d. 1098 · Seljuk governor of Antioch
Yaghi-Siyan
Seljuk governor of Antioch; he defended the city against the crusader siege for about seven months in 1097–1098 and was killed while fleeing when the city fell through betrayal.
BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER
Life and historical role
Life and political setting
Yaghi-Siyan had been appointed governor of Antioch around 1087 by the Great Seljuk sultan Malikshah. After Malikshah's death he kept control of the city by switching sides between the rival Seljuk princes of Aleppo and Damascus.
Role in the Crusades
In October 1097 the crusader army besieged Antioch. Yaghi-Siyan expelled part of the city's Christian population and asked Damascus, Aleppo and Mosul for help; relief attempts by Duqaq and Ridwan ended in defeat. On the night of 3 June 1098, through an agreement between Bohemond and a commander named Firuz who guarded one of the wall towers, the crusaders entered the city. Yaghi-Siyan fled but, falling on the road, was killed by Armenian peasants, and his head was brought to the crusaders.
Historical significance and source problems
Yaghi-Siyan's son Shams al-Dawla kept resisting in the citadel and handed it over to Kerbogha as his army approached. The siege is described in detail by the Gesta Francorum, Raymond of Aguilers and Ibn al-Athir; accounts of Yaghi-Siyan's death differ slightly.
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.