The Zengid (or Zangid) dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Turkish origin, which ruled parts of Syria and northern Iraq on behalf of the Seljuk Empire.
The dynasty was founded by Imad ed-Din Zengi (or Zangi), who became the Seljuk Atabeg (governor) of Mosul in 1127. He quickly became the chief Turkish potentate in Northern Syria and Iraq, taking Aleppo from the squabbling Ortoqid emirs in 1128, and capturing the County of Edessa from the Crusaders in...
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The Zengid (or Zangid) dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Turkish origin, which ruled parts of Syria and northern Iraq on behalf of the Seljuk Empire.
The dynasty was founded by Imad ed-Din Zengi (or Zangi), who became the Seljuk Atabeg (governor) of Mosul in 1127. He quickly became the chief Turkish potentate in Northern Syria and Iraq, taking Aleppo from the squabbling Ortoqid emirs in 1128, and capturing the County of Edessa from the Crusaders in 1144. This latter feat made Zengi a hero in the Muslim world, but he was assassinated by a slave two years later, in 1146.
On Zengi's death, his territories were divided, with Mosul and his lands in Iraq going to his eldest son Saif ad-Din Ghazi I, and Aleppo and Edessa falling to his second son, Nur ad-Din Mahmud. Nur ad-Din proved to be as competent as his father. In 1149 he defeated and killed Prince Raymond of Antioch in battle, and the next year conquered the remnants of the County of Edessa west of the Euphrates River. In 1154 he capped...
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