Yusuf Sayfa

Yusuf Sayfa Pasha (Arabic: يوسف سيفا باشا, romanized: Yūsuf Sayfā Pāsha; c. 1510 – 22 July 1625) was a chieftain and multazim (tax farmer) in the Tripoli region who frequently served as the Ottoman beylerbey (provincial governor) of Tripoli Eyalet between 1579 and his death.

Yusuf or his family may have been Kurdish or Turkmen levends (tribal irregulars) from Marash and were established in Tripoli's vicinity by at least the 1510s–1520s. He became a multazim in Akkar subordinate to the Assaf chieftains of the Keserwan for most of his career until his promotion to the rank of pasha and appointment as Tripoli's first beylerbey in 1579. Hostilities consequently ensued with the Assafs, ending with Yusuf's assassination of their last chieftain in 1591 and his confiscation of their tax farms. His takeover of the Keserwan and Beirut prompted his first confrontation with Fakhr al-Din II, the Druze chieftain and sanjak-bey (district governor) of Sidon-Beirut in 1598. He was given command by the Sublime Porte (Ottoman imperial government) over the armies in the region of Syria to suppress the rebel Ali Janbulad of Aleppo in 1606. After a series of defeats at Hama, Tripoli and Damascus, he submitted to Janbulad at Krak des Chevaliers (Hisn al-Akrad), though the rebellion was suppressed in 1607.

Relations with the Ottomans deteriorated over the next ten years, a period in which Fakhr al-Din gained steady advantage over Yusuf, who was abandoned by most of his local allies and his nephews. To prevent Fakhr al-Din from gaining total control over Tripoli, the Porte reappointed Yusuf beylerbey in 1619. He remained under financial strain with large debts due to the Porte and owed to Fakhr al-Din, who gained control over most of the eyalet's districts. With his death in 1625, the Sayfas' power gradually dissipated and most of the family was exterminated by the Ottomans by the mid-17th century.

Yusuf was noted by contemporary historians for his generosity and patronage of poets and Sufis, which contributed to his poor financial state. Neither he nor his family developed Tripoli or its eyalet, which declined economically in contrast to the thriving domains of Fakhr al-Din. Although he was viewed favorably by the Sunni Muslims of Tripoli and Akkar for his loyalty to the Ottomans, he was resented by the Maronite peasantry for executing unpopular and ruinous government measures.

## Origins

The 16th-century Damascene historian and intimate of Yusuf, al-Hasan al-Burini, noted that the Sayfas were relatives of the Dulkadirids, a Marash-based Turkmen tribal dynasty. The 17th-century Maronite patriarch and historian Istifan al-Duwayhi referred to them as Turkmens. The Sayfa family were conventionally considered to be Kurds based on the 19th-century, local chronicle of Tannus al-Shidyaq. The modern historians Kamal Salibi and Abdul-Rahim Abu-Husayn concur that they were Turkmens in origin. The modern historian Stefan Winter holds that the Sayfas were probably of Kurdish origin but affiliated with the Dulkadirid Turkmens. Abu-Husayn notes that the Sayfas had been levends, citing the generally authoritative Ottoman historian Mustafa Naima (d. 1716). According to Naima, Yusuf hailed from Marash in the Anatolian–Syrian borderlands and moved from there to Tripoli.

Abu-Husayn surmises that the Sayfas may have arrived in Tripoli Sanjak during the dispersal of the Dulkadirids and their affiliates shortly before 1526 or shortly after their reestablishment that year. The sanjak was a subdivision of Damascus Eyalet spanning the coastlands of Ottoman Syria from Latakia southward to Byblos and northern Mount Lebanon and the Alawite Mountains. The establishment of Turkmen and Kurdish military colonies around Tripoli started during Mamluk rule (mid-13th century–1516) to secure the strategic port city's mountainous hinterland and protect the roads connecting the Syrian coast with the major cities of the Syrian interior plains. The rugged ranges separating Tripoli from the Syrian interior, namely northern Mount Lebanon and the Alawite Mountains, were dominated by Catholic Maronites and the heterodox Muslim Alawites, two communities viewed with suspicion by the Sunni Muslim Mamluks and Ottomans, who conquered Mamluk Syria in 1516.

Duwayhi places Yusuf in Tripoli or its vicinity in 1528. He was likely ten to twelve years old at the time. Although Abu-Husayn asserts that Yusuf was the first member of the Sayfa clan whose name is recorded in the sources, Ottoman tax records name a certain Muhammad Sayfa as the holder of timars (fiefs) in the nahiyas (subdistricts) of Arqa, Batroun, Dinniyeh, Futuh Bani Rahhal, Akkar, Hisn al-Akrad, Manasif and Tartus, all in the Tripoli Sanjak, in 1519. Al-Shidyaq's chronicle records the name of Yusuf's father to be Muhammad. The tax records also indicate that a son of Muhammad Sayfa, Ibrahim, held timars in Arqa in 1534–1537 and 1548–1549; after Ibrahim's failure to report to the Baghdad front in the war with Safavid Iran in 1553, his timars were transferred to a certain Yusuf.

### Establishment in Akkar

Yusuf was headquartered in the fortress village of Hisn Akkar (Gibelacar). He formed ties with the local multazims (holders of iltizam, i.e. tax farms) upon moving to the area. Tax farming was the predominant mode of tax collection in Syria where sanjaks and nahiyas were farmed out to local strongmen for limited terms in return for a fixed amount of money. From Hisn Akkar Yusuf controlled Jabal Akkar, the northernmost part of Mount Lebanon, and possibly the Homs Gap plain at Jabal Akkar's northeastern edge. He and his paternal kinsman Hasan were given joint control of a farm in Akkar by the authorities in 1571.

The tax farms in Jabal Akkar were likely subleased to Yusuf from Mansur ibn Hasan, the head of the Turkmen Assaf dynasty. The Assaf multazims were headquartered from the 13th century in the village of Ghazir in the Keserwan area in central Mount Lebanon. Mansur leased the Jabal Akkar tax farm and other tax farms in the Tripoli Sanjak from Muhammad Agha Shu'ayb, the chieftain of a long-established military family based in the fortress of Arqa in the Akkar Plain, which had held the tax farms for all or part of the Tripoli region from 1523. Mansur may have encouraged Yusuf's establishment in Jabal Akkar to undermine the Shu'aybs by installing an ally in their vicinity. Conflict broke out soon afterward between the Sayfas and Shu'aybs in 1528 when the former withheld tax revenues from the latter. The Sayfa family, lacking the local power base of the Shu'aybs, consequently fled Akkar. They temporarily found refuge in Baruk under the protection of Qurqumaz ibn Yunis of the Ma'n dynasty, a long-established family of Druze chieftains and tax farmers who controlled the Chouf area in southern Mount Lebanon.

Not long after their displacement, the Sayfas were assisted by Mansur, who had also owed Muhammad Agha taxes. The Sayfas, Assafs and Ma'ns assaulted Arqa in 1528 and routed the Shu'aybs, while Mansur had Muhammad Agha assassinated. The Shu'aybs lost their local importance thereafter, and Mansur reestablished the Sayfas in their Akkar stronghold. After the demise of the Shu'aybs and Mansur's subsequent elimination of other local rivals he became the preeminent strongman of the Tripoli region; the Sayfas, with whom he continued to be allied, became his fiscal subordinates and there were no reported conflicts between Mansur and Yusuf before 1579. By then, Mansur had become the most powerful chieftain in Syria, acquiring the tax farms of the neighboring sanjaks of Homs and Hama and the port town of Beirut.

## Governorship of Tripoli

### First term

The Sublime Porte (Ottoman imperial government in Constantinople) designated the Tripoli Sanjak as its own eyalet in 1579, likely to check Mansur's growing power and to strengthen Ottoman authority over Mount Lebanon and its environs in general; Duwayhi holds the Porte was responding to complaints about Mansur's killing of local rivals, which Abu-Husayn determines was used by the Ottomans as a pretext to keep a closer watch on Mansur because of his stockpiling of firearms acquired from the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus in 1571 and suspected ties through his Maronite advisers with Catholic European powers increasingly active in the eastern Mediterranean. Yusuf was promoted to the rank of pasha and appointed the new eyalet's first beylerbey. The subsequent loss of tax farms in Tripoli Eyalet, such as the predominantly Maronite area of Bsharri, and the appointment of Yusuf, weakened the Assafs.

According to Abu-Husayn, Yusuf was selected after "careful deliberation" by the Ottomans. On the one hand, the Porte determined Yusuf was well-positioned to efficiently manage the eyalet by dint of his long career in the Tripoli area, his ties to the local chiefs and his understanding of local politics. On the other hand, he would be easier to control because he lacked the tribal and peasant power bases of the Assafs and Ma'ns; further, Yusuf's headquarters in Hisn Akkar was more accessible and thus easier to reduce than the headquarters of other local chiefs nestled deep in the Lebanon range. By appointing Yusuf to a rank and position above that of the Assafs, his hitherto superiors, the Porte also aimed to undermine their alliance. The Sayfas' position was significantly strengthened with Mansur's death in 1580.

In 1585 an Ottoman punitive expedition was launched to suppress the local chieftains of Syria, who had long resisted government taxation and disarmament orders. While the expedition's commander Ibrahim Pasha attacked the Druze chiefs in the Chouf, the principal target of the expedition, a veteran commander, Ja'far Pasha al-Tuwashi, raided Hisn Akkar, an event which only Duwayhi mentions. During or shortly after the expedition, Yusuf was dismissed and replaced by Ja'far Pasha; Yusuf may have resisted his dismissal and Ja'far Pasha's raid against Hisn Akkar may have been the commander's response to his resistance. Following the government raids, most of the chiefs taken captive by the Ottomans were released to their home bases, including Mansur's son and successor Muhammad. The prominence of the Assafs was reconstituted by Muhammad, who became Yusuf's principal local rival. Muhammad had persuaded the Porte of his loyalty and was given the territory of Tripoli Eyalet, except for Tripoli city, as iltizam shortly after his release in 1585, once again placing Yusuf and his kinsmen in Akkar as fiscal subordinates of the Assafs; the Sayfas maintained their iltizam in Akkar, but were responsible to Muhammad, through whom they forwarded revenues to the Porte.

### Second term

Yusuf and Muhammad likely waged a struggle for political dominance of the Tripoli region afterward. By 1590 Yusuf had been reinstated as beylerbey in place of Ja'far Pasha, though he may have been reappointed before 1590. In that year he was ordered by the Porte to arrest the advisers of the Assafs from the Maronite Hubaysh family, the brothers Abu Sa'd Mansur and Muhanna, and to deal with certain tax and administrative matters. Yusuf's attempts to arrest the Hubaysh brothers likely instigated conflict between him and Muhammad. Duwayhi held that Yusuf owed Muhammad tax arrears, while Ottoman records indicate that Muhammad had owed taxes to the Porte, which ordered the beylerbey of Damascus to collect them with Yusuf's assistance shortly before Muhammad's death in 1590 or 1591. Muhammad had set out from Ghazir against Yusuf but was assassinated en route at Musayliha on Yusuf's orders. His death without progeny marked the end of Assaf power.

Muhammad's tax liability was transferred to Yusuf, who was ordered to appropriate all of Muhammad's money, real property and stockpiled goods. Yusuf subsequently confiscated Muhammad's iltizam in Tripoli Eyalet. He took possession of Assaf properties in Beirut, Ghazir and Antelias, either forcibly or by purchasing them from Muhammad's widow. The imperial order further called for Yusuf to imprison Muhammad's kethuda (chief aide) Ghumayda, investigate his books and confiscate his wealth. Although the Porte's order called for Yusuf to transfer all confiscated Assaf assets and moneys to the Ottoman state, he did not comply and kept the possessions for himself. In the same year, he carried out the 1590 imperial order to arrest and execute the Hubaysh brothers. In 1592/93 Husayn ibn Janbulad, the Kurdish chieftain of Kilis and career Ottoman official, was appointed beylerbey of Tripoli, an act which, for unclear reasons, was opposed by Ghumayda, who had since been released and given charge of an iltizam in Tripoli Eyalet. When Ghumayda set out for Constantinople to protest Husayn's appointment, he was killed en route. The Porte, suspecting Husayn's involvement in the killing, canceled his appointment to Tripoli before he could assume the office. The episode may have caused tensions between the Sayfa and Janbulad clans. Yusuf remained in office through 1592, when the Porte issued an order to him regarding the shipment of olive oil-based soap from Tripoli, an important soap production center in the 16th–17th centuries, to Constantinople. The Porte also sent notices to the beylerbey of Damascus that year raising concerns about Yusuf's employment of imperial Janissaries stationed in Damascus.

#### Early conflict with Fakhr al-Din II

In 1593 Yusuf married Muhammad's widow and took control of the Keserwan and Beirut iltizam. His new wife was escorted to Tripoli by his Shia Muslim allies, the Hamade clan. Yusuf's takeover of Beirut and the Keserwan, both of which were part of Damascus Eyalet, gained him the ire of the Damascus provincial government. His increasing proximity to Ma'nid domains in the southern Lebanon range provoked Fakhr al-Din II, the sanjak-bey of Sidon-Beirut Sanjak from 1592 and the son and successor of Qurqumaz ibn Yunis, who had died in the 1585 expedition. In 1598 the Damascus beylerbey Seyyed Mehmed Pasha ordered Fakhr al-Din and Musa al-Harfush of Baalbek to force Yusuf out of the Keserwan and Beirut. Fakhr al-Din and Musa engaged Yusuf's forces in a battle near the Nahr al-Kalb river in the Keserwan, slaying his brother or nephew Ali Sayfa, and conquering Beirut and the Keserwan. Fakhr al-Din held the two territories for one year, before agreeing to withdraw his forces and return both territories to Yusuf after reaching unspecified accommodations with him. The battle at Nahr al-Kalb inaugurated a rivalry between Yusuf and Fakhr al-Din which lasted for the remainder of Yusuf's life. The rivalry became a conspicuous aspect of the local culture, as exemplified in a verse from the wine ode of a contemporary poet addressed to his companion:

> Let us not speak of Ibn Sayfa and Ibn Ma'n
> enemies seek one another out
> What have we to do with wars?
> — Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Akrami al-Salihi of Damascus (d. 1637).

Yusuf engaged the Hamades in 1600 to assault and drive out the muqaddams (local chieftains) of the village of Jaj in the Byblos nahiya in retaliation for their alleged support for Fakhr al-Din. Yusuf furthered his ties with the Damascene Janissaries, allying with one of their two main leaders, Kurd Hamza. In 1601 Yusuf sent 1,000 soldiers to back the Damascene Janissaries when they were blocked from entering Aleppo by an imperial guard. Kurd Hamza repaid Yusuf the following year by participating in his fifty-day siege of Musa in Baalbek. After they captured its citadel, they pillaged several villages in its countryside, including Hadath. In that village, Yusuf executed several captive partisans of Musa because of their alleged culpability in the slaying of Ali Sayfa at Nahr al-Kalb.

#### Conflict with Ali Janbulad

In 1606 Ali ibn Ahmed ibn Janbulad, a nephew of Husayn ibn Janbulad, launched a revolt from Aleppo. Although Ali remained ostensibly loyal to Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, he engaged in secretive talks with the Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand I, to establish an independent realm over Syria; the Tuscans had also been negotiating a secretive alliance with Fakhr al-Din from 1603. Yusuf, fearing the ambitions of the Janbulads and seeking to curry favor with the Porte, requested and obtained from the imperial government military aid and the rank of serdar (commander-in-chief) of the Ottoman forces throughout Syria in late 1606. At the time the bulk of imperial forces were engaged in the war with Austria, compelling the sultan to grant Yusuf's request. Yusuf stood to gain considerable clout by neutralizing the Janbulads without obligating the Porte to intervene directly.

Ali viewed Yusuf as an obstacle to his territorial ambitions in Syria and resolved to kill or capture him. Yusuf's forces, consisting of the imperial and provincial troops of Damascus, Tripoli and Hama, were routed by Ali in a relatively quick battle near Hama on 24 July. Yusuf fled to Tripoli and most of his allies defected to Ali. Fakhr al-Din, despite Ottoman orders to join Yusuf, joined Ali after Hama. Ali and Fakhr al-Din advanced through the Beqaa Valley, while a division of Ali's forces led by his cousin Darwish ibn Habib attacked Tripoli. Yusuf fled the city for Cyprus, leaving command of Tripoli's citadel to his mamluk (slave soldier) Yusuf. Darwish's troops plundered Tripoli's countryside and captured the city after a short battle, taking the treasure stored in the citadel. Fakhr al-Din likely retook the Keserwan from Yusuf about the same time.

From Cyprus Yusuf went to Haifa, a port village controlled by the sanjak-bey of Lajjun, Ahmad Turabay. After securing an escort of Damascene Janissaries, he proceeded to Damascus. Ali and Fakhr al-Din proceeded through Wadi al-Taym, bringing them closer to the city. Yusuf mobilized his Damascene troops, including the Janissaries, which were swelled by soldiers from Jerusalem, Nablus, Gaza, Lajjun, and Ajlun, all sanjaks of Damascus located in Palestine and Transjordan. A dissident Janissary faction led by Kiwan ibn Abdullah secretly collaborated with Fakhr al-Din. Ali and Fakhr al-Din moved their forces to the suburbs of Damascus where Yusuf's troops, led by his nephew Muhammad, were defeated in a battle on 30 September or mid-October.

Part of the Damascene troops retreated into the city, rejecting Ali's demand to surrender Yusuf. The suburbs were then sacked for three days and Yusuf was besieged. He attempted to escape, but the officials of Damascus, alarmed at the potential economic fallout of the city's impending sack, forced him to pay 100,000 gold piasters as compensation before allowing his departure. According to al-Burini, Yusuf did not lead his troops during the Damascus engagements and "remained in hiding among the womenfolk" until he could be "smuggled out of the city by night" under the escort of a Damascene guard. Ali condemned the city's leaders upon hearing of Yusuf's flight, claiming had they "wanted peace and safety they should not have allowed him [Yusuf] to leave, knowing that I only came ... to seek him, because he had bought [a] war against me from the Porte for 50,000 dinars". Ali lifted the siege after being bribed by the Damascenes with Yusuf's forfeited money plus an additional 25,000 piasters.

Yusuf escaped to Krak des Chevaliers, a fortress in the Homs Gap governed by his uncle Mahmud Sayfa. Ali pursued Yusuf and demanded that he make peace sealed by a marriage alliance between their families. They reached an arrangement whereby Yusuf, Fakhr al-Din and Ali wielded practical control over Syria with Ali at their head. Yusuf married off one of his daughters to Ali, while Yusuf's son Husayn was wed to Ali's sister. Abu-Husayn notes the agreement left Yusuf "in the awkward position where he became subservient to the rebel Ali Janbulad, while trying at the same time to remain loyal to the Porte." Ali's revolt was suppressed in 1607–1608 by Grand Vizier Kuyucu Murad Pasha after imperial troops were released from the Austrian front following the Peace of Zsitvatorok.

### Tensions with the government out of office

#### Consolidation of local alliances and dismissal

By the 1600s Yusuf "had become almost completely Syrianized", in the words of Abu-Husayn, by becoming enmeshed in the power structure of Syria's chieftains instead of solely dependent on the Porte, except that he continued to lack his own significant, local power base. His closest local ally was the Kurdish Sunni emir Musa of Ras Nhash. Yusuf's closest Bedouin allies were the Al Musa of the Akkar plain. Among the Druze chieftains of the southern Lebanon, Yusuf was allied with the rivals of Fakhr al-Din, namely Shaykh Muzaffar of Ain Dara in the Jurd nahiya southeast of Beirut, Emir Muhammad ibn Jamal al-Din of Choueifat in the Gharb nahiya south of Beirut and the Sawwaf muqaddams of Chbaniyeh in the Matn nahiya east of Beirut. He also split Harfush ranks by allying with one of the family's chiefs, Shalhub.

By c. 1609 Yusuf had been dismissed by Kuyucu Murad Pasha and replaced by an official from Constantinople, Husayn Pasha al-Jalali. His dismissal may have been intended to check his burgeoning local power or was engineered by Fakhr al-Din, who maintained close ties with the grand vizier dating to the 1590s. To prevent Yusuf from hindering his replacement's attempts to collect taxes in the eyalet, the grand vizier in 1610 instructed the beylerbeys of Damascus and Aleppo and Fakhr al-Din, who was still sanjak-bey of Sidon-Beirut and Safad, to assist al-Jalali in the event. Around that time a kapicibasi (head doorkeeper) sent by the beylerbey of Damascus Ahmad Pasha al-Hafiz to collect a debt from Yusuf was taken captive and executed by Yusuf along with his two attendants. The Porte afterward sent an order to al-Jalali to arrest and punish the killers without naming Yusuf explicitly.

With frayed relations between him and the government, Yusuf sought improved ties with Fakhr al-Din, sending reinforcements to aid the latter's son Ali during a battle with the Damascene Janissaries in the Hauran in 1613. Later that year an expedition by al-Hafiz compelled Fakhr al-Din's flight to Tuscany. Yusuf used the opportunity to reclaim the Porte's favor, sending a force under his son Husayn and nephew Ahmad Sayfa to fight alongside al-Hafiz. The Sayfa force intercepted Ma'nid reinforcements from their Deir al-Qamar headquarters sent to relieve the Ma'n-held Beaufort Castle (Shaqif Arnun) on the Litani River. The Sayfas played the key role in the siege fighting at Beaufort. Husayn began to burn Deir al-Qamar, but was stopped by an official order after the Ma'ns submitted to al-Hafiz. During the expedition, al-Hafiz rewarded the Sayfas by restoring to them Beirut and the Keserwan.

By early 1614, Husayn was made a pasha and appointed beylerbey of Tripoli, though Yusuf unofficially exercised power. The Sidon-Beirut and Safad sanjaks became an eyalet in 1614 and its beylerbey Bustanci Hasan Pasha demanded and received from the Sayfas the tax farm of Beirut; they refused to hand over the Keserwan and repulsed an attempt by Bustanci Hasan to seize it. By 1615, Sidon Eyalet was dissolved and they retook Beirut once more.

#### Ouster from Tripoli

The Sayfas' ascendancy ended in 1616 as a result of imperial and provincial reshuffles. The Sayfas lost a friendly grand vizier in Nasuh Pasha, al-Hafiz was replaced in Damascus by Cherkes Muhammad Pasha who transferred Beirut and the Keserwan to the Ma'ns, Husayn was replaced by al-Jalali and sent to the Safavid front, and Yusuf's enemy Yunus al-Harfush was appointed sanjak-bey of Homs and attacked Yusuf's allies Shalhub and the Al Musa. Yusuf resisted the transfer of the Keserwan and Beirut to the Ma'ns, who subsequently defeated the Sayfas and their Druze allies in four engagements in the southern Lebanon in August. Yusuf's son Hasan, on his way back to Akkar after retreating from the Keserwan was captured by al-Jalali's troops and released after a large bribe by Yusuf. The following year, Husayn was arrested and executed in Aleppo on his way back from the Safavid front, despite Yusuf's attempted bribery of the Porte. As his position with the government deteriorated, Yusuf's nephews, the sons of Ali Sayfa, Muhammad and Sulayman, defected from him. The former had been made sanjak-bey of Jableh in Tripoli Eyalet in late 1615, while the latter proclaimed his alliance with the Ma'ns from his fortress of Tula in Jubbat Bsharri after Husayn's execution. Yusuf stamped out Sulayman's rebellion shortly afterward.

Fakhr al-Din returned to Mount Lebanon in December 1617 and took advantage of Yusuf's weakened position. In 1618/19 Umar Pasha Kittanji was appointed beylerbey of Tripoli, though his practical authority was confined to the city of Tripoli, the countryside being controlled by Yusuf, who refused to forward tax revenues to the new governor. Fakhr al-Din, who offered to help Umar Kittanji assert control over the eyalet, marched against Hisn Akkar, which Yusuf abandoned on 3 February 1619. Fakhr al-Din plundered the fortress and a caravan of provisions bound for Yusuf, who had set up base in Krak des Chevaliers with his Druze allies. Yusuf's young grandson Muhammad ibn Husayn was captured and held hostage by a Ma'nid force, while Fakhr al-Din proceeded to besiege Yusuf on 7 February. Muhammad and Sulayman Sayfa, meanwhile, restated their alliance with the Ma'ns and fortified themselves in Safita. At the same time Yunus al-Harfush captured the Sayfa-held nahiyas of Hermel and Qayraniya, both north of Baalbek.

### Third term

As the siege against Yusuf progressed the Porte, possibly seeking to avoid a total victory by Fakhr al-Din, reinstated Yusuf as beylerbey of Tripoli. Fakhr al-Din and Umar Kittanji pressed their offensive, having the village of Akkar burnt down and recruiting Yusuf's men in the forts of Byblos and Smar Jbeil south of Tripoli. Afterward, the beylerbeys of Damascus and Aleppo moved their troops to Homs and Hama, respectively, to support Yusuf. With the leverage afforded by the government, Yusuf bargained with Fakhr al-Din and Umar Kittanji, who agreed to a bribe of 50,000 piasters each, with an equivalent sum to be paid later. They lifted the siege on 4 March and Yusuf assumed office in Tripoli shortly thereafter.

Yusuf remained under financial strain due to debts owed to the Porte, the beylerbeys of Damascus and Aleppo, and Fakhr al-Din. The latter had taken over Byblos and Jubbat Bsharri during the Krak des Chevaliers siege and Yusuf, unable to pay his debt to Fakhr al-Din, agreed to sublease their iltizam to him for four years in compensation. In 1620 Yusuf attempted to regain the tax farms by offering Fakhr al-Din permanent peace terms, but his offer was rejected. Instead, Fakhr al-Din moved to bribe the Porte 100,000 piasters to have Yusuf replaced by al-Jalali, while Fakhr al-Din's kethuda Mustafa was appointed sanjak-bey of Jableh and Latakia. In response, Yusuf pledged 230,000 piasters to the Porte, resulting in the cancellation of the appointments to al-Jalali and Mustafa before either could assume office. Fakhr al-Din continued machinations against Yusuf, securing an alliance with the Damascus Janissary leaders Kurd Hamza and Kiwan, who pressured Yusuf's son Umar Pasha, the sanjak-bey of Homs, to execute his kethuda over a land dispute. When Yusuf attempted to subjugate his nephew Sulayman in Safita in June 1621, Fakhr al-Din allied with Sulayman and jointly took over the village of Akkar where the Sayfas' houses were again destroyed.

In the following month, the Porte, unable to collect owed taxes from Yusuf, charged Fakhr al-Din with collecting the payment. The Ma'nid emir advanced against Yusuf's domains, capturing the fortress of al-Bahsas south of Tripoli before besieging its citadel. Under pressure, Yusuf, who fled to Jableh, agreed to surrender his properties in Beirut, Ghazir and Antelias to Fakhr al-Din personally, thereby definitively ending Sayfa claims to the Keserwan and Beirut. The siege was maintained until the tax arrears to the Porte were paid. Yusuf persuaded the Porte that Fakhr al-Din was using the tax issue to take over Tripoli Eyalet and promised to pay the arrears. Fakhr al-Din was consequently withdrawn from Tripoli on 2 October 1621, while Yusuf paid part of the arrears out of the silk revenues of the eyalet.

### Fourth term

Yusuf was dismissed from Tripoli on October/November 1622 for failure to remit the balance of the eyalet's tax arrears. He refused to relinquish the post to his replacement, Umar Kittanji, prompting Fakhr al-Din to mobilize his men at Ghazir. Yusuf then fled to Akkar, but was abandoned by his son Beylik, who defected to Fakhr al-Din, his father-in-law. Umar Kittanji assumed office in January 1623, but was unable to extract the tax revenues of the province, which were held by Yusuf. Fakhr al-Din agreed to assist Umar Kittanji in return for the tax farms of Byblos, Jubbat Bsharri, Dinniya and Jabal Akkar. The Porte reinstated Yusuf as beylerbey later on 23 January, which Fakhr al-Din accepted, provided he retain the newly acquired tax farms of the eyalet. To meet his tax obligations to the Porte and avoid further dismissals from Tripoli, Yusuf advanced once more against Sulayman in Safita, but again called off the campaign after Fakhr al-Din mobilized his troops in Bsharri against him.

Beylik, meanwhile, took control of Hisn Akkar and threw in his lot with Fakhr al-Din, who was assisted by Beylik and Sulayman during an expedition near Hama to assist the Bedouin emir of the Al Abu Risha, Mudlij ibn Zahir al-Hayari, against his cousin Husayn ibn Fayyad al-Hayari in November. In 1624 the two Sayfas were joined in their alliance with Fakhr al-Din by Yusuf's son Umar Pasha of Homs. By then, Yusuf's allies Shalhub and Muzaffar al-Andari had also defected to Fakhr al-Din. In the spring the Porte dismissed Yusuf as beylerbey, but he refused to turn over the city to his replacement Umar Kittanji, who alternatively docked his ship in the port of Batroun, which was controlled by the Ma'ns, in April. From Tripoli Yusuf negotiated with the Porte to reinstate him on the one hand, and with Fakhr al-Din, whose assistance was requested by Umar Kittanji, to stall the Druze emir from military action. By August he had secured his reinstatement and bribed Fakhr al-Din to hold off an assault. His authority was effectively restricted to the city of Tripoli, Krak des Chevaliers, the Jabala Sanjak governed by his son Qasim, and the Koura nahiya held by the Kurdish emirs of Ras Nhash; the rest of the eyalet, namely the nahiyas of Jubbat Bsharri, Batroun, Byblos, Dinniyeh and Akkar and the sanjaks of Safita and Homs, were in the hands of Fakhr al-Din or his Sayfa allies.

## Death and legacy

Yusuf died on 14 or 15 Sha'ban 1034 AH/21 or 22 July 1625. Naima noted that Yusuf had lived for considerably longer than a century. The Aleppine historian Abu al-Wafa al-Urdi (d. 1660), remarked that a Sufi religious leader considered Yusuf to be among four men of whom "time had become weary". In the words of Abu-Husayn, Yusuf's "arrival as a levend in Syria had started the history of the Sayfa family there ... his death, for all practical purposes, brought this history to an end".

### Residual influence and demise of the Sayfas

The divisions within the Sayfa household deepened with Yusuf's death. Three of his surviving sons, Qasim, Mahmud and Beylik divided his domains with Qasim given control of Tripoli city. His rule was not recognized by the Porte, which appointed Mustafa Pasha ibn Iskandar beylerbey in late 1625. The new governor allied with Fakhr al-Din, appointed Sulayman to Hisn Akkar, and moved against Yusuf's sons. Qasim fled to the Margat fortress in Jabala Sanjak, and Beylik and Mahmud fled to Krak des Chevaliers. Fakhr al-Din turned against Sulayman, attacking Safita and forcing him to seek protection with Mudlij al-Hayari in the Abu Risha stronghold of Salamiyah. The Bedouin emir executed Sulayman in late 1625 or early 1626 on the Porte's orders for alleged collaboration with the Safavids. Around that time Yusuf's sons surrendered Margat and Krak des Chevaliers to Fakhr al-Din, who interceded on their behalf with Mustafa Pasha. Two more beylerbeys were successively appointed to Tripoli, Umar Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha, before Fakhr al-Din was given the post in 1627, which he held until his imprisonment by the Porte in 1633.

Afterward, Qasim was made a pasha and appointed beylerbey in 1634. Upon being ordered to the Safavid front later that year he pretended insanity and was replaced by his nephew Ali Sayfa, the son of Yusuf's daughter. Yusuf's son Assaf, whose mother, Malak Sama bint Abdullah, was a concubine, drove Ali out of Tripoli after two months in office. Ali then allied with Ali Alam al-Din, the Ottoman-appointed successor of Fakhr al-Din over the Druze iltizam of southern Mount Lebanon, and with his support defeated Assaf and retook control of Tripoli, as well as Batroun and Byblos, in late 1635. In 1636 Ali was replaced as beylerbey by Mustafa Pasha Nishanji, who appointed Ali over Byblos, Batroun and Dinniya. When Nishanji was sent to the Safavid front, he made Assaf his placeholder over the eyalet to Ali's chagrin. Strife ensued between the two Sayfa chiefs, which caused heavy casualties and financial strain among the eyalet's inhabitants, who were obligated to pay each chief the same taxes. After Ali was defeated near Arqa, the two Sayfas were reconciled though the mediation of the Abu Risha emir Tarbush. Before the end of the year, a new beylerbey was appointed to Tripoli, Barjal Ahmad, and not long after, in 1637, the reconciliation between Assaf and Ali unraveled for unclear reasons. Ali was backed by Barjal Ahmad and Alam al-Din, while Assaf was supported by Mulhim, Fakhr al-Din's nephew and successor over the Ma'ns, and the Abu Risha emir Assaf ibn Mudlij. The latter faction moved against Ali, chasing him into the Alawite Mountains.

The Porte appointed Shahin Pasha to replace Barjal Ahmad with explicit orders to destroy the Sayfa family. He invited the Safya chiefs to meet in his camp in the Homs Gap where he trapped and executed Assaf, hanging his body at Krak des Chevaliers, while Ali, suspicious of the summons, fled the eyalet. Shahin Pasha proceeded to exterminate any Sayfas in and around Tripoli and confiscated their properties. The only recorded survivors of the family were Ali, Assaf's mother Malak, and a certain Sulayman Sayfa whose relation to Yusuf was not clarified by the sources. Ali took refuge with Alam al-Din in the southern Lebanon, while Sulayman was reported in the Akkar nahiya in 1640. That year, he fought a government force in the area then fled, with nothing else known about him. Malak retired to the Qaymariyya quarter of Damascus and was recorded living there later in the century by the historian Muhammad al-Muhibbi (d. 1699). According to Muhibbi, when asked about her family, she recited a verse lamenting their demise. With the elimination of the Sayfas, the family "appear[s] to have been completely forgotten" in the region, according to Abu-Husayn.

## Assessment

The sources present a mixed assessment of the rule of Yusuf and the Sayfa family in general. The Sunni Muslim Tripolitanian scholar Mustafa Jamal al-Din Ibn Karama offered the most positive view of Yusuf's rule, writing "In his eyalet, the ra'iyya (subjects) sleep in peace, and wake up happy because he is there". Ibn Karama, al-Burini, al-Muhibbi, al-Urdi, Najm al-Din Muhammad al-Ghazzi (d. 1651) and Ramadan al-Utayfi (d. 1684), all members of the urban Sunni Muslim scholarly establishment in Syria, indicate that Yusuf was known for his generosity and patronage of poets and Sufis. Examples include Yusuf's protection of the Sufi sheikh Ahmad al-Kawakibi of Aleppo who fled the persecution of Aleppo's beylerbey Husayn ibn Janbulad in the 1600s, his financial assistance to the impoverished Hanafi mufti and poet Ibrahim al-Batruni of Aleppo, and the generous treatment of al-Burini upon his visit to Tripoli and Akkar in 1599/1600. Remarking on the Sayfa family's generosity, al-Utayfi wrote "People, whether needy or not, called on them from various regions; it is said that they have revived the days of the Barmakids", who were known for their generosity. Salibi asserts Yusuf's spending and patronage partly caused his consistently poor financial state. Likewise, Abu-Husayn holds that Yusuf's generosity represented "a costly means to gain recognition" amid persistent financial difficulties, which frequently resulted in his dismissal from office or his loss of fiscal districts. The view of Yusuf by imperial Ottoman officialdom is reflected in Naima's assessment:

> Yusuf Pasha was a devious old man with a white beard, a sunburnt complexion, and a long face. He killed many men in Tripoli and threw them into a well, so that nobody could say that the Pasha killed any one. He terrorized people to that extent, and by so doing he managed to acquire large amounts of money, burying many treasures in various ruins.

In the assessment of Salibi, because the inhabitants of the Akkar, like the townspeople of Tripoli, were predominantly Sunni Muslims and were loyal, or at least not opposed in principle to the Ottoman state, which they considered the global bastion of Sunni Islam, Yusuf "stood to gain ... [the inhabitants'] support" by serving the Ottomans. Although the Sunni Muslim townspeople and peasants generally supported Yusuf, who maintained close relations with the Ottoman officials of Tripoli, his local manpower remained opportunistic and not loyal to him personally.

Yusuf strove to gain the trust of the Maronites of Byblos, Batroun and Jubbat Bsharri, for whom the Ottomans were generally unpopular. To that end he fended off an attack against the Maronites of Jubbat Bsharri by Shia Muslim peasants from Baalbek in 1602. Duwayhi, who calls Yusuf "a great emir", noted the friendly ties between Yusuf and one of Duwayhi's predecessors, Patriarch Yusuf al-Ruzzi (1597–1608), for whom Yusuf frequently secured permits of safe conduct. Duwayhi also stated that under Yusuf, Maronites who had professed Islam to secure their personal interests reverted to publicly proclaiming their Christian faith. Nonetheless, Yusuf continued to be viewed as an agent of the state and its oppressive policies by the Maronite peasantry. His oversight of the Porte-ordered quartering of troops in 1607 led to the abandonment of four Maronite villages in Batroun, while his excessive taxation on fruit trees in 1621 led to the ruin of eight villages in Jubbat Bsharri and the flight of many Maronites to Damascus and Aleppo. The Maronites preferred the rule of Fakhr al-Din, a practically independent native who had considerable support from the Maronites' Catholic coreligionists in the Italian states. The English traveler George Sandys, who visited Syria in 1610, noted: "this Joseph [Yusuf Sayfa] [was] hated of his people for his excessive tyrannie."

Neither Yusuf nor the other Sayfas invested in or promoted the economic development of Tripoli and its eyalet. There are no indications in the sources that they took an interest in the city's soap industry, though a barracks built by Yusuf in Tripoli later became the city's Soap Caravanserai (Khan al-Saboun). Instead of fostering commerce in Tripoli's well-positioned port with its easy access to the major cities of the Syrian interior, Yusuf committed acts discouraging foreign trade. One of the acts recorded by the sources was his confiscation of the gold, goods and cloth of two Venetian ships docked in Tripoli's harbor in 1623. Yusuf concocted evidence that the ships' crews were Maltese pirates and consequently had all eighty crew members beheaded on the shore. The Venetian consul in Izmir went to Tripoli to investigate, but was threatened by Yusuf's secret messengers that he would execute all the European residents in Tripoli if the investigation continued. According to al-Khalidi, no foreign ships docked at Tripoli after the incident. The eyalet under the Sayfas' underwent a gradual economic decline. In contrast, under Fakhr al-Din the ports of Beirut, Sidon and Acre thrived while agriculture prospered in the Galilee and the southern Lebanon. Upon his appointment to Tripoli in 1627, Fakhr al-Din planted thousands of mulberry trees to stimulate the eyalet's silk production. In the words of Salibi, Yusuf was "a poor manager of affairs", and lacked the imagination and energy of Fakhr al-Din, to whom he was indebted.

Ottoman Tripoli region governor (c. 1510–1625)

16th-century people from the Ottoman Empire

17th-century people from the Ottoman Empire


Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. The sequel to The Phantom Menace (1999), it is the fifth film in the Star Wars film series and second chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". The film stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz, Temuera Morrison, Silas Carson, and Jimmy Smits.

The story is set ten years after The Phantom Menace, as thousands of planetary systems slowly secede from the Galactic Republic and join the newly formed Confederacy of Independent Systems, led by former Jedi Master Count Dooku. With the galaxy on the brink of civil war, Obi-Wan Kenobi investigates a mysterious assassination attempt on Senator Padmé Amidala, which leads him to uncover a clone army in service of the Republic and the truth behind the Separatist movement. Meanwhile, his apprentice Anakin Skywalker is assigned to protect Amidala and develops a secret romance with her. Soon, the trio witness the onset of a new threat to the galaxy: the Clone Wars.

Development of Attack of the Clones began in March 2000, some months after the release of The Phantom Menace. By June 2000, Lucas and Hales completed a draft of the script, and principal photography took place from June to September 2000. The film crew primarily shot at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, Australia, with additional footage filmed in Tunisia, Spain, and Italy. It was one of the first motion pictures shot completely on a high-definition digital 24-frame system.

The film was released in the United States on May 16, 2002. It received mixed reviews from critics; the film's increased focus on action was praised, while the characters and dialogue were regarded more critically. It performed well at the box office, making over \$645 million worldwide. However, it became the first Star Wars film to get outgrossed in its year of release, placing third domestically after Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and fourth-highest-grossing worldwide after the latter two films and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Revenge of the Sith (2005) followed Attack of the Clones, concluding the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

## Plot

Ten years after the battle at Naboo, the Galactic Republic is threatened by a Separatist movement organized by former Jedi Master Count Dooku. Senator Padmé Amidala travels to Coruscant to vote against a motion to create an army to assist the Jedi against the threat. Narrowly avoiding an assassination attempt upon arrival, she is placed under the protection of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker. The pair thwart a second assassination attempt on Padmé. They subdue the assassin, Zam Wesell, whose employer, a bounty hunter, kills her before she reveals his identity. The Jedi Council instructs Obi-Wan to find the bounty hunter, while Anakin is tasked to protect Padmé and escort her to Naboo. Despite the Jedi Code that forbids attachments, the two fall in love.

Obi-Wan's search leads to Kamino, an ocean planet. There he discovers a clone army is being produced for the Republic under the name of Sifo-Dyas, a deceased Jedi Master. The bounty hunter Jango Fett serves as their genetic template. Obi-Wan deduces Jango is the bounty hunter he is seeking, and after a brief battle, places a homing beacon on Jango's ship, Slave I. He then follows Jango and his clone son, Boba, to the planet Geonosis. Meanwhile, Anakin is troubled by visions of his mother, Shmi, in pain, and returns to his homeworld of Tatooine with Padmé to save her. Watto reveals he sold Shmi to moisture farmer Cliegg Lars, who then freed and married her. Cliegg says Tusken Raiders abducted Shmi one month earlier and she is likely dead. Anakin finds her at the Tusken campsite, barely alive. After she dies in his arms, an enraged Anakin massacres the entire tribe. He later confesses his actions to Padmé and vows to prevent the deaths of those he loves.

On Geonosis, Obi-Wan discovers a Separatist gathering led by Count Dooku, who is developing a droid army with Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray. He ordered the assassination attempts on Padmé. Obi-Wan transmits his findings to the Jedi Council but is captured by Separatist droids. Dooku meets Obi-Wan in his cell and explains his role in the Confederacy of Independent Systems' formation, while implying that the Sith Lord Darth Sidious controls a large portion of the Galactic Senate. He invites Obi-Wan to help him stop Sidious. When Obi-Wan refuses, Dooku says Obi-Wan's late master and Dooku's former apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn would have, had he been alive. Meanwhile, Senate Representative Jar Jar Binks proposes a successful vote to grant emergency powers to Chancellor Palpatine, allowing the clone army to be authorized.

Anakin and Padmé head to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan. While in the Geonosian droid factory, Anakin loses his lightsaber before Jango captures them. In an arena, Dooku sentences the trio to death at the hands of the Reek, the Nexu and the Acklay. A battalion of clone troopers led by Yoda, Mace Windu, and other Jedi suddenly arrive; Windu beheads Jango during the ensuing battle. Obi-Wan and Anakin intercept Dooku and engage in a lightsaber duel. Dooku injures Obi-Wan and severs Anakin's right arm; Yoda intervenes and defends them. To distract Yoda, Dooku uses the Force in an attempt to kill Anakin and Obi-Wan. Dooku escapes to Coruscant and delivers the schematics for a super-weapon to Sidious. The Council is disturbed by Dooku's statement that Sidious controls the Senate. As the Jedi acknowledge the Clone Wars is beginning, Anakin is fitted with a robotic arm and secretly marries Padmé on Naboo.

## Cast

- Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi Knight and mentor to his Padawan learner, Anakin Skywalker, who investigates the assassination attempt of Padmé, leading him to discover the production of a Clone Army for the Galactic Republic. In the 10 years since The Phantom Menace, he has grown wiser and more powerful in the use of the Force.
- Natalie Portman as Padmé Amidala: Former Queen of Naboo, who has recently been elected the planet's Senator, and Anakin's love interest.
- Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker: A 19-year-old former slave from Tatooine and Obi-Wan's gifted Padawan apprentice who is assigned to protect Padmé with whom he falls in love. He is believed to be the "chosen one" of Jedi prophecy destined "to bring balance to The Force." In the 10 years since The Phantom Menace, he has grown powerful but arrogant, and believes that Obi-Wan is holding him back. A large search for an actor to portray Anakin Skywalker was performed. Lucas auditioned various actors, mostly unknown, before casting Christensen. Among the many established actors who auditioned were Jonathan Brandis, Devon Sawa, Topher Grace, Joshua Jackson, Ryan Phillippe, Colin Hanks, and Paul Walker. Leonardo DiCaprio also met with Lucas for the role, but was "definitely unavailable" according to DiCaprio publicist Ken Sunshine. Co-star Natalie Portman later told Time magazine that Christensen "gave a great reading. He could simultaneously be scary and really young."
- Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine / Darth Sidious: A former senator from Naboo, as well as a secret Sith Lord, who amasses vast emergency powers as the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic upon the outbreak of the Clone Wars.
- Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu: A Jedi Master sitting on the Jedi Council who warily watches the Galactic Senate's politics.
- Christopher Lee as Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus: A former Jedi Master and the old mentor of Obi-Wan's late master Qui-Gon Jinn, who is now the puppet leader of the Separatist movement as well as Darth Sidious' new Sith apprentice and a suspect in Obi-Wan's investigation.
- Anthony Daniels as C-3PO: A protocol droid built by Anakin as a child who now serves the Lars family on Tatooine.
- Kenny Baker as R2-D2: Anakin's astromech droid who often accompanies him and Obi-Wan on missions.
- Frank Oz as Yoda: The centuries-old Jedi Grandmaster of an unknown alien species. In addition to leading the Jedi Council, Yoda is the instructor for the young Jedi Padawans/"Younglings".

Pernilla August, Ahmed Best, Oliver Ford Davies, and Andy Secombe reprise their roles from The Phantom Menace as Shmi Skywalker, Jar Jar Binks, Sio Bibble, and Watto, respectively. Silas Carson also reprises his role from that film as both Nute Gunray, the Viceroy of the Trade Federation; and Ki-Adi-Mundi, a Cerean Jedi Master sitting on the Jedi Council. Jimmy Smits portrays Bail Organa, a senator from Alderaan. Temuera Morrison portrays Jango Fett, a bounty hunter who gave his DNA for use by the cloning facilities on Kamino for the creation of the clone army. Daniel Logan portrays a young Boba Fett, Jango Fett's clone and adopted son.

Jack Thompson, Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse appear as members of the Lars family and homestead; respectively as Cliegg Lars, Shmi's husband, Owen's father and Anakin's stepfather; Owen Lars, Cliegg's son, Shmi's stepson, and Anakin's stepbrother; and Beru Whitesun, Owen's girlfriend. Leeanna Walsman appears as Zam Wesell, a shapeshifting Clawdite bounty hunter and partner of Jango Fett, who was given the task of assassinating Padmé. Jay Laga'aia appears as Gregar Typho, Padmé's newly appointed captain of security. Rose Byrne and Alethea McGrath briefly appear as Dormé, Padmé's handmaiden and as Jocasta Nu, the librarian at the Jedi Temple, respectively. Ronald Falk provides the voice of Dexter Jettster, Obi-Wan's Besalisk friend who runs a diner on Coruscant and informs him about Kamino.

Daniels and Best also make cameo appearances as Dannl Faytonni and Achk Med-Beq, respectively, attendees of the Coruscant Outlander Club who witness Anakin and Obi-Wan capturing Zam Wesell. E! reported that Lucas had asked NSYNC to film a small background cameo appearance, in order to satisfy his daughters. They were subsequently cut out of the film in post-production, although briefly visible during a crowd shot from above. The end credits erroneously list Alan Ruscoe as playing Neimoidian senator Lott Dod. The character was actually another Neimoidian, played by an uncredited David Healy and voiced by Christopher Truswell. Archival recordings of Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn from The Phantom Menace, appear as a disembodied ghostly voice heard by Anakin through the Force as he was slaughtering the Tusken Raiders; Qui-Gon also appears earlier in the film in the form of a statue in his likeness during a background scene when Obi-Wan visits the Jedi Archives. Fiona Johnson reprised her The Matrix (1999) role as the Woman in the Red Dress in an Easter egg cameo appearance, with her character named "Hayde Gofai" in later Star Wars media, briefly offering a seductive look to Anakin Skywalker at the Outlander Club.

## Production

### Writing

After the mixed critical response to The Phantom Menace, Lucas was hesitant to return to the writing desk. In March 2000, just three months before the start of principal photography, Lucas finally completed his rough draft for Episode II. Lucas continued to iterate on his rough draft, producing a proper first and second draft. For help with the third draft, which would later become the shooting script, Lucas brought on Jonathan Hales, who had written several episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles for him, but had limited experience writing theatrical films. The final script was completed just one week before the start of principal photography.

As an in-joke, the film's working title was Jar Jar's Great Adventure, a sarcastic reference to the negative fan response to the Episode I character.

In writing The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas initially decided that Lando Calrissian was a clone and came from a planet of clones which caused the "Clone Wars" mentioned by Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope; he later came up with an alternate concept of an army of clone shocktroopers from a remote planet which were used by the Republic as an army in the war that followed.

### Filming

Principal photography occurred between June 26, 2000, and September 20, 2000, at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney. Location shooting took place in the Tunisian desert, at the Plaza de España in Seville, London, China, Vancouver, San Diego, and Italy (Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como, and in the former royal Palace of Caserta). At his own personal request, Samuel L. Jackson's character Mace Windu received a lightsaber that emits a purple glow, as opposed to traditional blue and green for "good guys" and red for "bad guys". Reshoots were performed in March 2001. During this time, a new action sequence was developed featuring the droid factory after Lucas had decided that the film lacked a quick enough pace in the corresponding time-frame. The sequence's previsualization was rushed, and the live-action footage was shot within four and a half hours. Because of Lucas' method of creating shots through various departments and sources that are sometimes miles and years apart from each other, Attack of the Clones became the first film ever to be produced through what Rick McCallum called "virtual filmmaking". Back at Fox Studios, the stages from McGregor's other film Moulin Rouge! were reused during filming.

Like The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones furthered technological development, effectively moving Hollywood into the "digital age" with the use of the HDW-F900, developed by Sony and Panavision, a digital camera using an HD digital 24-frame system. This spawned controversy over the benefits and disadvantages of digital cinematography that continues as more filmmakers "convert" to digital filmmaking while many filmmakers oppose it. In contrast to previous installments, for which scenes were shot in the Tunisian desert in temperatures up to 125 °F (51 °C), the camera would still run without complications. Lucas had stated that he wished to film The Phantom Menace on this format but Sony was unable to build the cameras quickly enough. In 2002, Attack of the Clones became the third film to be released that was shot entirely on a 24p digital camera (preceded by 2001's Jackpot and Vidocq). The cameras record in the 16:9 HDCAM format (1080p), although the image was cropped to a 2.40:1 widescreen ratio. The area above and below the 2.40 extraction area was available for Lucas to reframe the picture as necessary in post-production. Despite Lucas' efforts to persuade movie theaters to switch to digital projectors for viewing of Episode II, few theaters did.

### Visual effects

The film relied almost solely on digital animatics as opposed to storyboards in order to previsualize sequences for editing early on in the film's production. While Lucas had used other ways of producing motion-based storyboards in the past, after The Phantom Menace the decision was made to take advantage of the growing digital technology. The process began with Ben Burtt's creation of what the department dubbed as "videomatics", so called because they were shot on a household videocamera. In these videomatics, production assistants and relatives of the department workers acted out scenes in front of greenscreen. Using computer-generated imagery (CGI), the previsualization department later filled in the green screen with rough background footage. Burtt then cut together this footage and sent it off to Lucas for changes and approval. The result was a rough example of what the final product was intended to be. The previsualization department then created a finer version of the videomatic by creating an animatic, in which the videomatic actors, props, and sets were replaced by digital counterparts to give a more precise, but still rough, look at what would eventually be seen. The animatic was later brought on set and shown to the actors so that they could understand the concept of the scene they were filming in the midst of the large amount of bluescreen used. Unlike most of the action sequences, the Battle of Geonosis was not story-boarded or created through videomatics but was sent straight to animatics after the department received a small vague page on the sequence. The intent was to create a number of small events that would be edited together for pacing inside the finished film. The animatics department was given a free hand regarding events to be created within the animatic; Lucas only asked for good action shots that he could choose from and approve later.

In addition to introducing the digital camera, Attack of the Clones emphasized "digital doubles" as computer-generated models that doubled for actors, in the same way that traditional stunt doubles did. It also furthered the authenticity of computer-generated characters by introducing a new, completely CGI-created version of the character Yoda. Rob Coleman and John Knoll prepared two tests featuring a CGI-animated Yoda using audio from The Empire Strikes Back. Yoda's appearance in Episode V also served as the reference point for the creation of the CGI Yoda; Lucas repeatedly stated to the animation department that "the trick" to the animation of the CGI Yoda was to make him like the puppet from which he was based, in order to maintain a flow of continuity. Frank Oz (voice and puppeteer for Yoda in the original trilogy and The Phantom Menace) was consulted; his main piece of advice was that Yoda should look extremely old, sore, and frigid. Coleman later explained the process of making the digital Yoda like the puppet version, by saying "When Frank [Oz] would move the head, the ears would jiggle. If we hadn't put that in, it wouldn't look like Yoda." Because of the acrobatics of the lightsaber fight between Count Dooku and Yoda, the then 78-year-old Christopher Lee relied on a stunt double to perform the most demanding scenes instead. Lee's face was superimposed onto the double's body in all shots other than close-ups, which he performed himself. Lucas often called the duel crucial to the animation department, as it had such potential to be humorous rather than dramatic.

### Music

The soundtrack to the film was released on April 23, 2002, by Sony Classical Records. The music was composed and conducted by John Williams, and performed by the London Voices and London Symphony Orchestra. The soundtrack recreates "The Imperial March" from the film The Empire Strikes Back for its first chronological appearance in Attack of the Clones, even though a hint of it appeared in the previous movie in one of the final scenes. A music video for the main theme "Across the Stars" was produced specifically for the DVD.

On March 15, 2016, a limited edition vinyl version of the soundtrack was released. Only 1,000 copies were pressed initially.

## Themes

Lucas has noted that Palpatine's rise to power is very similar to that of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany; as Chancellor of Germany, the latter was granted emergency powers, as is Palpatine. Comparisons have been made to Octavian—who became Augustus, the first emperor of Rome—and to Napoleon Bonaparte, who rose to power in France from 1796 to 1799. Octavian was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of political opponents well before he was granted tribunician powers; Bonaparte was appointed First Consul for life (and later Emperor) by the French Consulate after a failed attempt on his life and the subsequent coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. References to the American Civil War can also be discerned. War journalism, combat films, and footage of World War II combat influenced the documentary-style camera work of the Battle of Geonosis, even to the point that hand-held shakes were digitally added to computer-generated sequences.

English scholar Anne Lancashire describes Attack of the Clones as "thoroughly political in its narrative", to the point that interpersonal relations are made subordinate to the political drama that unfolds, and "a critique of the increasing role played by economic and political appetite in contemporary First World international politics in general". In this political drama, the Trade Federation, the former idealist Dooku, and Palpatine "[represent] the economic and political greed and ambition ... of the political and business classes", while the intuition of the Jedi has been clouded by the dark side of the Force. The cityscape of Coruscant, the location of the Jedi Temple, is a dystopian environment that refers to 1982's Blade Runner. Nevertheless, the Jedi endure as the heroes; Obi-Wan's role has been noted as similar to that of James Bond, and Zam Wesell's attempt on Padmé's life is similar to a scene in the first 007 film, Dr. No. Furthermore, the Geonosis arena fight scene is a reference to the 2000 Ridley Scott film, Gladiator.

The prequel trilogy films often refer to the original trilogy in order to help connect the films together. Lucas has often referred to the films as a long poem that rhymes. Such examples include the line "I have a bad feeling about this", a phrase used in each film, and lightsaber duels which almost always occur over a pit. As with Attack of the Clones, The Empire Strikes Back was the middle film in a trilogy, and of the original trilogy films, The Empire Strikes Back is the object of the most references in Attack of the Clones. In both films, an asteroid field is the backdrop of a major star battle in the middle of the film. Obi-Wan escapes Jango Fett by attaching his spacecraft to an asteroid in order to disappear from the enemy sensors; Han Solo uses a similar tactic by attaching the Millennium Falcon to a Star Destroyer in The Empire Strikes Back. As a retcon, John Knoll confirms on the film's DVD commentary that Boba Fett, who would later catch Solo in the act in The Empire Strikes Back, "learned his lesson" from the events of Attack of the Clones. The Galactic Republic's clone troopers also establish the origin of the stormtroopers that play an important role in the original trilogy. The titles of both films refer to the response of the primary galactic government to a threat of rebellion.

## Release

### Marketing

In November 2001, three teaser trailers for Attack of the Clones were released, which were shown on the Internet, as well as the DVD-ROM selection of The Phantom Menace. The first one was released on November 2 with the Disney Pixar film Monsters, Inc. in theaters. A second teaser debuted online three days later on November 5. This was followed by a third teaser trailer, which was released on November 16 with the global release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States. Just like its predecessor, fans paid full admission at theaters to see the trailers. The next trailer premiered on Fox Network on March 10, 2002, between Malcolm in the Middle and The X-Files, followed by a theatrical debut five days later on March 15 with the opening of Ice Age. It was made available on the official Star Wars website the same day. The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas from Chicago predicted before the film's release that U.S. companies could lose more than \$319 million in productivity due to employees calling in sick and then heading to theaters to see the film.

### Theatrical

The film premiered as part of the inaugural Tribeca Film Festival at the BMCC Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St. in New York City at a Sunday, May 12 set of screenings benefitting the Children's Aid Society, a charity supported by George Lucas. Attack of the Clones was then screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, before getting a worldwide theatrical release on May 16, 2002. The film was also later released in IMAX theaters; the film had not been filmed for IMAX but was "up converted" with the digital remastering process. Because of the technical limitations of the IMAX projector at the time, an edited, 120-minute version of the film was presented.

Before the film's release, there was a string of controversies regarding copyright infringement. In 2000, an underground organization calling itself the Atlas Group, based in Perth, Western Australia offered a copy of the screenplay, with an asking price of US\$100,000, to various fan sites and media organizations, including TheForce.Net. The scheme was subsequently reported to Lucasfilm Ltd. by the fan site.

An unauthorized copy was allegedly made at a private showing, using a digital recorder that was pointed at the screen. This copy spread over the internet, and analysts predicted up to a million fans would have seen the film before the day of its release. In addition, authorities seized thousands of bootlegs throughout Kuala Lumpur before the film opened.

### Home media

Attack of the Clones was released on DVD and VHS on November 12, 2002. On the first day of release, over 4 million DVD copies were sold, becoming the third-highest single-day DVD sales of any film, behind Monsters, Inc. and Spider-Man. This THX certified two-disc DVD release consists of widescreen and pan and scan fullscreen versions. The set contains one disc with the film and the other one with bonus features. The first disc features three randomized selected menus, which are Coruscant, Kamino and Geonosis. There is an Easter egg located in the options menu. When the THX Optimizer is highlighted, the viewer can press 1-1-3-8. By doing this, some bloopers and DVD credits will be shown. The DVD also features an audio commentary from director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, editor and sound designer Ben Burtt, ILM animation director Rob Coleman, and ILM visual effects supervisors Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow. Eight deleted scenes are included along with multiple documentaries, which include a full-length documentary about the creation of digital characters and two others that focus on sound design and the animatics team. Three featurettes examine the storyline, action scenes, and love story, and a set of 12 short web documentaries cover the overall production of the film.

The Attack of the Clones DVD also features a trailer for a mockumentary-style short film known as R2-D2: Beneath the Dome. Some stores offered the full mockumentary as an exclusive bonus disc for a small extra charge. The film gives an alternate look at the "life" of the droid R2-D2. The story, which Lucas approved, was meant to be humorous.

The film was re-released in a prequel trilogy DVD box set on November 4, 2008.

The six-film Star Wars saga was released on Blu-ray Disc on September 16, 2011, in three different editions.

On April 7, 2015, Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, and Lucasfilm jointly announced the digital releases of the six released Star Wars films. Attack of the Clones was released through the iTunes Store, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play, and Disney Movies Anywhere on April 10, 2015.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment reissued Attack of the Clones on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on September 22, 2019. Additionally, all six films were available for 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos streaming on Disney+ upon the service's launch on November 12, 2019. This version of the film was released by Disney on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on March 31, 2020, whilst being re-released on Blu-ray and DVD.

### 3D re-release

On September 28, 2010 (2010-09-28), it was announced that all six films in the series were to be stereo-converted to 3D, and re-released in chronological order beginning with The Phantom Menace which was released on February 10, 2012 (2012-02-10). Attack of the Clones was originally scheduled to be re-released in 3D on September 20, 2013 (2013-09-20), but was postponed due to Lucasfilm's desire to focus on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, the 3D presentation of the film was first shown at Celebration Europe II from July 26 to 28, 2013.

## Reception

### Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones benefits from an increased emphasis on thrilling action, although they're once again undercut by ponderous plot points and underdeveloped characters." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 39 critics, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as the previous film.

Numerous critics characterized the dialogue as "stiff" and "flat". The acting was also disparaged by some critics. Conversely, other critics felt fans would be pleased to see that Jar Jar Binks has only a minor role. Additionally, Jar Jar's attempts at comic relief seen in The Phantom Menace were toned down; instead, C-3PO reprised some of his bumbling traditions in that role. McGregor referred to the swordplay in the film as "unsatisfactory" when comparing it to the climactic duel in Revenge of the Sith as it neared release. ReelViews.net's James Berardinelli gave a positive review, saying "in a time when, more often than not, sequels disappoint, it's refreshing to uncover something this high-profile that fulfills the promise of its name and adds another title to a storied legacy."

Roger Ebert, who had praised the previous Star Wars films, gave Episode II only two out of four stars, noting "[As] someone who admired the freshness and energy of the earlier films, I was amazed, at the end of Episode II, to realize that I had not heard one line of quotable, memorable dialogue." About Anakin and Padme's relationship, Ebert stated, "There is not a romantic word they exchange that has not long since been reduced to cliché." Leonard Maltin, who also liked all of the previous installments, awarded two stars out of four to this endeavor as well, as seen in his Movie and Video Guide from the 2002 edition onward. Maltin cited an "overlong story" as reason for his dissatisfaction and added "Wooden characterizations and dialogue don't help." While TheWrap considered Attack of the Clones a "marginal improvement" over The Phantom Menace, Screen Rant ranked it as inferior to Episode I and as the worst Star Wars film overall, citing its romance story, characterization, and acting as weak points. Some film critics and fans criticized the CGI model of Yoda and his lightsaber fight; while many loved it, others believed it went against his character.

### Box office

During its opening day, Attack of the Clones made \$30.1 million, combined with \$6 million from midnight screenings. At that point, it had the highest Thursday gross of any film, taking the former record held by Independence Day. It would go on to make \$116.3 million within its first four days, making it the second-fastest film to approach the \$100 million mark, behind Spider-Man. Plus, it had grossed over \$80 million over the weekend, becoming the third-highest three-day opening weekend of all time, after Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Spider-Man. Attack of the Clones had the highest opening weekend for a 20th Century Fox film until 2003 when it was taken by X2. That year, The Matrix Reloaded beat Attack of the Clones for having the biggest Thursday opening of any film. The film would stay at the top of the box office for two weeks until it was dethroned by The Sum of All Fears.

Attack of the Clones grossed \$310,676,740 in North America and \$338,721,588 overseas for a worldwide total of \$649,398,328. Though a box office success, it was nevertheless overshadowed by the even greater box office success of The Phantom Menace three years earlier. It was not the top-grossing film of the year, either in North America (where it finished in third place) or worldwide (where it was fourth), the first time that a Star Wars film did not have this distinction. In North America, it was outgrossed by Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, both of which were more favorably received by critics. Worldwide, it was also outgrossed by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Adjusted for inflation, Attack of the Clones is the lowest-performing live-action Star Wars film at the North American box office, though is still among the 100 highest-grossing films of all time when adjusted for inflation. The film sold an estimated 52,012,300 tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run.

Internationally, Attack of the Clones made \$69.1 million during its opening weekend from 71 countries, breaking Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone's record for having the largest international opening weekend. The combined total gross increased to \$173.9 million, making it the highest worldwide opening weekend at that time. It made a total opening weekend gross of \$54 million in Europe, with \$17 million from the UK, \$11 million from Germany, \$7.6 million from France and \$4.5 million from Spain. The film also recorded the highest opening weekend in Hungary, surpassing The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. With a total gross of \$954,000, Attack of the Clones had the second-highest opening of any film in Singapore, behind The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Meanwhile, in Japan, it earned a total of \$13.8 million in its first two days of release, joining The Phantom Menace, Mission: Impossible 2 and A.I. Artificial Intelligence to rank themselves in the list of the country's top five highest opening weekends of all time. Outside the United States and Canada, the film grossed over \$10 million in Australia (\$18.9 million), France and Algeria (\$30.6 million), Germany (\$35 million), Italy (\$12.9 million), Japan (\$78.1 million), Spain (\$16.1 million), and the United Kingdom and Ireland (\$58.7 million).

### Accolades

Following suit with the series' previous installments, the Academy Awards nominated Attack of the Clones' Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow for Best Visual Effects at the 2003 Academy Awards, but the award ultimately went to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Natalie Portman was also honored at the Teen Choice Awards, and the film received an award for Best Fight at the MTV Movie Awards. In contrast, the film also received seven nominations from the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Director (George Lucas), Worst Screenplay (George Lucas), Worst Supporting Actor (Hayden Christensen), Worst Supporting Actress (Natalie Portman), Worst Screen Couple (Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman) and Worst Remake or Sequel. It took home two awards for Worst Screenplay (George Lucas) and Worst Supporting Actor (Hayden Christensen).

### Legacy and influence

In a 2023 interview, cartoonist and animation producer ND Stevenson said that he was compelled by the shapeshifting character, Zam Wesell, causing him to think more about shapeshifting, and said the film was where his "love of shapeshifters specifically started. In other interviews, Stevenson expressed his affinity for Wesell, even stating that Double Trouble in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is meant as an homage to Wesell. Stevenson also said that at an early age, Wesell created a huge impression on him, noting he latched onto Zam because she was a shapeshifter, causing him to come up with a version of the story when Zam lived, "became the main character" in a "whole parallel world" that Stevenson constructed.

In the archivist field, the film has been critically approached for its depiction of a librarian stereotype in the character Jocasta Nu, the Jedi archivist/librarian of the Jedi Temple library. Some have noted that the archives depicted in the film resembles a library, while Nu wears clothing which represents her "devotion to knowledge and learning" and provides reference assistance to Obi-Wan Kenobi. For instance, scholar Eric Ketelaar argued that Nu is an example of an archivist that "mediates, shares, or obstructs" power of the archives, as dictated by the film's plot. In contrast, former Society of American Archivists president Randall C. Jimerson stated that the film provides a "more confident view of archives" than other media, showing the powerful and confident role of an archivist despite "archival sabotage". Otherwise, Richard Pearce-Moses, stated the Nu's notion, that information not within the archives doesn't exist, is a "naïve" and is believed by some in regard to information not on the internet.

Other scholars have critically approached the film with different perspectives. Anna Lancashire stated that the film has the impact of turning the other films into an "epic commentary on American and international politics and economics", and on political empires based on aggressiveness, "human greed...hatred, and fear". Timothy P. Chartier argued how the film can be used in classrooms for topics such as linear algebra, calculus, and numerical analysis. Scholar Bradley Schauer said that the film is a unified, classical text, and argued that it has different meanings for "both general and specialized audiences".

## Novelizations

Two novels based on the film were published, a tie-in junior novel by Scholastic, and a novelization written by R. A. Salvatore, which includes some unique scenes. A four-issue comic book adaptation was written by Henry Gilroy and published by Dark Horse Comics.

## Sequel

A sequel titled Revenge of the Sith was released May 19, 2005 and was written and directed by George Lucas. It concludes the story of Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader following the death of Amidala and the destruction of all the Jedi except for Obi-Wan and Yoda.

2002 film by George Lucas

Films with screenplays by Jonathan Hales