on his capital would mobilize the entire Muslim world, from India to
north west Africa. Not in the least impressed, the grandson of Genghis Khan
announced his intention of taking the city by force. Towards the end of 1257 he
and, it would appear, hundreds of thousands of cavalry began advancing towards
the Abbasid capital. On heir way they destroyed the Assassin?s sanctuary at
Alamut and sacked it?s library of inestimable value, thus making it for
impossible for future generations to gain any in-depth knowledge of the doctrine
and activities of the sect. When the caliph finally realized the extent of the
threat, he decided to negotiate. He proposed that Hulagu?s name be ****ounced at
Friday sermons in the mosques of Baghdad and that he be granted the title
sultan. But it was too late, for by now the Mongol had definitely opted for
force. After a few weeks of courageous resistance, the prince of the faithful
had no choice but to capitulate. On the 10th of February 1258 he went to the
victor?s camp in person and asked if he would promise to spare the lives of all
the citizens if they agreed to lay down there arms. But in vain. As soon as they
were disarmed, the Muslim fighters were exterminated. Then the Mongol horde
fanned out through the prestigious city demolishing buildings, burning
neighbourhoods, and mercilessly massacring men, women, and children- nearly
eighty thousand people in all. Only the Christian community was spared, thanks
to the intercession of the Khan?s wife. The prince of the faithful was himself
strangled to death a few days after his defeat.
Hulaga Khan rides against Baghdad and leads his armies from all directions to
the City of Peace; the city is taken, and the rule of the Abbasid caliphs comes
to an end.
Having set out on the march to Baghdad, Hulagu said, "Let Chormaqan's and Baiju
Noyan's soldiers, whose yurt is in Anatolia, enter Mosul in the right wing from
the direction of Arbela, cross the bridge at Mosul, and camp west of Baghdad so
when our banners arrive from the east they can enter from the direction." To
enter in the right wing under Sonitai Noyan on Hulagu Khan's side were Prince
Balagha, the son of Jochi's son Shiban; Prince Tutar, the son of Jochi's son
[Boqal's son Minqadur]; and Prince Quli, the son of Jochi's son Orda, together
with Buqa Temur and Su'unchaq Noyan. Ket Buqa Noyan, Qudusin, and Elgai were to
enter in the left wing from Luristan, Tikrit (?), Khuzistan, and Bayat as far as
the shore of the gulf. Hulagu stationed his aghruqs at Zaki meadow near Hamadan
and assigned Qiyaq Noyan to head them.
Around the beginning of 655 [November 1257], he and his soldiers set forth in
the center, which the Mongols call the qol, via Kirmanshahan and Hulwan. The
great commanders Kokd Elgai, Uruqtu, and Arghun Aqa, the bitigchis Qaraqai,
Sayfuddin Bitigchi, who was the administrator of the kingdom, Mawlana Khwaja
Nasiruddin Tusi, and Sahib Sa'id Ala'uddin Ata-Malik with all the sultans,
maliks, and atabegs of Iran were at court. When they arrived under favorable
auspices in Asadabad, once again he sent a messenger to summon the caliph, but
the caliph refused. At Dinawar, Ibn al-Jawzi arrived again from Baghdad bearing
a message filled with entreaties for Hulagu to turn back, in exchange for which
the caliph would remit whatever would be agreed upon to the treasury annually.
Hulagu Khan thought the caliph wanted the troops to turn back and thus incite
them to disobedience. "Since we have come all this way," he said, "how can we
turn back without having seen the caliph? After we have had an audience with him
and seen and spoken with him, we will withdraw with his permission."
From there they went to the mountains of the Kurds. On the 27th of the month
[December 6, 1257] he camped in Kirmanshahan, where they massacred and pillaged.
A messenger was dispatched for the princes, Su'unchaq, Baiju Noyan, and Sonitai
to come quickly. They joined the padishah at Ctesiphon. Aybak Halabi and
Sayfuddin Qilich, who were advance scouts in that area, were captured and taken
to court. Hulagu spared Aybak's life, in return for which he undertook to convey
his words verbatim. Hulagu made them liege men to the Mongol yazak and sent them
back well rewarded to cross the Tigris and head for the area west of Baghdad.
They burned sheep shanks as was their custom, turned back, crossed the Tigris,
and headed for Baghdad's western frontier.
The Baghdad advance guard was commanded by a Qipchaq named Qara Sonqor. In the
Mongol yazak was Sultanchuq, a descendant of the Khwarazmians, and he sent a
letter to Qara Sonqor, saying, "You and I are of one race. After running from
pillar to post in despair and poverty, I succeeded in joining His Majesty's
court and surrendering, and he maintains me well. You too have mercy on your own
soul, be kind to your children, and surrender so that your life, family, and
property may be spared by these people."
In reply Qara Sonqor wrote, "How dare the Mongols attack the House of Abbas, for
that family has seen as much good fortune as Genghis Khan's, and their
foundations are too firm to quake with every passing breeze. They have been
ruling for more than five hundred years, and no creature who has attacked them
has been spared by fate. It is far from perspicacious of you to invite me to
join the young sapling of Mongol fortune. If he were in amity and friendship,
when Hulagu Khan finished conquering the Heretics' lands and fortresses, he
should not have gone past Ray but should have returned to Khurasan and
Turkistan. The caliph's feelings have been hurt by his onslaught. This being so,
if Hulagu Khan regrets what he has done and turns back to Hamadan with his
troops, we will have the Dawatdar intercede and plead with the caliph on his
behalf. Perhaps he may overlook the offense and accept a truce so that the gates
of fighting and contention may be closed."
When Sultanchuq reported the contents of the letter to Hulagu Khan, he laughed
and said, "My reliance is on the Creator, not on dirhems and dinars. If God the
eternal befriends me, what do I have to worry from the caliph and his troops?"
To me what are ants, mosquitoes, elephants? What is a spring, a canal, the river
Nile?
If God commands a thing, who other than Him knows what the outcome will be?
Another emissary was sent to say, "If the caliph is in submission, let him come
out. Otherwise, this means war. Let the vizier, Sulaymanshah, and the Dawatdar
come first to hear our words."
Decamping the next day, he stopped by the banks of the river in Hulwan, where he
remained from the 9th of Dhu'l-Hijja 655 until the 22nd [December 18-31, 1257].
During that time Ket Buqa Noyan took much territory in Luristan both by truce
and by force. On the 11th of Chaqshapat Ay of Moghai Yil, corresponding to the
9th of Muharram 656 [January 16, 1258] Baiju Noyan, Buqa Temur, and Su'unchaq
crossed the Tigris at the agreed-upon place on the Dujayl road and arrived in
the vicinity of Nahr Isa. Su'unchaq Noyan begged Baiju for the vanguard to be
west of Baghdad, and, receiving permission, he set off and went to Harbiyya
[northwest of Baghad].
Mujahiduddin Aybak the Dawatdar, who was head of the caliph's army, and Ibn Kurd
had first made camp between Ba'quba and Bajisra. When they heard that the
Mongols were coming to the west and had crossed the Tigris in the vicinity of
Anbar, they did battle with Su'unchaq and Buqa Temur at the gate to Mansur's
kiosk above Midrafa, nine leagues from Baghdad. The Mongol troops fell back and
went to Bashiriyya in the Dujayl district. When Baiju joined them, they turned
back. In that vicinity was a large lake. The Mongols opened the dykes and
flooded the entire plain behind the backs of the Baghdad army. At sunrise on
Thursday morning, the day of Ashura [January 17], Baiju and Buqa Temur attacked
the Dawatdar and Ibn Kurd, defeating them and throwing the Baghdad army into
rout. Fathuddin Ibn Kurd and Qara Sonqor, the leaders of the army, and twelve
thousand Baghdadis were killed - aside from those who were drowned or got stuck
in the mud. The Dawatdar and a few escaped to Baghdad. Others fled to Hilla and
Kufa.
The eve of Saturday the 15th of Muharram [January 22] Buqa Temur, Baiju Noyan,
and Su'unchaq Noyan came to Baghdad and took control of the western side. They
camped in the city quarters alongside the Tigris. Ket Buqa Noyan and the others
arrived from the direction of Nahasiyya and Sarsar with an enormous army.
Hiilagu Khan left his aghruq in Khanaqin and set out, camping on the eastern
side on the 17th of Chaqshapat Ay of Moghai Yil, corresponding to the 15th of
Muharram [January 22].
The Mongol army swarmed in like ants and locusts from all directions, forming a
circle around the ramparts of Baghdad and setting up a wall. On Tuesday the 22nd
[January 29], with Aries in the ascendant, they began to fight. From the
direction of the Khurasan road the Padishah of the World was in the center to
the left of the city, opposite the Ajami Tower; Elgai Noyan and Quya were at the
Kalwadha Gate; Quli, Balagha, Tutar, Shiramiin, and Uruqtu were at the city
gates at the Suq Uthman Gate; Buqa Temur came from the direction of the citadel
toward the qibla in Dolab Baql; Baiju and Su'unchaq came from the west, where
the Azudi Hospital is. They prosecuted the battle in unison, set up catapults
opposite the Ajami Tower, and breached it. The caliph sent out the vizier and
the catholicos, saying, "The Padishah said I should send the vizier out. I have
kept my promise and am sending him. Let the Padishah also keep his word."
Hulagu Khan said, "We made that stipulation at the gates of Hamadan. Now that we
have come to Baghdad and an ocean of tumult and strife has been stirred up, how
can we be content with only one? All three must be sent" (by which he meant that
the Dawatdar and Sulaymanshah would also have to be sent).
Envoys went to the city, and the next day the vizier, the divan chief, and a
group of well-known citizens came out, but they were sent back. Fierce battle
was fought for six days and nights. Hulagu Khan ordered six decrees written,
saying, "The lives of cadis, scholars, shaykhs, Alids, and Nestorian priests,
and persons who do not combat against us are safe from us." The proclamations
were fastened to arrows and shot into the city from six sides. Since there was
no stone in the Baghdad vicinity, they brought rocks from Jalula and Jabal
Khamrin, and date palms were cut down and hurled instead of stones.
On Friday the 25th of Muharram [February 1] the Aiami Tower was destroyed. On
Monday the 27th [February 3] the Mongol soldiers proceeded overwhelmingly
against the ramparts opposite the Ajami Tower in the direction the padishah was.
They emptied the tops of the walls of people, but they still had not gone on the
walls in the direction of Suq Sultan, where Balagha and Tutar were. Hulagu Khan
chastised them. Their liege men went up, and by evening they had secured the
whole of the tops of the eastern walls.
When bridges were being made, Hulagu had ordered bridges built above and below
Baghdad, boats made ready, catapults installed, and guards stationed. Buqa Temur
and a tuman of soldiers were patrolling the routes to Madayin and Basra to
prevent anyone from escaping by boat.
When the battle of Baghdad became intense, and the people were being pressed,
the Dawatdar got in a boat to escape down river. When he passed the village of
al`Ugab, Buqa Temur let loose a barrage of catapult stones, arrows, and vials of
naphtha. Three boats were taken, and the people were killed. The Dawatdar turned
back in rout.
When the caliph was apprised of the situation he despaired totally of his rule
of Baghdad. Seeing no escape route, he said, "I will surrender." He sent
Fakhruddin Damghani and Ibn Durnus out with a few gifts, thinking that if he
sent too much it would indicate how afraid he was and the foe would be further
emboldened. Hulagu Khan paid no attention to the embassy, and they returned in
failure.
On Tuesday the 29th of Muharram [February 5] the caliph's middle son, Abu'l-Fadl
Abdul-Rahman, came out, and the vizier went into the city. The Sahib-Divan and a
group of dignitaries were with Abu'l-Fadl, and they had brought a large tribute,
but it was not accepted either. The next day, the last of Muharram [February 6],
the caliph's oldest son, the vizier, and a group of courtiers came out to
intercede. It was to no avail, and they returned to the city. In their company
Hulagu Khan sent Khwaja Nasiruddin Tusi and Ay Temur on an embassy to the
caliph.
On the first of Safar [February 7] they came out. The padishah sent Fakhruddin
Damghani, who was the Sahib-Divan, Ibn al-Jawzi, and Ibn Durnus into the city to
bring Sulaymanshah and the Dawatdar out. In order to win them over he sent a
decree and a paiza and said, "The caliph can do what he wants. If he wants, let
him come out; if not, let him not come out. But the Mongol troops will remain on
the walls where they are until they come out."
On Thursday the first of Safar they both came out. They were sent back into the
city to get their retainers out to ride on an expedition to Egypt and Syria.
With them, the army of Baghdad decided to come out, as did an innumerable host,
hoping to find safety, but they were divided into units of thousands, hundreds,
and tens and killed to the last. Those who remained in the city fled into nooks
and crannies.
A group of dignitaries came out and asked for amnesty, saying, "Many people are
surrendering. Let them have a respite, for the caliph will send his sons and
will come out himself." During this an arrow hit Hindu Bitigchi, one of the
great commanders, in the eye. Hulagu Khan flew into a rage and ordered all haste
to be made in taking Baghdad. He commanded Khwaja Nasiruddin to take up
residence at the Halaba Gate for the purpose of granting amnesty to the people,
and they began to get them out of the city.
On Friday the 2nd of Safar [February 8] the Dawatdar and his followers were
killed. Sulaymanshah and seven hundred of his relatives were brought in, hands
bound, and questioned.
"Since you are a star-gazer and astrologer and know about good and ill portents
in the heavens, how is it you didn't see your own day of doom and didn't advise
your lord to come before us in peace?" he was asked.
"The caliph was headstrong and ill-starred," he replied. "He did not listen to
the advice of his well-wishers." An order was given for him and all his
followers to be martyred. Amir Hajjuddin, the son of the "Big" Dawatdar, was
also killed. The heads of all three were sent to Mosul by Malik Salih, Badruddin
Lu'lu's son. Badruddin, having been a friend of Sulaymanshah's, wept, but in
fear for his own life he hung the heads on the gibbet.
After that, when the Caliph Musta'sim saw that it was all over, he summoned the
vizier and asked, "What's to be done?"
In reply he quoted this line of poetry: " `They think the matter is simple, but
it is a sword whose edges have been sharpened for meeting.' "
After Basra was destroyed, the caliph and his three sons, Abu'1-Fadl Abdul-Rahman,
Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad, and Abu'l-Managib Mubarak, came out on Sunday the 4th of
Safar 656 [February 10, 1258]. With him were three thousand sayyids, imams,
cadis, grandees and dignitaries of the city. He approached Hulagu Khan, and the
padishah did not exhibit any anger but asked after his health kindly and
pleasantly. After that he said to the caliph, "Tell the people of the city to
throw down their weapons and come out so that we may make a count." The caliph
sent word into the city for it to be heralded that the people should throw down
their weapons and come out. The people disarmed themselves and came out in
droves, and the Mongols killed them. It was then ordered that the caliph and his
sons and followers should pitch tents at the Kalwadha Gate at Ket Buqa Noyan's
camp. Several Mongols were set over them as guards. The caliph wept over his
imminent doom and regretted having abandoned the battlefield and having rejected
good advice.
In his heart he said, "My enemy has succeeded: I have fallen into a snare like a
clever little bird."
On Wednesday the 7th of Safar [February 13] the pillage and general massacre
began. In one fell swoop the army went into the city and burned everything
except a few houses belonging to Nestorians and some foreigners.
On Friday the 9th of Safar [February 15] Hulagu Khan went into the city to see
the caliph's palace. He settled into the Octagon Palace and gave a banquet for
the commanders. Summoning the caliph, he said, "You are the host, and we are the
guests. Bring whatever you have that is suitable for us." The caliph, thinking
he was speaking seriously, trembled in fear. He was so frenzied that he couldn't
tell the keys to the treasuries one from another and had to have several locks
broken. He brought two thousand suits of clothing, ten thousand dinars, precious
items, jewel-encrusted vessels, and several gems. Hulagu Khan paid no attention
and gave it all away to the commanders and others present.
"The possessions you have on the face of the earth are apparent," he said to the
caliph. "Tell my servants what and where your buried treasures are." The caliph
confessed that there was a pool full of gold in the middle of the palace. They
dug it up, and it was full of gold, all in hundred-mithcal ingots.
An order was given for the caliph's harem to be counted. There were seven
hundred women and concubines and a thousand servants. When the caliph was
apprised of the count of the harem, he begged and pleaded, saying, "Let me have
the women of the harem, upon whom neither the sun nor the moon has ever shone."
"Of these seven hundred, choose a hundred," he was told, "and leave the rest."
The caliph selected a hundred women from among his favorites and close relatives
and took them away.
That night Hulagu Khan went to the ordu. The next morning he ordered Su'unchaq
to go into the city, confiscate the caliph's possessions, and send them out. The
items that had been accumulated over six hundred years were all stacked in
mountainous piles around the kiriyds. Most of the holy places like the caliph's
mosque, the Musa-Jawad shrine, and the tombs in Rusafa were burned.
The people of the city sent Sharafuddin Maragha'i, Shihabuddin Zanjani, and
Malik Dilrast to request amnesty. An order was given, saying, "Henceforth the
killing and pillaging will cease, for the kingdom of Baghdad is ours. Let them
dwell as they were, and let everyone get on with his business. Sheathe your
swords, for they are granted quarter."
Hulagu Khan decamped from Baghdad on Wednesday the 14th of Safar [February 20]
on account of the foul air and camped in the village of Wagaf-u-Jalabiyya. Amir
Abdul-Rahman was dispatched to conquer Khuzistan.
The caliph was summoned. Having been subjected to such bad commands before, he
was extremely afraid and said to the vizier, "What are we to do?"
"Lihyatuna tawila [our beard is too long]," he replied, by which he meant that
at first, when the plan was to send a lot of tribute to ward off the threat, the
Dawatdar had said, "The vizier's beard is too long," and prevented it from
happening. The caliph had listened to him and put the vizier's plan aside.
In short, the caliph despaired of his life and requested permission to go into
the bath to renew his ablutions. Hulagu Khan said he could go in with five
Mongols.
"I don't want the companionship of five myrmidons of hell," he said as he
recited two or three lines of an ode, the first line of which is as follows:
We woke up in the morning in a palace like paradise, but we went to bed without
a palace with which we could not dispense yesterday.
At the end of the day on Wednesday the 14th of Safar 656 [February 20, 1258],
the caliph, his eldest son, and five of his attendants were executed in the
village of Waqaf. The next day the others who had camped with him at the
Kalwadha Gate were also martyred, and no Abbasid who could be found was left
alive, save only a few who did not count and Mubarak Shah, the caliph's youngest
son, who was given to Oljai Khatun, who sent him to Khwaja Nasiruddin in
Maragha. He was married to a Mongol woman who bore him two sons.
On Friday the 16th of Safar [February 22] the caliph's middle son was dispatched
after his father and brother, and the reign of the House of Abbas, which had
mounted the throne after the Umayyads, came to an end. Their caliphate lasted
five hundred twenty-five years, and there were thirty-seven of them, as follows:
(1) Saffah, (2) Mansur, (3) Mahdi, (4) Hadi, (5) Rashid, (6) Amin, (7) Ma'mun,
(8) Mu'tasim, (9) Wathiq, (10) Mutawakkil, (11) Muntasir, (12) Musta'in, (13)
Mu'tazz, (14) Muhtadi, (15) Mu'tamid, (16) Mu'tadid, (17) Muktafi, (18)
Muqtadir, (19) Qahir, (20) Radi, (21) Muttaqi, (22) Mustakfi, (23) Muti`, (24)
Tayi`, (25) Qadir, (26) Qayim, (27) Muqtadi, (28) Mustazhir, (29) Mustarshid,
(30) Rashid, (31) Muqtafi, (32) Mustanjid, (33) Mustadi, (34) Nasir, (35) Zahir,
(36) Mustansir, and (37) Musta'sim, who reigned for seventeen years.
The very day the caliph was martyred, his vizier, Mu'ayyiduddin Ibn Alqami, and
Fakhruddin Damghani were sent into the city as vizier and chief of
administration respectively. Ali Bahadur was made shahna, and head of the corps
of ortags [merchants] and uzes [artisans]. Imaduddin Umar Qazwini was appointed
as Amir Qaraqai's deputy, and he restored the caliph's mosque and the Musa-Jawad
shrine. Najmuddi Abu-Ja'far Ahmad Imran, who was called Malik Rastdil, was
appointed to the districts of East Baghdad, viz. the Khurasa Road, Khalis, and
Bandinjin. Nizamuddin Abdul-Mu'min Bandinjin [was made] chief cadi. Elgai Noyan
and Qara Buqa were ser into Baghdad with three thousand Mongol cavalry to
undertake reconstruction. Everyone buried his dead, the dead animals were
cleared from the roads, and the markets were restored.
On Thursday the 29th of Safar [March 7] the vizier's son Sharafuddin and the
Sahib-Divan came to court to inquire after certain matters and then returned.
On Friday the 23rd [March 1] Hulagu Khan left and camped at Shaykh Makarim Dome.
From there he proceeded stage by stage to his ordus at Khanaqin.
When Baghdad was besieged, several learned Alids had come from Hilla to request
a shahna. Hulagu Khan sent Tukal and Amir Nahli Nakhjiwani there, and on their
heels he dispatched Oljai Khatun's brother Buqa Temiir to test the people of
Hilla, Kufa, and Wasit. The inhabitants of Hilla came out to greet the army,
made bridges over the Euphrates, and rejoiced at the army's arrival. Buqa Temi
saw that they were committed [in their support]. On the 10th of Safar [February
16, 1258] he decamped and set out for Wasit, arriving on the 17th [February 23].
The people did not surrender, so he camped and took the city, massacring and
plundering. Nearly forty thousand people were put to death.
From there he went to Khuzistan, taking Sharafuddin Ibn al-Jawzi with him to get
the city of Shushtar to surrender. Some of the caliph's soldiers and Turks fled
and others were killed. Basra and that area also surrendered. Amir Sayfuddin
Bitigchi pleaded with the court to send a hundred Mongols to Najaf to guard the
shrine of the Commander of the Faithful Ali and the inhabitants there.
On the 12th of Rabi` I [March 19] Buqa Temur arrived at the camp, and on the
19th [March 26] the emissaries from Aleppo who had come to Baghdad were sent
home carrying a letter Khwaja Nasiruddin Tusi had written in Arabic at Hulagu
Khan's order. A copy of that letter follows: "We stopped in Baghdad in the year
656, and an evil morning it was unto those who were warned in vain. We called
upon its lord, but he refused, so he suffered what the text says: We chastised
him with a heavy chastisement. Now we call upon you to obey us. If you come,
well and good; if you refuse, woe betide you. Do not be like one who digs his
own grave or bloodies his own nose lest you be one of those whose works are
vain, whose endeavor in the present life hath been wrongly directed, and who
think they do the work which is right. Neither will this be difficult with God.
And peace be with him who follows the right path."
This translation is from Jumi'u't-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles): A History
of the Mongols, translated by W.M. Thackston (Sources of Oriental Languages and
Literatures 45, 1998-9). We thank Professor Thackston and the Department of Near
Eastern Languages and Civilizations of Harvard University for their permission
to republish this section.
The Mongol's besiege and capture Baghdad in 1258
Prior to his invasion of the Middle East, Hulagu asked the Abbasid caliph, al-Muta'sim,
the thirty-seventh of his dynasty, to recognize Mongol sovereignty as his
predecessors had once accepted the rule of the Seljuk Turks. The prince of the
faithful, overconfident of his own prestige, sent word to the conqueror that any
attack on his capital would mobilize the entire Muslim world, from India to
north west Africa. Not in the least impressed, the grandson of Genghis Khan
announced his intention of taking the city by force. Towards the end of 1257 he
and, it would appear, hundreds of thousands of cavalry began advancing towards
the Abbasid capital. On heir way they destroyed the Assassin?s sanctuary at
Alamut and sacked it?s library of inestimable value, thus making it for
impossible for future generations to gain any in-depth knowledge of the doctrine
and activities of the sect. When the caliph finally realized the extent of the
threat, he decided to negotiate. He proposed that Hulagu?s name be ****ounced at
Friday sermons in the mosques of Baghdad and that he be granted the title
sultan. But it was too late, for by now the Mongol had definitely opted for
force. After a few weeks of courageous resistance, the prince of the faithful
had no choice but to capitulate. On the 10th of February 1258 he went to the
victor?s camp in person and asked if he would promise to spare the lives of all
the citizens if they agreed to lay down there arms. But in vain. As soon as they
were disarmed, the Muslim fighters were exterminated. Then the Mongol horde
fanned out through the prestigious city demolishing buildings, burning
neighbourhoods, and mercilessly massacring men, women, and children- nearly
eighty thousand people in all. Only the Christian community was spared, thanks
to the intercession of the Khan?s wife. The prince of the faithful was himself
strangled to death a few days after his defeat.
Hulaga Khan rides against Baghdad and leads his armies from all directions to
the City of Peace; the city is taken, and the rule of the Abbasid caliphs comes
to an end.
Having set out on the march to Baghdad, Hulagu said, "Let Chormaqan's and Baiju
Noyan's soldiers, whose yurt is in Anatolia, enter Mosul in the right wing from
the direction of Arbela, cross the bridge at Mosul, and camp west of Baghdad so
when our banners arrive from the east they can enter from the direction." To
enter in the right wing under Sonitai Noyan on Hulagu Khan's side were Prince
Balagha, the son of Jochi's son Shiban; Prince Tutar, the son of Jochi's son
[Boqal's son Minqadur]; and Prince Quli, the son of Jochi's son Orda, together
with Buqa Temur and Su'unchaq Noyan. Ket Buqa Noyan, Qudusin, and Elgai were to
enter in the left wing from Luristan, Tikrit (?), Khuzistan, and Bayat as far as
the shore of the gulf. Hulagu stationed his aghruqs at Zaki meadow near Hamadan
and assigned Qiyaq Noyan to head them.
Around the beginning of 655 [November 1257], he and his soldiers set forth in
the center, which the Mongols call the qol, via Kirmanshahan and Hulwan. The
great commanders Kokd Elgai, Uruqtu, and Arghun Aqa, the bitigchis Qaraqai,
Sayfuddin Bitigchi, who was the administrator of the kingdom, Mawlana Khwaja
Nasiruddin Tusi, and Sahib Sa'id Ala'uddin Ata-Malik with all the sultans,
maliks, and atabegs of Iran were at court. When they arrived under favorable
auspices in Asadabad, once again he sent a messenger to summon the caliph, but
the caliph refused. At Dinawar, Ibn al-Jawzi arrived again from Baghdad bearing
a message filled with entreaties for Hulagu to turn back, in exchange for which
the caliph would remit whatever would be agreed upon to the treasury annually.
Hulagu Khan thought the caliph wanted the troops to turn back and thus incite
them to disobedience. "Since we have come all this way," he said, "how can we
turn back without having seen the caliph? After we have had an audience with him
and seen and spoken with him, we will withdraw with his permission."
From there they went to the mountains of the Kurds. On the 27th of the month
[December 6, 1257] he camped in Kirmanshahan, where they massacred and pillaged.
A messenger was dispatched for the princes, Su'unchaq, Baiju Noyan, and Sonitai
to come quickly. They joined the padishah at Ctesiphon. Aybak Halabi and
Sayfuddin Qilich, who were advance scouts in that area, were captured and taken
to court. Hulagu spared Aybak's life, in return for which he undertook to convey
his words verbatim. Hulagu made them liege men to the Mongol yazak and sent them
back well rewarded to cross the Tigris and head for the area west of Baghdad.
They burned sheep shanks as was their custom, turned back, crossed the Tigris,
and headed for Baghdad's western frontier.
The Baghdad advance guard was commanded by a Qipchaq named Qara Sonqor. In the
Mongol yazak was Sultanchuq, a descendant of the Khwarazmians, and he sent a
letter to Qara Sonqor, saying, "You and I are of one race. After running from
pillar to post in despair and poverty, I succeeded in joining His Majesty's
court and surrendering, and he maintains me well. You too have mercy on your own
soul, be kind to your children, and surrender so that your life, family, and
property may be spared by these people."
In reply Qara Sonqor wrote, "How dare the Mongols attack the House of Abbas, for
that family has seen as much good fortune as Genghis Khan's, and their
foundations are too firm to quake with every passing breeze. They have been
ruling for more than five hundred years, and no creature who has attacked them
has been spared by fate. It is far from perspicacious of you to invite me to
join the young sapling of Mongol fortune. If he were in amity and friendship,
when Hulagu Khan finished conquering the Heretics' lands and fortresses, he
should not have gone past Ray but should have returned to Khurasan and
Turkistan. The caliph's feelings have been hurt by his onslaught. This being so,
if Hulagu Khan regrets what he has done and turns back to Hamadan with his
troops, we will have the Dawatdar intercede and plead with the caliph on his
behalf. Perhaps he may overlook the offense and accept a truce so that the gates
of fighting and contention may be closed."
When Sultanchuq reported the contents of the letter to Hulagu Khan, he laughed
and said, "My reliance is on the Creator, not on dirhems and dinars. If God the
eternal befriends me, what do I have to worry from the caliph and his troops?"
To me what are ants, mosquitoes, elephants? What is a spring, a canal, the river
Nile?
If God commands a thing, who other than Him knows what the outcome will be?
Another emissary was sent to say, "If the caliph is in submission, let him come
out. Otherwise, this means war. Let the vizier, Sulaymanshah, and the Dawatdar
come first to hear our words."
Decamping the next day, he stopped by the banks of the river in Hulwan, where he
remained from the 9th of Dhu'l-Hijja 655 until the 22nd [December 18-31, 1257].
During that time Ket Buqa Noyan took much territory in Luristan both by truce
and by force. On the 11th of Chaqshapat Ay of Moghai Yil, corresponding to the
9th of Muharram 656 [January 16, 1258] Baiju Noyan, Buqa Temur, and Su'unchaq
crossed the Tigris at the agreed-upon place on the Dujayl road and arrived in
the vicinity of Nahr Isa. Su'unchaq Noyan begged Baiju for the vanguard to be
west of Baghdad, and, receiving permission, he set off and went to Harbiyya
[northwest of Baghad].
Mujahiduddin Aybak the Dawatdar, who was head of the caliph's army, and Ibn Kurd
had first made camp between Ba'quba and Bajisra. When they heard that the
Mongols were coming to the west and had crossed the Tigris in the vicinity of
Anbar, they did battle with Su'unchaq and Buqa Temur at the gate to Mansur's
kiosk above Midrafa, nine leagues from Baghdad. The Mongol troops fell back and
went to Bashiriyya in the Dujayl district. When Baiju joined them, they turned
back. In that vicinity was a large lake. The Mongols opened the dykes and
flooded the entire plain behind the backs of the Baghdad army. At sunrise on
Thursday morning, the day of Ashura [January 17], Baiju and Buqa Temur attacked
the Dawatdar and Ibn Kurd, defeating them and throwing the Baghdad army into
rout. Fathuddin Ibn Kurd and Qara Sonqor, the leaders of the army, and twelve
thousand Baghdadis were killed - aside from those who were drowned or got stuck
in the mud. The Dawatdar and a few escaped to Baghdad. Others fled to Hilla and
Kufa.
The eve of Saturday the 15th of Muharram [January 22] Buqa Temur, Baiju Noyan,
and Su'unchaq Noyan came to Baghdad and took control of the western side. They
camped in the city quarters alongside the Tigris. Ket Buqa Noyan and the others
arrived from the direction of Nahasiyya and Sarsar with an enormous army.
Hiilagu Khan left his aghruq in Khanaqin and set out, camping on the eastern
side on the 17th of Chaqshapat Ay of Moghai Yil, corresponding to the 15th of
Muharram [January 22].
The Mongol army swarmed in like ants and locusts from all directions, forming a
circle around the ramparts of Baghdad and setting up a wall. On Tuesday the 22nd
[January 29], with Aries in the ascendant, they began to fight. From the
direction of the Khurasan road the Padishah of the World was in the center to
the left of the city, opposite the Ajami Tower; Elgai Noyan and Quya were at the
Kalwadha Gate; Quli, Balagha, Tutar, Shiramiin, and Uruqtu were at the city
gates at the Suq Uthman Gate; Buqa Temur came from the direction of the citadel
toward the qibla in Dolab Baql; Baiju and Su'unchaq came from the west, where
the Azudi Hospital is. They prosecuted the battle in unison, set up catapults
opposite the Ajami Tower, and breached it. The caliph sent out the vizier and
the catholicos, saying, "The Padishah said I should send the vizier out. I have
kept my promise and am sending him. Let the Padishah also keep his word."
Hulagu Khan said, "We made that stipulation at the gates of Hamadan. Now that we
have come to Baghdad and an ocean of tumult and strife has been stirred up, how
can we be content with only one? All three must be sent" (by which he meant that
the Dawatdar and Sulaymanshah would also have to be sent).
Envoys went to the city, and the next day the vizier, the divan chief, and a
group of well-known citizens came out, but they were sent back. Fierce battle
was fought for six days and nights. Hulagu Khan ordered six decrees written,
saying, "The lives of cadis, scholars, shaykhs, Alids, and Nestorian priests,
and persons who do not combat against us are safe from us." The proclamations
were fastened to arrows and shot into the city from six sides. Since there was
no stone in the Baghdad vicinity, they brought rocks from Jalula and Jabal
Khamrin, and date palms were cut down and hurled instead of stones.
On Friday the 25th of Muharram [February 1] the Aiami Tower was destroyed. On
Monday the 27th [February 3] the Mongol soldiers proceeded overwhelmingly
against the ramparts opposite the Ajami Tower in the direction the padishah was.
They emptied the tops of the walls of people, but they still had not gone on the
walls in the direction of Suq Sultan, where Balagha and Tutar were. Hulagu Khan
chastised them. Their liege men went up, and by evening they had secured the
whole of the tops of the eastern walls.
When bridges were being made, Hulagu had ordered bridges built above and below
Baghdad, boats made ready, catapults installed, and guards stationed. Buqa Temur
and a tuman of soldiers were patrolling the routes to Madayin and Basra to
prevent anyone from escaping by boat.
When the battle of Baghdad became intense, and the people were being pressed,
the Dawatdar got in a boat to escape down river. When he passed the village of
al`Ugab, Buqa Temur let loose a barrage of catapult stones, arrows, and vials of
naphtha. Three boats were taken, and the people were killed. The Dawatdar turned
back in rout.
When the caliph was apprised of the situation he despaired totally of his rule
of Baghdad. Seeing no escape route, he said, "I will surrender." He sent
Fakhruddin Damghani and Ibn Durnus out with a few gifts, thinking that if he
sent too much it would indicate how afraid he was and the foe would be further
emboldened. Hulagu Khan paid no attention to the embassy, and they returned in
failure.
On Tuesday the 29th of Muharram [February 5] the caliph's middle son, Abu'l-Fadl
Abdul-Rahman, came out, and the vizier went into the city. The Sahib-Divan and a
group of dignitaries were with Abu'l-Fadl, and they had brought a large tribute,
but it was not accepted either. The next day, the last of Muharram [February 6],
the caliph's oldest son, the vizier, and a group of courtiers came out to
intercede. It was to no avail, and they returned to the city. In their company
Hulagu Khan sent Khwaja Nasiruddin Tusi and Ay Temur on an embassy to the
caliph.
On the first of Safar [February 7] they came out. The padishah sent Fakhruddin
Damghani, who was the Sahib-Divan, Ibn al-Jawzi, and Ibn Durnus into the city to
bring Sulaymanshah and the Dawatdar out. In order to win them over he sent a
decree and a paiza and said, "The caliph can do what he wants. If he wants, let
him come out; if not, let him not come out. But the Mongol troops will remain on
the walls where they are until they come out."
On Thursday the first of Safar they both came out. They were sent back into the
city to get their retainers out to ride on an expedition to Egypt and Syria.
With them, the army of Baghdad decided to come out, as did an innumerable host,
hoping to find safety, but they were divided into units of thousands, hundreds,
and tens and killed to the last. Those who remained in the city fled into nooks
and crannies.
A group of dignitaries came out and asked for amnesty, saying, "Many people are
surrendering. Let them have a respite, for the caliph will send his sons and
will come out himself." During this an arrow hit Hindu Bitigchi, one of the
great commanders, in the eye. Hulagu Khan flew into a rage and ordered all haste
to be made in taking Baghdad. He commanded Khwaja Nasiruddin to take up
residence at the Halaba Gate for the purpose of granting amnesty to the people,
and they began to get them out of the city.
On Friday the 2nd of Safar [February 8] the Dawatdar and his followers were
killed. Sulaymanshah and seven hundred of his relatives were brought in, hands
bound, and questioned.
"Since you are a star-gazer and astrologer and know about good and ill portents
in the heavens, how is it you didn't see your own day of doom and didn't advise
your lord to come before us in peace?" he was asked.
"The caliph was headstrong and ill-starred," he replied. "He did not listen to
the advice of his well-wishers." An order was given for him and all his
followers to be martyred. Amir Hajjuddin, the son of the "Big" Dawatdar, was
also killed. The heads of all three were sent to Mosul by Malik Salih, Badruddin
Lu'lu's son. Badruddin, having been a friend of Sulaymanshah's, wept, but in
fear for his own life he hung the heads on the gibbet.
After that, when the Caliph Musta'sim saw that it was all over, he summoned the
vizier and asked, "What's to be done?"
In reply he quoted this line of poetry: " `They think the matter is simple, but
it is a sword whose edges have been sharpened for meeting.' "
After Basra was destroyed, the caliph and his three sons, Abu'1-Fadl Abdul-Rahman,
Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad, and Abu'l-Managib Mubarak, came out on Sunday the 4th of
Safar 656 [February 10, 1258]. With him were three thousand sayyids, imams,
cadis, grandees and dignitaries of the city. He approached Hulagu Khan, and the
padishah did not exhibit any anger but asked after his health kindly and
pleasantly. After that he said to the caliph, "Tell the people of the city to
throw down their weapons and come out so that we may make a count." The caliph
sent word into the city for it to be heralded that the people should throw down
their weapons and come out. The people disarmed themselves and came out in
droves, and the Mongols killed them. It was then ordered that the caliph and his
sons and followers should pitch tents at the Kalwadha Gate at Ket Buqa Noyan's
camp. Several Mongols were set over them as guards. The caliph wept over his
imminent doom and regretted having abandoned the battlefield and having rejected
good advice.
In his heart he said, "My enemy has succeeded: I have fallen into a snare like a
clever little bird."
On Wednesday the 7th of Safar [February 13] the pillage and general massacre
began. In one fell swoop the army went into the city and burned everything
except a few houses belonging to Nestorians and some foreigners.
On Friday the 9th of Safar [February 15] Hulagu Khan went into the city to see
the caliph's palace. He settled into the Octagon Palace and gave a banquet for
the commanders. Summoning the caliph, he said, "You are the host, and we are the
guests. Bring whatever you have that is suitable for us." The caliph, thinking
he was speaking seriously, trembled in fear. He was so frenzied that he couldn't
tell the keys to the treasuries one from another and had to have several locks
broken. He brought two thousand suits of clothing, ten thousand dinars, precious
items, jewel-encrusted vessels, and several gems. Hulagu Khan paid no attention
and gave it all away to the commanders and others present.
"The possessions you have on the face of the earth are apparent," he said to the
caliph. "Tell my servants what and where your buried treasures are." The caliph
confessed that there was a pool full of gold in the middle of the palace. They
dug it up, and it was full of gold, all in hundred-mithcal ingots.
An order was given for the caliph's harem to be counted. There were seven
hundred women and concubines and a thousand servants. When the caliph was
apprised of the count of the harem, he begged and pleaded, saying, "Let me have
the women of the harem, upon whom neither the sun nor the moon has ever shone."
"Of these seven hundred, choose a hundred," he was told, "and leave the rest."
The caliph selected a hundred women from among his favorites and close relatives
and took them away.
That night Hulagu Khan went to the ordu. The next morning he ordered Su'unchaq
to go into the city, confiscate the caliph's possessions, and send them out. The
items that had been accumulated over six hundred years were all stacked in
mountainous piles around the kiriyds. Most of the holy places like the caliph's
mosque, the Musa-Jawad shrine, and the tombs in Rusafa were burned.
The people of the city sent Sharafuddin Maragha'i, Shihabuddin Zanjani, and
Malik Dilrast to request amnesty. An order was given, saying, "Henceforth the
killing and pillaging will cease, for the kingdom of Baghdad is ours. Let them
dwell as they were, and let everyone get on with his business. Sheathe your
swords, for they are granted quarter."
Hulagu Khan decamped from Baghdad on Wednesday the 14th of Safar [February 20]
on account of the foul air and camped in the village of Wagaf-u-Jalabiyya. Amir
Abdul-Rahman was dispatched to conquer Khuzistan.
The caliph was summoned. Having been subjected to such bad commands before, he
was extremely afraid and said to the vizier, "What are we to do?"
"Lihyatuna tawila [our beard is too long]," he replied, by which he meant that
at first, when the plan was to send a lot of tribute to ward off the threat, the
Dawatdar had said, "The vizier's beard is too long," and prevented it from
happening. The caliph had listened to him and put the vizier's plan aside.
In short, the caliph despaired of his life and requested permission to go into
the bath to renew his ablutions. Hulagu Khan said he could go in with five
Mongols.
"I don't want the companionship of five myrmidons of hell," he said as he
recited two or three lines of an ode, the first line of which is as follows:
We woke up in the morning in a palace like paradise, but we went to bed without
a palace with which we could not dispense yesterday.
At the end of the day on Wednesday the 14th of Safar 656 [February 20, 1258],
the caliph, his eldest son, and five of his attendants were executed in the
village of Waqaf. The next day the others who had camped with him at the
Kalwadha Gate were also martyred, and no Abbasid who could be found was left
alive, save only a few who did not count and Mubarak Shah, the caliph's youngest
son, who was given to Oljai Khatun, who sent him to Khwaja Nasiruddin in
Maragha. He was married to a Mongol woman who bore him two sons.
On Friday the 16th of Safar [February 22] the caliph's middle son was dispatched
after his father and brother, and the reign of the House of Abbas, which had
mounted the throne after the Umayyads, came to an end. Their caliphate lasted
five hundred twenty-five years, and there were thirty-seven of them, as follows:
(1) Saffah, (2) Mansur, (3) Mahdi, (4) Hadi, (5) Rashid, (6) Amin, (7) Ma'mun,
(8) Mu'tasim, (9) Wathiq, (10) Mutawakkil, (11) Muntasir, (12) Musta'in, (13)
Mu'tazz, (14) Muhtadi, (15) Mu'tamid, (16) Mu'tadid, (17) Muktafi, (18)
Muqtadir, (19) Qahir, (20) Radi, (21) Muttaqi, (22) Mustakfi, (23) Muti`, (24)
Tayi`, (25) Qadir, (26) Qayim, (27) Muqtadi, (28) Mustazhir, (29) Mustarshid,
(30) Rashid, (31) Muqtafi, (32) Mustanjid, (33) Mustadi, (34) Nasir, (35) Zahir,
(36) Mustansir, and (37) Musta'sim, who reigned for seventeen years.
The very day the caliph was martyred, his vizier, Mu'ayyiduddin Ibn Alqami, and
Fakhruddin Damghani were sent into the city as vizier and chief of
administration respectively. Ali Bahadur was made shahna, and head of the corps
of ortags [merchants] and uzes [artisans]. Imaduddin Umar Qazwini was appointed
as Amir Qaraqai's deputy, and he restored the caliph's mosque and the Musa-Jawad
shrine. Najmuddi Abu-Ja'far Ahmad Imran, who was called Malik Rastdil, was
appointed to the districts of East Baghdad, viz. the Khurasa Road, Khalis, and
Bandinjin. Nizamuddin Abdul-Mu'min Bandinjin [was made] chief cadi. Elgai Noyan
and Qara Buqa were ser into Baghdad with three thousand Mongol cavalry to
undertake reconstruction. Everyone buried his dead, the dead animals were
cleared from the roads, and the markets were restored.
On Thursday the 29th of Safar [March 7] the vizier's son Sharafuddin and the
Sahib-Divan came to court to inquire after certain matters and then returned.
On Friday the 23rd [March 1] Hulagu Khan left and camped at Shaykh Makarim Dome.
From there he proceeded stage by stage to his ordus at Khanaqin.
When Baghdad was besieged, several learned Alids had come from Hilla to request
a shahna. Hulagu Khan sent Tukal and Amir Nahli Nakhjiwani there, and on their
heels he dispatched Oljai Khatun's brother Buqa Temiir to test the people of
Hilla, Kufa, and Wasit. The inhabitants of Hilla came out to greet the army,
made bridges over the Euphrates, and rejoiced at the army's arrival. Buqa Temi
saw that they were committed [in their support]. On the 10th of Safar [February
16, 1258] he decamped and set out for Wasit, arriving on the 17th [February 23].
The people did not surrender, so he camped and took the city, massacring and
plundering. Nearly forty thousand people were put to death.
From there he went to Khuzistan, taking Sharafuddin Ibn al-Jawzi with him to get
the city of Shushtar to surrender. Some of the caliph's soldiers and Turks fled
and others were killed. Basra and that area also surrendered. Amir Sayfuddin
Bitigchi pleaded with the court to send a hundred Mongols to Najaf to guard the
shrine of the Commander of the Faithful Ali and the inhabitants there.
On the 12th of Rabi` I [March 19] Buqa Temur arrived at the camp, and on the
19th [March 26] the emissaries from Aleppo who had come to Baghdad were sent
home carrying a letter Khwaja Nasiruddin Tusi had written in Arabic at Hulagu
Khan's order. A copy of that letter follows: "We stopped in Baghdad in the year
656, and an evil morning it was unto those who were warned in vain. We called
upon its lord, but he refused, so he suffered what the text says: We chastised
him with a heavy chastisement. Now we call upon you to obey us. If you come,
well and good; if you refuse, woe betide you. Do not be like one who digs his
own grave or bloodies his own nose lest you be one of those whose works are
vain, whose endeavor in the present life hath been wrongly directed, and who
think they do the work which is right. Neither will this be difficult with God.
And peace be with him who follows the right path."
This translation is from Jumi'u't-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles): A History
of the Mongols, translated by W.M. Thackston (Sources of Oriental Languages and
Literatures 45, 1998-9). We thank Professor Thackston and the Department of Near
Eastern Languages and Civilizations of Harvard University for their permission
to republish this section.