d. 1122 · Artuqid emir, lord of Mardin and Aleppo
Ilghazi
Artuqid emir; in 1119, at the Battle of the Field of Blood near Sarmada, he destroyed the army of Antioch, causing the death of the regent Roger of Salerno.
BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER
Life and historical role
Life and political setting
The son of Artuq Bey, Ilghazi ruled Jerusalem with his brother Sökmen until 1098; after the city was taken by the Fatimids he withdrew to the Jazira. He built a power base at Mardin and took over the government of Aleppo in 1118.
Role in the Crusades
In summer 1119, with Turkmen forces and the support of Toghtekin of Damascus, he invaded Antiochene territory. In the battle near Sarmada on 28 June 1119 the army of Antioch was almost entirely destroyed and Roger of Salerno killed; Latin sources call it Ager Sanguinis, the Field of Blood. But Ilghazi did not use his victory to take the city of Antioch; the arrival of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem that year saved it.
Historical significance and source problems
The Field of Blood was celebrated in the Muslim world as one of the first great successes against the Franks. Ilghazi suffered a heavy defeat at Didgori in Georgia in 1121 and died in 1122. Walter the Chancellor and Kamal al-Din ibn al-Adim describe the events from the two sides.
Biographical information is linked to the sources shown on the page and to the connected event records. Disputed dates are given as approximate, gaps are not filled by conjecture, and later literary or visual depictions are not treated as contemporary portraits.