Nur ad-Din | |||||
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Emir of Damascus and Aleppo | |||||
Reign | Aleppo 1146–1174 Damascus 1156–1174 |
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Predecessor | Imad ad-Din Zengi | ||||
Successor | As-Salih Ismail al-Malik | ||||
Born | 1118 | ||||
Died | 15 May 1174 (aged 56) Damascus, Syria |
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Burial | Nur al-Din Madrasa | ||||
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Dynasty | Zengid dynasty | ||||
Father | Imad ad-Din Zengi |
Full name | |
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al-Malik al-Adil Nur ad-Din Abu al-Qasim Mahmud Ibn 'Imad ad-Din Zengi |
Nūr ad-Dīn Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿImād ad-Dīn Zengī (February 1118 – 15 May 1174), often shortened to his laqab Nur ad-Din (Turkish: Nureddin) (Arabic: نور الدين, "Light of the Faith"), was a member of the Turkish Zengid dynasty which ruled the Syrian province of the Seljuk Empire. He reigned from 1146 to 1174.
Nur ad-Din was the second son of Imad ad-Din Zengi, the Turkish atabeg of Aleppo and Mosul, who was a devoted enemy of the crusader presence in Syria. After the assassination of his father in 1146, Nur ad-Din and his older brother Saif ad-Din Ghazi I divided the kingdom between themselves, with Nur ad-Din governing Aleppo and Saif ad-Din Ghazi establishing himself in Mosul. The border between the two new kingdoms was formed by the Nahr al-Khabur River. Almost as soon as he began his rule, Nur ad-Din attacked the Principality of Antioch, seizing several castles in the north of Syria, while at the same time he defeated an attempt by Joscelin II to recover the County of Edessa, which had been conquered by Zengi in 1144. (See Siege of Edessa.) In 1146, Nur ad-Din massacred the entire Christian population of the city and destroyed its fortifications in punishment for assisting Joscelin in this attempt. According to Thomas Asbridge, the women and children of Edessa were enslaved. He secured his hold on Antioch after crushing Raymond of Poitiers at the Battle of Inab in 1149, even presenting to the caliph, Raymond's severed head and arms.