Fakhr al-Mulk Ridwan
Ridwan was born to the Seljuk prince Tutush, who had established a principality in Syria after his brother, Sultan Malik-Shah I granted him the region and its adjacent areas as an appanage.
Bohemond's successor, Tancred, regent of Antioch, also warred against Ridwan, but the two later allied in a conflict against the emir of Mosul, Jawali Saqawa, supported by Baldwin II of Edessa and Joscelin I, the Lord of Turbessel.
Ridwan had two of his brothers strangled to death, and had alleged ties to the assassination of several of his rivals, including the atabeg Janah ad-Dawla al-Husain.
The administrative sovereignty of the atabeg Lu'lu' al-Yaya, and the effective elimination of the Assassins in Aleppo, characterized the reign of his successor, Alp Arslan al-Akhras.
[8] Tutush conquered Southern Syria and Palestine, capturing Jerusalem, Damascus, Acre, Tyre, Tripoli, Jaffa, and Arish, as well as the region of Galilee, previously held by Atsiz, and founded the Syrian Seljuk State.
[12] One of Malik-Shah's wives, Terken Khatun,[16] who was trying to install her four-year-old son Mahmud to the throne, then tried to reach out to Tutush but died suddenly in 1094.
[15][17] By 1094, Tutush, accompanied by his son, Shams al-Muluk Duqaq,[18] had invaded the Jazira and western Iran, seizing the city of Ray.
[15][19] Ridwan learned of his father's death while he was camping in Anah and returned immediately to Aleppo and took over the Syrian Seljuk throne.
[10][18][21][22] In 1096, Ridwan wished to expand his domain and besieged Suruç, which was ruled at the time by his cousin, Soqman ibn Ortoq.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders marched on Antioch, and the city's governor, Yaghi-Siyan, who was disloyal to Ridwan and had openly intrigued with his rivals—his brother Duqaq and Kerbogha, the Turcoman Atabeg of Mosul—asked for help from the Muslim leaders, including the Seljuk Sultan Berkyaruq.
Ridwan was not keen to help and sent only a small unit to the aid of the Muslim coalition led by Kerbogha, the Turcoman emir of Mosul.
[21] Despite this, on 1 May 1103, Janah ad-Dawla was stabbed to death in Homs by three Persian Assassins dressed as Sufis, acting on a signal from a sheikh who accompanied them.
Janah ad-Dawla's officers and the assassins were killed during the ensuing chaos, and most of Homs' Turkish population fled to Damascus, while the city itself was annexed into Duqaq's domain.
Prior to this incident, Ridwan gave freedom to the Assassins to practice and propagate their religion, letting them establish a "house of propaganda" in Aleppo and using the city as a base for future activities.
[12][24][26][27] In general, Ridwan tried to banish the Crusaders with gold, despite being characterised as a "rapacious miser" among the Shia and Sunni Muslims in his domain.
The regent of Antioch, Tancred, who forcibly collected money from the rural locals, made peace with Ridwan, in return receiving 7000 gold dinars and 10,000 cattle and sheep.
[29] In 1105, Ridwan left Aleppo to aid the qadi of Tripoli, Fakhr al-Mulk ibn Ammar, against the Crusaders, but when he learned Tancred had besieged Artah, he turned back to relieve the town.
Later, the pro-Fatimid emir of Apamea, Khalaf ibn Mula'ib, was assassinated and Ridwan added the town to his domain, though he lost it to Tancred in 1106.
Ridwan's 600-strong cavalry and Tancred's army of 1,500 knights and foot-soldiers engaged Chavli, Baldwin, and Joscelin's force of two thousand men in Turbessel in September 1108, defeating them in a battle in which both sides suffered heavy casualties.
Ridwan gave Tancred 20,000 dinars, and 10,000 horses, as well as two fortresses in the vicinity of Aleppo, and freed the captives he had taken during his raids, in exchange for peace.
Ridwan did not have enough resources to deal with Tancred by himself, so Ibn al-Khashshab proposed to send a delegation of Shia and Sunni notables, merchants and clerics to the Seljuk sultan Muhammad I in Baghdad.
His attempt to confiscate the goods of a merchant named Abu Harb Isa from Khorasan, in cooperation with the Isma'ilis, greatly damaged his reputation.
When the atabeg Toghtekin came to lead the Muslim armies against Sidon or Tripoli, he passed by Damascus, where Ridwan tried to assassinate him, but dropped this plan when he learned Tancred was preparing to invade Azaz, and asked Toghtegin for help.
Alp Arslan was killed in 1114 on his own atabeg's initiative, and anarchy ensued, while Ridwan's slaves and Aleppo's nobility each tried to impose their authority among the townsmen.
