Qasīm al-Dawla Sayf al-Dīn Abū Saʿīd Āqsunqur al-Bursuqī (قسیم الدوله سیف الدین ابو سعید آقسنقر البرسقی),[1] also known as Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, Aqsonqor il-Bursuqi, Aksunkur al-Bursuki, Aksungur or al-Borsoki, was the Seljuk Turkoman atabeg of Mosul from 1113–1114 and again from 1124–1126.
He was a Turkoman mamluk of the Bursuqid dynasty founded by Bursuq.[1]
A Turkish officer in the Seljuk army, al-Bursuqi was appointed as the representative of Mawdud, the atabeg of Mosul, to the court of the Seljuk sultan Muhammad I Tapar. An unidentified Assassin murdered Mawdud at a mosque in Damascus on 2 October 1113,[2] and shortly thereafter the sultan appointed al-Bursuqi as Mawdud's successor at Mosul.[3][2] The sultan also ordered his emirs to continue jihad (or holy war) against the Crusaders.[4] Al-Bursuqi launched a devastating raid against the County of Edessa in April and May 1115.[2] As the Artuqid ruler of Mardin, Ilghazi, had declined to participate in the campaign, al-Bursuqi invaded his territory, but Ilghazi defeated his troops.[4] Because of the failure of his campaign, al-Bursuqi stayed in al-Rahba, and Juyûsh-beg was appointed atabeg of Mosul by the sultan.
In 1120, Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi was Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the Seljuk ruler of Iraq Mahmud II, and defeated the armies of Mas'ud who was challenging the rule of his brother Mammud II.[5] Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi was then named Shihna (Military Governor) of Iraq, with his base in Baghdad.[5] He was defeated in 1122 by the Arab Banu Mazyad emir Dubays ibn Sadaqa when he marched on Baghdad.[5] Dubays was ultimately defeated with the help of Zengi, and Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi retained the position of Shihna of Iraq until 1124-1125, when he was replaced by Baran-Qush Zakawi.[5]
Al-Bursuqi was reappointed as atabeg of Mosul in 1124 due to insubordination of Juyûsh-beg. Baldwin II of Jerusalem, Joscelin I of Edessa and a Bedouin leader, Dubais ibn Sadaqa laid siege to Aleppo in October 1124.[4] The qadi of Aleppo, Ibn al-Khashshab, approached al-Bursuqi, seeking his assistance.[3] In 1125, he reclaimed Aleppo for the Seljuk sultan Mahmud II. Al-Bursuqi invaded the Principality of Antioch and forced the allied enemy forces to abandon the siege in January 1125.[3][6] He also supported Toghtekin in the battle of Azaz in 1125, but a Crusader force relieved it.[6][7] Using the spoils he gained his victory at Azaz, Baldwin II was able to ransom his daughter Ioveta and Joscelin II of Edessa, then held at Aleppo by al-Bursuqi, that had been used to secure Baldwin's own release.
On November 26, 1126, al-Bursuqi was assassinated by a team of 10 Nizari Assassins attacking him with knives while he was at the Great Mosque of Mosul. He wounded three of his assassins before his death.[8][9] The murderers were captured and executed.[10] The attack was presumably ordered by Mahmud II.
His son Mas’ûd ibn Bursuqî replaced him in Mosul, but his reign was short-lived because of the rise of the Zengid dynasty.