| Siege of Alexandria | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Crusades | |||||||
 Crusader siege of Alexandria | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Ayyubid Sultanate | Kingdom of Sicily | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Saladin | Tancred of Lecce | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 30,000 men 1,500 knights 280 ships | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Heavy | ||||||
The siege of Alexandria in 1174 was a short-lived and unsuccessful attempt by the Normans of Sicily to overthrow Saladin in Egypt.
After Saladin abolished the Fatimid Caliphate in 1171, Fatimid sympathizers began plotting against Saladin; a conspiracy included former Fatimid officials, former Fatimid Black African troops, and the poet Umara al-Yamani. The conspirators reportedly called for aid from the Crusaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Normans of the Kingdom of Sicily. However, Saladin was able to crack down on the conspirators and punish them. Umara was crucified on 6 April 1174, and the Egyptians and Black Africans were exiled to Upper Egypt. [1] [2] [3]
The expected assistance from Saladin's enemies did not materialize due to the death of King Amalric of Jerusalem, and the news of the plot's failure. [4] [5] [6] However, the Normans of Sicily called for their aid despite being unaware of the plot's failure. [7]
Under the command of his cousin, Tancred of Lecce, [8] William II sent out a fleet of 280 ships, 30,000 soldiers, and 1,500 knights. [9] [10] [11] On July 28, they arrived in Alexandria. The garrison was caught completely off guard. The Normans started attacking the city walls with their siege towers, mangonels, and catapults. The defenders needed to repel the attack until night. The defenders were able to repel the attack when the Normans moved their siege artillery closer to the walls the following day, thanks to reinforcements from the nearby villages. [12]
After the defenders launched daring sorties on July 31 and August 1 that destroyed the Norman siege engines and killed many besiegers, the garrison withdrew inside the walls.Meanwhile, [13] The Normans received word that Saladin was advancing on the city with his army to relieve it. These reports boosted the garrison's morale, and they mounted a nighttime sortie that drove the Normans to their ships and out to sea. [14] The Normans left the city on August 2 and returned home. [15] [16]
Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, he spearheaded the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, the Ayyubid realm spanned Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen, and Nubia.
Year 1169 (MCLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
Year 1174 (MCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1174th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 174th year of the 2nd millennium, the 74th year of the 12th century, and the 5th year of the 1170s decade.
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.
The siege of Acre was the first significant counterattack by Guy of Jerusalem against Saladin, leader of the Muslims in Syria and Egypt. This pivotal siege formed part of what later became known as the Third Crusade. The siege lasted from August 1189 until July 1191, in which time the city's coastal position meant the attacking Latin force were unable to fully invest the city and Saladin was unable to fully relieve it with both sides receiving supplies and resources by sea. Finally, it was a key victory for the Crusaders and a serious setback for Saladin's ambition to destroy the Crusader states.
The Battle of Montgisard was fought between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ayyubid Dynasty on 25 November 1177 at Montgisard, in the Levant between Ramla and Yibna. The 16-year-old Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, severely afflicted by leprosy, led outnumbered Christian forces against Saladin's troops in what became one of the most notable engagements of the Crusades. The Muslim Army was quickly routed and pursued for twelve miles. Saladin fled back to Cairo, reaching the city on 8 December, with only a tenth of his army. Muslim historians considered Saladin's defeat to be so severe that it was only redeemed by his victory ten years later at the battles of Cresson and Hattin and the Siege of Jerusalem in 1187. Saladin did defeat Baldwin IV in the Battle of Marj Ayyun and the Siege of Jacob’s Ford in 1179, only to be defeated by Baldwin again at the Battle of Belvoir Castle in 1182 and the Siege of Kerak in 1183.
Asad ad-Dīn Shīrkūh bin Shādhī, also known as Shirkuh, or Şêrko was a Kurdish Mercenary commander in service of the Zengid dynasty, and uncle of Saladin. His military and diplomatic efforts in Egypt were a key factor in establishing the Ayyubid dynasty in that country.
The siege of Ascalon took place from 25 January to 22 August 1153, in the time period between the Second and Third Crusades, and resulted in the capture of the Fatimid Egyptian fortress by the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Ascalon was an important castle that was used by the Fatimids to launch raids into the Crusader kingdom's territory, and by 1153 it was the last coastal city in Palestine that was not controlled by the Crusaders.
The Battle of al-Babein took place on March 18, 1167, during the third Crusader invasion of Egypt. King Amalric I of Jerusalem, and a Zengid army under Shirkuh, both hoped to take the control of Egypt over from the Fatimid Caliphate. Saladin served as Shirkuh’s highest-ranking officer in the battle. This war is Shirkuh's tactic made him win. Accordingly, the army remained at headquarters until the allied forces arrived. Shirkuh concentrated his work in the center and left Saladin Ayyubî here. To the shîrkûh army; "The Egyptian and Crusader forces will think that I am in the center and will attack with all their might. Do not engage them seriously when they attack you. Don't risk yourself by going to war, stay out of their way. When they leave you, follow them immediately. He gave his order. Shirkûh then placed the stronger men of his men on the right flank. When the war finally began, the allies attacked the center. After a small conflict, Saladin and the soldiers under his command deceived the Crusaders and retreated in an orderly manner. This pursuit of retreat by the Crusaders brought their end. Because in the meantime, Shirkuh and his entourage defeated those who remained behind. Those in the middle follow the Muslim Soldiers. When the Crusaders returned, they found their soldiers dead and were defeated. they had to retreat
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that had the objective of reconquering Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule after the region had been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate centuries earlier. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. Crusading declined rapidly after the 15th century.
Shawar ibn Mujir al-Sa'di was an Arab de facto ruler of Fatimid Egypt, as its vizier, from December 1162 until his assassination in 1169 by the general Shirkuh, the uncle of the future Ayyubid leader Saladin, with whom he was engaged in a three-way power struggle against the Crusader Amalric I of Jerusalem. Shawar was notorious for continually switching alliances, allying first with one side, and then the other, and even ordering the burning of his own capital city, Fustat, just so that the enemy could not have it.
A series of Crusader invasions of Egypt were undertaken by the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1163 to 1169 to strengthen its position in the Levant by taking advantage of the weakness of the Fatimid Caliphate.
The Battle of Belvoir Castle, also called the Battle of Le Forbelet, was a part of Saladin’s campaign in May — August 1182 against the Crusaders. Crusader forces led by King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem battled with Ayyubid forces from Egypt commanded by Saladin. Saladin took action in Damascus on June 11, 1182, together with his regent Farrukh Shah. Entering Palestine from the south of Tiberias, Saladin encountered the Crusader army coming from Transoxiana near Belvoir Castle..
Saladin arrived in Egypt in 1163 and ruled it from 1171 until his death in 1193. Egypt was in a state of decay prior to Saladin's rise to power with the political and social situation in shambles. Saladin first arrived in Egypt alongside his uncle Shirkuh on a campaign launched by Nur al-Din. He would rise to prominence under Shirkuh eventually succeeding him as vizier of Egypt. When the Fatimid Caliphate fell in 1171, Saladin was the only remaining authority in Egypt, he would use his increased power and independence to expand his realm and influence.
Shams ad-Din Turanshah ibn Ayyub al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Shams ad-Dawla Fakhr ad-Din known simply as Turanshah was the Ayyubid emir (prince) of Yemen (1174–1176), Damascus (1176–1179), Baalbek (1178–1179) and finally Alexandria where he died in 1180. He is noted for strengthening the position of his younger brother, Sultan Saladin, in Egypt and playing the leading role in the Ayyubid conquests of both Nubia and Yemen.
Najm al-Dīn Umāra al-Ḥakamī al-Yamanī was a Sunni historian, jurist and poet of Yemen of great repute who was closely associated with the late Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. He was executed by order of Saladin at Cairo on April 6, 1174 for his part in a conspiracy to restore Fatimid rule. His Tarikh al-Yaman is the earliest, and in respects the most important, history of Yemen from the Islamic era.
This chronology presents the timeline of the Crusades from the beginning of the First Crusade in 1095 to the fall of Jerusalem in 1187. This is keyed towards the major events of the Crusades to the Holy Land, but also includes those of the Reconquista and Northern Crusades as well as the Byzantine-Seljuk wars.
The siege of Ayla was a military engagement between the troops of Saladin and the Crusader fortress in Ayla. Saladin successfully captured Ayla from the Crusaders.
In 1173–1174, a conspiracy took place in Cairo in favour of restoring the Isma'ili Shi'a Fatimid Caliphate, which had been abolished by Saladin and replaced with the Ayyubid dynasty in 1171. The conspiracy, which is known only from sources favourable to Saladin, was led by elites of the fallen Fatimid regime, and aimed to seize control over Cairo by taking advantage Saladin's absence from the city on campaign. To this end, they are reported to have contacted the Crusaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, inviting them to invade Egypt in order to lure Saladin away. The conspirators reportedly also contacted the Nizari Isma'ili Order of Assassins to assassinate Saladin. The veracity of these claims is disputed by modern historians, who consider them inventions aimed to discredit the conspirators. In the event, the conspiracy was betrayed to Saladin, although the sources differ on how exactly. Some even hold that the conspiracy was precipitated by Saladin as a political purge, or as a means of demonstrating to his increasingly hostile nominal master, the emir of Aleppo and Damascus, Nur al-Din Zengi, that Egypt was still unruly and that Saladin was indispensable to keep the opposition in check. The Ayyubid ruler struck on 31 March 1174 and arrested the conspiracy's ringleaders, among them the celebrated poet Umara al-Yamani. The chief conspirators were executed at the Bayn al-Qasrayn square from 6 April until 23 May, while others were exiled. A pro-Fatimid revolt in Upper Egypt followed, but was suppressed in September by Saladin's brother, al-Adil.