Hamidiye

Hamidiye is a Kurdish tribe recorded in medieval Islamic geography and history sources as living in the Cezîre region, especially in the Musul area.

Geographers' Records

The tribe is among the communities mentioned by early geographers when listing Kurdish tribes living in Musul and its surroundings. According to the information provided by İbn Havkal, Hamidiye, Lariye, Mehraniye, and similar Kurdish tribes live in these regions (Vol. 2, p. 29).

Power and Influence

Ebü'l-Fidâ records that Hamidiye is one of the tribes living in this region, by mentioning a castle near Musul known as "Hamidiye's nest" (Vol. 2, p. 64). El-Umerî states that members of this tribe stood out with their courage and political genius and were appointed to high positions in the Abbâsî Devleti (Vol. 2, p. 112). As a comparison indicating the tribe's power, El-Umerî says that the Buhtîyye tribes were equivalent to the Hamidiye tribes in terms of influence and strength (Vol. 2, p. 112). In the Musul area, the place name "Ukr el-Hamidiye," bearing the tribe's name, is also recorded; Ukr, in Turkish, means original settlement (Vol. 2, p. 112).

Castles and Political Ties

İbnü'l-Esîr discusses this tribe during both the Zengî and Eyyûbî periods, explaining that they had castles and fortresses near Musul (Vol. 2, p. 112).

Hamidiye is also associated with the political formations of the Kurds in Cezîre. İbn Şeddad states that Mîr Bad, the founder of the Dustekî-Mervanî Devleti, was from the Hamidiye Kurds (Vol. 2, p. 52). The tribe's presence in the region was also affected by the power struggles of the period; sources describe how the Zengîs gained control of the castles of Hamidiye, Beşneviyye, and some other Kurdish tribes within the framework of the events of the year 1133 (Vol. 2, p. 113).