Everything about The Ayyubid totally explained
The
Ayyubid or
Ayyoubid Dynasty was a
Muslim dynasty of
Kurdish origins which ruled
Egypt,
Syria,
Yemen (except for the Northern Mountains),
Diyar Bakr,
Mecca,
Hejaz and northern
Iraq in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Ayyubids are also known as
Ayoubites,
Ayyoubites,
Ayoubides or
Ayyoubides.
Saladin
The Ayyubid Dynasty was founded by
Saladin (Salah al-Din), who, along with his uncle
Shirkuh, conquered Egypt for the
Zengid King
Nur ad-Din of
Damascus in
1169. The name Ayyub comes from Saladin's father and Shirkuh's brother,
Najm ad-Din Ayyub. When Shirkuh died, Saladin quickly consolidated power, repelling a Crusader attack on
Damietta in 1169 and putting down a revolt of black African soldiers. In
1171, Saladin deposed the last
Fatimid Caliph, but he gradually became estranged from his former master, Nur ad-Din.
"Once more Egypt knew an unchallenged master able to organize her resources in men and wealth to make war on the Franks." Already, in 1170, Saladin raided the Crusader districts of
Gaza and Darum. The next year he took back
Aila on the
Gulf of Aqaba from the
Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1171 and 1173, he raided the
Transjordan fiefs of
Montreal (Shobak) and
Kerak.
When Nur ed-Din died in
1174, Saladin declared war against Nur ed-Din's young son,
As-Salih Ismail, and seized Damascus. Ismail fled to
Aleppo, where he continued to resist Saladin until his murder in
1181. In 1175 and 1176, Saladin seized control of the interior of Syria, except for
Aleppo. He even conquered the Jezireh in Northern Iraq, making the Zengids of
Mosul and
Sinjar and the
Artuqids of
Mardin and
Diyarbakr his vassals. He also achieved control of the
Hejaz and
Yemen.
In 1177, Saladin turned his energies against the Crusader states again, invading the
Kingdom of Jerusalem from the south. Initially unopposed, he carelessly allowed his forces to scatter in search of plunder. Suddenly attacked by King
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, he was badly defeated at the
Battle of Montgisard. Undeterred, Saladin invaded the Frankish states from the west and won a victory over Baldwin at the
Battle of Marj Ayyun in 1179. The following year, he destroyed the newly-built Crusader castle of Chastellet at the
Battle of Jacob's Ford. In the campaign of 1182, he sparred with Baldwin again in the inconclusive
Battle of Belvoir Castle. Leaving the Crusaders alone for a year after September 1182, Saladin added Aleppo and some cities in
Mesopotamia to his dominions. In the fall of 1183 he attacked the Latin kingdom again in the campaign and
Battle of Ain Tuba'un.
Saladin's greatest accomplishment, though, was his decisive defeat of the
Crusader states at the
Battle of Hattin and conquest of
Jerusalem in
1187. By the end of that year he'd conquered virtually all of the Kingdom of Jerusalem with the exception of
Tyre, which held out under
Conrad of Montferrat. Soon, however, Saladin was faced with the arrival of a major crusading effort from western Europe - the
Third Crusade - led by the three greatest European rulers of the time,
Frederick Barbarossa of Germany,
Philip Augustus of France, and
Richard the Lionhearted of England. Frederick died
en route, but the remainder of the crusading armies besieged
Acre, which they recaptured in
1191. The Crusaders, now under the unified command of Richard, defeated Saladin at the
Battle of Arsuf, but were unable to recover the interior. Instead, Richard signed a treaty with Saladin in
1192, restoring the Kingdom of Jerusalem to a coastal strip between
Jaffa and
Beirut. It was the last major effort of Saladin's career, as he died the next year, in
1193.
Later rulers
Rather than establishing a centralized empire, Saladin had established his relations in hereditary principalities throughout his lands. Thus, Saladin's brother
al-Adil ruled in the
Jezireh and Transjordan; his brother Toghtekin ruled in
Yemen; his nephews ruled in
Baalbek and
Hamah; and the descendants of Shirkuh ruled in
Homs. The rest of the Empire was divided up on Saladin's death among his three sons:
al-Afdal, the eldest, held Damascus and was intended to be overlord of the whole; the second,
al-Aziz, took Egypt; and a third,
az-Zahir, ruled Aleppo.
Soon, however, Saladin's sons fell to squabbling over the division of the Empire. Al-Aziz and az-Zahir refused to recognize their brother's suzerainty. At the same time, the northern vassals of the Ayyubids, the Zengids and Artuqids, attempted to assert their independence and restore Zengid rule in the region. Saladin's wily brother Al-Adil defused these efforts, but the situation remained unstable.
In the meanwhile, relations between al-Aziz and al-Afdal had reached a breaking point. In
1194 al-Aziz invaded Syria and reached Damascus. Al-Afdal called in the aid of his uncle al-Adil, who mediated between the brothers. A settlement was arranged in which Judea would be ceded to al-Aziz and Latakia to az-Zahir, but both would recognize their older brother's suzerainty. This settlement, however, didn't last long. In
1195 al-Aziz once again invaded Syria. Al-Adil once again came to al-Afdal's rescue, and al-Aziz was forced to retire to Egypt, but al-Adil prevented his nephew from taking Egypt itself away from al-Aziz. Soon, however, al-Adil abandoned his support for al-Afdal, whose incompetent rule was provoking discontent throughout his lands. He allied with al-Aziz instead, and the two in
1196 captured Damascus and exiled al-Afdal to
Salkhad in the
Hauran. Al-Aziz was recognized as head of the dynasty, and al-Adil ruled in Damascus.
In November
1198, al-Aziz died in a hunting accident. He was succeeded by his eldest son,
al-Mansur, a boy of twelve. Al-Aziz's ministers, worried about the ambitions of al-Adil, summoned al-Afdal to act as Regent of Egypt in the name of his young nephew. Early in the next year, while al-Adil was in the north suppressing an Artuqid rebellion, al-Afdal and az-Zahir came together in alliance against him, and were joined by most of the other Ayyubid princes. Al-Adil quickly returned to Damascus on the approach of his nephews' armies, leaving his eldest son
al-Kamil to conduct operations against the Artuqids, but the armies of his enemies were strong enough to besiege their uncle in Damascus for six months. Al-Adil used the time to win over many of the supporters of his nephews, and when al-Kamil finally arrived with a relief army in January 1200, the brothers withdrew. Al-Adil followed up on his victory by invading Egypt, where he persuaded al-Afdal to once again retire to Salkhad. Al-Adil took over the rule of Egypt, but was soon threatened again in the north by az-Zahir, who was once again joined by al-Afdal. Al-Adil was once again able to divide his enemies and eventually secured the submission of all his relations. In the settlement that emerged, by the end of
1201, az-Zahir retained Aleppo, and al-Afdal was given
Mayyafaraqin in the north, while the young al-Mansur had to content himself with
Edessa. Egypt, Damascus, and most of the Jezireh were under al-Adil's direct control, with three of his sons -
al-Kamil,
al-Mu'azzam, and
al-Ashraf, acting as governor of each, respectively. Al-Adil had thus restored the unity of the Ayyubid Empire.
A similar process repeated at Al-Adil's death in
1218, and at his son
Al-Kamil's death in 1238, but the Ayyubid state as a whole remained fairly strong. In
1250 Turanshah, the last Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt, was murdered and replaced by his
Mamluk slave-general
Aibek, who founded the
Bahri dynasty.
The Ayyubids continued to rule Damascus and Aleppo until
1260, when they were driven out by the Mongols, and following the Mongol defeat at
Ain Jalut later that year, most of Syria fell to the Mamluks. Local Ayyubid dynasties continued to rule in parts of Syria (most notably
Hamah) for another 70 years, until the latter finally absorbed them in
1334.
Ayyubids of Egypt
Ayyubids of Damascus
Salah al-Din ibn Al-Ayubbi 1174-1193
Al-Afdal 1193-1196
Al-Adil I 1196-1218
Al-Mu'azzam 1218-1227
An-Nasir Dawud 1227-1229
Al-Ashraf 1229-1237
As-Salih Ismail 1237-1238
Al-Kamil 1238
Al-Adil II 1238-1239
As-Salih Ayyub 1239
As-Salih Ismail (2nd time) 1239-1245
As-Salih Ayyub (2nd time) 1245-1249
Turanshah 1249-1250
An-Nasir Yusuf 1250-1260
Ayyubid Emirs of Aleppo
Salah al-Din ibn Al Ayubbi 1183-1193
Az-Zahir 1193-1216
Al-Aziz 1216-1236
An-Nasir Yusuf 1236-1260
Ayyubids of Hamah
Al-Muzaffar I 1178-1191
Al-Mansur I 1191-1221
Al-Nasir 1221-1229
Al-Muzaffar II 1229-1244
Al-Mansur II 1244-1284
Al-Muzaffar III 1284-1300
Al-Muayyad 1310-1331
Al-Afdal 1331-1342
Ayyubids of Homs
Al-Qahir 1178-1186
Al-Mujahid 1186-1240
Al-Mansur 1240-1246
Al-Ashraf 1248-1263
Ayyubids of Mayyafariqin
Saladin 1185-1193
Al-Adil I 1193-1200
Al-Awhad 1200-1210
Al-Ashraf 1210-1220
Al-Muzaffar 1220-1247
Al-Kamil 1247-1260
Ayyubids of Sinjar
Al-Ashraf 1220-1229
Ayyubids of Hisn Kayfa
As-Salih Ayyub 1232-1239
Al-Mu'azzam Turanshah 1239-1249
Al-Awhad 1249-1283
this line continued into the 16th century
Ayyubids of Yemen
Al-Mu'azzam Turanshah 1173-1181
Al-Aziz Tughtegin 1181-1197
Muizz ud-Din Ismail 1197-1202
An-Nasir Ayyub 1202-1214
Al-Muzaffar Sulaiman 1214-1215
Al-Mas'ud Yusuf 1215-1229
Ayyubid Emirs of Kerak, 1229-1263
An-Nasir Dawud 1229-1249
Al-Mughlib 1249-1263Further Information
Get more info on 'Ayyubid'.
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