ABSTRACT
The first serious blow to the Franks came not from Baghdād but from the united action of Ilghazi, the Artuqid amīr of Mardīn, and Tughtikīn, Ata-beg of Damascus. In 1119 Ilghazi made a surprise attack on the Norman Prince Roger of Antioch at Balāt (or Sarmadā, to the west of Aleppo) and defeated and killed him after a violent battle. Two accounts of it are given here: first that of Kamāl ad-Din, the most faithful and accurate record of the events, and then Ibn al-Qalānisi’s version, in which he comments on the failure of the Muslims to recapture Antioch, left unprotected during the crisis.
