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30 A HISTORY OF SHARVAN AND DARBAND
and garrisoned it with his men. After this he returned to his capital and
died there in Ramadan 38i/November 991, after a reign of eleven years
eight months and twenty-one days.
§14. After him the government passed to his brother YAZID b.
AHMAD. Amir Maymun recaptured the town of al-Bab and destroyed
its middle (al-wastam) wall, only one year and five months after it was
built. In 382/992 there was a violent war between the Sharvanians and
the Shakarfi in the rustaq of Qabala in which Musaddid b, Habashi,
vazir of the lord of Sharvan, was killed and with him perished 400 horsemen
belonging to the nobles of the Sharvanian army. In 388/998
Yazid b. Ahmad entrusted all the affairs of his state to ) Z.rqiya (or Rizqiya?).
The issue went against the Sharvanians, Lashkari advanced
on Shabaran but the Sharvanians fought him at its gate and those of
al-Bab suffered an ignominious defeat. Lashkari's brother Abu-Nasr b.
Maymun was captured. The lord of Sharvan imprisoned him and, after
the peace, he remained his hostage. After the death of Lashkari in 39i/
1001, the people of al-Bab requested Yazid to surrender Abu-Nasr,
but he declined to do so saying: "I want to marry him to my daughter
and I shall do to him this and that, on the agreement between you and
me that I shall build (rebuild?) the citadel of al-Bab and that of Sul
(*Chur),"2 This was declined by the people of al-Bab and Yazid killed
Abu-Nasr without any guilt on the latter's part. Abu-Nasr was in the
castle of Shabaran and the sharvanshah buried him near its gate. This
happened in 392/1002 and the people of al-Bab proclaimed Abu-Nasr's
brother Mansur, The sharvanshah continued to fight him and the
war between them went on with varying fortune (sijal). In 410/1019
the people of the March (thaghr} arose and, having expelled amir Mansur
from the town, surrendered it to the sharvanshah Yazid b. Ahmad,
He repaired the citadel and garrisoned it with his troops, but the lord
of the Sarir helped Mansur and the people of al-Bab also favoured him.
Thus Mansur entered al-Bab in 412/1021 and took over the citadel
1 *Al-shahiriya (with a long a) would mean the "mercenaries," but I strongly
suspect that we should read *Shakawiya "the people of Shakk!." The same mistake
is found in the chapter on Arran.
2 Sul, in Armenian Ch'or, in Greek T£oi>p, is but another name of Bab al-abwab
(Darband).