People/Zengids and Ayyubids

1118–1174 · Ruler of Aleppo and Damascus

Nur al-Din Zengi

Other names · Nur al-Din Mahmud · Nūr al-Dīn

Zengid ruler who united Aleppo and Damascus and kept up constant pressure on the crusader states.

Nur al-Din Zengi
Verified biography·Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER

Life and historical role

01

Life and political setting

Nur al-Din was a son of Imad al-Din Zengi and took control of Aleppo after his father's assassination in 1146. He brought Damascus under his authority in 1154 and gradually united much of Syria. Alongside military rule he supported madrasas, a house of hadith and hospitals, strengthening Sunni institutions and the public image of just government.

02

Role in the Crusades

He defeated the Frankish attempt to recover Edessa in 1146, killed Prince Raymond of Antioch at Inab in 1149 and captured several leading Frankish rulers at Harim in 1164. By sending Shirkuh to Egypt he also created the conditions from which Ayyubid power emerged. Arabic, Latin, Syriac and Armenian evidence should be compared when reconstructing these campaigns.

Method note

Biographical information is linked to the sources shown on the page and to the connected event records. Disputed dates are given as approximate, gaps are not filled by conjecture, and later literary or visual depictions are not treated as contemporary portraits.

CONTEXTUAL READING

Related cases

October – November 1146 · Edessa

Second capture of Edessa

After Zengi's death in September 1146, Joscelin II entered Edessa in October 1146 with the support of its Armenian population but could not take the citadel. Nur al-Din Zengi soon arrived and routed the Franks and the inhabitants trying to flee with them; the city's Christian population suffered heavy losses.

Open record →28–29 June 1149 · Inab / Afrin

Battle of Inab

On 29 June 1149 near the castle of Inab, Nur al-Din surrounded and destroyed the forces of Prince Raymond of Poitiers of Antioch and his ally Ali ibn Wafa. Raymond and Ali died in the battle; Nur al-Din advanced through Antiochene territory to the Mediterranean coast.

Open record →April 1150 · Aleppo region

Captivity of Joscelin II

Joscelin II, the last count of Edessa, was seized by Nur al-Din's Turkmen allies in spring 1150 while travelling to Antioch. He was blinded and imprisoned in Aleppo, where he died in 1159; the county's remaining castles were soon sold to Byzantium or changed hands.

Open record →25 April 1154 · Damascus

Nur al-Din takes Damascus

In April 1154 Nur al-Din took Damascus from Mujir al-Din Abaq, uniting Aleppo and Damascus under a single government. The takeover, achieved with the support of part of the city's population, created a strong and united Syrian centre facing the crusader states.

Open record →1160 – 1176 · Aleppo

Long captivity of Raynald of Châtillon

Prince Reynald of Châtillon of Antioch was captured at the end of 1160 by the forces of Majd al-Din, governor of Aleppo, while returning from a plundering raid near Marash. Held in the citadel of Aleppo for about sixteen years, he was released for a high ransom in 1176.

Open record →10 August 1164 · Harim

Battle of Harim

The allied army of Antioch, Tripoli, Byzantium and the Armenians, coming to relieve the castle of Harim besieged by Nur al-Din, suffered a heavy defeat on 12 August 1164. Leading figures such as Bohemond III, Raymond III, Constantine Kalamanos and Joscelin III were captured.

Open record →May–November 1174 · Damascus and Jerusalem

Deaths of Nur al-Din and Amalric I; Saladin enters Damascus

In 1174 first Nur al-Din (15 May) and then King Amalric of Jerusalem (11 July) died. As young heirs and regency disputes emerged on both sides, Saladin entered Damascus in October 1174 and began gathering Nur al-Din's legacy under his own rule.

Open record →