5 - The Notables and Frontiers of Aleppo

Summary

The qadi promised to meet with Zangi about the matter. He went to see him in the citadel and found him mounting his horse near the gate. The qadi said to him: ‘My lord, the Khatun [Zangi's wife] came to me and complained about her situation.’ Zangi did not reply, and was about to leave on the horse. My father held the mount's bridle, preventing it from moving and said: ‘My lord, this is the purified Shariʿa, and one cannot ignore it.’ Then Zangi said: ‘be my witness that she is divorced’. My father then let the bridle free and said: ‘now the matter is settled’.

According to Ibn al-ʿAdim, this was how the author's grandfather, the qadi Abu al-Fadl, induced Zangi into divorcing his estranged wife in 524/1130. Although Ibn al-ʿAdim's account of this episode should be read with a healthy degree of scepticism due to the central role played by the author's grandfather, it is representative of how, under certain circumstances, Syrian urban elites could exert power over Turkish military potentates. Indeed, support from the inhabitants of Aleppo, particularly the landowning ‘notables’ (al-aʿyan), was vital prerequisite for any prospective ruler of the city.

This chapter discusses the ways in which urban notables were able to influence political developments in bilad al-sham throughout 442–522/1050–1128. The first part discusses the factors that led to the empowerment of Aleppan and Damascene elites, before focusing on how this power manifested itself, particularly at times of crisis or when choosing new rulers. The second part defines the physical frontiers of bilad halab (the country or region of Aleppo) throughout this time frame, before revisiting Baldwin II's siege of Aleppo in the winter of 518/1124–5 and what this failed venture can reveal about perceptions of the Frankish Crusaders by northern Syria's established urban elite.

The Empowerment of Syrian Notables

It is important to distinguish between ‘the people of Aleppo’ (ahl halab), usually taken to mean the general population, and the notables (al-aʿyan), which typically refers to individuals from prominent landowning families who held leadership positions within local civic governance structures.