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

Background

By the early 1170s relations between Saladin and Nur al-Din had grown tense; Nur al-Din was preparing to campaign against Egypt. King Amalric of Jerusalem, meanwhile, was planning a new expedition to Egypt with the support of Sicily and Byzantium.

Course of events

Nur al-Din died in Damascus on 15 May 1174. Government in the name of his eleven-year-old son al-Salih Isma'il was divided between Gümüştegin in Aleppo and the emirs in Damascus. Amalric took advantage of this to besiege Banyas and obtained tribute from Damascus.

Amalric died of dysentery on 11 July 1174. His thirteen-year-old son Baldwin IV, who had leprosy, became king; the regency passed first to Miles of Plancy and, after his murder, to Count Raymond III of Tripoli. In October 1174, invited by the emirs of Damascus, Saladin came to the city with a small force and entered it unopposed.

Outcome and significance

In the following years Saladin took Homs, Hama and Baalbek, and in 1183 Aleppo as well, uniting Egypt and Syria. In this process he invoked the claim of protecting Nur al-Din's legacy, but became involved in a long struggle with the Zengid family and the rulers of Aleppo.

In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a sick king and the question of his successor led to an ever-deepening division among the barons. The year 1174 is the turning point at which the road to Hattin began on both sides.

Sources and debates

William of Tyre, as Baldwin IV's tutor, writes that he himself noticed the first signs of the king's illness. Ibn al-Athir and Abu Shama assess Saladin's entry into Damascus from different angles: Ibn al-Athir stresses the rights of the Zengid family, while Saladin's circle emphasises his duty to continue the jihad.