The Ayyubid dynasty, also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin had originally served the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din, leading Nur ad-Din's army in battle against the Crusaders in Fatimid Egypt, where he was made Vizier. Following Nur ad-Din's death, Saladin was proclaimed as the first Sultan of Egypt by the Abbasid Caliphate, and rapidly expanded the new sultanate beyond the frontiers of Egypt to encompass most of the Levant, in addition to Hijaz, Yemen, northern Nubia, Tarabulus, Cyrenaica, southern Anatolia, and northern Iraq, the homeland of his Kurdish family. By virtue of his sultanate including Hijaz, the location of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, he was the first ruler to be hailed as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a title that would be held by all subsequent sultans of Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517. Saladin's military campaigns in the first decade of his rule, aimed at uniting the various Arab and Muslim states in the region against the Crusaders, set the general borders and sphere of influence of the sultanate of Egypt for the almost three and a half centuries of its existence. Most of the Crusader states, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders reconquered the coast of Palestine in the 1190s.
The Zengid or Zangid dynasty, also referred to as the Atabegate of Mosul, Aleppo and Damascus, or the Zengid State was initially an Atabegate of the Seljuk Empire created in 1127. It formed a Turkoman dynasty of Sunni Muslim faith, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripoli to Hamadan and from Yemen to Sivas. Imad ad-Din Zengi was the first ruler of the dynasty.
Al-Malik al-Kamil Nasir ad-Din Muhammad, titled Abu al-Maʽali, was an Egyptian ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Crusade. He was known to the Frankish crusaders as Meledin, a name by which he is referred to in some older western sources. As a result of the Sixth Crusade, he ceded West Jerusalem to the Christians and is known to have met with Saint Francis.
Al-Adil I was the fourth Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and brother of Saladin, who founded both the Sultanate of Egypt, and the Ayyubid dynasty. He was known to the Crusaders as Saphadin, a name by which he is still known in the Western world. A gifted and effective administrator and organizer, Al-Adil provided crucial military and civilian support for the great campaigns of Saladin. He was also a capable general and strategist in his own right, and was instrumental in the transformation of the decayed Fatimid Caliphate of Cairo into the Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt.
Alā ad-Dīn Kayqubād ibn Kaykhusraw, also known as Kayqubad I, was the Seljuq Sultan of Rûm who reigned from 1220 to 1237. He expanded the borders of the sultanate at the expense of his neighbors, particularly the Mengujek Beylik and the Ayyubids, and established a Seljuq presence on the Mediterranean with his acquisition of the port of Kalon Oros, later renamed Ala'iyya in his honor. The sultan, sometimes styled Kayqubad the Great, is remembered today for his rich architectural legacy and the brilliant court culture that flourished under his reign.
Nur al-Din Arslan Shah I was the Zengid Emir of Mosul 1193–1211. He was successor of Izz al-Din Mas'ud. He was appointed by the Ayyubids to this position in 1193. One of his slaves was Badr ad-Din Lu'lu', who became a famous ruler of Mosul, and a prominent patron of the arts.
Badr al-Din Lu'lu' was successor to the Zengid emirs of Mosul, where he governed in variety of capacities from 1234 to 1259 following the death of Nasir ad-Din Mahmud. He was the founder of the short-lived Luluid dynasty. Originally a slave of the Zengid ruler Nur al-Din Arslan Shah I, he was the first Middle-Eastern mamluk to transcend servitude and become an emir in his own right, founding the dynasty of the Lu'lu'id emirs (1234-1262), and anticipating the rise of the Bahri Mamluks of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt by twenty years. He preserved control of al-Jazira through a series of tactical submissions to larger neighboring powers, at various times recognizing Ayyubid, Rûmi Seljuq, and Mongol overlords. His surrender to the Mongols after 1243 temporarily spared Mosul the destruction experienced by other settlements in Mesopotamia.
Nasir ad-Din al-Malik al-Mansur Ibrahim bin Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, better known as al-Mansur Ibrahim, was a Kurdish ruler, the emir ("governor") of the Homs principality from 1240 to 1246 under the Ayyubid dynasty. He held Homs with relative independence, but initially as under the command of as-Salih Ismail of Damascus. He would later fight against as-Salih Ismail and his Khwarezemid allies—al-Mansur confronted the latter in 1241, 1242, 1244, and 1246. Mervani State's expedition to Armenia
Al-Malik al-Salih Imad al-Din Ismail bin Saif al-Din Ahmad better known as al-Salih Ismail was the Ayyubid sultan based in Damascus. He reigned twice, once in 1237 and then again from 1239 to 1245.
Al-Malik al-Awhad Najm ad-Din Ayyub ibn al-Adil Abu Bakr ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub was the third Ayyubid emir (prince) of the Diyar Bakr emirate, centered in Mayyafariqin, between 1200 and 1210 CE. He was the fourth eldest son of Sultan al-Adil I of Egypt.
Al-Ashraf Muzaffar ad-Din Musa was the last, albeit titular, Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt as the puppet of Izz ad-Din Aybak.
Al-Malik al-Muzaffar Shihab ad-Din Ghazi ibn al-Adil Abu Bakr ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub was the Ayyubid ruler of Mayyafariqin (1220–1247). Al Muzaffar Ghazi was one of the sons of the Sultan Al-Adil, who ruled minor Ayyubid states in the Middle East while their father reigned in Egypt.
'Al-Malik al-Kamil Muhammad ibn al-Muzaffar Ghazi ibn al-Adil Abu Bakr was the son of al-Muzaffar Ghazi and the last Ayyubid emir (prince) of Mayyafariqin (1247–1260). He is also known as Al Kamil Muhammad II to distinguish from his uncle Al Kamil Muhammad I.
Al Malik Al-Mujahid Asad ad-Din Shirkuh II or ShirkuhII, was the Kurdish Ayyubid emir of Homs from 1186 to 1240. He was the son of An-Nasir Muhammad ibn Shirkuh, grandson of Shirkuh and first cousin once removed of Saladin. His domains also included Palmyra and ar-Rahba. Al Mujahid became emir at the age of thirteen when his father died unexpectedly in Homs on 4 March 1186.
The Thirty Years' Truce or Truce of Khlat was a truce agreed to by Queen Tamar of Georgia and Al-Adil I, an Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt in October, 1210.
Tamta Zakarian or Tamta Mkhargrdzeli was an Armenian Chalcedonian Christian noble woman, born at the court of queen Tamar of Georgia. She appears in only a few written sources, including contemporary histories by Kirakos Gandzaketsi and Vardan Areveltsi.
The siege of Damascus of 1229 was part of an Ayyubid succession war over Damascus that broke out following the death of al-Muʿaẓẓam I in 1227. The late ruler's son, al-Nāṣir Dāʾūd, took de facto control of the city in opposition to al-Kāmil, the Ayyubid sultan in Egypt. In the ensuing war, al-Nāṣir lost Damascus but preserved his autonomy, ruling from al-Karak.
The Khwarazmian army, also called the Khwarazmiyya, maintained itself as a force of freebooters and mercenaries between 1231 and 1246, following the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire (1221) and the death of the last Khwarazmshah, Jalal al-Din (1231). It was active in Upper Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria and Palestine and shifted its allegiance several times, often acting autonomously before it was defeated and destroyed by the Ayyubids.
The Sharbush or Harbush,Sarposh, Serpush probably derived from Persian word Serpush, which means "headdress". was a special Turkic military furred hat, worn in Central Asia and the Middle East in the Middle Ages. It appears prominently in the miniatures depicting Badr al-Din Lu'lu'. It was a stiff cap of the military class, with a triangular front which was sometimes addorned with a metal plaque. It was sometimes supplemented with a small kerchief which formed a small turban, named takhfifa. The wearing of the Sharbūsh was one of the key graphical and sartorial elements to differentiate Turkic figures from Arab ones in medieval Middle-Eastern miniatures.
