The Shaddadids were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin. who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951 to 1199 AD. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni royal family of Armenia.
They began ruling in the city of Dvin, and eventually ruled other major cities, such as Barda and Ganja. A cadet line of the Shaddadids were given the cities of Ani and Tbilisi as a reward for their service to the Seljuqs, to whom they became vassals. From 1047 to 1057, the Shaddadids were engaged in several wars against the Byzantine army. The area between the rivers Kura and Aras was ruled by a Shaddadid dynasty.
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Origins
The Shaddadids were of Kurdish origin, hailing from the Hadhabani Tribe. The historian Andrew Peacock notes that the Shaddadids "aspired to a more illustrious origin than that of Kurdish tribesmen". Some members of the Shaddadid family, such as Manuchihr, Anushirvan, Gudarz and Ardashir, were named after the Sasanian shahanshahs of pre-Islamic Iran (224-651 AD), and the dynasty claimed descent from the Sasanians as well. The notion of claiming links with the pre-Islamic Iranian past as they "sought to legitimize themselves as heirs to pre-Islamic Iranian traditions" was a feature which the Shaddadids shared with numerous other contemporaneous dynasties. In addition to Iranian influences, there were strong Armenian influences among the Shaddadid ruling house, which is attested in members of the family bearing Armenian names such as Ashot.
History
Shaddadids of Dvin and Ganja
In 951, Muhammad established himself at Dvin. Unable to hold Dvin against Musafirid incursion, he fled to the Armenian Kingdom of Vaspurakan. His son, Lashkari I, ended Musafirid influence in Arran by taking Ganja in 971. He later expanded into Transcaucasia as far north as Shamkir and as far east as Barda (present-day Azerbaijan). The reign of his brother, Marzuban, also lasted only a few years.
Muhammad's third son, Fadl I, expanded his territory during his lengthy reign. He took Dvin from Armenian Bagratids in 1022, and his campaigns against them met with varying degrees of success. He also raided the Khazars in 1030, while holding parts of Arran (present-day Azerbaijan). Later that year, while returning from a successful campaign in Georgia, his army encountered Georgian and Armenian forces and was decisively defeated. Following Fadl I's defeat, the entire region became chaotic, with the Byzantine Empire pressuring Armenian princes and the Seljuk Turks gaining influence over Arran after a resurgent attack by the Seljuks on Dvin.
Abu'l-Fath Musa succeeded Fadl I in 1031, and reigned until his murder by his son and successor Lashkari II in 1034. The poet Qatran Tabrizi praised Lashkari II for his victory over Armenian and Georgian princes during his stay in Ganja. Lashkari II ruled Arran for fifteen years in what is described by the Ottoman historian Münejjim Bashi as a troubled reign. When he died in 1049, Anushirvan succeeded him, but he was still underage, and real power lay with the chamberlain (hajib) Abu Mansur, who served as regent.
The new regime was quickly opposed by a large faction among the populace. Münejjim Bashi, summarizing a now lost local chronicle, reports that this was because Abu Mansur immediately agreed to surrender several frontier fortresses to the Kakhetians, the Georgians and Byzantines, in order "to restrain their greed for Arran". This decision provoked the leading men to revolt under the leadership of al-Haytham, chief of the tanners in Shamkor. According to Vladimir Minorsky, this movement represented an uprising of the town notables against the senior bureaucratic caste. Abu Mansur, then residing at Shamkor, attempted to arrest al-Haytham, but al-Haytham and his ghilman (servants) "drew their daggers" and declared for Anushirvan's great-uncle Abu'l-Aswar Shavur, ruler of Dvin.
Abu'l-Aswar occupied Shamkor, settled the troubled situation there, and went on to take up his residence in the capital, Ganja. He arrested Anushirvan, whose reign ended abruptly after two months, as well as Abu Mansur and his relations. Abu'l-Aswar's long reign (c.1049–67) would prove to be the zenith of the Shaddadids. He was the last independent ruling Shaddadid emir, when Tughril I arrived at Ganja and demanded his vassalage.
Shaddadids of Ani
In 1072, the Seljuks sold Ani to the Shaddadid emir of Manuchihr. Manuchihr repaired and enlarged the walls of Ani. The Shaddadids generally pursued a conciliatory policy towards the city's overwhelmingly Armenian and Christian population and actually married several members of the Bagratid nobility.
A son and successor of Manuchihr, Abu'l-Aswar was accused by the contemporary Armenian historian Vardan Areveltsi of persecuting Christians and attempting to sell Ani to the emir of Kars. His rule was terminated by the resurgent King David IV of Georgia, whom Ani surrendered without a fight in 1124. Abu'l-Aswar Shavur ended his days as a captive of the Georgians, while Ani was given by David IV to his general, Abuleti. Abu'l-Aswar Shavur's son Fadl IV would be able to resume the Shaddadid reign in Ani in 1125.
In 1130 Georgia was attacked by the Sultan of Ahlat, Shah-Armen Sökmen II (c.1128-1183). This war was started by the passage of Ani into the hands of the Georgians; Demetrius I had to compromise and give up Ani to Fadl IV on terms of vassalage and inviolability of the Christian churches. Fadl extended his rule to Dvin and Ganja, but failed to maintain these cities. He was murdered by his courtiers following the fall of Dvin to the Turkish emir Qurti c. 1030. His brothers, Mahmud and Khushchikr, ruled briefly in quick succession until the emirate was taken over by Fadl's nephew, Fakr al-Din Shaddad.
In 1139, Demetrius raided the city of Ganja in Arran. He brought the iron gate of the defeated city to Georgia and donated it to Gelati Monastery at Kutaisi. Despite this brilliant victory, Demetrius could hold Ganja only for a few years. In reply to this, the sultan of Eldiguzids attacked Ganja several times, and in 1143 the town again fell to the sultan who appointed his own emir to rule it.
Fakr al-Din Shaddad asked for Saltuk II's daughter's hand, however Saltuk refused him. This caused a deep hatred in Shaddad towards Saltuk. In 1154 he planned a plot and formed a secret alliance with the Demetrius I. While a Georgian army waited in ambush, he offered tribute to Saltukids, ruler of Erzerum and asked the latter to accept him as a vassal. In 1153-1154 Emir Saltuk II marched on Ani, but Shaddad informed his suzerain, the King of Georgia, of this. Demetrius marched to Ani, defeated and captured the emir. At the request of neighbouring Muslim rulers and released him for a ransom of 100,000 dinars, paid by Saltuk's sons in law and Saltuk swore not to fight against the Georgians he returned home.
Shaddadid rulers
Emirs in Dvin and Ganja
Muhammad (951–54)
Lashkari I (971–78)
Marzuban (978–85)
Fadl I (985–1031)
Abu'l-Fath Musa (1031–34)
Lashkari II (1034–49)
Anushirvan (1049)
Abu'l-Aswar Shavur I (1049–67)
Fadl II (1067–73)
Ashot (1068–69)
Fadl III (1073–75)
Emirs in Ani
Manuchihr (1072–1118)
Abu'l-Aswar Shavur II (1118–24)
Fadl IV (1125–?)
Mahmud (?–1131)
Khushchikr (1131–?)
Fakr al-Din Shaddad (?–1155)
Fadl V (1155–61)
Shahanshah (1164–74)
Sultan ibn Mahmud (?–ca. 1198/9)