At a glance
Era 5- Dates
- c. 1085-1146 CE; ruled Mosul from 1127 CE
- Who
- Turkish ruler of Mosul and Aleppo who took back Edessa from the crusaders
- Era
- The Crusades & Salahuddin
ProfileImad ad-Din Zengi
Zengi was the son of Aq Sunqur, a Turkish commander who governed Aleppo for the Seljuk sultan and was executed in 1094, when Zengi was about ten. He grew up among the Turkish soldiers of Iraq and rose through their ranks, and in 1127 the Seljuk sultan made him atabeg, governor and guardian, of Mosul. The next year he took Aleppo, joining the two great cities of the north under one strong hand.
He was a hard and restless ruler, feared by his own men, and he spent much of his energy fighting other Muslim princes. Damascus held out against him for years, and in 1140 its rulers even allied with the Franks of Jerusalem to keep him away. Yet he also fought the crusaders and the Byzantines, and in 1138 he helped turn back a Byzantine and crusader siege of Shaizar.
His great success came at the end of 1144. While the count of Edessa was away, Zengi besieged the city, the capital of the oldest of the crusader states. After about four weeks he took it, on 24 December. The news shook Europe and brought about the Second Crusade, and across the Muslim world it made his name as a fighter for the faith.
He did not live to see that crusade. In September 1146, while he was besieging the castle of Ja'bar on the Euphrates, one of his own servants killed him in his tent. His son Nur ad-Din took Aleppo and carried his work forward.
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