as-Salih Ismail (Ayyubids)

Al-Malik as-Salih Imad ad-Din Ismaʿil ( Arabic الملك الصالح عماد الدين إسماعيل, DMG al-Malik aṣ-Ṣāliḥ ʿImād ad-Dīn Ismāʿīl ; * around 1200; † 1250 ) was Sultan of Damascus . He was a son of the Ayyubid sultan al-Adil I and brother of al-Kamil .

Life

After his brother al-Ashraf died in 1237, as-Salih Ismail took over from him the rule of Damascus. This brought him into conflict with his older brother, al-Kamil, the Sultan of Egypt, who claimed supremacy over all Ayyubid possessions. As-Salih Ismail was besieged by al-Kamil only two months after taking office in Damascus and finally deposed. He then reconciled with al-Kamil and became governor of Bosra and Baalbek .

When al-Kamil died in 1238, Damascus was taken over by his son, Ismail's nephew al-Adil II . His brother, Ismail's nephew al-Salih Ayyub , who had previously ruled northern Mesopotamia , announced that he would follow his father as Sultan of Egypt. Al-Adil II then left his cousin al-Jawad as governor in Damascus and hurried to Cairo to become Sultan of Egypt himself. Meanwhile, al-Salih Ayyub marched into Damascus and gained control of the city in December 1238. As-Salih Ismail initially allied with as-Salih Ayyub.

When al-Salih Ayyub undertook a campaign against al-Adil II in August 1239, conquered territories in the area of Nablus and wanted to march on to Egypt, al-Salih Isamil refused him military success under a pretext. Instead, he allied himself with the Ayyubid emirs of Kerak , Hama and Homs and used the absence of al-Salih Ayyub to take Damascus in September 1239 and make himself Sultan of Damascus again.

As-Salih Ayyub was then abandoned by the majority of his troops and was taken prisoner by local Bedouins , who handed him over to an-Nasir Dawud , the Ayyubid Emir of Kerak, another nephew of Ismail and Kusin Ayyub. An-Nasir Dawud allied himself a short time later with his captive Kusin al-Salih Ayyub and helped him to get to Egypt with a small army, where al-Salih Ayyub was welcomed as the new sultan, since his brother al-Adil II. had been overthrown in a palace revolt. An-Nasir Dawud fell out again shortly afterwards with al-Salih Ayyub and again allied himself with his uncle al-Salih Ismail, while al-Salih Ayyub prepared to re-incorporate Damascus and Kerak into his Ayyubid kingdom.

At this critical time the armistice with the crusader states expired and in September 1239 a new crusade army under Theobald IV of Champagne reached Palestine ( crusade of the barons ). As-Salih Ismail and an-Nasir Dawud decided to offer the crusaders an alliance against as-Salih Ayyub to prevent him from attacking their territories. In the summer of 1240 they made an agreement with the Crusaders, according to which they should be given the areas west of the Jordan, which Saladin had conquered in 1187/88. The areas that belonged to al-Salih Ismail at that time, including in particular Galilee with the fortresses of Hunin , Tiberias , Beaufort and Safed , were handed over to the Christians; the allies wanted to take the rest of the area together as-Salih Ayyub. The agreement met with widespread opposition in the Arab world and parts of al-Salih Ismail's forces refused to fight alongside the Christians. This circumstance caused the crusaders to conclude a neutrality agreement with al-Salih Ayyub at the end of 1240, who voluntarily ceded the lands in Palestine promised by al-Salih Ismail and devoted himself again to the fight against his uncle Ismail.

1244 as-Salih Ayyub campaigned in northern Syria Khwarazmian irregulars , which now attracted marauding through Palestine, Jerusalem occupied, were united in Gaza with the main army as-Salih Ayyubs and in October 1244 in the Battle of La Forbie the re-united squad as-Salih Isamils ​​and the Crusader States crushed them. As a result of the battle, al-Salih Ayyub succeeded in finally taking Jerusalem from the Christians and largely reuniting the Ayyubid Empire under his rule. Damascus was conquered in October 1245 after almost eight months of siege. As-Salih Ismail retired to Baalbek and died in 1250.

literature

• Hans Eberhard Mayer : History of the Crusades. (= Kohlhammer-Urban pocket books 86). 8th, improved and enlarged edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1995, ISBN 3-17-013802-2 .
• Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. (= Beck's special editions ). Special edition in one volume without reference to source or literature. CH Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-02527-7 .

predecessor	Office	successor
al-Ashraf al-Salih Ayyub	Sultan of Damascus 1237 1239-1245	al-Kamil al-Salih Ayyub