Yazid III

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Yazid ibn Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik or Yazid III (701 - 744) (Arabic: يزيد ابن الوليد ابن عبد الملك) was an Umayyad caliph. He only reigned for six months before his death, from April 15 to October 3 or 4, 744.

Yazid ibn al-Walid spoke out against his cousin's immorality and led an uprising that replaced al-Walid II. He appointed Mansur ibn Jumhur to replace Yusuf ibn Umar as governor of Iraq. Yusuf was imprisoned and later killed by the son of Khalid ibn Abdallah. Mansur attempted to dismiss nasr ibn Sayyar, but the Khurasani governor refused to accept this. Facing opposition from al-Kirmani, Nasr invited al-Harith to return from his thirteen year stay in Turkish territory. Al-Harith arrived wearing a fine suit of armour the Khaqan had given him and gaining the support of many people in Khurasan.

Yazid named his brother Ibrahim to succeed him. Yazid also wrote a lengthy letter to Iraq denouncing al-Walid II. Yazid fell ill and died on October 3 or 4, 744. At Tabari records descriptions of Yazid as tall and handsome and called "the Deficient", due to his refusal to pay a raise promised to the Army by al-Walid II. Yazid was succeeded by his brother Ibrahim ibn al-Walid.

At Tabari (p. 243) quotes a couplet of Yazid's. Sir John Glubb (The Empire of the Arabs p. 200) renders this:

I am the son of Choesroes, my ancestor was Marwan,
Caesar was my grandsire and my grandsire was Khaqan.

[edit] Bibliography

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari History, v. 26 "The Waning of the Umayyad Caliphate," transl. Carole Hillenbrand, SUNY, Albany, 1989
Sir John Glubb, The Empire of the Arabs, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1963