d. 1113 · Atabeg of Mosul (1108–1113)
Mawdud ibn Altuntash
Atabeg ruling Mosul for the Great Seljuk sultan Muhammad Tapar; between 1110 and 1113 he led campaigns against the County of Edessa and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and was assassinated in Damascus in 1113.
BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER
Life and historical role
Life and political setting
Mawdud was one of Sultan Muhammad Tapar's trusted emirs and was appointed to govern Mosul in 1108. The sultan wanted to unite the emirs of the Jazira and Syria against the Franks under Mawdud's leadership.
Role in the Crusades
In 1110 he besieged Edessa; he withdrew when King Baldwin I of Jerusalem arrived, but inflicted heavy losses on the Frankish army as it crossed the Euphrates. In 1111 he faced the Franks near Shaizar; the reluctance of the Syrian emirs prevented a decisive result. In 1113, with Toghtekin of Damascus, he defeated the army of Jerusalem near Tiberias. In October 1113 he was killed by an assassin in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus.
Historical significance and source problems
Mawdud's campaigns are among the first serious attempts to form a common Muslim front against the Franks. Who was behind the assassination is uncertain; some sources point to the Nizaris, others to Toghtekin. Ibn al-Qalanisi and Ibn al-Athir are the main sources.
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.