ʿANNAZIDS (BANŪ ʿANNĀZ), a Kurdish dynasty (r. ca. 380-510/990-1117) whose territory on the Iran-Iraq frontier included Kermānšāh, Ḥolwān, Dīnavar (now in western Iran), Šahrazūr, Daqūqā (Daqūq), Daskara, Bandanīǰīn (Mandelī), and Noʿmānīya (now in northeast Iraq). According to Ebn al-Aṯīr, the name ʿAnnāz is derived from ʿanz (she-goat) and signifies the owner, merchant, or shepherd of goats. Mostawfī and Šaraf Khan give the name as Banū ʿAyyār; this reading is preferred by contemporary Kurdish historians on the grounds that the Arabic word ʿayyār (lit.: “shrewd, smart”) is common in both Persian and Kurdish and was formerly used as a nickname among Kurdish families, while ʿanz and ʿannāz are not mentioned in Kurdish dictionaries.
The founder of the dynasty was Abu’l-Fatḥ Moḥammad b. ʿAnnāz (d. 401/1010-11), who ruled in Ḥolwān and was probably attached to the administration of the Buyid Bahāʾ-al-dawla (r. 379-403/989-1012). Political conflicts during his twenty-year rule led to clashes in the west with the Banū ʿOqayl (from whom he temporarily seized Daqūqā in 388/998) and the Banū Mazyad, as well as a campaign against Zahmān b. Hendī, lord of Ḵāneqīn, whose family he destroyed in 389/999. In the east, there was fierce competition between him and the Hasanuid Kurds, his relatives through marriage; in 397/1006 Badr b. Ḥasanūya, aided by Abu’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Mazyad, sent an army of 10,000 men against Abu’l-Fatḥ, who was compelled to seek refuge with the Buyid vizier, ʿAmīd-al-ǰoyūš Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan b. Abī Jaʿfar in Baghdad. In a treaty concluded that year between the two Kurdish dynasties, Abu’l-Fatḥ declared himself a Hasanuid vassal.
Abu’l-Fatḥ was succeeded by his son, Ḥosām-al-dawla Abu’l-Šawk, whose thirty-six-year rule (until Ramażān, 437/March-April, 1046) was filled with internecine strife as well as external conflict. As a result, the extent of his authority fluctuated a great deal, sometimes reaching as far as Ḥella and at other times contracting to a narrow region in western Iran. He inaugurated his reign by checking an attack by the forces of the new Buyid vizier, Faḵr-al-molk, but he was compelled to retreat to Ḥolwān until a reconciliation was achieved. Through mediation and marriage alliance, relations improved between Abu’l-Šawk and the Banū Mazyad, who had been concerned about ʿAnnazid intentions in the west. Following the assassination of Badr b. Ḥasanūya (445/1041-42), the tribes of Lor and Šāḏanǰān fell under Abu’l-Šawk’s control. The Buyids of Hamadān reacted by releasing the grandson of Badr b. Ḥasanūya, Ṭāher b. Helāl, whom they had captured in battle. He marched against Abu’l-Šawk, who was forced to retreat to Ḥolwān; by this time Abu’l-Ḥasan b. Mazyad had come to the aid of Abu’l-Šawk, but further warfare was averted when Ṭāher b. Helāl settled in Nahrawān and made peace with Abu’l-Šawk by marrying into his family. In fact, this was only a maneuver on the part of Abu’l-Šawk, who seized the opportunity to attack Ṭāher, kill him, and capture the whole region belonging to the Hasanuids.
With this increased power, the forces of Abu’l-Šawk were able to defeat Šams-al-dawla and to stop the Ḡozz Turks after they seized Hamadān and attacked Dīnavar and Asadābād (420/1029). In the following year, Abu’l-Šawk defeated the ʿOqayl and took Daqūqā; in 430/1038-39 he seized Kermānšāh (Qarmīsīn) and captured its ruler, a Quhid (Hasanuid) Kurd. He then led his followers against the Quhid strongholds of Arnaba and Ḵūlanǰān. During this period, Abu’l-Šawk also consolidated his power within the ʿAnnazid line. His two brothers, Mohalhel and Sorḵāb, had maintained autonomous rule in Šahrazūr and Bandanīǰīn since the death of their father. In 431/1040, Abu’l-Fatḥ b. Abu’l-Šawk tried to capture territories belonging to Mohalhel but was defeated and captured. Abu’l-Šawk was obliged to march against Mohalhel; the latter secured assistance from ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla b. Kākūya, the ruler of Hamadān, who then seized Dīnavar, Kermānšāh, and other regions. When Sorḵāb also seized Daqūqā, Abu’l-Šawk sought the help of the Buyid Jalāl-al-dawla in Baghdad—whom he had alternately sided with (420/1020) and opposed (428/1027) in confrontations with the Buyid Abū Kālīǰār—and was able to return to Ḥolwān.
Relations between Abu’l-Šawk and Mohalhel improved following the intervention of Jalāl-al-dawla, but Mohalhel’s refusal to release Abu’l-Fatḥ b. Abu’l-Šawk led to renewed hostilities. In 432/1046 and 434/1042 Abu’l-Šawk again attacked Mohalhel but failed to obtain the release of his son, who died in captivity. During the second campaign, Mohalhel caused great carnage in Sanda (Sanandaǰ?) and other regions under his brother’s control. By this time, a new danger, the Ḡozz Turks, menaced the two ʿAnnazid brothers. In 437/1045 Ṭoḡrel Beg sent his half-brother Ebrāhīm Yenal westward; the Kurdish governor of Hamadān fled, and Abu’l-Šawk retreated from Dīnavar to Kermānšāh and then to the citadel of Sīrvān on the Dīāla river, where a large number of Kurds rallied around him. Mohalhel tried to unite with Abu’l-Šawk, but the ʿAnnazids were unable to stop the march of Yenal’s forces, which captured Ḥolwān and Māhīdašt and attacked Ḵāneqīn. Abu’l-Šawk died in the citadel of Sīrvān in Ramażān, 437/April, 1046, and his followers rallied around Mohalhel.
The strife between the ʿAnnazid chiefs continued during Mohalhel’s reign, especially when Saʿdī b. Abu’l-Šawk sided with Yenal against his uncle. The ʿAnnazid Hasanuid conflict broke out again when Yenal seized Ḥolwān (438/1046) in the name of the Hasanuid Badr b. Ṭāher b. Helāl. Alter four years of attempted reconciliation between the ʿAnnazids and the Ḡozz, Mohalhel went in 442/1050 to meet Ṭoḡrel Beg, who confirmed his rule over Sīrvān, Daqūqā, Šahrazūr, and Ṣāmaḡān and released his brother Sorḵāb. The Ḡozz gained a new opportunity to intervene in ʿAnnazid affairs after Mohalhel was captured by his nephew Saʿdī, and Mohalhel’s son Badr sought the help of Ṭoḡrel Beg. Refusing to release his captive, Saʿdī faced several Ḡozz invasions and finally allied himself unsuccessfully with the Buyid al-Malek al-Raḥīm Ḵosrow Fīrūz.
A declining ʿAnnazid rule can be traced for several generations; the last mention occurs in the second half of the 6th/12th century, when Sorḵāb b. ʿAnnāz became one of the rulers of Lorestān. According to Ebn al-Aṯīr and the Šaraf-nāma, the ʿAnnazid era lasted 130 years. During that time, continuous strife, internal and external, prevented political stability in western Iran and northeastern Iraq, and although there were several important centers, such as Dīnavar, Šahrazūr, and Kermānšāh, on the whole economic and cultural life suffered.
Bibliography:
Ebn al-Aṯīr, VII-X.
Šaraf Khan Bedlīsī, Šaraf-nāma, ed.
V. Veliaminof-Zernof, 2 vols., St. Petersburg, 1860,1862; new ed., M. J. Bandī Rūzbayānī, Baghdad, 1372/1953; French version, Cheref-nāmah ou Postes de la nation Kurde, tr.
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EI2 I, pp. 512-13.
(K. M. AhÂṟmad)
(K. M. Aḥmad)
Originally Published: December 15, 1985
Last Updated: August 5, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. II, Fasc. 1, pp. 97-98