The Battle of Yassi Jaman (Basi Jaman)

وقعة باسي جمن (ياسي جمن)

c. 16 August 1230 CE · 28 Ramadan 627 AH

On Saturday, the twenty-eighth of Ramadan in the year 627, Jalal al-Din ibn Khwarazm Shah was routed at a place known as Basi Hamar, in the lands of Arzinjan, by Ala al-Din Kayqubad ibn Kaykhusraw, lord of the lands of Rum, and al-Malik al-Ashraf, lord of Damascus, the Jazira and Khilat. The cause was that the lord of Arzan al-Rum obeyed Jalal al-Din and helped him besiege Khilat. Ala al-Din feared him and kept sending messengers to al-Malik al-Kamil and to his brother al-Ashraf, to the point that it was said five messengers reached them from him in a single day, urging al-Ashraf to meet him even if alone. Al-Ashraf gathered the armies of the Jazira and Syria, and the two met at Sivas and marched toward Khilat; Jalal al-Din advanced against them eagerly and they met. Ala al-Din had about twenty thousand horsemen, and al-Ashraf about five thousand fine, brave troops under the command of Izz al-Din Umar ibn Ali of the Hakkari Kurds. When they met, Jalal al-Din was taken aback by their numbers, especially the army of Syria, for he saw such finery in their equipment, arms and mounts that terror filled his breast. Izz al-Din ibn Ali opened the fighting against the army of Aleppo, and Jalal al-Din could not hold his ground; he fled with his army, and they scattered in every direction. He returned to Khilat, then to Khoy in Azerbaijan. The lord of Arzan al-Rum was taken prisoner, and they said: the ostrich went out seeking two horns and came back without ears. ¹