Moses Georgios of Makuria
Moses, erroneously called Moses Georgios, was ruler of the Nubian kingdom of Makuria. During his reign it is believed that the crown of Alodia was also under the control of Makuria. He is mostly known for his conflict with Saladin.
Life and reign
Moses was born around 1130, the son of king Paul of Alodia and Maria, sister of Georgios V, king of Makuria. At the time of his birth, the two kingdoms were in a personal union, and according to traditional Nubian matrilineal succession, Moses was heir apparent to his uncle Georgios. When Georgios retired to Egypt in 1154, Moses was serving his father as eparch of Palaga, and thus his cousin David was able to take the Makurian throne. With the support of his father and the Fatimids, Moses was able to overthrow David and become king of Makuria, ostensibly alongside Georgios before his death in 1157/1158. At some unknown time before 1186, Moses succeeded his father as king of Alodia and made his own nephew Georgios VI co-king in Makuria.In 1171, the Ayyubids overthrew the Fatimid Caliphate, whose capital was Cairo. This brought Makuria and the Ayyubids into conflict with each other. The following year, a Makurian army pillaged Aswan and advanced even further north. It is not clear if this campaign was intended to aid the Fatimids or was merely a raid exploiting the unstable situation in Egypt, although the latter seems more likely, as the Makurians apparently soon withdrew.
To deal with the Nubians, Saladin sent his brother Turan-Shah. The latter conquered Qasr Ibrim in January 1173, reportedly sacking it, taking many prisoners, pillaging the church, and converting it into a mosque. Afterward, he sent an emissary to King Moses Georgios, intending to answer a previously requested peace treaty with a pair of arrows.
Moses Georgios was a man confident in his ability to resist the Ayyubid army, stamping with hot iron a cross on the emissary's hand. Turan-Shah withdrew from Nubia but left a detachment of Kurdish troops in Qasr Ibrim, which would raid Lower Nubia for the next two years. Archaeological evidence links them with the destruction of the Faras Cathedral, the Central Church of Abdallah Nirqi, and Debeira West.
In 1175, a Nubian army finally arrived to confront the invaders at Adindan. Before battle, however, the Kurdish commander Ibrahim al-Kurdi drowned while crossing the Nile, resulting in the retreat of Saladin's troops out of Nubia. Afterwards, there was peace for another 100 years in which Georgios had independence over Nubia while Aswan was reoccupied by the Ayyubids and a garrison of Kurdish soldiers was stationed there.
Moses has been identified as the "king of Nubia" encountered by the crusaders in Constantinople in 1203 who wished to travel to Rome before retiring to Jerusalem.