This decision still in 441/1049-50 provoked a revolt of the people of Shamkur, who took the citadel of the town and proclaimed Abu'l-Asvar Shavur, son of al-Fadl b. Muhammad, ruler. Abu'l-Asvar since 413/1022 had ruled Dvin practically independently. Though he was married to a sister of the Armenian king Davith Anholin of Tashir, he proved a troublesome neighbour to the Armenians and earned the reputation of an exemplary ghd^i among the Muslims. He granted asylum to the Armenian nobleman Abirat with his large retinue and then killed him. Around 1039 he invaded the territory of his brother-in-law king Davith pillaging and burning.
As he threatened to attack Davith himself, the latter appealed to the kings of Ani, Kapan and Georgia for help. Aided by their troops he inflicted a defeat on the Shaddadid and drove him out of his domains. In 1043 the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomach, intending to annex Ani and to overthrow its youthful king Gagik II, invited Abu'lAsvar by letter to attack the territory of Ani and promised him in a golden bull recognition of any conquests he would make. Abu'lAsvar occupied a number of fortresses and places in Gagik's territory. After the Byzantine conquest of Ani in 1045 the emperor in breach of his promises demanded from him the surrender of the lands formerly belonging to Ani. Upon Abu'l-Asvar's refusal a strong Byzantine army with Armenian and Georgian contingents attacked Dvin.
Abu'l-Asvar flooded the country and put his archers in an ambush. The attackers were repulsed with heavy losses. In the next year another Byzantine army took some of the fortresses belonging to Ani. Most serious was the campaign under Nicephore c. 1048-9. Abu'l-Asvar withdrew to Dvin, while the enemy laid the countryside waste. He was forced to recognize the Byzantine suzerainty before Nicephore went on to Ganja.
After gaining control of Shamkur Abu'l-Asvar occupied Ganja and the rest of Arran. Anushirvan and the chamberlain Abu Mansur were arrested. Abu'l-Asvar succeeded in restoring to tke Skaddadid regime some of its earlier strength. In 445/1053 he took a border fortress from the Georgians and placed a garrison in it. He entrusted his son Abu'lNasr Iskandar with the government of Dvin. When Toghril Beg after receiving the submission of the Rawwadid Vahsudan in Tabriz came to Ganja in 446/1054, Abu'l-Asvar submitted to him. He later participated in the Saljuq conquest of Armenia. The Shaddadid dynasty survived as Saljuq vassals ruling Ani until the end of the 6th/12th century.
The Kurdish Monarchy in Medieval Persia
