Mir Muhammad Campaign Against Assyrians
Attacks on Assyrian communities by Mir Muhammad of Rawanduz refers to a series of military actions and raids carried out by forces of the Soran Emirate under Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz during the early 19th century in northern Mesopotamia.
These events, recorded in various contemporary and later historical sources, involved attacks on Assyrian Christian villages, monasteries, and religious institutions in areas including Alqosh, the Rabban Hormizd Monastery, and parts of Hakkari.
Background
The Mîr Muhammad Campaign Against Assyrian Christians was a series of attacks carried out by Kurdish forces in northern Mesopotamia during the early 19th century. The campaign was part of the efforts of Kurdish emirates, particularly the Soran Emirate and Rawanduz, to consolidate power and influence in the region. In 1808, the Assyrian Gabriel Dambo (1775-1832) revived the abandoned monastery, rebuilt it, collected a number of pupils vowed to poverty and celibacy, and installed there a seminary. At first this initiative was opposed by Yohannan VIII Hormizd, then Archbishop of Mosul, even if it was supported by the patriarchal administrator Augustine Hindi. Patriarch Joseph Audo, before he was appointed the bishop of Mosul, was himself a monk of Rabban Hormizd monastery. In 1838, the Kurds of Soran attacked the Rabban Hormizd Monastery and Alqosh, apparently thinking the villagers were Yazidis responsible for the murder of a Kurdish chieftain, and killed over 300 Chaldean Catholics, including Gabriel Dambo, the refounder of the monastery, and other monks.[1] and in 1843 the Kurds started to collect as much money as they could from Christian villages, killing those who refused: more than ten thousand Christians were killed and the icons of the Rabban Hormizd monastery defaced.[2]
Campaign Against Assyrian
The Sack of Jebbel Makloub in 1820 was a Kurdish raid led by Mir Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz. It targeted Assyrian communities, resulting in widespread destruction, loss of life, and the displacement of many Assyrians from their ancestral villages.[3][4][5] The church property was looted[6]
1820 the Chaldean monastery of Rabban Hormuzd near Mosul was twice plundered by the famous Mir Kor of Rawanduz. During these attacks, the chapels were desecrated and turned into stables and kitchens, valuable items were looted, several monks were killed, and many surviving Syriac manuscripts were destroyed or burned.[7][8]
In 1834, Kor attempted to subdue the Assyrian Christians of Lower Tyari but was defeated near the village of Lezan. This defeat influenced Ottoman perceptions of the emirate and led them to plan its subjugation.[9][10][11][12]
Gabriel Dambo was murdered in 1832 by soldiers of Muhammad Pasha. In 1838, the Soran Emirate attacked the Rabban Hormizd Monastery and Alqosh, killing hundreds of Assyrian Chaldeans.[13] In 1843, Kurdish forces demanded payments from Christian villages; those who refused were killed, and monastery icons were defaced.[2]
Timeline of Key Attacks
- 1828 – Mosa Pasha, governor of Amadiya, attacked Alqosh and set fire to Rabban Hormizd Monastery.[14]
- 1831 – Soran Emirate forces attacked Alqosh, killing nearly 300 villagers.[15]
- 1832 – Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz attacked Alqosh, killing over 600 inhabitants.[14]
- 1840 – Rasul Beg, Mira Koor's brother, repeated the attack.[14]
- 1843 – Kurdish forces collected money from Christian villages; those who refused were killed, and Rabban Hormizd Monastery was damaged.[2]
Historians estimate more than 10,000 Christians were killed in the wider region, and around 1,000 manuscripts at Rabban Hormizd Monastery may have been destroyed.[15]
References
- ↑ Wilmshurst 2000, p. 32, 253.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Frazee, Charles A. (2006). Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923. Cambridge University Press. p. 298. ISBN 0-521-02700-4. Search this book on
Cite error: Invalid <ref>tag; name "Frazee" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Laurie, Thomas (1855). Dr. [A.] Grant and the Mountain Nestorians. Search this book on
- ↑ Badger, George Percy; Neale, J. M. (1852). The Nestorians and their rituals: with the narrative of a mission to Mesopotamia and Coordistan. London: Joseph Masters. Search this book on
- ↑ Layard, Austen Henry. Notes from Nineveh, and Travels in Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Syria, Volume 1, p. 109.
- ↑ Badger, George Percy; Neale, J. M. (John Mason) (1852). The Nestorians and their rituals : with the narrative of a mission to Mesopotamia and Coordistan in 1842-1844, and of a late visit to those countries in 1850 ; also, researches into the present condition of the Syrian Jacobites, papal Syrians, and Chaldeans, and an inquiry into the religious tenets of the Yezeedees. Princeton Theological Seminary Library. London : Joseph Masters. Search this book on
- ↑ Badger G P The Nestorians & Their Rituals Vol 1 1852. Search this book on
- ↑ Badger, George Percy (1852). The Nestorians and their rituals : with the narrative of a mission to Mesopotamia and Coordistan in 1842-1844, and of a late visit to those countries in 1850; also, researches into the present condition of the Syrian Jacobites, papal Syrians, and Chaldeans, and an inquiry into the religious tenets of the Yezeedees. Internet Archive. London : J. Masters. Search this book on
- ↑ Aboona, Hirmis (2008). Assyrians, Kurds, and Ottomans. Cambria Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-61336-471-0. Search this book on
- ↑ Ross, Mosul, 19 November 1847. From Ross to Layard, 61,63,79
- ↑ Ross, Henry James (1902). Letters from the East. J. M. Dent & Company. pp. 62–63. Search this book on
- ↑ Laurie, Thomas (1990). Dr. Grant and the Mountain Nestorians. Gould and Lincoln. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-7905-5103-6. Unknown parameter
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- ↑ David Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318-1913, Peeters Publishers, 2000, p.32
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Geoff Hann; Karen Dabrowska; Tina Townsend-Greaves (2015). Iraq: The ancient sites and Iraqi Kurdistan. ISBN 978-1841624884. Search this book on
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Wilmhurst, David (2000). The Ecclesiastical Organization of the Church of the East, 1318–1913. p. 205. Search this book on
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