Moğollar

The Mongols were a power that deeply shook the Kurdish geography, its cities, and its political order with their invasions directed towards the Near East in the 13th century. The effects of the invasion were reflected both in the historiography of the period and in the fate of Kurdish communities in the Cezîre, Şam, and İran regions.

Bağdat and Northern Syria

The most symbolic turning point of the Mongol advance was the fall of Bağdat to the Mongols in 656/1258 and the destruction of the Abbâsî caliphate by the Mongols in the same year (Vol. 2, p. 27; Vol. 2, p. 76). This event directly affected the lives of many scholars of the period; Kazvinî served as a qadi in Vasıt and Hille during the reign of the last Abbâsî caliph el-Mu'tasım Billah and remained in this position until Bağdat fell to the Mongols in 656/1258 (Vol. 2, p. 27).

The invasion quickly extended to Northern Syria and Cezîre. In 657/1259, Meyyâfârikîn (Silvan) was besieged by the Mongols; İzzeddin İbn Şeddâd was tasked with conducting peace negotiations with the Mongols at this time, but upon the failure of the negotiations and the Mongol occupation of Northern Syria, he fled to Mısır in 659/1261 (Vol. 1, p. 185; Vol. 2, p. 31). In 658/1260, when the Mongols arrived in Halep, the Eyyûbî ruler Melik Nâsır had to go to Kahire with İbnü'l-'Adîm (Vol. 1, p. 135). During the same period, the Mongols also besieged Dımaşk; Ebû Şâme's supplement to er-Ravzateyn provides original and detailed information about the Mongol siege of Dımaşk in 658/1260 (Vol. 1, p. 179).

Kurdish Resistance

Mongol pressure accelerated the dissolution of the Eyyûbî order; due to disagreements among dynasty members, a part of the region had to submit to the Mongols and İbn Şeddâd stated that some regions were under Mongol rule at the time he wrote his work (Vol. 2, p. 65). In contrast, the Kurds played an important role in the struggle against the Mongol army in Cezîre; one of the cities that paid a heavy price for this resistance was again Meyyâfârikîn (Vol. 2, p. 63). The war against the Mongols also left its mark on the lives of the next generation: Ebü'l-Fidâ achieved significant successes in wars against the Haçlılar and the Mongols (Vol. 1, p. 189), while Yûnînî fought against the Mongols in Humus in 680/1281 in the army commanded by the Memlük ruler Kalavun (Vol. 1, p. 188). The arrival of Ebü'l-Fidâ's family in Hama is also associated with the Mongol invasion (Vol. 2, p. 35).

Destruction and Migration

One of the most lasting consequences of the invasion is the destruction of Kurdish-inhabited areas and the resulting large wave of migration. Umerî provides valuable information about these communities migrating to Şam, Yemen, and Mısır after the Mongols invaded Kurdish-inhabited areas (Vol. 2, p. 39). The Şehrezor region was home to various Kurdish tribes before it was destroyed by the Mongols; when the Mongols captured Bağdat, warrior groups like Luse and Babiriyye migrated to Mısır with their families (Vol. 2, p. 40). As successive Mongol raids in the eastern regions disrupted order, the Kurdish migration towards Şam was not limited to the Eyyûbî family but turned into a broader population movement (Vol. 2, p. 74). Mongol destruction devastated not only Kurdish settlements but also Horasan cities like Merv and Belh (Vol. 2, p. 68). A striking detail regarding the invasion's reflection on daily life is also seen in Umerî: A leader named Eseduddin hid the valuable lapis lazuli (lapis lazuli) mine he found so that the Mongols would not hear about it and seize it from him (Vol. 2, p. 41).

In the long history of Kurdish dynasties, the Mongols are remembered as one of the decisive actors; Şerefhan Bidlisî, while narrating the dramatic events experienced by the Hasneveyh dynasty, also discussed this dynasty's relations with the Selçuklular, as well as the Mongols and Osmanlılar (Vol. 2, p. 58). The Mongols also left their mark on the military history of the period: Tarsûsî's work titled Tabsıratu Erbâbi'l-Elbâb refutes the claim that the Mongols brought the large Chinese-style composite bow to İran in the 13th century and that Muslims adopted this bow from the Mongols; according to the work, on the contrary, the Mongols adopted this bow from the Muslims (Vol. 1, p. 155).