Other.
Michael Grant is a history writer. Alot of his stuff deals with the Hellenistic period my homebrew is based on.
Amin Maalouf wrote The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. The book is full of double dealing and campaign ideas. I just have to read a few pages and I can map out a campaign.
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(Edit, I found an excerpt from Maalouf's book, a campaign kernal in less than a page.)
Before that, however, Aleppo was to pass through the most erratic period of its long history. At the end of November 1113 Ibn al-Khashab learned that Ridwan lay seriously ill at his palace in the citadel. He gathered his friends together and told them to prepare for action. The King died on 10 December. As soon as the news was known, groups of armed militiamen fanned through the quarters of the city, occupied the major buildings, and seized many of Ridwan's supporters, notably the adherents of the Assassins sect, who were immediately put to death for their collaboration with the Frankish enemy.
The qadi's aim was not to seize power himself but to make an impression on the new king, Alp Arslan, the son of Ridwan, so as to induce him to follow a policy different from that of his father. At first this young man of sixteen, who stuttered so badly that he was nicknamed 'the Mute', seemed to endorse the militant stance of Ibn al-Khashab. With unconcealed delight, he had all Ridwan's collaborators arrested and beheaded forthwith. The qadi became uneasy. He urged the young monarch not to subject the city to a bloodbath but simply to punish the traitors so as to set an example. But Alp Arslan paid him no heed. He executed two of his own brothers, several officers, a few servants, and in general anyone to whom he took a dislike.
Little by little, the citizenry realized the horrible truth: the king was mad! The best available source dealing with this period is the chronicle by Kamal al-Din, an Alleppan author-diplomat, written a century after the events but based on the testimony of contemporaries.
One day, he recounts, Alp Arslan assembled some emirs and notables and took them to visit a sort of cellar dug into the citadel. Once they were inside, he asked them, 'What would you say if I had all your heads cut off right here?'
'We are slaves subject to your majesty's orders', answered one of the unfortunates, pretending to consider the threat a good joke.
And it was thus, in fact, that they escaped death.
It was not long before the demented young king was being given a wide berth. Only one man still dared to approach him, his eunuch Lulu, 'Pearls'. But finally he too began to fear for his life. In September 1114 he killed his sleeping master and installed another of Ridwan's sons, aged six, on the throne.
Aleppo was sinking deeper into anarchy day by day. While uncontrollable groups of slaves and soldiers cut one another to pieces in the citadel, armed citizens patrolled the street of the city to protect themselves against the marauders. During this initial period, the Franj of Antioch did not seek to take advantage of the chaos paralyzing Aleppo.
Tancred had died a year before Ridwan, and his successor Sir Roger, whom Kamal al-Din calls Sirjal, lacked sufficient self-assurance to engage in action of any scope. But the respite was of brief duration. In 1116 Roger of Antioch, now sure of his control over all the routes to Aleppo, occupied the major fortresses ringing the city one after another. In the absence of any resistance he even managed to impose a tax on every Muslim pilgrim leaving for Mecca.
In April 1117 the Eunuch Lulu was assassinated. According to Kamal al-Din, the soldiers of his escort hatched a plot against him. While he was walking east of the city one day, they suddenly drew their bows , crying 'After the hare, after the hare,' to make him believe they were hunting that animal. In fact it was Lulu himself who was riddled with arrows. After his death, power passed to another slave, who, unable to assert his authority, asked Roger to come to his aid. The subsequent chaos was indescribable.
While the Franj prepared to lay siege to the city, the military officers continued to fight among themselves for control of the citadel.
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Sorry for the long post, but I just really love that book.
Tormenet
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
