Ad-Din only

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Depiction of Nur ad-Din in a French manuscript from the Chronicle of William of Tire , which was written between 1232 and 1261; Detail of an initial depicting Nur ad-Din's flight from two knights (Yates Thompson 12 f. 132).

Al-Malik al-Adil Abu l-Qasim Nur ad-Din Mahmud bin Imad ad-Din Zengi ( Arabic الملك العادل أبو القاسم نور الدين محمود بن عماد الدين زنكي, DMG al-Malik al-ʿĀdil Abū l-Qāsim Nūr ad-Dīn Maḥmūd b. ʿImād ad-Dīn Zangiyy , better known as Nur ad-Din Zengi ; * 1118 ; † May 15, 1174 in Damascus ) from the Turkish Zengid dynasty ruled Syria from 1146 to 1174 .

Life

Only ad-Din was the second son of Zengi , the Atabeg of Aleppo and Mosul . In 1146 he followed his father in Aleppo, while his brother Saif ad-Din Ghazi I. Mosul took over. Shortly after taking office, he repulsed an attempt by the Crusaders to retake the county of Edessa , which Zengi had conquered in 1144. When in 1147 the leaders of the Second Crusade , who had been called in after the fall of Edessa, decided to attack Damascus , which was neutral in the conflict , they asked Nur ad-Din for help. The Crusaders broke off the siege of Damascus when they learned that his army was approaching.

After the siege was lifted, Nur ad-Din attacked the principality of Antioch in June 1149 . Raymond of Antioch was killed in the ensuing battle of Inab , and Nur ad-Din was able to lead his army as far as the Mediterranean , where he symbolically took a bath. After a siege, Nur ad-Din came into the possession of Damascus in 1154. Syria was now politically united, as power in the three most important cities was in the hands of one family.

When the Crusaders conquered Ascalon in 1153 , Egypt was isolated from Syria. In 1163 the Christians attacked Egypt, which was weakened by a number of very young Fatimid caliphs . The former vizier Shawar, who had fled Egypt, asked Nur ad-Din to send an army to Egypt to use in Cairo. For this he would assume the costs, make annual tribute payments, recognize Nur ad-Din's rule and cede the border districts. Only ad-Din did not want to waste his own army defending Egypt, but his commander Shirkuh convinced him in 1164 to risk an invasion. The result of this venture was the expulsion of the Crusaders from the Nile , although they attempted further invasions until Nur ad-Din finally took control of Egypt in 1169. Shirkuh's nephew Saladin became sultan of the newly conquered land.

Only ad-Din helped the Armenian prince Mleh , who had entered his service at the end of the 1160s, to rule in Cilicia in 1170 and thus had an ally in the west who, among other things, after a request for help from the Danish manid Yaghi-Basan in 1173 Campaign against Kılıç Arslan II supported by rum . He conquered Maraş , Behesni and Sebastia , seems to have reinstated Yaghi-Basan, but then came to a peace treaty with Kılıç Arslan.

Domes of Nur ad-Din's tomb ( Qubba ) in Damascus

At his instigation, a large-scale construction program was carried out across the country. Around 100 derelict mosques, some of which were damaged during several earthquakes between 1152 and 1156, were repaired, including the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo . For each specific Nur ad-Din an Islamic foundation ( Waqf ) that should take care of the construction. Small and medium-sized cities such as ar-Raqqa , where the Great Mosque, which had been crumbling for over 100 years, was rebuilt, also benefited from the construction program . In 1167, Nur ad-Din was the first ruler to have an imposing madrasa mosque complex with a hospital named after him and his tomb built in the city ​​center of Damascus .

When Nur ad-Din concluded that Syria and Egypt should be placed under unified political and military leadership, Saladin began to ignore Nur ad-Din’s authority. Both formed armies for the inevitable decision, but Nur ad-Din died on May 15, 1174 in Damascus.

Nominally his eleven-year-old son al-Salih Ismail succeeded him on the throne, but Saladin soon succeeded in taking power in Syria and subsequently conquering almost all of the Crusader states .

Aftermath

In the Syrian civil war , one of the most important groups of the Syrian Turkmen is named after Nur al-Din Zengi, the Nur al-Din al-Zengi movement .

In the opera The Barber of Baghdad by the composer Peter Cornelius Nureddin appears as a figure.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Stefan Heidemann: The Transformation of Middle Eastern Cities in the 12th Century: Financing Urban Renewal. University of Jena, p. 10 (PDF, 908 kB)
  2. ^ Robert Hillenbrand : Eastern islamic influences in Syrie: Raqqa and Qal'at Ja'bar in the later 12th century. In: Julian Raby (Ed.): The Art of Syria and the Jazīra. 1100-1250. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1985, pp. 21 f
  3. ↑ Nur al-Din Madrasa and Mausoleum. ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ArchNet. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.archnet.org
  4. ↑ Peter Cornelius' opera Der Barbier von Baghdad , brief summary on www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de; accessed on July 29, 2018.
predecessor Office successor
Imad ad-Din Zengi I. Emir of Aleppo (Zengid dynasty)
1146–1174 		as-Salih Ismail
Mujir ad-Din Abaq
( Burid Dynasty ) 		Emir of Damascus (Zengid dynasty)
1154–1174 		as-Salih Ismail
personal data
SURNAME Ad-Din only
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Only al-Din Abu al-Qasim Mahmud bin 'Imad ad-Din Zangi; Ed-Din only; Al-Din only; Nureddin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Zengid emir of Aleppo and Damascus
DATE OF BIRTH 1118
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1174
Place of death Damascus