 | Nur ad-Din: Encyclopedia II - Nur ad-Din - The war against the crusaders
Nur ad-Din - The war against the crusaders
See also: Jihad
Nur ad-Din was the second son of Imad ad-Din Zengi, the atabeg of Aleppo and Mosul, who was a devoted enemy of the crusader presence in Syria. After the assassination of his father, Nur ad-Din and his older brother Saif ad-Din Ghazi I divided the kingdom amongst themselves, with Nur ad-Din governing Aleppo and Saif ad-Din 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). Nur ad-Din exiled the entire Christian population of the city, in punishment for assisting Joscelin.
Nur ad-Din sought to make alliances with his Muslim neighbours in northern Iraq and Syria in order to strengthen the Muslim front against their western enemies. In 1147 he signed a bilateral treaty with Mu'in ad-Din Unur, governor of Damascus; as part of this agreement, he also married Mu'in ad-Din's daughter. Together Mu'in ad-Din and Nur ad-Din besieged the cities of Bosra and Sarkhand, which had been captured by a rebellious vassal of Mu'in ad-Din named Altuntash, but Mu'in ad-Din was always suspicious of Nur ad-Din's intentions and did not want to offend his former crusader allies in Jerusalem, who had helped defend Damascus against Zengi. To reassure Mu'in ad-Din, Nur ad-Din curtailed his stay in Damascus and turned instead towards the Principality of Antioch, where he was able to seize Artah, Kafar Latha, Basarfut, and Balat.
In 1148, the Second Crusade arrived in Syria, led by Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. They decided to attack Damascus, despite the former alliance the city had made with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Mu'in ad-Din reluctantly called for help from Nur ad-Din; the crusader siege lasted only four days before Nur ad-Din arrived.
Nur ad-Din took advantage of the failure of the crusade to prepare another attack against Antioch. In 1149, he launched an offensive against the territories dominated by the castle of Harim, situated on the eastern bank of the Orontes, after which he besieged the castle of Inab. The Prince of Antioch, Raymond of Poitiers, quickly came to the aid of the besieged citadel. The Muslim army destroyed the crusader army at the Battle of Inab, during which Raymond was killed. Raymond's head was sent to Nur ad-Din, who sent it along to the caliph in Baghdad. Nur ad-Din marched all the way to the coast and expressed his dominance of Syria by symbolically bathing in the Mediterranean Sea. He did not, however, attack Antioch itself; he was content with capturing all Antiochene territory east of the Orontes and leaving a rump state around the city, which in any case soon fell under the suzerainty of the Byzantine Empire. In 1150, he defeated Joscelin II for a final time, after allying with the Seljuk Sultan of Rüm, Mas'ud (whose daughter he also married). Joscelin was blinded and died in his prison in Aleppo in 1159. In 1152 Nur ad-Din briefly captured Tortosa after the assassination of Raymond II of Tripoli.
Other related archives1118, 1118 births, 1144, 1146, 1147, 1148, 1149, 1150, 1151, 1152, 1153, 1154, 1157, 1159, 1160, 1162, 1163, 1164, 1166, 1167, 1168, 1169, 1170, 1171, 1173, 1174, 1174 deaths, 1185, Aleppo, Alexandria, Amalric I, Anatolia, Arabic, As-Salih Ismail al-Malik, Ascalon was captured, Baghdad, Baldwin III of Jerusalem, Banias, Battle of Inab, Bilbeis, Bosra, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine emperor, Cairo, Cambridge University Press, Columbia University Press, Conrad III of Germany, County of Edessa, Crusades, Damascus, Danishmends, Edessa, Euphrates, Fatimid, Hadith, Hauran, Ibn al-Qalanisi, Imad ad-Din Zengi, Iraq, Jerusalem, Jihad, Joscelin II, Kilij Arslan II, King of Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller, Koran, Kurdish, Louis VII of France, Manuel I Comnenus, Mas'ud, May 15, Mecca, Mediterranean Sea, Mosul, Mu'in ad-Din Unur, Nahr al-Khabur river, Nile, Orontes, Ortoqids, Outremer, Principality of Antioch, Raymond II of Tripoli, Raymond of Poitiers, Raynald of Chatillon, Saif ad-Din Ghazi I, Saladin, Second Crusade, Shirkuh, Siege of Edessa, Steven Runciman, Sultan of Rüm, Syria, Syrian people, Tortosa, William of Tyre, Zengid dynasty, atabeg, besieged the castle of Harenc, caliph, caliphs, caravanserais, crusader, crusader siege, peritonsillar abscess
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