Miskawayh, an 11th-century philosopher, mentions the 10th-century "Rus" invasion near the Caspian Sea. Kurds, volunteers, and Daylamites banded together to fight the Rus:
In this year (332/943) the army of the Rūs invaded Azer-baijan, attacked and occupied Bardha'a and took its in-habitants captive. They are a formidable nation, the men huge and very courageous. They do not recognize defeat; no one turns back until he has killed or been killed. It is their custom for each to carry his weapons and hang tools on his bo-dy, such as an axe, a saw, a hammer and similar imple-ments. The warrior fights with a lance and a shield. He carries a sword and a lance and a knife like a dagger. They fight on foot, especially these invaders. They cros-sed the sea [Caspian] which adjoins their country and sailed down to a great river called the River Kur, which rises in the mountains of Azerbaijan and Armenia and falls into that sea. The Kur flows through Bardha'a, and people compare it to the Tigris.
When they reached Bardha'a, they were confronted by Marzubān [ibn Muhammad ibn Musafir]'s lieutenant, the governor of Bardha'a, at the head of 300 Daylamites and about the same number of Su'luks and Kurds. He cal-led the people to arms as well, and around 5,000 volunte-ers came forth to wage the jihad against the invaders. They didn't know the strength of the Rūs, and thought they would behave like Greeks or Armenians. An hour after battle was joined, the Rūs launched an attack that routed the army of Bardha'a. The volunteers and the rest of the soldiers turned and fled. Only the Daylamites sto-od their ground; they were all killed except for those mo-unted on horses. The Rūs chased the fleeing soldiers to the town. Everyone who could find a horse fled, leaving the town to be entered and occupied by the Rūs.
I was told by Abu al-'Abbās ibn Nudār and many other witnesses how the Rūs hurried into the town and tried to calm the people, proclaiming: 'There is no dispute betwe-en us on the matter of religion; we only want to rule. It is our obligation to treat you well and yours to be loyal to us. The armies nevertheless attacked them from all sides, but the Rūs went out against them and defeated them. When the Muslims attacked the Rūs, the people of Bardha'a cried out Allāhu akbar!, and flung stones at the Rūs. The Rūs had ordered the people of Bardha'a not to take part in the battle between them and the government troops. This advice was followed by peace-loving men from the upper classes, but the common people and rab-ble could not control themselves. They showed their fee-lings by attacking the Rūs when the supporters of the go-vernment attacked.
After this had gone on for some time, the Rūs issued a proclamation that none of the inhabitants was to remain in the town, giving them three days to leave. The small number who had mounts to carry them, their womenfolk and their children left, but the bulk of the population re-mained. On the fourth day, the Rūs put them to the sword, killing a huge number, beyond counting. After the massacre, they took captive over 10,000 men and boys with their womenfolk, their wives and their da-ughters. They held the women and children in a fortress within the city called Shahristān, which they had occupi-ed, manned and fortified. Then they shut the men into the congregational mosque, set guards at the doors and demanded that the men ransom themselves. A Christian civil servant named Ibn Sam'ūn, who lived in the city, acted as negotiator between the two sides. He made an agreement with the Rūs that each man should be ransomed for 20 dirhams. The more intelligent Mus-lims agreed to this arrangement, but the rest did not, ma-intaining that Ibn Sam'ūn was trying to imply that Mus-lims were of equal value to poll-tax-paying Christians. Ibn Sam'un therefore broke off negotiations. The Rūs put off their massacre, hoping to get at least this small amo-unt. When it was not forthcoming, they put them to the sword, and slew them to the last man. A few escaped through a narrow conduit which conveyed water to the mosque, and some were able to buy their lives with valu-ables they carried. In some cases a Muslim agreed with a Rūs to buy his life for a stated sum, and went with the Rūs to his house or shop. When he produced his wealth, and it turned out to be more than the amount agreed, the Rūs would not let him keep it, not even if it were many times the agre-ed payment, but kept raising his demands till he had rui-ned the man. The Rūs would only give him safe conduct when he was convinced that he had nothing left, no gold, silver, bedding or clothing. Only then would he let him go, giving him a piece of stamped clay as a safe con-duct. Thus the Rūs gained a vast amount of booty. They kept the women and boys, whom they raped and ensla-ved. When the scale of the calamity was realized, and the Muslims in the different regions heard about it, they de-manded a combined expedition. Marzubān ibn Muham-mad gathered his troops, and called for a general enlis-tment. Volunteers joined him from all directions. He mar-ched at the head of 30,000 men, but in spite of the num-ber of troops, he could not prevail against the Rūs or in-flict any damage upon them. He attacked morning and evening, and regularly met defeat. The battle continued to be waged like this for many days, and the Muslims we-re always defeated. When the Muslims found themselves unable to overco-me the Rūs, Marzubān took stock of the situation, see-king some stratagem. Now it so happened that when the Rūs took Bardha'a, they over-indulged in the fruit of which Bardha'a produced numerous varieties. As a re-sult, an epidemic broke out among the Rūs, as they come from a very cold country, where no trees grow, and the little fruit which they have is imported from distant regi-ons. When their numbers began to decline, Marzubān de-cided on his stratagem, a night ambush. He ordered his army to make a quick attack. When the Rūs charged out, he and his followers would pretend to be routed, encou-raging the Rūs to think they could annihilate the Muslim army. When the Rūs passed beyond the place where the ambush lay, Marzubān with his followers would turn aro-und and charge, shouting out an agreed signal to the sol-diers lying in ambush. When the Rūs were trapped bet-ween their two forces, the Muslims would have them at their mercy. The morning after this scheme had been arranged, Marzubān with his followers marched out and took up their positions. The usual course of events followed. Mar-zubān and the Muslims fled, and were chased by the Rūs until they had got beyond the ambush point, but instead of turning around, the Muslims continued their flight. Marzubān later told how when he saw his soldiers flee and that his desperate entreaties to get them to turn around and fight were unavailing, because of their terror of the Rūs, he realized that the Rūs, when they turned back, could not fail to notice the ambush, which would in consequence be destroyed. 'So,' he said, 'I turned back, with my personal attendants, my brother, my staff and my retainers, having made up my mind to die a martyr's death. Most of the Daylamites were then shamed into doing the same. We charged, crying out the signal to the men lying in ambush. They sprang forth behind the Rūs, fought them bravely and killed 700 of them, including their commander. The survivors retreated to the fortress in the town, where they had established their quarters and where they had stored food and supplies, and held their captives and their loot.' While Marzubān was besieging them, with no other plan than to reduce them by a protracted siege, news re-ached him that Abū 'Abd Allāh Husayn ibn Sa'id ibn Hamdān had entered Azerbaijan and reached Salmas. There he had joined forces with Ja'far ibn Shakkuyah the Kurd, who was at the head of the Hadāyān tribes. Marzubān was therefore forced to leave one of his officers to fight the Rūs, along with 500 Daylamites, 1,500 Kurdish horsemen and 2,000 volunteers.
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