Kurdish History Journal
Shah Husayn (r. 1417-1424), the last major Kurdish Hazaraspid Atabeg of Lorestan, governed the final years of a three-century dynasty before Timurid ruler Shahrukh ended Kurdish rule in 1424.
Read article →Muzaffar al-Din Afrasiab II (r. 1340-1355), Kurdish Hazaraspid Atabeg of Lorestan, defended his dynasty's mountain capital Idaj against Muzaffarid attack and maintained Kurdish rule.
Read article →Yusuf Shah II (Rukn al-Din), Kurdish Hazaraspid Atabeg 1330-1340, expanded the dynasty by annexing Shushtar, Hoveizeh and Basra, extending Kurdish rule deep into Khuzestan and Iraq.
Read article →Shams al-Din Alp Arghun (r. 1259-1274), Kurdish Hazaraspid Atabeg of Lorestan, rebuilt his principality after Mongol devastation and navigated Ilkhanid suzerainty with skill.
Read article →Nusrat al-Din (r. 1252-1257), Kurdish Hazaraspid Atabeg of Lorestan, held the southern Zagros principality through one of the most dangerous periods of Mongol expansion in the Islamic world.
Read article →The evidence for a briefly recorded Hazaraspid ruler, uncertain mid-thirteenth-century dates, and the Zagros principality centred on Izeh.
Read article →Malik Hazarasp (r. 1204-1248), Kurdish Hazaraspid Atabeg of Lorestan, allied with the Khwarazmian Shah against the Mongols and gave his name to a dynasty that lasted three centuries.
Read article →Abu Tahir established the early Hazaraspid principality in Greater Luristan during the twelfth century. Its dates, family origins and use of the title atabeg need careful explanation.
Read article →Al-Nasir Dawud ruled Damascus in 1227–1229 before making Karak his base. His career joined Ayyubid family rivalries, the capture of Jerusalem in 1239, learned patronage and the eventual loss of his principality.
Read article →Al-Mansur Ibrahim, Ayyubid ruler of Homs 1240-1246, grandson of the great Kurdish commander Shirkuh, maintained the Shirkuh line of Kurdish Ayyubid rule in central Syria.
Read article →Al-Muzaffar Ghazi, son of Al-Adil I, was a Kurdish Ayyubid ruler of Mayyafariqin in the Jazira who defended the northeastern frontier of the Kurdish Empire.
Read article →Al-Awhad Ayyub, son of Al-Adil I, was a Kurdish Ayyubid ruler who controlled Khilat and Mayyafariqin in the Jazira, campaigning alongside his brother Al-Ashraf Musa.
Read article →Tughtakin ibn Ayyub, brother of Saladin, founded the Ayyubid dynasty of Yemen in 1174 on behalf of his brother, extending Kurdish imperial power to the Arabian Peninsula.
Read article →Al-Muzaffar I Umar (Taqi ad-Din Umar), Kurdish Ayyubid nephew of Saladin and first Emir of Hama (1178-1191), was one of the most formidable commanders of the Kurdish Empire.
Read article →Saladin’s nephew governed Damascus, held Baalbek and fought on the Syrian frontier. His career becomes clearer when the separate battles of 1179, the family’s political structure and the Damascus funerary monuments are read together.
Read article →Sitt al-Sham (died 1220), Kurdish Ayyubid princess, sister of Saladin, founded the al-Shamiyah al-Kubra Madrasa in Damascus and was a key figure in the Kurdish imperial court.
Read article →Al-Muzaffar I Umar, son of Saladin's brother Shahanshah, was the first Ayyubid ruler of Hama (1178-1191), founding a Kurdish branch that endured over 150 years and produced scholar-kings.
Read article →Nasir al-Din Muhammad, son of Shirkuh and cousin of Saladin, governed Homs and married Sitt al-Sham. Written accounts, funerary inscriptions and archaeology distinguish his career from the much longer rule of his son.
Read article →Farrukh Shah, nephew of Saladin and son of Shahanshah ibn Ayyub, was a Kurdish Ayyubid commander who defended the Damascus frontier and Baalbek against Crusader incursions.
Read article →Sitt al-Sham, daughter of Najm ad-Din Ayyub and sister of Saladin, was a Kurdish Ayyubid princess known for charitable works and political influence at the heart of the empire.
Read article →Dayfa Khatun governed Aleppo for her young grandson from 1236 to 1242. Her family correspondence, council and building inscriptions reveal how an Ayyubid princess exercised authority through diplomacy, military alliances and religious patronage.
Read article →Al-Muazzam Turanshah, Kurdish Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt 1249-1250, won the Seventh Crusade at Fariskur then was assassinated by Mamluk Baybars, ending the Kurdish Empire in Egypt.
Read article →Al-Ashraf Musa was an Ayyubid child placed on Egypt’s throne alongside Aybak after the upheavals of 1250. His nominal sultanate reveals the importance of dynastic legitimacy during the rise of Mamluk rule.
Read article →Al-Nasir Yusuf ruled Aleppo from 1236 and Damascus from 1250 until the Mongol conquest in 1260. His career included a childhood regency, conflict and treaties with Egypt’s Mamluks, and a court whose material culture survives.
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